38. Attain the State Of Yoga (6.1-6.4)
# **Attain the State Of Yoga (6.1-6.4)**
Karma, the state of action, or Sannyāsa, the state of renunciation, is not related to your doing. It is directly related to your being. Being a Sannyāsi, a renunciate monk, is not a status, it is a state. Whether you are doing karma yoga or you remain a Sannyāsi is in no way going to affect you. One's inner space, one's being alone matters.
Kṛṣṇa says, 'Just renouncing the sacred fire and not performing one's duty does not mean one is an ascetic or a Sannyāsi.' In those days, fire was the basis for everything; for cooking or for spiritual practice. I can replace the word 'fire' with 'cell phone' for today's age. We can say, 'Don't think that by sacrificing the cell phone and laptop you become a Sannyāsi or a great karma yogi.'
To truly renounce, the mind has to renounce thoughts. Renunciation of the past and the future, by bringing our mind into the present space of completion, is true renunciation.
We may think that we are in control of our mind. But actually, our mind controls us. This is what Kṛṣṇa means by sañkalpa, self-interest, because the mind wishes to satisfy the senses that it controls. Only when we renounce the mind's control by going beyond the senses can we become a true renunciate.
When Kṛṣṇa talks about 'self ', it is the small 'self ', the external identity that we confuse with our Self, the real inner core. When we renounce this so-called identity, which is not the true Self, then we perceive our self as the Supreme Self, our true identity.
Listen. I am defining Yoga. Renunciation of the fantasies that we feel we need for self-satisfaction is Yoga. Yoga is the state when our desires, expressed through sensual pleasures, dissolve. We unite with our true