Sanskrit
तं विद्याद् दुःखसंयोगवियोगं योगसंज्ञितम् । स निश्चयेन योक्तव्यो योगोऽनिर्विण्णचेतसा ॥
taṃ vidyād duḥkhasaṃyogaviyogaṃ yogasaṃjñitam sa niścayena yoktavyo yogo'nirviṇṇacetasā
Translation
That should be known by the name of yoga, this disconnection from the union with pain. This yoga must be clung to with a firm conviction and with undesponding mind.
Annie Besant · The Bhagavad-Gita, translated by Annie Besant (4th ed., 1922) — Wikisource · Public Domain
Explanation
The chain from verse 20 resolves here with a formal definition: yoga is the disjunction from conjunction-with-pain — the severing of the very mechanism by which pain arises, not just relief from a given pain. The verse then pivots from description to instruction: this has to be practiced with firm resolve and without despondency, setting up Arjuna’s own question about failure in verses 37–39.
Concepts