26. Karm-yog is the safer path to take for most people, as explained in verse 5.2, and that is why Shree Krishna has strongly recommended it to Arjun. However, for someone who is truly detached from the world, karm sanyās is also suitable. It is advantageous in that there is no diversion of time and energy toward worldly duties, and one can dedicate oneself fully to the practice of spirituality. There have been many accomplished sanyāsīs in history. Shree Krishna states that such true karm sanyāsīs also make rapid progress and experience peace everywhere. By eliminating the urges of desire and anger and subduing their mind, they attain perfect peace both in this life and here-after.
We often harbor the misconception that external circumstances are at fault for the lack of peace in our lives, and we hope for the day when the situation will become conducive to peace of mind. However, peace is not dependent upon the external situation; it is a product of purified senses, mind, and intellect. The sanyāsīs, with their mind and thoughts turned inward, find the ocean of peace within, independent of external circumstances. And then, with the internal machinery in order, they experience the same peace everywhere, and are liberated in this world itself.
27-28. Often renunciants are more inclined toward aṣhṭāṅg-yog or haṭha-yog along with their practice of asceticism. Their extreme detachment makes them disinterested in the path of devotion, which requires meditation on the Names, Forms, Pastimes, and Abodes of God. Shree Krishna here describes the path that the ascetics take.
He says that such ascetics shut out thoughts of sense objects by controlling their sight and breath. They focus their gaze between their eyebrows. If the eyes are fully closed, sleep may overtake one; and if they are wide open, they may get distracted by the objects around them. In order to avoid both these defects, the ascetics concentrate their gaze, with eyes half-open, between the eyebrows or the tip of the nose. They also harmonize the prāṇ (outgoing breath) with the apān (incoming breath), until both become suspended in yogic trance. This yogic process enables the controlling of the senses, mind, and intellect. Such persons make liberation from the material energy as their only goal.
Such ascetic practices lead to ātma jñāna (knowledge of the self), not to brahma jñāna (knowledge of God). Hence, the ascetic path must also be consummated through devotion to God, as stated in the next verse.
29. The ascetic sādhanā, explained in the previous two verses, can lead to ātma jñāna (knowledge of the self). But brahma jñāna (knowledge of God) requires the grace of God, which comes through devotion. The words sarva loka maheśhwaram mean "Sovereign Lord of all the worlds," and suhṛidaṁ sarva-bhūtānāṁ means "benevolent well-wisher of all living beings." In this way, He emphasizes that the ascetic path too is consummated in surrender to God, with the knowledge that the Supreme Lord is the enjoyer of all austerities and sacrifices. Jagadguru Shree Kripaluji Maharaj has put this very nicely:
"The soul is disconnected from God since eternity. True Yog is that which unites the soul with the Lord." Hence, no system of Yog is complete without the inclusion of bhakti.
In His "Song of God," Shree Krishna beautifully includes all the genuine paths of spiritual practice, but each time, at the end He qualifies them by stating that success in these paths also requires bhakti. For example, He uses this system of presentation in verses. Here too, Shree Krishna ends the topic revealing the necessity of devotion.