Dhyana Yoga

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Bhagavad Gita

 

VI. DHYANA YOGA (Atma-samyama Yoga)

 

THE BLESSED LORD SAID:

 

1. He who, without depending on the fruits of action, performs his

bounden duty, he is a Samnyasin and a Yogin: not he who is without

fire and without action.

 

2. Do thou, O Pandava, know Yoga to be that which they call

renunciation; no one, verily, becomes a Yogin who has not renounced

thoughts.

 

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.

 

4. When a man, renouncing all thoughts, is not attached to sense-

objects and actions, then he is said to have attained to Yoga.

 

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.

 

6. To him who has conquered himself by himself, his own self is the

friend of himself, but to him who has not (conquered) himself, his

own self stands in the place of an enemy like the (external) foe.

 

7. The self-controlled and serene man's Supreme Self is steadfast in

cold and heat, in pleasure and pain, as also in honour and disgrace.

 

8. The Yogin whose self is satisfied with knowledge and wisdom, who

remains unshaken, who has conquered the senses, he is said to be a

saint - for whom a lump of earth, a stone and gold are equal.

 

9. He is esteemed, who is of the same mind to the good-hearted,

friends, foes, the indifferent, the neutral, the hateful, relatives,

the righteous and the un-righteous.

 

10. Let the Yogin try constantly to keep the mind steady, remaining

in seclusion, alone, with the mind and body controlled, free from

desire and having no possessions.

 

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, the head and the neck, firm,

gazing on the tip of his nose, without looking around;

 

14. Serene-minded, fearless, firm in the vow of godly life, having

restrained the mind, thinking on Me and balanced let him sit, looking

up to Me as the Supreme.

 

15. Thus always keeping the mind balanced, the Yogin, with the mind

controlled, attains to the Peace abiding in Me, which culminates in

Nirvana (moksha).

 

16. Yoga is not possible for him who eats too much, nor for him who

does not eat at all, nor for him who is addicted to too much sleep,

nor for him who is (ever) wakeful, O Arjuna.

 

17. To him whose food and recreation are moderate, whose exertion in

actions is moderate, whose sleep and waking are moderate, to him

accrues Yoga which is destructive of pain.

 

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.

 

20. When thought is quiescent, restrained by the practice of Yoga;

when, seeing the Self by the self, he is satisfied in his own Self;

 

21. When he knows that Infinite Joy which, transcending the senses,

can be grasped by reason; when, steady (in the Self), he moves never

from the Reality;

 

22. When, having obtained it, he thinks no other acquisition superior

to it; when, therein established, he is not moved even by a great

pain;

 

23. This severance from union with pain, be it known, is called union

(Yoga). That Yoga must be practised with determination and with un-

depressed heart.

 

24. Abandoning without reserve all fancy-born desire, well-

restraining all the senses from all quarters by the mind;

 

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.

 

26. By whatever cause the wavering and unsteady mind wanders away,

from that let him restrain it and bring it back direct under the

control of the Self.

 

27. Supreme Bliss verily comes to this Yogin, whose mind is quite

tranquil, whose passion is quieted, who has become Brahman, who is

blemishless.

 

28. Thus always keeping the self steadfast, the Yogin, freed from

sins, attains with ease to the infinite bliss of contact with the

(Supreme) Brahman.

 

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.

 

30. He who sees Me everywhere and sees everything in Me, to him I

vanish not, nor to me does he vanish.

 

31. Whoso, intent on unity, worships Me who abide in all beings, that

Yogin dwells in Me, whatever his mode of life.

 

32. Whoso, by comparison with himself, sees the same everywhere, O

Arjuna, be it pleasure or pain, he is deemed the highest Yogin.

 

ARJUNA SAID:

 

33. This Yoga in equanimity, taught by Thee, O Destroyer of Madhu - I

see not its steady continuance, because of the restlessness (of the

mind).

 

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.

 

THE BLESSED LORD SAID:

 

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.

 

36. Yoga, me thinks is hard to attain for a man of uncontrolled self;

but by him who (often) strives, self-controlled, it can be acquired

by (proper) means.

 

ARJUNA SAID:

 

37. He who strives not, but who is possessed of faith, whose mind

wanders away from Yoga - having failed to attain perfection in Yoga,

what end, O Krishna, does he meet ?

 

38. Having failed in both, does he not perish like a riven cloud,

supportless, O mighty-armed and perplexed in the path to Brahman ?

 

39. This doubt of mine, O Krishna, do Thou dispel completely; for

none other than Thyself can possibly destroy this doubt.

 

THE BLESSED LORD SAID:

 

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.

 

41. Having attained to the worlds of the righteous and having dwelt

there for eternal years, he who failed in Yoga is reborn in a house

of the pure and wealthy.

 

42. Else, he is born in family of wise Yogins only. This, verily, a

birth like this, is very hard to obtain in this world.

 

43. There he gains touch with the knowledge that was acquired in the

former body and strives more than before for perfection, O son of the

Kurus.

 

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.

 

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.

 

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.