यं संन्यासमिति प्राहुर्योगं तं विद्धि पाण्डव।
न ह्यसंन्यस्तसङ्कल्पो योगी भवति कश्चन।।6.2।।
That which they call monasticism, know that to be Yoga, O Pandava, for nobody who has not given up expectations can be a yogi.
Osho’s Commentary
What is this sankalpa—this selfish will, this resolve? It is born of desire. When you desire something, you form a will to attain it. Sankalpa is the intense, organized effort to fulfill a desire. It is the moment you put your very self at stake. This is what a gambler does. We are all gamblers, staking our lives on our desires. The one who has no desire has nothing to stake. Krishna says, “Drop all sankalpa.” Then you become a yogi, a sannyasi. When desire becomes linked with the ego, it becomes a sankalpa. The ego says, “If this is fulfilled, then I AM. If not, then I am nothing.” The ego tries to prove itself through the fulfillment of desire. This is the root of all obsession, all madness. Society teaches you to strengthen your will. Krishna teaches you the exact opposite. He says, “One who has dropped all sankalpa, he attains to the divine.” To drop sankalpa is surrender. It is to say, “Thy will be done.” It is to be ready for defeat, for failure, as much as for success. This is the great death—not the death of the body, which is just the mind changing its clothes—but the death of the “I,” the ego. And remember, only from this great death is the great life born. The seed must break for the sprout to emerge. Our ego is that hard seed. It must be broken.