Ma Gurupriya
Bhagavad Gita Chapter 6
Ma Gurupriya
Lord Krishna said: Whoever does whatever is needed from time to time, without depending on the mind’s sukha-du:kha creations (karma-phala), verily is a sannyāsin and yogi – not one abandoning rituals or activities.
Whatever people speak of as renunciation, know it to be verily yoga, O son of Pandu. For, without forsaking saṅkalpas (desires and desire-born deliberations), none ever becomes a yogi.
For one aspiring to ascend the pedestal of yoga, actional involvement is the means, cause. As he reaches that pedestal, withdrawal becomes the right step.
When one has no clinging to sensory objects as well as activities, and has renounced all kinds of expectations and imaginations, he is said to have climbed the pedestal of yoga (Yogārūḍha).
Elevate yourself by your own intrinsic power. Do not enervate or degrade yourself. One’s own self alone is one’s friend, and equally one’s enemy.
For one who has become master of himself by inner orientation, his self is a friend. But for one lacking in inner enrichment, his own self will stand as his enemy.
One who has attained the peace of self-mastery, remains steady in the supreme Self, in the midst of sukha-du:khas which are like cold and heat, as well as in honour and dishonour.
The yogi, who is content with knowledge and realization, unshakeable like the blacksmith’s anvil, whose senses are under control, and who looks at a lump of earth, a stone and gold with equal vision, is called spiritually integrated.
He who looks equally at benefactors, friends, enemies, neutrals, mediators, haters, relatives, the holy and the unholy (the saint and the sinner), verily excels.
The yoga practitioner should sit in seclusion, collect his mind and senses, and engage always in inner practice. He must do it alone, restraining his mind and intelligence, relinquishing all his desires, not receiving any gift from anyone for his livelihood.
In a clean spot, prepare a stable seat for yourself, neither too high nor low, spreading kuśa grass, a deer skin and a cloth, one over the other.
There, making the mind sufficiently attuned, restraining the activities of the inner faculties and senses, let him sit on the āsana and apply himself to yoga for purifying his being.
Keeping the trunk, neck and head erect and still, looking at the tip of the nose between the eye-brows, and not looking here and there at any direction at all –
With a placid disposition, rising above fear, established in celibacy, with mind restrained, devoted to Me (the Guru), let him strive for yoga regarding Me as the Supreme.
Thus, the yoga practitioner, with sufficient mind restraint, constantly striving to spiritually unite himself, attains to the quietude of nirvāṇa, redemption, and attains my state.
The yoga will be of no avail to one, O Arjuna, who eats excessively or takes to starving and fasting; or to one who unduly sleeps or keeps awake.
Yoga redresses grief for one who is moderate in his food habit and recreation, moderate in his activity and rest, moderate in sleeping and waking.
When the well-restrained mind dwells comfortably in the Self, becoming indifferent to all desires, then the yogic practitioner is said to be integrated in yoga.
Just as the flame of a lamp placed in a windless place does not flicker, so too the disciplined mind of one practising yoga, remains firm, still and poised.
Where the mind becomes sublimated and still by yoga-pursuit, where seeing the Self in and by the self the yogi becomes fully content, and realizes the ultimate bliss unreachable to the senses but graspable by the intelligence, and wherein established, the yogi does not verily drift or swerve from the truth.
Where the mind becomes sublimated and still by yoga-pursuit, where seeing the Self in and by the self the yogi becomes fully content, and realizes the ultimate bliss unreachable to the senses but graspable by the intelligence, and wherein established, the yogi does not verily drift or swerve from the truth.
Having gained which, one considers nothing else as superior to it; established in which, one is not perturbed by even the most severe affliction.
Know that to be yoga, inner spiritual communion, which is free from the touch of grief. With unswerving resolve, with a mind unsmitten by dejection, such yoga has to be pursued.
