योगयुक्तो विशुद्धात्मा विजितात्मा जितेन्द्रियः ।
सर्वभूतात्मभूतात्मा कुर्वन्नपि न लिप्यते ।। ५.७ ।।

yoga-yukto viśuddhātmā vijitātmā jitendriyaḥ |
sarva-bhūtātma-bhūtātmā kurvann-api na lipyate || 5.7 ||

Krishna then explains how the seeker enriched by yoga-pursuit, and with a properly integrated personality, derives the ability to remain free from all bondage, in spite of all his bodily and mental activities and interactions. This part of the gospel is profoundly great. The one Upanishadic call to know and realize the Immortal Self, though tremendous in appeal, is elusive to many. Krishna softens the path and makes the call easier to heed by the unique touch and elegance of yoga. The three verses that follow carry a full message of clarity and oneness:

The yoga-integrated one, with his heart purified and his body, mind and senses under control, realizing his Self as the Self in all beings, does all actions, but remains unaffected and untainted by them.

To pursue yoga-sadhana is to get constantly purified and sublimated. It is to be balanced and moderated, gaining elevation and expansion every time. This process of purity and expansion cannot but grace the yogic seeker. As a result, he imbibes a new vision and dimension. He realizes easily and naturally his undeniable inner impersonality. And in that core, the whole universe begins to reign as one. The ideas and influences of differences no more infect and dislodge him. With facility and joy he perceives the grandeur of oneness everywhere, in everything.

When such self-control, self-enrichment and self-expansion grace him abundantly, his active life and pursuit assume increasing purpose and potential. His heart and mind begin to radiate the ecstasy of freedom and natural poise, untouched by any taint or blemish from anything done or experienced.

“Kurvann-api na lipyate” are the words Krishna meaningfully uses. He does not say that such a Yogic Knower loses all interest and concern for actions, withdrawing and remaining mute and insensitive. The Knower remains free amidst intense creative activities, benefiting one and all, preserving and displaying the lofty notes of Nature.

This clearly brings home that pursuit of yoga does not call for any forced immature withdrawal from activities. Instead, activities do help to bring forth and focus the latent notes of impurity, and yoga-sadhana consists in sublimating or eliminating them consistently. Instead of posing any conflict to each other, activities and introspection become abiding complements.

His personality, he realizes, is greater, vaster, subtler and more pervasive. He becomes a sarva-bhuta-atma-bhutatma (one who identifies his Self as the Self in all beings). This expression, nay description, is characteristic of the land’s culture and heritage. Within the circumscribing body of flesh reigns the uncircumscribable Spirit, the Self. Analyzed by worldly reason, it may seem impossible. But nursed by the yoga-pursuit, it shines as a perceptible reality.

As in the ocean, all waves are mere bubbles floating and drifting, so too in the sensory (external) expanse, the objects, however perceived or constituted, are but bubbles rising and sinking ceaselessly. This vision, this realization, makes the Yogi more fervent, wholesome and devout. Like a mother growing to parent the new children born to her, with no addition to her two hands or to the twenty-four hours of the day, the Yogic Knower begins to host in his spiritual horizon, the endless world with ease and poise. He acts doubly or trebly, nay, even more. No inner fatigue accrues from whatever he does. His mind embraces more, feels for more. No lepana (taint) of any kind can touch his being.

A question arises: Krishna specifically states that yoga-sublimation is necessary before the full-fledged sannyasa pursuit is taken up. Does it mean that this is an inviolable law or compulsion? How is it that this holy land of Bharat, right from the Vedic ages, encouraged and produced a number of ascetics, generation after generation?

Krishna says that without the required maturity and purification, sannyasa is hard to adopt. He does not say that sannyasa should not be attempted or adopted at any time by anyone. In fact, before telling Arjuna that he was fit only to take up the yoga-pursuit, he had clearly expressed (2.46) that jnana-nishtha, the ultimate in spiritual pursuit and achievement, takes one to the level of all-flooding fullness (sarvatah samplutodake). It is like the state when all places are equally flooded, making it redundant to search for a well, tank, lake or even a river for collecting water, be it for any purpose.

The question was and still is whether Arjuna, or one like him, can and should take up exclusive wisdom-pursuit or not. In the variety of births and growths this holy land bestows from time to time, there has always been a small but powerful spiritual section. Backed by the strength of purity, righteousness and dispassion – the most redeeming spiritual virtues – this small number has no hesitation in plunging into sannyasa. This felicity will continue to reign in the country, despite the seeming degeneration and divergence. Krishna’s arguments in favour of yoga do not, in any way, invalidate or question this fact and great truth about human potential.