6-4

यदा हि नेन्द्रियार्थेषु न कर्मसु अनुषज्जते ।
सर्व सङ्कल्प संन्यासी योगारूढः तदोच्यते ॥ ४ ॥

yadA hi nendriyArtheSu na karmasu anuSajjate |
sarva saGkalpa saMnyAsI yogArUDhaH tadocyate || 4 ||

यदा हि [yadA hi] When न अनुषज्जते [na anuSajjate] a person is not attached to इन्द्रियार्थेषु [indriyArtheSu] sensual things, न कर्मसु [na karmasu] nor to the activities associated with those stimuli, तदा [tadA] then, सर्व सङ्कल्प संन्यासी [sarva saGkalpa saMnyAsI] he is free from attachments towards desires. योगारूढः तदोच्यते [yogArUDhaH tadocyate] He is said to be firmly situated in the realization of the Self.

When a person works independent of desire, he gives up attachment towards things that are unrelated to the experience of the Self. These are things in the material world that stimulate sense organs – taste, smell and so on. The natural inclination of this person is to realize the Self alone. He gives up attachment to material stimuli and the activities done to react on them.

In this state, he is considered to be situated firmly in the true nature of the Self, having freed himself of all desires.

However, a person who wants to ascend to that state is still susceptible to the stimuli of the material world. Hence, he needs to practice working without being driven by desire , purely as worship to the Lord. In this way, he practices the art of giving up attachment towards the material world and the art of meditation to realize the Self. This technique of [ karmayOga ] is the only way available to him and he needs to practice just that.

The same is elaborated in the next Shloka.