Sanskrit
ज्ञेयः स नित्यसंन्यासी यो न द्वेष्टि न काङ्क्षति । निर्द्वन्द्वो हि महाबाहो सुखं बन्धात्प्रमुच्यते ॥
jñeyaḥ sa nityasaṃnyāsī yo na dveṣṭi na kāṅkṣati nirdvandvo hi mahābāho sukhaṃ bandhāt pramucyate
Translation
He should be known as a perpetual ascetic, who neither hateth nor desireth; free from the pairs of opposites, O mighty-armed, he is easily set free from bondage.
Annie Besant · The Bhagavad-Gita, translated by Annie Besant (4th ed., 1922) — Wikisource · Public Domain
Explanation
Before arguing for karma yoga’s superiority, Krishna redefines “sannyasin” so it no longer means someone who has physically stopped acting. The real perpetual renunciate is marked by freedom from attraction and aversion — the pairs of opposites (dvandva) — an internal condition rather than an external one. This redefinition is what allows Krishna’s next two verses to claim that renunciation and yoga are the same thing: if renunciation just means non-attachment, a karma yogi who acts without attachment already qualifies as a renunciate. Nitya-saṃnyāsī — “renouncing always,” not once and visibly — relocates sannyāsa from an act to a standing disposition. It is the same move BG 6.1 makes: the true renouncer is the one who acts without depending on the fruit.
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Word by word
- jñeyaḥ sa nityasaṃnyāsīज्ञेयः स नित्यसंन्यासी
- he is to be known as ever-renouncing (jñeyaḥ + saḥ + nitya-saṃnyāsī)
- yo na dveṣṭi na kāṅkṣatiयो न द्वेष्टि न काङ्क्षति
- who neither hates nor desires (yaḥ + na + dveṣṭi + na + kāṅkṣati)
- nirdvandvo hi mahābāhoनिर्द्वन्द्वो हि महाबाहो
- for free of the pairs, O mighty-armed (nir-dvandvaḥ + hi + mahā-bāho)
- sukhaṃ bandhāt pramucyateसुखं बन्धात् प्रमुच्यते
- is easily released from bondage (sukham + bandhāt + pramucyate)
Commentary
Site Commentary
Krishna doesn’t announce that he’s redefining “renunciate” — he simply uses the word to mean freedom from attraction and aversion and lets the new sense do its work silently across the next two verses. Anyone still holding the old, literal meaning — someone who has physically stopped acting — will find verses 4-5’s claim that renunciation and yoga are the same thing simply doesn’t parse. The argument is smuggled in through a definition change introduced by usage, never flagged as a change at all.
Original commentary written for this site · © Amit Singh — original commentary
Site Commentary — Second Reading
The verse’s real test isn’t renunciation of grand things — a career, a home — but freedom from dveṣa and kāṅkṣā, aversion and craving, in the small reactive moments nobody is watching: the interruption, the traffic, the minor slight. Nirdvandva, free from the pairs of opposites, is measured there or nowhere, since large renunciations can be performed for an audience while small reactivity happens when no one’s grading you. A person who has given up everything visible but still flinches at every minor irritant hasn’t met this definition at all.
Original commentary written for this site · © Amit Singh — original commentary
Concepts
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Lessons
Personal
- Notice when you've quietly redefined a word to yourself — success, discipline, rest — without registering that the meaning shifted; an unexamined redefinition can carry an entire argument you never consciously agreed to.
Professional
- When a colleague's argument suddenly seems airtight, check whether a key term shifted meaning partway through it — an unflagged redefinition is often doing more work than the stated logic.
Family & Social
- If a recurring disagreement with someone close to you never actually resolves, check whether you're each using a key word — respect, help, fair — with a quietly different meaning; the disagreement may be definitional, not substantive.
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