| 2. Do thou, O
Pandava, know Yoga to be that which they call renunciation ; no one verily
becomes a Yogin who has not renounced thoughts Do thou understand that the
Yoga, which consists in performance of action, is that which those who are
versed in the sruti and the smriti declare to be samnyasa, the true renunciation
which consists in the abandonment of all action as well as its fruit.(Question):On
what point of similarity between KarmaYoga which consists in the performance
of action (pravritti) and the pure Samnyasa which consists in abstaining
from action (nivritti) is the representation of identity of the former with
the latter based ?(Answer) There is of course a certain amount of similarity
between KarmaYoga and pure samnyasa so far as the agent is concerned. For,
he who is a pure Samnyasin, who has renounced all actions as well as their
accessories, abandons thoughts (sankalpa) concerning all actions and their
fruits; those thoughts causing the desires which impel one to action. A
follower of KarmaYoga, too, renounces thoughts of results, while he performs
actions. This the Lord teaches in the following words: No devotee to action
who has not given up the thought of reward can be a Yogin, s man of steadfastness
; for the thought of reward causes unsteadiness of mind. That is to say,
that devotee to action who has given up all thoughts of reward will become
a Yogin, a man of steadfastness, a steadyminded man, inasmuch as all thought
of reward which is the cause of unsteadiness has been given up. Action is
a steppingstone to DhyanaYoga Thus, having regard to the likeness between
pure Samnyasa and KarmaYoga in so far as the devotee in either case renounces
(the thoughts concerning the fruit of action), KarmaYoga has been represented
in vi. 2. as Samnyasa with a view to extol it. |
