एकं साङ्ख्यं च योगं च यः पश्यति स पश्यति ॥ ५ ॥
yatsāṅkhyaiḥ prāpyate sthānaṃ tadyogairapi gamyate .
ekaṃ sāṅkhyaṃ ca yogaṃ ca yaḥ paśyati sa paśyati .. 5 ..
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Sāṅkhyas are those who are devoted to knowledge and have renounced the world. They reach the state called moksha. The same state is reached by Yogins also,—but indirectly through, the attainment of true knowledge and renunciation,—by those who perform their duties as a means of attaining knowledge, dedicating them to the Īśvara, and having no selfish end in view. That man sees rightly who sees that Sāṅkhya and Yoga are one, as leading to an identical result.
(Question) :—If so Sannyāsa must be superior to Yoga. How then is it that it has been declared that Karma-Yoga is better than Karma-samnyasa?
(Answer) :—Listen why it is so. It is the simple Karma-samnyasa and the simple Karma-Yoga with reference to which you have asked me “which one is the better of the two?”. In accordance with the question, My answer has been given—without having regard to knowledge—that Karma-Yoga is superior to Karma-samnyasa. But that Sannyāsa which is based upon knowledge is regarded by Me as Sāṅkhya, and Sāṅkhya itself is the true (paramartha) Yoga. It is only by a figure that the Yoga through Vedic rites is called Yoga or Sannyāsa, inasmuch as it conduces to that (true Yoga or Sannyāsa).
Karma-Yoga is a means to Samnyasa.
How is it that the aim of the Karma-Yoga is that (true Yoga or Sannyāsa)?—Listen :