Chapter
6 - The Yoga of Self-Control
The
Blessed Sri Krsn said:
He
who discharges is duty without expecting
its fruit, is a Sannyasi (Sankhya Yogi)
and a yogi (Karma Yogi). He is not a
Sannyasi (Renouncer) who does not light
sacred fire and who does not perform any
activity. (6.01)
Arjun,
what they speak of as Sannyas, know that
to be the same as Yoga; for none become a
Yogi, who has not given up thoughts of the
world. (6.02)
To
the contemplative soul, who desires to
rise to the height of karmayoga (in the
form of equanimity), action without motive
is spoken of as the means; for the same
man when he is established in yoga,
serenity (tranquillity of mind) is spoken
of as the means to (God realization).
(6.03)
When
a man ceases to have any attachment either
for the objects of senses or for actions
and has renounced all thoughts of the
world, he is said to have attained Yoga.
(6.04)
One
should lift oneself up by one's own
efforts and should not degrade oneself;
for one's own self is one's friend and
one's own self if one's enemy. (6.05)
One's
own self is the friend of that soul by
whom the lower self (viz., the mind, the
senses and the body) has been conquered;
on the other hand, the very self of him,
who has not conquered his lower self,
behaves inimically like one's on enemy.
(6.06)
The
Supreme Spirit is firmly established in
the knowledge of the self-controlled man
whose mind is perfectly calm in the midst
of pairs of opposites, such as cold and
heat, joy and sorrow, and honor and
ignominy. (6.07)
A
Yogi whose mind is satisfied with Jnana
(Knowledge) and Vijnana (wisdom), who
remains unshaken in all circumstances,
whose senses are subdued, to whom a clod,
a stone and a piece of gold are the same,
is spoken of as a God-Realized soul.
(6.08)
He,
who regards well-wishers, friends, foes,
neutrals, mediators, the objects of
hatred, relatives, the virtuous and the
sinful alike, stands supreme. (6.09)
The
Yogi, who has subdued his mind and body,
and who is free from desires and bereft of
possessions, living in seclusion all by
himself alone he should constantly engage
his mind in meditation. (6.10)
In
a clean spot having firmly placed his seat
of Kusa grass, a deerskin and a cloth
spread, one over the other, neither too
high nor too low. (6.11)
And
sitting on that seat, concentrating the
mind and controlling the functions of the
mind, he should practice Yoga for
self-purification. (6.12)
Keeping
the trunk, head and neck straight and
steady, remaining firm and looking at the
tip of the nose without looking around.
(6.13)
Serene
and fearless, firm in the vow of
continence, subdued in mind, the vigilant
Yogi should sit thinking of Me and having
Me as the Supreme Goal. (6.14)
Thus
constantly applying his mind to Me, the
Yogi of subdued mind attains the lasting
Peace, consisting of supreme bliss, which
rests in Me. (6.15)
Arjun,
this Yoga is not for him who eats too
much, nor for him who does not eat at all,
nor for him who is given to too much
sleep, nor for him who is ceaselessly
awake. (6.16)
Yoga,
which rids one of woe, is accomplished
only by him who is regulated in diet and
recreation, regulated in performing
actions, and regulated in sleeping and
waking. (6.17)
When
the perfectly controlled mind rests in the
self alone, free from desires for all
enjoyments, then the person is said to be
established in Yoga. (6.18)
'As
a lamp in a windless place does not
flicker,' this is the simile used for the
discipined mind of a Yogi practicing
meditation on the Self. (6.19)
When
the mind, disciplined by the practice of
yoga attains quietude (rest) and when
beholding the Self by the Self, he is
satisfied in the Self. (6.20)
When
he feels that supreme bliss which is
perceived only by intelligence (reason)
and which transcends the senses and
wherein established the said Yogi never
moves from Reality. (6.21)
And
having gained which, he does not reckon
any other gain greater than that, and
wherein established he is not shaken even
by the heaviest affliction. (6.22)
This
disconnection from union with pain should
be known by the name of Yoga. This yoga of
meditation which aims at union with God or
at equanimity should be practised with
determination and with an undistracted
mind. (6.23)
Completely
giving up all desires arising from
thoughts of the world, and fully
restraining the senses from all sides by
the mind. (6.24)
He
should through gradual practice attain
tranquility; and having established the
mind in God through reason controlled by
steadfastness, he should not think of
anything else. (6.25)
Restraining
the restless and fidgety mind from all
those objects after which it runs, he
should repeatedly concentrate it on God.
