[For attaining the ultimate realization described at the end of the previous chapter (05.29), can the process that was earlier outlined briefly (05.27-28) be elaborated?]

Seekers begin their spiritual journey not by giving up their duties, but by doing their duties while giving up attachment to the fruits that may come from their duties — such seekers are both yogis [karma-yogis] and sannyasis [renunciates] (1).

[How can seekers be both yogis and sannyasis simultaneously?] What is called renunciation is non-different from yoga because seekers cannot become yogis if they are not renounced — specifically, if they have not renounced desires for worldly pleasures (2).

[But aren’t yogis expected to renounce all worldly work, not just worldly desires?] Yoga practice involves two distinct stages: neophyte yogis progress by doing their duties; advanced yogis progress by ceasing from their duties and focusing entirely on internal meditation (3).

[What are the characteristics of advanced yogis?] They renounce all worldly desires —  they act neither for gratifying their senses nor for gaining piety to better gratify their senses in the future (4). 

[How do yogis come to such an advanced stage?] By learning to expertly use their mind for elevating themselves and by not letting themselves be degraded by their mind — the mind can be both the friend and the enemy of the self (5).

[How can the same mind be both a friend and an enemy?] For those who have mastered the mind, it acts as their friend; for those who have failed to master their mind, it remains their enemy (6).

[How can those who have mastered their mind be known?] They are sublimely peaceful, having realized their higher self [parama-atma]; therefore, they stay unaffected amid all the binaries that affect lower levels of the self: heat and cold that affect the body; pleasure and pain that affect the mind; honor and dishonor that affect the ego (7). 

[How can they stay so unaffected amid life’s binaries?] They are internally content, being illuminated with both knowledge and realization; they are fixed in the unchanging, having mastered their senses and having acquired an equal disposition toward all worldly objects, ranging from dirt to stone to gold — being thus spiritually connected, they are celebrated as [advanced] yogis (8). 

[Life’s binaries are caused not just by various kinds of things but also by various kinds of people — how do yogis deal with people?] Those yogis are to be considered even more advanced whose intelligence stays steady while dealing with all kinds of people: such people may range from close well-wishers through formal friends to militant enemies; such people may choose to be neutrals or mediators among the inimical and the cordial; or such people may be overall righteous or vicious (9).