Bhagavad Gītā · Chapter 6, Verse 4
यदा हि नेन्द्रियार्थेषु न कर्मस्वनुषज्जते।
सर्वसङ्कल्पसंन्यासी योगारूढस्तदोच्यते।।
सर्वसङ्कल्पसंन्यासी योगारूढस्तदोच्यते।।
yadā hi nendriyārtheṣu na karmasv-anuṣajjate
sarva-saṅkalpa-sannyāsī yogārūḍhas tadocyate
also searched as "yada hi nendriyartheshu na karmasvanushajjate"
Translation
For, when one loses attachment to the things of the senses and to actions, then they have abandoned all desires and are said to have climbed the heights of Yoga.
Vāṇi's rendering
When you cling to no pleasure and no project, all scheming dropped — then you have climbed into yoga.
Word by word
| Sanskrit & transliteration | Meaning |
|---|---|
| यदाyadā | when |
| हिhi | indeed, for |
| नna | not (joined to the next word by sandhi as nendriyārtheṣu) |
| इन्द्रियार्थेषुindriya-artheṣu | in the objects the senses reach for — sights, sounds, pleasures |
| नna | nor |
| कर्मसुkarmasu | in actions, in things being done |
| अनुषज्जतेanuṣajjate | clings, sticks fast, gets caught |
| सर्वसङ्कल्पसंन्यासीsarva-saṅkalpa-sannyāsī | one who has set down every plan and private scheme |
| योगारूढःyoga-ārūḍhaḥ | climbed into yoga, mounted upon it |
| तदाtadā | then (joined with the next word as tadocyate) |
| उच्यतेucyate | is said to be, is called |
Frequently asked
What does Bhagavad Gita Chapter 6 Verse 4 mean?
It marks the point where yoga has actually been reached. Not when you stop acting, but when nothing sticks — no pleasure held onto, no action clutched, no saṅkalpa quietly running the future in your head. Krishna calls such a one yogārūḍha, climbed into yoga. The change is in the grip, not the schedule.
What does yada hi nendriyartheshu na karmasvanushajjate teach about renunciation?
That renunciation is inward. Sense-objects remain, work remains, the field remains. What goes is anuṣajjate — the sticking. Krishna is not describing someone who has left life; he is describing someone standing inside it with nothing being bargained for. That is why Arjuna is kept on the battlefield rather than sent away from it.
What is sankalpa and why must all of it be dropped?
Saṅkalpa is the plan-making faculty — the mind's endless drafting of how things must turn out. Desire lives there. You can renounce food and comfort and still be thick with saṅkalpa. Krishna asks for sarva-saṅkalpa-sannyāsa, all of it set down, because a mind still arranging outcomes is a mind still owned by them.
How do I know if I have climbed into yoga?
Ask what happens when a plan fails. If something in you lurches, the climbing is unfinished — and that is no shame, only information. Ārūḍha means mounted, seated, riding. The work continues underneath you at full speed. You simply are no longer thrown by every turn it takes.
Themes in this verse
Read every verse this way, held — inside Vāṇi.
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Commentary
Notice what Krishna does not ask you to give up. Not the senses — the clinging. Not action — the attachment to action. Arjuna wants to leave the field; Krishna keeps him on it and moves the renunciation inward. The hardest item is saṅkalpa: the plan, the private scheming about how things should turn out. You can sit very still and still be scheming. Climbed is the word — ārūḍha, mounted, as one mounts a horse already in motion. The test is not whether you have withdrawn. It is whether, in the middle of your work, anything is still being bargained for.