February Gītā: 5.5
yat sankhyaih prapyate sthanam
tad yogair api gamyate
ekam sankhyam ca yogam ca
yah pasyati sa pasyati
‘One who knows that the position reached by means of renunciation can also be attained by works in devotional service, and who therefore sees that the path of works and the path of renunciation as one, sees things as they are. ’
Bhagavad Gītā 5.5
For all its antiquity there is still something revolutionary about the Bhagavad Gītā. The idea that there is no hierarchy between the physical and the philosophical approach to enlightenment would not have been commonplace at the time. It’s still pretty left-field today. The philosophical approach to higher consciousness (here described as the study of sankhya) would have been widely regarded as loftier than the physical approach (to which Krishna refers unambiguously as yoga). Krishna tells Arjuna that the two paths are intertwined. They support one another.
A similar idea is expressed in the second pada of Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras.
The Kleshas (obstacles to enlightenment) can be overcome by the three actions (kriya) of discipline (tapas), study (swadhyaya) and devotion to god (ishwarapranidhana). My favourite description of the kriyas is found in BKS Iyengar’s commentary and translation. Each kriya, he says, represents an aspect of ourselves. Swdhyaya is the intellectual , tapas is the physical and isvarapranidhana is the spiritual. By cultivating all three at once you can practise with your mind, body and soul.