Sanskrit
बुद्धियुक्तो जहातीह उभे सुकृतदुष्कृते । तस्माद्योगाय युज्यस्व योगः कर्मसु कौशलम् ॥
buddhiyukto jahātīha ubhe sukṛtaduṣkṛte tasmād yogāya yujyasva yogaḥ karmasu kauśalam
Translation
United to the Pure Reason one abandoneth here both good and evil deeds; therefore cleave thou to yoga; yoga is skill in action.
Annie Besant · The Bhagavad-Gita, translated by Annie Besant (4th ed., 1922) — Wikisource · Public Domain
Explanation
A second technical definition of yoga, distinct from verse 48’s “equanimity” — here it’s “skill in action” (karmasu kauśalam). The two aren’t in tension: acting skillfully, in this sense, means acting without the accounting mindset that sorts deeds into good and bad based on their results, which is exactly the fruit-oriented working just called pitiable in verse 49. To “cast off both good and bad deeds” is not licence; it means the bookkeeping of merit and demerit stops applying to one who acts from a steadied buddhi. Chapter 4’s akarma — “inaction in action” — is the fuller statement of the same idea.
Study deeper
Word by word
- buddhiyuktoबुद्धियुक्तो
- one joined with understanding (buddhi-yuktaḥ)
- jahātīhaजहातीह
- casts off, here (jahāti + iha)
- ubhe sukṛtaduṣkṛteउभे सुकृतदुष्कृते
- both good and bad deeds (ubhe + sukṛta-duṣkṛte)
- tasmād yogāya yujyasvaतस्माद् योगाय युज्यस्व
- therefore yoke yourself to yoga (tasmāt + yogāya + yujyasva)
- yogaḥ karmasu kauśalamयोगः कर्मसु कौशलं
- yoga is skill in actions (yogaḥ + karmasu + kauśalam)
Commentary
Site Commentary
Verse 48 defined yoga as equanimity; two verses later this verse defines it as “skill in action” — a different word for the same thing, not a competing claim. The chapter doesn’t resolve which definition is correct because both are facets of one disposition: acting without the scorekeeping that verse 49 just called pitiable.
Original commentary written for this site · © Amit Singh — original commentary
Concepts
Apply this verse
Lessons
Personal
- If a virtue you're practicing — patience, say — seems to mean both "staying calm" and "acting decisively" depending on the situation, both are probably true at once; don't wait for a single tidy definition before practicing it.
Professional
- When "quality" on your team gets defined both as "consistency" and as "craft" by different people, don't treat that as disagreement to resolve — hold both as facets of the same underlying standard.
Family & Social
- When you and a partner define "commitment" differently — one as steadiness, one as active effort — don't assume only one definition can be right; naming both as valid can end the argument faster than picking a winner.
Ask yourself
A few ways to take this verse past reading. Ticks and the note stay in this browser.