Chapter 6 deals with meditation practice, and consistent with the previous chapters, it stresses that formal meditation alone, is not a central practice per se if there isn't a full integration of action, detachment, devotion and renunciation, fully internalized at a deep level. Certain commentaries divide the Gita into 3 parts, six chapters each; the first part being considered to be the essence of the teachings. Sometime in the future, we will have posts on the next two parts.
1- What is Yoga? (1-9)
Renunciation in action (Verses
1-2)
1. He who, without
depending on the fruits of action, performs his bounden duty, he is
a Sannyasin and a Yogin : not he who is without fire and without
action.
Action is a stepping-stone to
Dhyana-Yoga. (3)
3. For a devotee who
wishes to attain to Yoga, action is said to be the means. For the same (devotee),
when he has attained to Yoga, quiescence (sama) is said to be the means.
For a Brahmana
there is no wealth equal to this, viz., (knowledge of) oneness and
homogeneity (of Brahman in all creatures), truthfulness,
character, steadiness, harmlessness, straightforwardness, and
renunciation of the several actions."—(Santiparva, 175-38). (Baghavad
Gita, with the Commentary of Sri Sankaracharya, transl. A. Mahadeva Sastri,
1901)
Shastras have stated that a Sanyasi is a yogi because it is only when
the desire goes that the essence of yoga is obtained. (Dnyaneshwari; 6:52-53, transl.
M.R. Yardi)
Duty and the final
imperative — the "what ought I to do" — comes in here and becomes a
part of the process. The actions to be performed are not any and every one. We
are not to go on heedlessly and indiscriminately doing everything that is
suggested. We must discover what actions ought to be performed by us and do
them for that reason and not because of some result we expect to follow. The
fact that we may be perfectly certain of the result is no reason for allowing
our interest to fasten upon that. Here again is where certain theosophists
think they have a great difficulty. They say that knowing the result one is
sure to become interested in it. But this is the very task to be essayed — to
so hold one's mind and desires as not to be attached to the result.
By pursuing this
practice true meditation is begun and will soon become permanent. For one who
watches his thoughts and acts, so as to perform those that ought to be done,
will acquire a concentration in time which will increase the power of real
meditation. It is not meditation to stare at a spot on the wall for a fixed
period, or to remain for another space of time in a perfectly vacuous mental
state which soon runs into sleep. All those things are merely forms which in
the end will do no lasting good. But many students have run after these
follies, ignoring the true way. The truth is that the right method is not easy;
it requires thought and mental effort, with persistency and faith. Staring at
spots and such miscalled occult practices are very easy in comparison with the
former. (William Q. Judge, Essays on the Gita, 6, 3)
Who is a Yogin ? (4-9)
4. When a man,
renouncing all thoughts, is not attached to sense-objects and actions,
then he is said to have attained to Yoga.
When a Yogin,
keeping the mind steadfast, feels no attachment for the objects of the
senses such as sound, nor thinks that he has to do any action,—whether
nitya (obligatory) or vaimittika (obligatory and incidental) or kamya (done
with a motive) or pratishiddha (forbidden by law), — regarding it as
of no use to him; and when he has learned to habitually renounce all
thoughts which give rise to desires for objects of this world and of the
next, then he is said to have become a Yogagriha, to be one who has
attained to Yoga.—The words " renouncing all thoughts" imply
that all desires as well as all actions should be renounced. For, all
desires spring from thoughts, as the smrti says :
" Verily
desire springs from thought (samkalpa), and of thought yajnas are
born."—(Manu ii. 2).
" O Desire, I
know where thy root lies. Thou art born of thought. I shall not think of
thee, and thou shalt cease to exist as well as thy
root,"—(Mahabharata, Santiparva, 177-25). (Sankara
Commentary)
5. Let a man raise
himself by himself, let him not lower himself; for, he alone is the friend
of himself, he alone is the enemy of himself.
