1. The ritualistic activities described in the Vedas include fire sacrifices, such as agnihotra yajña. The rules for those who enter the renounced order of sanyās state that they should not perform the ritualistic karm kāṇḍ activities; in fact they should not touch fire at all, not even for the purpose of cooking. And they should subsist on alms instead. However, Shree Krishna states in this verse that merely giving up the sacrificial fire does not make one a sanyāsī (renunciant).
Who are true yogis, and who are true sanyāsīs? There is much confusion in this regard. People say, "This swamiji is phalāhārī (one who eats only fruits and nothing else), and so he must be an elevated yogi." "This bābājī (renunciant) is dūdhāhārī (subsists on milk alone), and hence he must be an even higher yogi." "This guruji is pavanāhārī (does not eat, lives only on the breath), and so he must definitely be God-realized." "This sadhu is a nāgā bābā (ascetic who does not wear clothes), and thus he is perfectly renounced." However, Shree Krishna dismisses all these concepts. He says that such external acts of asceticism do not make anyone either a sanyāsī or a yogi. Those who can renounce the fruits of their actions, by offering them to God, are the true renunciants and yogis.
Nowadays Yoga has become the buzz word in the western world. Numerous Yoga studios have sprung up in every town of every country of the world. Statistics reveal that one out of every ten persons in America is practicing Yoga. But this word "Yoga" does not exist in the Sanskrit scriptures. The actual word is "Yog," which means "union." It refers to the union of the individual consciousness with the divine consciousness. In other words, a yogi is one whose mind is fully absorbed in God. It also follows that such a yogi's mind is naturally detached from the world. Hence, the true yogi is also the true sanyāsī.
Persons who perform karm yog do all activities in the spirit of humble service to God without any desire whatsoever for rewards. Even though they may be gṛihasthas (living with a family), such persons are true yogis and the real renunciants.
2. A sanyāsī is one who renounces the pleasures of the mind and senses. But mere renunciation is not the goal, nor is it sufficient to reach the goal. Renunciation means that our running in the wrong direction has stopped. We were searching for happiness in the world, and we understood that there is no happiness in material pleasures, so we stopped running toward the world. But, the destination is not reached just by stopping. The destination of the soul is God-realization. The process of going toward God—taking the mind toward him—is the path of Yog. Those who have incomplete knowledge of the goal of life, look upon renunciation as the highest goal of spirituality. Those who truly understand the goal of life, regard God-realization as the ultimate goal of their spiritual endeavor.
In the purport to verse, it was explained that there are two kinds of renunciation—phalgu vairāgya and yukt vairāgya. Phalgu vairāgya is that where worldly objects are seen as objects of Maya, the material energy, and hence renounced because they are detrimental to spiritual progress. Yukt vairāgya is that where everything is seen as belonging to God, and hence meant to be utilized in his service. In the first kind of renunciation, one would say, "Give up money. Do not touch it. It is a form of Maya, and it impedes the path of spirituality." In the second kind of renunciation, one would say, "Money is also a form of the energy of God. Do not waste it or throw it away; utilize whatever you have in your possession for the service of God."
Phalgu vairāgya is unstable, and can easily revert to attachment for the world. The name "Phalgu" comes from a river in the city of Gaya, in the state of Bihar in India. The river Phalgu runs below the surface. From atop, it seems as if there is no water, but if you dig a few feet, you encounter the stream below. Similarly, many persons renounce the world to go and live in monasteries, only to find that in a few years the renunciation has vanished and the mind is again attached to the world. Their detachment was phalgu vairāgya. Finding the world to be troublesome and miserable, they desired to get away from it by taking shelter in monastery. But when they found spiritual life also to be difficult and arduous, they got detached from spirituality as well. Then there are others who establish their loving relationship with God. Motivated by the desire to serve him, they renounce the world to live in a monastery. Their renunciation is yukt vairāgya. They usually continue the journey even if they face difficulties.
In the first line of this verse, Shree Krishna states that a real sanyāsī (renunciant) is one who is a yogi, i.e. one who is uniting the mind with God in loving service. In the second line, Shree Krishna states that one cannot be a yogi without giving up material desires. If there are material desires in the mind, then it will naturally run toward the world. Since it is the mind that has to be united with God, this is only possible if the mind is free from all material desires. Thus, to be a yogi one has to be a sanyāsī from within; and one can only be a sanyāsī if one is a yogi.
3. Shree Krishna mentioned that there are two paths for attaining welfare—the path of contemplation and the path of action. Between these, he recommended to Arjun to follow the path of action. Again in chapter 5, verse 2, he declared it to be the better path. Does this mean that we must keep doing work all our life? Anticipating such a question, Shree Krishna sets the limits for it. When we perform karm yog, it leads to the purification of the mind and the ripening of spiritual knowledge. But once the mind has been purified and we advance in Yog, then we can leave karm yog and take to karm sanyās. Material activities now serve no purpose and meditation now becomes the means.
So the path we must follow filters down to a matter of our eligibility and Shree Krishna explains the criteria of eligibility in this verse. He says that for those who are aspiring for Yog, the path of karm yog is more suitable; and those who are elevated in Yog, the path of karm sanyās is more suitable.
The word Yog refers to both the goal and the process to reach the goal. When we talk of it as being the goal, we use Yog as meaning "union with God." And when we talk of it as being the process, we use Yog as meaning the "path" to union with God.
In this second context, Yog is like a ladder we climb to reach God. At the lowest rung, the soul is caught in worldliness, with the consciousness absorbed in mundane matter. The ladder of Yog takes the soul from that level to the stage where the consciousness is absorbed in the divine. The various rungs of the ladder have different names, but Yog is a term common to them all. Yog-ārurukṣhu are those sādhaks who aspire for union with God and have just begun climbing the ladder. Yog-ārūḍha are those who have become elevated on the ladder.
So, how do we understand when one is elevated in the science of Yog? Shree Krishna explains this next.