Chapter 5 Shloka 4

सांख्ययोगौ पृथग्बाला: प्रवदन्ति न पण्डिता:।

एकमप्यास्थित: सम्यगुभयोर्विन्दते फलम्।।४।।

Only the uninstructed child considers Saankhya and Yoga

to be different from each other – not the wise Pandit.

The one who is established in either state

attains the result of both.

Chapter 5 Shloka 4

सांख्ययोगौ पृथग्बाला: प्रवदन्ति न पण्डिता:।

एकमप्यास्थित: सम्यगुभयोर्विन्दते फलम्।।४।।

Bhagwan says, O Arjuna!

Only the uninstructed child considers Saankhya and Yoga to be different from each other – not the wise Pandit. The one who is established in either state attains the result of both.

Knowledge and Yoga are synonymous. Without yoga, knowledge is lifeless and yoga without selfless actions is meaningless. If one is the embodiment of gyan, yoga will be one’s natural constitution and yagya one’s spontaneous action. Both knowledge and yoga necessitate purification of one’s mental aberrations and proof of Supreme knowledge in one’s practical life.

1. The life of one established in either will be identical.

2. The consequences of both are the same.

3. The methodology of action of both is alike.

4. Both possess the same knowledge.

5. Theoretical knowledge is translated into a living science through Yoga.

Yoga

1. Yoga is love.

2. Yoga is the highest devotion.

3. It is shraddha or faith.

4. It is affinity for the Supreme Godhead.

5. Yoga is unity with one’s dearest Lord, with Truth Itself. Yoga nurtures devotion within so that one can emulate one’s Supreme Beloved in one’s life.

6. Yoga occurs when the Name of the Lord becomes the sole support of one’s life.

7. When the sadhak places his all at the feet of the Beloved Lord, he ascends the ladder of Nishkam Karma Yoga, or union through selfless action.

8. When the Lord is one’s Eternal Witness, only then can one achieve Yoga; only then can one’s life become a flow of yagya. Then Supreme Knowledge springs from within and one achieves the Supreme state. Without such faith, knowledge remains lifeless and a mere theory.

9. If the Supreme Knowledge of Saankhya is not employed in life, it remains a mere play of words.

Only faith in the form of intense love can transform the knowledge of the Supreme into Yoga, which will then permeate into one’s life. The scholar of Saankhya will reach the Supreme state only when he becomes an Atmavaan.

Saankhya – the knowledge of the Atma.

Saankhya believes in the unity of the individual Atma and the universal Atma. It also believes the entire Universe to be a creation of the threefold attributes of Nature. Thus the entire creation is comprised of these three attributes.

Yoga occurs when the individual renounces his sense of individuality and is established in the Atma.

Sanyas occurs when the individual turns away from his own body, believing himself to be the Atma. If Yoga is to be attained, one has to necessarily distance oneself from one’s own body. Establishment in the Atma leads to sanyas.

a) Yoga inevitably follows sanyas.

b) A Yogi is inevitably an Atmavaan.

c) As such, one’s body and its actions will no longer be one’s own.

He who knows all this, also knows that the result of both Sanyas and Yoga are the same. He also knows of the unity of both.

Saankhya and Knowledge

Little one, Saankhya, having elucidated the knowledge of the Atma, exhorts the jivatma (the individual Atma) to unite with the Universal Atma. Yoga is the culmination of that unity.

Saankhya is knowledge – Yoga is becoming one with that knowledge.

Saankhya is the knowledge of the Supreme, which unifies the Atma and the Paramatma, the Supreme Lord. Yoga is mergence of the Atma in the Paramatma.

Little one, if you accept the knowledge of Saankhya in toto, it will inevitably filter into your life. Even if you believe Yoga to be supreme, the end result will be that you will be established in the Atma – the Essence of the Self.