Sannyasi and Karma Yogi are One - Acharya Vinoba

Sannyasa and Yoga are both such ideals that they will always remain ideals and inaccessible, but as examples we should take those who have approached the ideal. We illustrate Sannyasa by Suka and Yagnavalkya.  As Kamya Yogis, the Gita itself mentions Janaka and Sri Krishna. But thinking a little, one sees that the distinction evaporates as if written with water.  Yajnavalkya was a Sannyasi, Janaka was a Karma Yogi.  Janaka, the Karma Yogi, was a disciple of Yajnavalkya, the Sannyasi; but Sukadeva, the Sannyasi, was the disciple of this same Janaka.  First the Sannyasi, then the Karma Yogi, and then again the Sannyasi, so the garland is strung.  Thus Yoga and Sannyasa succeed each other in the same line.

 © The Vision, December 2001.  Reprinted with permission

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