Yoga As Work In Devotion

We have heard the names of so many different yogas and yogīs, but in Bhagavad-gītā Krishna says that he is the actual yogī who has surrendered himself “fully unto Me.” Krishna proclaims that there is no difference between renunciation (sannyāsa) and yoga.

yaṁ sannyāsam iti prāhur

yogaṁ taṁ viddhi pāṇḍava

na hy asannyasta-saṅkalpo

yogī bhavati kaścana

“What is called renunciation is the same as yoga, or linking oneself with the Supreme; for no one can become a yogī unless he renounces the desire for sense gratification.”

In Bhagavad-gītā there are three basic types of yoga delineated—karmayoga, jñāna-yoga and bhakti-yoga. The systems of yoga may be likened unto a staircase. Someone may be on the first step, someone may be halfway up, or someone may be on the top step. When one is elevated to certain levels, he is known as a karma-yogī, jñāna-yogī, etc. In all cases, the service to the Supreme Lord is the same. It is a difference in elevation only. Thus Srī Krishna tells Arjuna that he must understand that renunciation (sannyāsa) and yoga are the same because without being freed from desire and sense gratification one can become neither a yogī nor a sannyāsī.

There are some yogīs who perform yoga for a profit, but that is not real yoga. Everything must be engaged in the service of the Lord. Whatever we do as an ordinary worker, or as a sannyāsī, or as a yogī, or as a philosopher must be done in Krishna consciousness. When we are absorbed in the thought of serving Krishna and when we act in that consciousness, we can become real sannyāsīs and real yogīs