Bhagavad Gītā · Chapter 6, Verse 23
तं विद्याद् दुःखसंयोगवियोगं योगसंज्ञितम्।
स निश्चयेन योक्तव्यो योगोऽनिर्विण्णचेतसा।।
स निश्चयेन योक्तव्यो योगोऽनिर्विण्णचेतसा।।
taṁ vidyād duḥkha-sanyoga-viyogaṁ yogasaṅjñitam
sa niścayena yoktavyo yogo ’nirviṇṇa-cetasā
also searched as "tam vidyad duhkha-sanyoga-viyogam yogasanjnitam"
Translation
Know this deliverance from association with misery to be Yoga. This Yoga must be practiced with determination and with a mind free from despondency.
Vāṇi's rendering
Know yoga as this: the untying of the knot of sorrow. Practice it with resolve, and without despair.
Word by word
| Sanskrit & transliteration | Meaning |
|---|---|
| तम्taṁ | that |
| विद्यात्vidyāt | let one know, understand (written vidyād before the next word) |
| दुःखसंयोगवियोगम्duḥkha-saṁyoga-viyogaṁ | the undoing of every joining with sorrow |
| योगसंज्ञितम्yoga-saṁjñitam | named yoga, called by the name yoga |
| सःsa | that (yoga) |
| निश्चयेनniścayena | with settled resolve, with certainty |
| योक्तव्यःyoktavyaḥ | is to be practiced, is to be yoked (written yoktavyo before the next word) |
| योगःyogaḥ | yoga (written yogo before the next word) |
| अनिर्विण्णचेतसाanirviṇṇa-cetasā | with a mind not sunk in discouragement (the initial a is elided in sandhi: 'nirviṇṇa) |
Frequently asked
What does Bhagavad Gita Chapter 6 Verse 23 mean?
Krishna defines yoga by what it removes. Sorrow arrives through attachment, through the mind's joining itself to what hurts; yoga is that joining coming undone. And he adds the condition: practice it with niścaya, firm resolve, and with a mind that refuses to sink. The definition and the discipline are given in one breath.
What does tam vidyad duhkha-sanyoga-viyogam yogasanjnitam teach about practice?
That the fruit is not the point of the sitting. You will have flat days, days when nothing opens and the mind wanders the whole hour. Krishna asks only that the resolve outlast the mood. Practice held steadily through dullness is still practice; practice abandoned because it felt empty is not.
Why does Krishna warn against a despondent mind here?
Because discouragement is subtler than failure and far more final. Arjuna does not lack strength; he lacks the belief that effort will lead anywhere. Krishna answers that directly. Anirviṇṇa-cetasā — an unsunk mind — is not enthusiasm. It is simply the refusal to pronounce your own practice useless before it has finished working.
Is yoga in this verse about postures or meditation?
Neither, as Krishna names it. Yoga here is the state in which the mind is no longer knotted to sorrow, and any discipline that leads there qualifies. Posture and breath serve it, but the measure is elsewhere: does the grief still grip you, or has the grip begun to loosen?
Themes in this verse
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Commentary
A definition arrives, and it is stated backwards. Krishna does not say yoga is bliss, or union, or a state you climb into. He names it by what leaves: the loosening of every joining with sorrow. Then the harder half. It must be practiced with niścaya, settled resolve, and with a mind that has not gone flat. Arjuna's danger was never laziness; it was discouragement, the quiet verdict that this will not work. Boredom and despair end more practice than failure does. So sit again tomorrow, not because today went well, but because you decided, and the deciding still holds.