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Who is a Yogī?

Since ages, this land has seen many Yogīs who have been great spiritual masters and who have lit the light of wisdom in mankind through their extraordinary contributions. This land has always treated those Yogīs as the embodiments of the Supreme and followed their footsteps. But with the passage of time, the inclination towards spirituality has declined in the people due to many reasons. Nowadays the term ‘Yogī’ is as familiar as the term ‘Yoga’, and when heard, it stimulates a kind of mystical perspective in our minds with multiple conclusions.

Who is a Yogī? What are his qualities? What is his lifestyle? And how can one become a Yogi? Our ancient scriptures are the sources where we find the answers to all these queries.

In the Bhagavad Gītā, Lord Kṛṣṇa says:

अनाश्रितः कर्मफलं कार्यं कर्म करोति यः।
स संन्यासी च योगी च न निरग्निर्न चाक्रियः॥

anāśritaḥ karmaphalaṁ kāryṁ karma karate yaḥ।
sa saṁnyāsī ca yogī ca na nirgnirna cākriyaḥ॥

One who performs his prescribed duties by renouncing the fruits of his actions is both a Saṁnyāsī and a Yogī, but not someone who has merely given up performing sacrifices or other prescribed duties.

– [Bhagavad Gītā, 6: 1]

People in general have a misconception about a Yogī or a Saṁnyāsī, that he is someone who does not shoulder any responsibilities and who renounces all activities. But here, Lord Kṛṣṇa upholds the true practice of Dharma. He says that no one should ever discard his prescribed duties. Everyone should execute his duties with utmost devotion. Among the doers of duties, a true Yogī is one who discharges his duties for the duty’s sake and is in no way attached to the fruits of his actions. The Lord further asserts that the practice of Yoga is not different from Saṁnyāsa, as no one becomes a Yogī without renouncing Saṅkalpa (selfish desires). In his Yoga Sūtras, Maharṣi Patañjali describes the means to attain Yoga, which are Abhyāsa (practice) and Vairāgya (renunciation).

Lord Kṛṣṇa describes the Yogī who has attained the peaks of Yoga as:

यदा हि नेन्द्रियार्थेषु न कर्मस्वनुषज्जते।
सर्वसङ्कल्पसंन्यासी योगारूढस्तदोच्यते॥

yadā hi nendriyārtheṣu na karmasvanuṣajjate।
sarvasaṅkalpasaṃnyāsī yogārūḍhastadocyate॥

When one is free from attachments to the sense objects as well as the actions, and has renounced all selfish desires, he is said to have ascended the peaks of Yoga.

– [Bhagavad Gītā, 6: 4]

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