Bhagavad Gītā Chapter 6, Verse 46: Krishna to Arjuna — Dhyāna-Yoga
The yogī stands above the ascetic, the scholar, and the ritual performer alike, so become a yogī, Arjuna.
Bhāṣyakāra purports
- Śaṅkaraadvaita
The yogī surpasses the tapasvin (ascetic) because bodily mortification without inward-withdrawal is merely rajasic exertion, and surpasses the jñānī here understood as one versed in śāstrārtha-pāṇḍitya (textual erudition) — scholastic learning without direct Self-realization is still within the domain of ignorance. Against the karmin performing agnihotra and similar rites, the yogī stands higher because yoga, by stilling the vrittis (fluctuations of mind), clears the mirror in which Ātman is self-luminously recognized. Hence, Arjuna: be a yogī — not because yoga is final, but because it is the nearest gate to jñāna that dissolves the knower.
divergence: Śaṅkara: jñānam atra śāstrārtha-pāṇḍityam — erudition only; karmibhyaḥ agnihotrādi-karma-tadbhyaḥ adhikaḥ
- Rāmānujaviśiṣṭādvaita
Tapas performed without ātma-jñāna secures limited puruṣārtha (human ends); jñāna outside bhakti-yoga reaches only ātmā as an object, not as Bhagavān's mode; karma alone — even aśvamedha — cannot bridge the soul to Bhagavān's feet. Yoga understood as the integral practice culminating in bhakti surpasses all three because it leads to the highest puruṣārtha, direct communion with Brahman who contains all jīvas and jagat as his body. Therefore, Arjuna: become a yogī — one whose every action is kainkarya (service), every cognition an act of anubhava (relishing the Lord).
divergence: Rāmānuja: ātmla-jñāna-vyatirikta-jñānaiḥ... tebyaḥ sarvebhyaḥ adhika-puruṣārtha-sādhanatāt yogasya
- Madhvadvaita
Madhva sharpens the hierarchy with a decisive citation: even among yogīs, meditation on Śeṣa, Brahmā, or Śiva is a koṭi (a fraction) of meditation on Hari; knowing this, dhyāna of Hari surpasses mere jñāna, and darsana (direct vision) surpasses both, while bhakti toward Hari surpasses all means whatsoever. The yogī here is specifically the yogī who knows Hari as the supremely independent (svatantra) reality and all else as dependent (paratantra) — that distinction, absent in mere tapas or ritual, is what makes the yogī utterly superior. Be a yogī, Arjuna, meaning: fix your meditation on Hari alone, whose infinity no other sādhana can reach.
divergence: Madhva cites Gāruḍa-Purāṇa: tatra-api śeṣa-śrī-brahma-śivādi-dhyānato hareḥ dhyānaṃ koṭi-guṇaṃ proktam; Nāradīya: darśanād-api bhakteś ca na kiñcit sādhanādhikam
- Vallabhaśuddhādvaita
Kāya-kleśa tapas (bodily affliction) and sāṅkhya-jñāna (intellectual discrimination) and kevala-karma (solitary ritual action) each fall short because they operate by the aspirant's self-effort alone, whereas yoga here is mano-rodha — the stilling of the mind — which creates the space in which Śrī Vāsudeva's prasāda (grace) can enter. For the Puṣṭi-mārgin, the yoga enjoined is not external praxis but the inner cessation through which the soul becomes receptive to Kṛṣṇa's līlā. Arjuna is told: be a yogī of this kind — not the generic meditator, but one whose mano-nirodha is offered at Vāsudeva's feet.
divergence: Vallabha: na tubhya yoga-'yam bāhya ucyate, kintu aniṣiddhaḥ Śrī-Vāsudeve sva-citta-nirodhanāt bhakti-rūpa ucyate
- Śrīdharabhakti
Śrīdhara states the hierarchy plainly: the yogī is held superior to those devoted to kṛcchra-cāndrāyaṇa tapas (severe penances), to those possessing śāstra-jñāna (scriptural learning), and to those performing iṣṭāpūrta karma (Vedic and charitable deeds). The word abhimataḥ (held in esteem, considered) signals a consensus judgment across traditions, not merely Kṛṣṇa's personal preference. The verse functions as a motivational seal: Arjuna has heard the difficulty and grandeur of yoga; Kṛṣṇa now affirms that despite the difficulty it is worth entering, because no other path yields comparable fruit.
divergence: Śrīdhara: kṛcchra-cāndrāyaṇādi-tapo-niṣṭhebhyo... iṣṭāpūrtādi-karma-kāribhyo-'pi yogī śreṣṭho-'bhimataḥ
- Madhusūdanaadvaita-bhakti
Madhusūdana constructs a fine-grained ascent: over tapasvin (no tattva-jñāna, no mokṣa-fitness), over karmin (ditto), over parokṣa-jñānin (indirect, inferential knowledge), and even over one who has tattva-jñāna but lacks mano-nāśa (mind-dissolution) and vāsanā-kṣaya (root-impression exhaustion) — for such a one is not yet jīvanmukta (liberated while living). The true yogī — who unites tattva-jñāna, mano-nāśa, and vāsanā-kṣaya simultaneously — is the paramā (supreme) yogī. Arjuna is addressed as a pure being (the word 'Arjuna' carrying śuddhi) and commanded: become that complete yogī, for sadhana is ripe in you.
divergence: Madhusūdana: mano-nāśa-vāsanā-kṣaya-abhāvāt a-jīvanmuktebhyo mano-nāśa-vāsanā-kṣaya-vattven jīvanmukto yogī adhikaḥ mataḥ; hee arjuna iti śuddha iti saṃbodhana-arthaḥ