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CHAPTER SIX Dhyāna-yogaTEXT 1: The Supreme Personality of Godhead said: One who is
unattached to the fruits of his work and who works as he is obligated is in
the renounced order of life, and he is the true mystic, not he who lights no
fire and performs no duty. TEXT 2: What is called renunciation you should know to be the same
as yoga, or linking oneself with the Supreme, O son of Pāṇḍu, for one can never
become a yogī unless he renounces the desire for sense gratification. TEXT 3: For one who is a neophyte in the eightfold yoga system,
work is said to be the means; and for one who is already elevated in yoga,
cessation of all material activities is said to be the means. TEXT 4: A person is said to be elevated in yoga when, having
renounced all material desires, he neither acts for sense gratification nor
engages in fruitive activities. TEXT 5: One must deliver himself with the help of his mind, and
not degrade himself. The mind is the friend of the conditioned soul, and his
enemy as well. TEXT 6: For him who has conquered the mind, the mind is the best
of friends; but for one who has failed to do so, his mind will remain the
greatest enemy. TEXT 7: For one who has conquered the mind, the Supersoul is
already reached, for he has attained tranquillity. To such a man happiness
and distress, heat and cold, honor and dishonor are all the same. TEXT 8: A person is said to be established in self-realization and
is called a yogī [or mystic] when he is fully satisfied by virtue of acquired
knowledge and realization. Such a person is situated in transcendence and is
self-controlled. He sees everything – whether it be pebbles, stones or gold –
as the same. TEXT 9: A person is considered still further advanced when he
regards honest well-wishers, affectionate benefactors, the neutral,
mediators, the envious, friends and enemies, the pious and the sinners all
with an equal mind. TEXT 10: A transcendentalist should always engage his body, mind
and self in relationship with the Supreme; he should live alone in a secluded
place and should always carefully control his mind. He should be free from
desires and feelings of possessiveness. TEXTS 11-12: To practice yoga, one should go to a secluded place
and should lay kuśa grass on the ground and then cover it with a deerskin and
a soft cloth. The seat should be neither too high nor too low and should be
situated in a sacred place. The yogī should then sit on it very firmly and
practice yoga to purify the heart by controlling his mind, senses and
activities and fixing the mind on one point. TEXTS 13-14: One should hold one’s body, neck and head erect in a
straight line and stare steadily at the tip of the nose. Thus, with an
unagitated, subdued mind, devoid of fear, completely free from sex life, one
should meditate upon Me within the heart and make Me the ultimate goal of
life. TEXT 15: Thus practicing constant control of the body, mind and
activities, the mystic transcendentalist, his mind regulated, attains to the
kingdom of God [or the abode of Kṛṣṇa] by cessation of material existence. TEXT 16: There is no possibility of one’s becoming a yogī, O
Arjuna, if one eats too much or eats too little, sleeps too much or does not
sleep enough. TEXT 17: He who is regulated in his habits of eating, sleeping,
recreation and work can mitigate all material pains by practicing the yoga
system. TEXT 18: When the yogī, by practice of yoga, disciplines his
mental activities and becomes situated in transcendence – devoid of all
material desires – he is said to be well established in yoga. TEXT 19: As a lamp in a windless place does not waver, so the
transcendentalist, whose mind is controlled, remains always steady in his
meditation on the transcendent Self. TEXTS 20-23: In the stage of perfection called trance, or samādhi,
one’s mind is completely restrained from material mental activities by
practice of yoga. This perfection is characterized by one’s ability to see
the Self by the pure mind and to relish and rejoice in the Self. In that
joyous state, one is situated in boundless transcendental happiness, realized
through transcendental senses. Established thus, one never departs from the
truth, and upon gaining this he thinks there is no greater gain. Being
situated in such a position, one is never shaken, even in the midst of
greatest difficulty. This indeed is actual freedom from all miseries arising
from material contact. TEXT 24: One should engage oneself in the practice of yoga with
determination and faith and not be deviated from the path. One should
