Devanagari
एतावानेव योगेन समग्रेणेह योगिन: ।
युज्यतेऽभिमतो ह्यर्थो यदसङ्गस्तु कृत्स्नश: ॥ २७ ॥
Verse text
etāvān eva yogena
samagreṇeha yoginaḥ
yujyate ’bhimato hy artho
yad asaṅgas tu kṛtsnaśaḥ
Synonyms
etāvān
—
of such a measure
;
eva
—
just
;
yogena
—
by yoga practice
;
samagreṇa
—
all
;
iha
—
in this world
;
yoginaḥ
—
of the yogī
;
yujyate
—
is achieved
;
abhimataḥ
—
desired
;
hi
—
certainly
;
arthaḥ
—
purpose
;
yat
—
which
;
asaṅgaḥ
—
detachment
;
tu
—
indeed
;
kṛtsnaśaḥ
—
completely .
Translation
The greatest common understanding for all yogīs is complete detachment from matter, which can be achieved by different kinds of yoga.
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
Complete detachment from sense objects is recognized as a necessary factor for achieving the goals of the devotees, jṣānīs and yogīs through the practice of bhakti, jṣāna and yoga.
This verse describes common practice and results for all three types of worshippers. For the devotees, jṣānīs and yogīs (yoginaḥ), by bhakti, jṣāna and aṣṭāṅga yogas (etāvān yogena), complete detachment from sense objects (asaṅgaḥ) is recognized as the desired goal (abhimataḥ arthaḥ), since it helps achieve the desired goal. By complete detachment alone one’s desired goal of prema or liberation is achieved.
Purport
There are three kinds of
yoga,
namely
bhakti-yoga, jṣāna-yoga
and
aṣṭāṅga-yoga.
Devotees,
jṣānīs
and
yogīs
all try to get out of the material entanglement. The
jṣānīs
try to detach their sensual activities from material engagement. The
jṣāna-yogī
thinks that matter is false and that Brahman is truth; therefore by cultivation of knowledge he tries to detach the senses from material enjoyment. The
aṣṭāṅga-yogīs
also try to control the senses. The devotees, however, try to engage the senses in the service of the Lord. Therefore it appears that the activities of the
bhaktas,
devotees, are better than those of the
jṣānīs
and
yogīs.
The mystic
yogīs
simply try to control the senses by practicing the eight divisions of
yoga
—
yama, niyama, āsana, prāṇāyāma, pratyāhāra,
etc. — and the
jṣānīs
try by mental reasoning to understand that sense enjoyment is false. But the easiest and most direct process is to engage the senses in the service of the Lord.
The purpose of all
yoga
is to detach one’s sense activities from this material world. The final aims, however, are different.
Jṣānīs
want to become one with the Brahman effulgence,
yogīs
want to realize Paramātmā, and devotees want to develop Kṛṣṇa consciousness and transcendental loving service to the Lord. That loving service is the perfect stage of sense control. The senses are actually active symptoms of life, and they cannot be stopped. They can be detached only if there is superior engagement. As it is confirmed in
Bhagavad-gītā,
paraṁ dṛṣṭvā nivartate:
the activities of the senses can be stopped if they are given superior engagements. The supreme engagement is engagement of the senses in the service of the Lord. That is the purpose of all
yoga.