

Chapter VI - The Yoga of Meditation

Krishna said:

One who performs the prescribed duty

Without seeking its fruit is a Samnyasi and a yogi,

Not the one who merely does not light the sacred fire,

And does not work.

O Arjuna, know that to be the Karma-yoga

Which they call Samnyasa.

No one becomes a Karma-yogi

Who has not renounced

The selfish motive behind an action.

For the wise who seeks to attain yoga

Karma-yoga is said to be the means;

For the one who has attained yoga,

Equanimity becomes the means.

A person is said to have attained yogic perfection

When there is no desire for sensual pleasures,

Or attachment to the fruits of work,

And has renounced all personal selfish motives.

One must elevate, not degrade, oneself

By one's own mind.

The mind alone is one's friend

As well as one's enemy.

The mind is the friend

Of those who have control over it,

And the mind acts like an enemy

For those who do not control it.

One who has control over the mind

Is tranquil in heat and cold,

In pleasure and pain, and in honor and dishonor;

And is ever steadfast with the Supreme Self.

A yogi is called Self-realized

Who is satisfied with knowledge

And understanding of the Self,

Who is equanimous, who has control over the senses,

And to whom a clod, a stone, and gold are the same.

A person is considered superior

Who is impartial towards companions,

Friends, enemies, Neutrals, arbiters,

Haters, relatives, saints, and sinners.

Let the yogi seated in solitude and alone

Having mind and senses under control

And free from desires and attachments for possessions,

Try constantly to contemplate on the Supreme Self.

The yogi should sit on a firm seat

That is neither too high nor too low,

Covered with sacred Kusha grass,

A deerskin, and a cloth,

One over the other, in a clean spot.

Sitting and concentrating the mind

On a single object,

Controlling the thoughts

And the activities of the senses,

Let the yogi practice meditation for self-purification.

Hold the waist, spine, chest, neck, and head erect,

Motionless and steady, fix the eyes and the mind

Steadily between the eye brows,

and do not look around.

With serene and fearless mind;

Practicing celibacy; having the mind under control

And thinking of Me; let the yogi sit

And have Me as the supreme goal.

Thus, by always keeping the mind fixed on the Self,

The yogi whose mind is subdued attains peace

Of the Supreme nirvana by uniting with Me.

This yoga is not possible, O Arjuna,

For the one who eats too much,

Pr who does not eat at all;

Who sleeps too much,

Or who keeps awake.

But, for the one who is moderate

In eating, recreation, working,

sleeping, and waking,

This yoga destroys sorrow.

A person is said to have achieved yoga,

The union with the Self,

When the perfectly disciplined mind

Gets freedom from all desires,

And becomes absorbed in the Self alone.

As a lamp in a spot

Sheltered from the wind

Does not flicker,

This simile is used for the subdued mind

Of a yogi practicing meditation on Brahman.

When the mind disciplined

By the practice of meditation becomes steady,

One becomes content in the Self by beholding Him

With (purified) intellect.

One feels infinite bliss

That is perceivable only through the intellect,

And is beyond the reach of the senses.

After realizing Brahman,

One is never separated from absolute reality.

After Self-Realization,

One does not regard any other gain

superior to Self-Realization.

Established in Self-Realization,

One is not moved even by the greatest calamity.

The severance of union with sorrow

Is known by the name of yoga.

This yoga should be practiced

With firm determination and perseverance,

Without any mental reservation or doubts.

Totally abandoning all selfish desires,

And completely restraining

The senses by the intellect;

One gradually attains tranquillity of mind

By keeping the mind fully absorbed in the Self

By means of a well-trained intellect,

And thinking of nothing else.

Wheresoever this restless

And unsteady mind wanders away,

One should bring it back

To the reflection of the Supreme.

Supreme bliss comes to a Self-realized yogi

Whose mind is tranquil,

Whose desires are under control,

And who is free from sin.

Such a sinless yogi,

Who constantly engages the mind with the Self,

Easily enjoys the infinite bliss

Of contact with Brahman.

Because of perceiving the Self (abiding) in all beings

And all beings (abiding) in the Self;

A yogi, who is in union with the Self,

Sees everybeing with an equal eye.

Those who see Me in everything

And see everything in Me,

Are not separated from Me

And I am not separated from them.

The non-dualists,

Who adore Me as abiding in all beings,

Abide in Me irrespective

Of their mode of living.

One is considered the best yogi

Who regards every being like oneself,

And who can feel the pain and pleasures of others

As one's own, O Arjuna.

Arjuna said:

O Krishna, You have said that yoga of meditation

Is characterized by the equanimity ,

But, due to restlessness of mind

I do not perceive the steady state of mind.

Because the mind, indeed, is very unsteady,

Turbulent, powerful, and obstinate, O Krishna.

I think restraining the mind

Is as difficult as restraining the wind.

Krishna said:

Undoubtedly, O Arjuna, the mind is restless

And difficult to restrain,

but it is subdued by Abhyaasa (practice),

And Vairaagya (detachment), O Arjuna.

In My opinion, yoga is difficult

For the one whose mind is not subdued.

However, yoga is attainable by the person

Of subdued mind by striving through proper means.

Arjuna said:

For the faithful but of unsubdued mind,

Who deviates from (the path of) meditation

And fails to attain yogic perfection

What is the destination of such a person, O Krishna?

Do they not perish

Like a dispersing cloud, O Krishna,

Having lost both, supportless and bewildered

On the path of Self-realization?

O Krishna,

Only You are able to completely dispel

This doubt of mine.

Because there is none, other than You,

who can dispel this doubt.

Krishna said:

There is no destruction, O Arjuna,

For such a yogi either here or hereafter.

A transcendentalist is never put to grief, My dear friend.

The unsuccessful yogi is reborn,

After attaining heaven and living there for many years,

In the house of the pure and prosperous; or

Such a yogi is born in a family

Of wise transcendentalists.

A birth like this is very difficult, indeed,

To obtain in this world.

After taking such a birth, O Arjuna,

One regains the knowledge acquired

In the previous life, and strives again

To achieve perfection.

The unsuccessful yogi is instinctively carried

Towards Brahman by virtue of Sanskaara

Of yogic practices of previous lives.

Even the inquirer of Brahman

Surpasses those who perform Vedic rituals.

The yogi who diligently strives,

Perfecting through many incarnations,

Becomes completely free from all sins

And reaches the supreme goal.

The yogi is superior to the ascetics.

The yogi is superior to the scholars.

The yogi is superior to the ritualists.

Therefore, O Arjuna, be a yogi.

I consider one to be the most devoted

Of all the yogis who lovingly contemplates

On Me with supreme faith,

And whose mind is ever absorbed in Me. This is the end of Chapter VI of the Bhagavad Gita

Entitled "Dhyana-Yoga,"

Or "The Yoga of Meditation" << Previous Chapter (top of page) Next Chapter >>