However, we are human and weak. As such we require help, for the outer
self cannot succeed in the battle. So Krishna
points out that the lower self is to be raised up by the help of the higher;
that the lower is, as it were, the enemy of the higher, and we must not allow
the worse to prevail. It will all depend upon self-mastery. The self below will
continually drag down the man who is not self-conquered. This is because that
lower one is so near the thick darkness that hangs about the lower rungs of
evolution's ladder it is partly devil. Like a heavy weight it will drag into
the depths the one who does not try to conquer himself. But on its other side the
self is near to divinity, and when conquered it becomes the friend and helper
of the conqueror. The Sufis, the Mohammedan mystical sect, symbolize this in
their poetry relating to the beautiful woman who appears but for a moment at
the window and then disappears. She refuses to open the door to her lover as
long as he refers to their being separate; but when he recognizes their unity
then she becomes his firm friend. (William Q. Judge, Essays on the Gita, 6, 5)
2- Directions for the practice
of Yoga. (10-17)
11. Having in a cleanly
spot established a firm seat, neither too high nor too low, with cloth, skin, and
kusa grass thereon;
12. Making the mind
one-pointed, with the actions of the mind and the senses controlled, let him, seated
there on the seat, practise Yoga for the purification of the self.
13. Holding erect and still the body, head, and neck, firm, gazing on
the tip of his nose, without looking around;
If, on the other
hand, the very act of gazing on the tip of his nose were meant
here, then the mind would be fixed only there, not on the Self. As a
matter of fact, the Yogin is to concentrate his mind on the Self, as will
be taught in vi. 25, ' Making the mind dwell in the Self.' Wherefore the
words ' as it were ' being understood, ' gazing 'means here ' the fixing
of the eye-sight within.' (Sankara Commentary)
16. "Half (the
stomach) for food and condiments, the third ((quarter) for water, and the
fourth should be reserved for free motion of air."
Arjuna, one rule of the yoga practice is that he who does not perform
prescribed actions does not become worthy. One who is a slave to the pleasures
of the tongue and of sleep does not have the right to practice yoga. Also, one
who, out of obstinacy reduces his diet by suppressing his hunger and thirst and
does not sleep properly cannot control his body. How can such a person succeed
in yoga? Therefore one should not pamper the sense-pleasures but at the same
time one should not totally abandon them also.
One should eat but it should be proper and in moderation. One should
undertake only a limited number of tasks. One should talk only what is
necessary, walk within limits and sleep at proper times only. Even if one has
to stay awake for any reason, it should not be beyond some specific limit. By
such regular routine the essential constituents of the body remain in balance.
And when the senses are satisfied in proper proportions the mind also remains
satisfied. Once the external organs
become regulated the internal happiness increases and the yoga is achieved even
without practice. One who practices yoga by remaining regular and controlled in
his habits experiences the Self. A person whose mind becomes steady and remains
so until death, may be called a person who has achieved yoga. In this stage his
mind may be compared to a flame in windless air. (Dnyaneshwari; 6:344-358, transl.
M.R. Yardi)
3- Being established in the
Self (18-26)
18. When the
well-restrained thought is established in the Self only, without longing
for any of the objects of desire, then he is said to be a Saint.
19. 'As a lamp in a sheltered spot does not flicker,'—this has been
thought as the simile of a Yogin of subdued thought, practising Yoga in the Self.
25. Little by
little let him withdraw, by reason (buddhi) held in firmness; keeping the
mind established in the Self, let him not think of anything.
He should make the
mind constantly abide in the Self, bearing in mind that the Self is all
and that nothing else exists. This ' is the highest form of Yoga. (Sankara
Commentary)
4- The effect of Dhyana-Yoga. (27-36)
29. The Self
abiding in all beings, and all beings (abiding) in the Self, sees he whose
self has been made steadfast by Yoga, who everywhere sees the
same.
He sees all
beings—from Brahma, the Creator, down to a clump of grass—as one with the
Self ; and in all the different beings—from Brahma, the Creator, down to
inanimate objects—he sees the same ; i. e., he sees that the Self
and Brahman (the Absolute) are one. (Sankara Commentary)
30. He who sees Me
everywhere and sees everything in Me, to him I vanish not, nor to Me
does he vanish.
He who sees Me,
Vasudeva, the Self of all, in all beings, and who sees Brahma, the
Creator, and all other beings, in Me, the Self of all ;— when he has
thus seen the unity of the Self, I—who am the Isvara—never leave his
presence, nor does that wise man leave My presence ; for his Self
and Mine are one, and one's own Self cannot but be manifest
to oneself. (Sankara Commentary)
32. Whoso, by
comparison with himself, sees the same everywhere, O Arjuna, be it
pleasure or pain, he is deemed the highest Yogin.
