Bhagavad-Gita (Besant 4th)/Discourse 6

SIXTH DISCOURSE.

The Blessed Lord said:

He that performeth such action as his duty, independently of the fruit of action, he is an ascetic, he is a Yogî, not he that is without fire, and without rites. (1)

That which is called renunciation, know thou that as yoga, O Pândava; nor doth any one become a Yogî with the formative will unrenounced. (2)

For a Sage who is seeking Yoga, action is called the means; for the same Sage, when he is enthroned in yoga, serenity is called the means. (3)

When a man feeleth no attachment either for the objects of sense or for actions, renouncing the formative will, then, he is said to be enthroned in yoga. (4)

Let him raise the self by the Self and not let the self become depressed; for verily is the Self the friend of the self, and also the Self the self's enemy; (5)

The Self is the friend of the self of him in whom the self by the Self is vanquished; but to the unsubdued self the Self verily becometh hostile as an enemy. (6)

The higher Self of him who is Self-controlled and peaceful is uniform in cold and heat, pleasure and pain, as well as in honour and dishonour. (7)

The Yogî who is satisfied with wisdom and knowledge, unwavering, whose senses are subdued, to whom a lump of earth, a stone and gold are the same, is said to be harmonised. (8)

He who regards impartially lovers, friends, and foes, strangers, neutrals, foreigners and relatives, also the righteous and unrighteous, he excelleth. (9)

Let the Yogî constantly engage himself in yoga, remaining in a secret place by himself, with thought and self subdued, free from hope and greed. (10)

In a pure place, established on a fixed seat of his own, neither very much raised nor very low, made of a cloth, a black antelope skin, and kusha grass, one over the other; (11)

There, having made the mind one-pointed, with thought and the functions of the senses subdued, steady on his seat, he should practise yoga for the purification of the self. (12)

Holding the body, head and neck erect, immovably steady, looking fixedly at the point of the nose, with unseeing gaze, (13)

The self serene, fearless, firm in the vow of the Brahmachâri, the mind controlled, thinking on Me, harmonised, let him sit aspiring after Me. (14)

The Yogî ever united thus with the Self, with the mind controlled, goeth to Peace, to the supreme Bliss that abideth in Me. (15)

Verily yoga is not for him who eateth too much, nor who abstaineth to excess, nor who is too much addicted to sleep, nor even to wakefulness, O Arjuna. (16)

Yoga killeth out all pain for him who is regulated in eating and amusement, regulated in performing actions, regulated in sleeping and waking. (17)

When his subdued thought is fixed on the Self, free from longing after all desirable things, then it is said, "he is harmonised." (18)

As a lamp in a windless place flickereth not, to such is likened the Yogî of subdued thought, absorbed in the yoga of the Self. (19)

That in which the mind finds rest, quieted by the practice of yoga: that in which he, seeing the Self by the Self, in the Self is satisfied; (20)

That in which he findeth the supreme delight which the Reason can grasp beyond the senses, wherein established he moveth not from the Reality; (21)

Which, having obtained, he thinketh there is no greater gain beyond it; wherein, established, he is not shaken even by heavy sorrow; (22)

That should be known by the name of yoga, this disconnection from the union with pain. This yoga must be clung to with a firm conviction and with undesponding mind. (23

Abandoning without reserve all desires born of the imagination, by the mind curbing in the aggregate of the senses on every side, (24)

Little by little let him gain tranquillity, by means of Reason controlled by steadiness; having made the mind abide in the Self, let him not think of anything. (25)

As often as the wavering and unsteady mind goeth forth, so often reining it in, let him bring it under the control of the Self. (26)

Supreme joy is for this Yogi whose mind is peaceful, whose passion-nature is calmed, who is sinless and of the nature of the Eternal. (27)

The Yogî who thus, ever harmonising the self, hath put away sin, he easily enjoyeth the infinite bliss of contact with the Eternal. (28)

The self, harmonised by yoga, seeth the Self abiding in all beings, all beings in the Self; everywhere he seeth the same. (29)

He who seeth Me everywhere, and seeth everything in Me, of him will I never lose hold, and he shall never lose hold of Me. (30)

He who, established in unity, worshippeth Me abiding in all beings, that Yogi liveth in Me, whatever his mode of living. (31)

He who, through the likeness of the Self, O Arjuna, seeth equality in everything, whether pleasant or painful, he is considered a perfect Yogî. (32)

This yoga which Thou hast declared to be by equanimity, O Madhusûdana, I see not a stable foundation for it, owing to restlessness; (33)

For the mind is verily restless, O Krishna; it is impetuous, strong and difficult to bend. I deem it as hard to curb as the wind. (34)

The Blessed Lord said:

Without doubt, O mighty-armed, the mind is hard to curb and restless; but it may be curbed by constant practice and by dispassion. (35)

Yoga is hard to attain, methinks, by a self that is uncontrolled; but by the Self-controlled it is attainable by properly directed energy. (36)

Arjuna said:

He who is unsubdued but who possesseth faith, with the mind wandering away from yoga, failing to attain perfection in yoga, what path doth he tread, O Krishna? (37)

Fallen from both, is he destroyed like a rent cloud, unsteadfast, O mighty-armed, deluded in the path of the Eternal? (38)

Deign, O Krishna, to completely dispel this doubt of mine; for there is none to be found save Thyself able to destroy this doubt. (39)

The Blessed Lord said:

O son of Prithâ, neither in this world nor in the life to come is there destruction for him; never doth any who worketh righteousness, O beloved, tread the path of woe. (40)

Having attained to the worlds of the pure-doing, and having dwelt there for immemorial years, he who fell from yoga is reborn in a pure and blessed house; (41)

Or he may even be born into a family of wise Yogîs; but such a birth as that is most difficult to obtain in this world. (42)

There he recovereth the characteristics belonging to this former body, and with these he again laboureth for perfection, O joy of the Kurus. (43)

By that former practice he is irresistibly swept away. Only wishing to know yoga, even the seeker after yoga goeth beyond the Brâhmic world;(44)

But the Yogî, labouring with assiduity, purified from sin, fully perfected through manifold births, he reacheth the supreme goal. (45)

The Yogî is greater than the ascetics; he is thought to be greater than even the wise; the Yogî is greater than the men of action; therefore become thou a Yogî, O Arjuna! (46)

And among all Yogîs, he who, full of faith, with the inner Self abiding in Me, adoreth Me, he is considered by Me to be the most completely harmonised. (47)

Thus in the glorious Upanishads of the Bhagavad-Gita, the science of the Eternal, the scripture of Yoga, in the dialogue between Shrî Krishna and Arjuna, the sixth discourse, entitled: THE YOGA OF SELF-SUBDUAL.

• The ascetic, the Sannyâsî, lights no sacrificial fire and performs no sacrifices nor ceremonies; but merely to omit these, without true renunciation, is not to be a real ascetic.

• Sankalpa, the imaginative faculty that makes plans for the future.

• Sankalpa.

• Literally, the non-self.

• The word Yogi is used for any one who is practising yoga, as well as for the man who has attained union.

• Literally, rock-seated.

• Manah.

• A Brahmachârî is a man who is keeping the vow of continence, a celibate.

• Manah.

• Nirvana.

• Buddhi.

• Chetah.

• Sankalpa.

• Manah.

• Buddhi.

• The same Self shining in the heart of each.

• Manah.

• Manah.

• The Vedas.