Renouncing completely all desires arising from worldly thoughts and imaginations, restraining by mind itself the senses from all the surrounding impacts –
Gradually and steadily with close attention, withdraw yourself by employing diligently the intelligence controlled by the will. Once the mind becomes self-ward and finally self-settled, do not think at all. (All thinking and willing must come to a stop.)
Restrain the desultory mind as and when it issues forth; bring it back again and again to make it fixed on the Self.
To this yogi, whose mind has become quietened and in whom the rājasa propensities (desires) have attenuated, dawn the comfort and contentment arising from the taintless Brahman.
Remaining thus steadily and steadfastly connected to the Soul, the yogi becomes totally blemish-free. He comfortably enjoys the ceaseless comprehensive delight arising from Brāhmic communion.
He who has gained yogic integration with equal vision everywhere, perceives the Self as abiding in all beings, and all beings as dwelling in the Self.
He who sees Me, the supreme Reality, everywhere, and everything in the supreme Reality, never loses the Supreme nor is he lost to the Supreme.
He who worships (knows) Me, the Supreme, as the One established in all beings, all forms of existence and expression, verily resides in Me, no matter whatever he does and in whichever manner he lives.
The yogi, who perceives the same Self everywhere, whether it is a pleasant (sukha) or an unpleasant (du:kha) situation, is considered the best and highest.
Arjuna said: O Madhusūdana, the yoga you have described is in the nature of ‘evenness’. I am not able to see its stability and prevalence because of my mind’s restlessness.
The mind, O Krishna, is given to swinging and swerving. It is turbulent, very powerful too. To bring it under control or moderation is like restraining the wind.
Lord Krishna said: True, O mighty-armed, it is very difficult to control the mind. Mind, by nature, is extremely restless. But, with the right practice coupled with dispassion, any mind can be restrained and sublimated.
For one without restraint and refinement, sāmya-yoga is hard to achieve. But for one with self-control, it can be attained by proper effort and discrimination.
अर्जुन उवाच।
In spite of having faith, if one is not able to control his mind from wandering, and fails to attain yoga, O Krishna, what will be his fate?
Losing both (the erstwhile ritualistic path and its promises, as also the new yogic path and its reward), will he not, like clouds blown off by the wind, be driven to destruction, deluded in the path of Brahman?
This indeed is my doubt, O Krishna, you have to dispel completely. None besides you is there to dispel this doubt of mine.
Lord Krishna said: O son of Kunti, neither here on earth nor in the higher worlds, can there be destruction for him. One intending to do good (set on the auspicious path), will never meet an adverse plight. (Such is the spiritual law.)
After getting into the higher worlds reserved for those of virtuous deeds, and living there for indefinitely long years, the one fallen from yoga-pursuit comes back to be born in clean, cultured and prosperous homes.
Or else he will be born in the lineage of spiritual seekers and yogis, who are intelligent and keen in their thinking and pursuit. This kind of birth is still rarer in the world.
There, O delighter of the Kuru dynasty, he imbibes the yoga-oriented intelligence begotten in the previous embodiment, and strives again for perfection from where he had left his pursuit.
He is irresistibly drawn by the practice he had pursued earlier. Even an enquirer of the science of yoga rises above the ken of Vedic rituals and their promises.
The yogic seeker, by dint of his untiring assiduous efforts, washes away all his blemishes and becomes pure. Thus by the perfection gained over many lives, he attains the supreme goal.
A Yogi is superior to ascetics; he is above Vedic scholars. He also is superior to the ritualists. Therefore, Arjuna, be a Yogi.
Of all the yogis, he who with his heart dissolved into Me (the Supreme), worships Me with sufficient devoutness, I consider him to be the most united with Me.
Om – the symbol of Brahman, tat – that singular Reality (Brahman), sat – the ever abiding presence (Brahman).
Thus ends the sixth chapter entitled Dhyāna Yoga, during the Srikrishna-Arjuna dialogue in Śrīmad Bhagavad Gita, constituting Yoga-śāstra, which falls within Brahmavidya as presented in the Vedic Upanishads.
Ma Gurupriya
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