2.50 Skill in action Krishna speaks
बुद्धियुक्तो जहातीह उभे सुकृतदुष्कृते
तस्माद्योगाय युज्यस्व योगः कर्मसु कौशलम्
buddhi-yukto jahātīha ubhe sukṛita-duṣhkṛite
tasmād yogāya yujyasva yogaḥ karmasu kauśhalam
One joined to understanding lets go of both good and bad deeds. So devote yourself to yoga. Yoga is skill in action.
Explanation
Yoga is skill in action.
yogaḥ karmasu kauśalam. The definition is startlingly practical for a chapter that has just spent twenty verses on the imperishable.
And it follows a stranger clause: one joined to understanding lets go of both good and bad deeds. The good ones too, which is 9.28's symmetry arriving early.
Going further
Word by word
- buddhi-yuktaḥ
- endowed with wisdom
- jahāti
- get rid of
- iha
- in this life
- ubhe
- both
- sukṛita-duṣhkṛite
- good and bad deeds
- tasmāt
- therefore
- yogāya
- for Yog
- yujyasva
- strive for
- yogaḥ
- yog is
- karmasu kauśhalam
- the art of working skillfully
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Yogaḥ karmasu kauśhalam — yoga is skill in action.
The definition is startlingly practical for a chapter that has just spent thirty verses on the imperishable. Not withdrawal, not ritual, not posture: skill. The word kauśhalam is the ordinary one used for a craftsman's competence.
Read together with 2.47, the two verses form the chapter's actual instruction: you do not own the result, and that is precisely why the work itself has to be done well.