(6.26)
Supreme
Bliss verily comes to the Yogi whose mind
is calm, whose passion are subdued, who is
sinless. (6.27)
The
sinless yogi thus, his self constantly
with God, easily enjoys the infinite bliss
of oneness with Brahman (the Absolute).
(6.28)
The
Yogi whose mind is harmonized by yoga,
looks on all with an equal eye, sees the
self present, in all beings and beings
existing in the Self. (6.29)
He
who sees Me (The Universal Self) present
in all beings; and sees all beings
existing in Me, I am never out of sight of
him, nor is he ever out of sight of Me.
(6.30)
He
who, established in unity, worships Me as
residing in all beings (as their very
Self), that Yogi, though engaged in all
forms of activities, dwells in Me. (6.31)
Arjun,
he who looks on all as one, on the analogy
of his own self, and looks upon the
pleasure and pain of all with a similar
eye, such a Yogi is regarded as supreme.
(6.32)
Arjun
said:
O
Krsn, this Yoga in the form of equanimity,
which You have taught, owing to the
restlessness of mind I do not perceive its
stability. (6.33)
For,
Krsn, the mind is very unsteady,
turbulent, tenacious and powerful;
Therefore, I consider it as difficult to
control as the wind. (6.34)
The
Blessed Sri Krsn said:
The
mind is without doubt unsteady and
difficult to curb, Arjun; but it can be
controlled through practice (of
meditation) and dispassion, O Son of Kunti.
(6.35)
Yoga
is hard to attain for one whose mind is
not subdued but it can be attained by him
who has controlled his mind and who
strives ceaselessly; such is My
conviction. (6.36)
Arjun
said:
O
Krsn, he who, though possessed of faith,
is unable to subdue his passions and whose
mind deviates from yoga, having failed to
attain perfection in yoga, what end does
he meet with? (6.37)
O
mighty armed, deluded in the path of God,
without any hold, does he not perish like
a rent cloud, deprived of both
God-Realization and worldly enjoyment?
(6.38)
O
Krsn, in behoves you to dispel this doubt
of mine completely; for none other than
yourself can be found, who can clear this
doubt. (6.39)
The
Blessed Sri Krsn said:
Dear
Arjun, there is no fall for him either
here or hereafter. For, none who works for
self-redemption (or God Realization) meets
with an evil destiny. (6.40)
He
who has falled from Yoga, having obtained
the higher worlds (heaven, etc.) to which
men of meritorious deeds alone are
entitled and having resided there for
countless years, takes birth in the house
of pious and wealthy men. (6.41)
Or
(if he has developed dispassion) he is
born in a family of enlightened yogis; but
this kind of birth is very difficult to
obtain in this world. (6.42)
There
he regains the knowledge of previous birth
and he strives more than before for
perfection, O joy of the Kurus. (6.43)
The
one who takes birth in the house of the
prosperous, though subject to the senses,
feels drawn towards God by force of the
former practice; because the seeker of the
yoga of equanimity also transcend the
fruit of actions performed with some
motive as laid down in the Vedas. (6.44)
The
yogi who strives with assiduity, purified
from sins and perfected through many
births reaches the Supreme state. (6.45)
The
yogi is superior to the ascetics, superior
to men of knowledge even; he is also
superior to ritualists. Therefore, Arjun,
be a yogi. (6.46)
Of
all the Yogis, he who devoutly worships Me
with his mind focussed on Me, is
considered by Me to be the best Yogi or
the most devout yogi. (6.47)
Thus
with the utterance of Om, Tat, Sat the
names of the Lord, in the Upanisad of the
Bhagawad Gita, the knowledge of Brahma,
the Supreme, the science of Self Control
Yoga and the dialogue between Sri Krsn and
Arjun, this the sixth chapter designated:
"The Yoga of Self Control or the Yoga
of the Control of the Mind"
Swami Veet Chintan T'Zorba-Krsna
Jyotish
Shastracharya
& Vedic Astrologer of India
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