He sees that
whatever is pleasant to himself is pleasant to all creatures, and that
whatever is painful to himself is painful to all beings. Thus seeing that
what is pleasure or pain to himself is alike pleasure or pain to all beings,
he causes pain to no being ; he is harmless. Doing no harm, and
devoted to right knowledge, he is regarded as the highest among all Yogins.
If you are not able to do even this then listen further. One should fix
the thought in one's mind that "I am in the body of every being and
everything is in Me; that this universe and all living beings are
interlinked." Needless to say that he who sees my presence in every being
with the feeling of equality and does not harbour discrimination in his mind
based on outwardly differences between them is undisputedly one with Me. By not
being involved with its affairs he reaches my level through his experiencing of
the Brahman even while he is in his body. He who has experienced my
all-pervasive nature himself becomes all-pervasive. (Dnyaneshwari; 6:390-402, transl.
M.R. Yardi)
34. The mind
verily, is, O Krishna, restless, turbulent, strong and obstinate. Thereof
the restraint I deem quite as difficult as that of the wind.
35. Doubtless, O mighty-armed, the mind is hard to restrain and restless
; but by practice, O son of Kunti, and by indifference it may be restrained.
Shri Krishna replied, "What you are saying is true. The mind is
mercurial. But if one can turn it towards the practice of yoga observing
dispassion, then it will become steady after some time. The mind has one good
quality and that is, it develops a liking for a thing towards which gets attracted.
Therefore one should make it to like the experience of the Self. Those who are
not dispassionate and also do not practice yoga would find it impossible to
control the mind. But if we do not at all bother about following the techniques
of regulated behaviour (Yama- Niyama) and about dispassion, and instead get
immersed in sense pleasures and thus do not conquer the mind then how can it
become steady? Therefore let your actions be such as to control the mind and
then we shall see how it does not become steady." (Dnyaneshwari; 6:418-424, transl. M.R. Yardi)
The next few verses
in the Gita outline that which is extremely difficult —
equal-mindedness, and intentness upon the Supreme Being in heat and cold,
pleasure and pain, success and failure. We cannot reach to this easily, perhaps
not in many lives, but we can try. Every effort we make in that direction will
be preserved in the inner nature and cannot be lost at death. It is a spiritual
gain, the riches laid up in heaven to which Jesus referred. To describe the
perfection of equal-mindedness is to picture an adept of the highest degree,
one who has passed beyond all worldly considerations and lives on higher
planes. Gold and stones are the same to him. The objects he seeks to accomplish
are not to be reached through gold, and so it and the pebbles have the same
value. He is also so calm and free from delusion of mind and soul that he
remains the same whether with enemies or friends, with the righteous or the
sinners.
This high condition
is therefore set before us as an ideal to be slowly but steadfastly striven
after so that in the course of time we may come near it. If we never begin we
will never accomplish, and it is far better to adopt this high ideal, even
though failing constantly, than to have no ideal whatever. But some are likely
to make a mistake herein. Indeed they have done so. They set up the ideal, but
in a too material and human manner. Then they thought to walk on the chosen
path by outward observance, by pretending to regard gold and stones as the same
to them, while in their hearts they preferred the gold. Their equal-mindedness
they confined to other people's affairs, while they displeased and alarmed all
relatives and friends by the manner of riding this hobby and by wrong neglect
of obvious duty. Truly they sought for equal-mindedness, but failed to see that
it can only be acquired through right performance of duty, and not by selecting
the duties and environments that please us. (William Q. Judge, Essays on the
Gita, 6, 27-36)
5- Failures in Yoga and the after-career. (37-47)
40. O Partha,
neither in this world nor in the next is there destruction for him ; none,
verily, who does good. My son, ever comes to grief.
44. By that very
former practice is he borne on, though unwilling. Even he who merely wishes to
know of Yoga rises superior to the Word-Brahman.
The best of the Yogins.
45-47
45. Verily, a Yogin
who strives with assiduity, purified from sins and perfected in the course of
many births, then reaches the Supreme Goal.
46. A Yogin is deemed superior to men of austerity, and superior to even
men of knowledge he is also superior to men of action ; therefore be thou a
Yogin, O Arjuna,
Knowledge of the teachings of the sastra. Action: such as Agnihotra,
worship of the sacred fire. (Sankara Commentary)
47. Of all Yogins,
whoso, full of faith, worships Me with his inner self abiding in Me, he is
deemed by Me as most devout.
