📿 Shloka Collection

Anashritah Karmaphalam

Gita 6.1 Bhagavad Gita
📖 Bhagavad Gita, Chapter 6 — Atma Samyama Yoga
अनाश्रितः कर्मफलं कार्यं कर्म करोति यः ।
स संन्यासी च योगी च न निरग्निर्न चाक्रियः ॥
Anashritah karmaphalam kaaryam karma karoti yah
Sa sannyaasi cha yogi cha na niragnir na chaakriyah
Anashritah
without depending on, without taking shelter of
Karmaphalam
the fruit of action
Kaaryam karma
the work that ought to be done
Karoti yah
one who performs
Sa sannyaasi cha yogi cha
that person is both a sannyasi and a yogi
Na niragnih
not one who has abandoned fire rituals
Na cha akriyah
not one who has abandoned action

Right at the start of Chapter 6, Krishna overturns a common assumption. People often picture a sannyasi as someone who has left home, given up rituals, and retreated from the world. Krishna says no. The real sannyasi is the one who keeps doing the work that needs doing — but without clinging to what that work might bring back.

Think of a farmer who tends the field every single day. He ploughs, he sows, he waters. Whether the monsoon comes on time or not is beyond him. But he does his part fully, without sitting around calculating the harvest. That spirit — full effort, zero fixation on reward — is what Krishna calls both sannyasa and yoga.

This is reassuring for anyone who thought yoga was only for monks in remote caves. Krishna is saying: stay where you are, do your work, just loosen your grip on the outcome. That shift inside is the entire practice.

This is the opening shloka of Chapter 6, Atma Samyama Yoga. Krishna begins the teaching on meditation and self-mastery here. Chapter 5 compared sannyasa and karma yoga — this verse delivers the conclusion: they are one and the same.

The Gita Press edition titles this chapter 'Atma-Samyama Yoga.' From the very first shloka, the message is clear: yoga is not achieved through outward renunciation but through the inner letting go of attachment to results.

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