Sanskrit
संन्यासस्तु महाबाहो दुःखमाप्तुमयोगतः । योगयुक्तो मुनिर्ब्रह्म न चिरेणाधिगच्छति ॥
saṃnyāsas tu mahābāho duḥkham āptum ayogataḥ yogayukto munir brahma na cireṇādhigacchati
Translation
But without yoga, O mighty-armed, renunciation is hard to attain to; the yoga-harmonised Muni swiftly goeth to the Eternal.
Annie Besant · The Bhagavad-Gita, translated by Annie Besant (4th ed., 1922) — Wikisource · Public Domain
Explanation
This is the qualification that makes sense of verse 2’s ranking: renunciation and yoga may lead to the same place, but renunciation attempted without the discipline of yoga is hard to sustain, while the yoga-harmonised sage reaches Brahman quickly. “Yoga” here isn’t opposed to renunciation — it’s the practical means of actually achieving it. This is essentially the same argument made about complete inaction elsewhere in the Gita’s earlier teaching, restated in the specific vocabulary of sannyasa versus yoga.
Concepts