Chapter 6

Śrī Kṛṣṇa said: One who performs their prescribed work while being detached from the results of action is a true renunciate and a yogī; not one who gives up the sacrificial fire nor the one who avoids their duty.

O Pāṇḍava, know that what is called renunciation to be yoga. For no one becomes a karma-yogī without renouncing desire.

For the sage seeking to ascend to yoga, action is said to be the way; for one who has ascended to yoga, cessation of action is the way.

When one is neither attached to sense-objects nor to performing action, and has abandoned all desires, then one is said to have ascended to the heights of yoga.

One should raise oneself by one’s own mind and not allow oneself to degrade, since the mind is indeed one’s friend, as well as one’s enemy.

The mind is a friend to one who has conquered it. But for one whose mind is not subdued, it remains hostile, like an enemy.

One who is self-controlled and tranquil, whose mind is fixed on the Supreme, who is perfectly composed in cold and heat, pleasure and pain, as well as in honour and dishonour, who is content with knowledge and direct experience, who dwells in a transcendent state, who has mastered the senses and regards earth, stone, and gold to be of the same value, is said to be a yogī united with the Absolute.

The one who regards equally a well-wisher, friend, enemy, one who is indifferent, a mediator, a hateful person, a relative, the righteous, and even the unrighteous, truly excels.

Remaining alone in a solitary place, controlling mind and body, devoid of any desire and sense of ownership, the yogī should constantly engage the mind in meditation.

In a pure place, one should establish a firm seat for oneself which is neither too high nor too low, with a cloth and deer-skin on top of kuśa grass.

Sitting on that seat, restraining the activities of the thoughts and senses and making the mind single-pointed, one should practice yoga for the purification of the mind.

Holding the body, head, and neck straight and steady, gazing at the tip of the nose without looking around, being motionless, tranquil in mind and fearless, firm in the practice of celibacy, and subduing the mind, centering all thoughts on Me and having Me as the supreme goal, one should sit, being completely absorbed.

Applying oneself constantly in this way, the yogī whose mind is controlled attains peace which culminates in supreme immersion, thereby abiding with Me forever.

O Arjuna, yoga is not for one who overeats, nor for one who fasts excessively; nor is it for one who sleeps too much, nor for one who stays awake for lengthy periods.

For one who is moderate in eating, recreation, sleep, and wakefulness and who is regulated in the performance of actions, yoga becomes the dispeller of all suffering.

When the subdued mind rests in the Self alone and one is free from desire for any kind of pleasure, one is said to be well established in yoga.

Just as the light of a lamp in a windless place does not flicker, so it is with the yogi who has a controlled mind and relentlessly practices union with the ātmā. This is the analogy that is cited in this regard.

When the mind, restrained by the continuous practice of yoga, comes to a standstill and one perceives the ātmā by the mind in that state of absorption, one rejoices in the ātmā alone.

In that state one experiences a boundless joy which is known to the intellect, but unknowable to the senses. Established therein, such a yogī does not waver from that reality.

Having attained that limitless happiness, one considers no other gain as superior and established therein, one is not shaken even by terrible suffering.

That state of disassociation from the contact with suffering should be known as yoga. This yoga must be practised with firm resolve and a mind free from despondency.

Completely giving up all desires arising from the mind, one should restrain the senses from all sides through the mind alone.

Having fixed the mind on the ātmā, one should gradually stop the mind’s fluctuations with a determined intellect and not think of anything else.

From wherever the fickle and unsteady mind wanders, one should withdraw it and bring it back under control, fixing it on the ātmā alone.

The supreme happiness comes to the yogī whose mind is fully pacified, whose passions are subdued, who has realized Brahman, and is spotlessly pure.

Thus freed from mental impurities and constantly centering the mind, the yogī easily attains the endless bliss of union with Brahman.

The one whose mind is absorbed in the Supreme through yoga has equal vision at all times and thus sees the Paramātmā in all beings and all beings within the Paramātmā.

For one who sees Me everywhere and everything in Me, I am never separated from them, and they are never separated from Me.

One who is fixed in this vision of oneness and worships Me dwelling in all beings, rests in Me as a true yogī, in whatever circumstances of life.

O Arjuna, one who sees everything equally, whether happiness or suffering, by comparison to his own ātmā, is considered to be the highest yogī.

Arjuna said: O Madhusūdana, I don’t see this yoga of equanimity taught by You as stable and unwavering, due to the mind being restless.

The mind is exceedingly restless, turbulent, powerful, and stubborn. Controlling it I consider to be as difficult as controlling the wind.

Śrī Kṛṣṇa said: O mighty-armed Arjuna, without doubt, the mind is unsteady and hard to subdue. But by repeated practice and detachment it can be brought under control, O Kaunteya.

In My opinion, it is hard for a person with an unrestrained mind to attain this yoga. However, it can be attained by one who strives for it with a subdued mind through proper means.

Arjuna said: O Kṛṣṇa, what destination does one attain who has faith, but lacks diligent effort and whose mind deviates from the path, thus failing to attain the perfection of yoga?

O mighty-armed Lord, having fallen from both material success and spiritual realization, does one not perish like a broken cloud, deluded and without any firm standing on the path toward the Supreme?

O Kṛṣṇa, please completely remove this doubt of mine since there is no one else other than You who can dispel it.

Śrī Kṛṣṇa said: My dear Pārtha, neither in this world nor in the next, is there destruction for such a person, because no one who does good ever attains misfortune.

Having attained the realms of the righteous and dwelt there for many long years, one who has fallen from yoga is born in the house of the pure and prosperous.

Otherwise, one takes birth in a family of truly wise yogīs; certainly such a birth is exceedingly rare in this world.

In such a birth, one gains contact with the spiritual wisdom acquired in the previous body, and from there one endeavors again for perfection, O joy of the Kurus.

Due to previous practice, one is drawn to that path, even unintentionally. Even one who merely enquires about yoga, transcends the ritualistic principles of the Vedas.

But the yogi who strives diligently and is cleansed from impurities, attains perfection after many lifetimes and thereafter reaches the supreme goal.

The yogī is considered to be superior to those who perform austerity, superior to the jñānīs, as well as superior to the ritualists; therefore, become a yogī, O Arjuna.

Among all the yogīs, one who has faith and worships Me with a mind fully immersed in Me, is considered to be the most perfectly united with Me.