abandon, without exception, all material desires born of mental speculation
and thus control all the senses on all sides by the mind. TEXT 25: Gradually, step by step, one should become situated in
trance by means of intelligence sustained by full conviction, and thus the
mind should be fixed on the Self alone and should think of nothing else. TEXT 26: From wherever the mind wanders due to its flickering and
unsteady nature, one must certainly withdraw it and bring it back under the
control of the Self. TEXT 27: The yogī whose mind is fixed on Me verily attains the
highest perfection of transcendental happiness. He is beyond the mode of
passion, he realizes his qualitative identity with the Supreme, and thus he
is freed from all reactions to past deeds. TEXT 28: Thus the self-controlled yogī, constantly engaged in yoga
practice, becomes free from all material contamination and achieves the
highest stage of perfect happiness in transcendental loving service to the
Lord. TEXT 29: A true yogī observes Me in all beings and also sees every
being in Me. Indeed, the self-realized person sees Me, the same Supreme Lord,
everywhere. TEXT 30: For one who sees Me everywhere and sees everything in Me,
I am never lost, nor is he ever lost to Me. TEXT 31: Such a yogī, who engages in the worshipful service of the
Supersoul, knowing that I and the Supersoul are one, remains always in Me in
all circumstances. TEXT 32: He is a perfect yogī who, by comparison to his own self,
sees the true equality of all beings, in both their happiness and their
distress, O Arjuna! TEXT 33: Arjuna said: O Madhusūdana, the system of yoga which You
have summarized appears impractical and unendurable to me, for the mind is
restless and unsteady. TEXT 34: The mind is restless, turbulent, obstinate and very
strong, O Kṛṣṇa, and to
subdue it, I think, is more difficult than controlling the wind. TEXT 35: Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa said: O mighty-armed son of Kuntī, it is undoubtedly very
difficult to curb the restless mind, but it is possible by suitable practice
and by detachment. TEXT 36: For one whose mind is unbridled, self-realization is
difficult work. But he whose mind is controlled and who strives by
appropriate means is assured of success. That is My opinion. TEXT 37: Arjuna said: O Kṛṣṇa, what is the destination of the unsuccessful transcendentalist,
who in the beginning takes to the process of self-realization with faith but
who later desists due to worldly-mindedness and thus does not attain
perfection in mysticism? TEXT 38: O mighty-armed Kṛṣṇa, does not such a man, who is bewildered from the path of
transcendence, fall away from both spiritual and material success and perish
like a riven cloud, with no position in any sphere? TEXT 39: This is my doubt, O Kṛṣṇa, and I ask You to dispel it completely. But for You, no one is
to be found who can destroy this doubt. TEXT 40: The Supreme Personality of Godhead said: Son of Pṛthā, a transcendentalist engaged in
auspicious activities does not meet with destruction either in this world or
in the spiritual world; one who does good, My friend, is never overcome by
evil. TEXT 41: The unsuccessful yogī, after many, many years of
enjoyment on the planets of the pious living entities, is born into a family
of righteous people, or into a family of rich aristocracy. TEXT 42: Or [if unsuccessful after long practice of yoga] he takes
his birth in a family of transcendentalists who are surely great in wisdom.
Certainly, such a birth is rare in this world. TEXT 43: On taking such a birth, he revives the divine
consciousness of his previous life, and he again tries to make further
progress in order to achieve complete success, O son of Kuru. TEXT 44: By virtue of the divine consciousness of his previous
life, he automatically becomes attracted to the yogic principles – even
without seeking them. Such an inquisitive transcendentalist stands always
above the ritualistic principles of the scriptures. TEXT 45: And when the yogī engages himself with sincere endeavor
in making further progress, being washed of all contaminations, then
ultimately, achieving perfection after many, many births of practice, he
attains the supreme goal. TEXT 46: A yogī is greater than the ascetic, greater than the
empiricist and greater than the fruitive worker. Therefore, O Arjuna, in all
circumstances, be a yogī. TEXT 47: And of all yogīs, the one with great faith who always abides in Me, thinks of Me within himself and renders transcendental loving service to Me – he is the most intimately united with Me in yoga and is the highest of all. That is My opinion. |