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Chapter-6
Aatm-Sanyam or Dhyan Yog
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.
2: What is called renunciation you should know to
be the same as yoga, or linking oneself with the
Supreme, O son of Pandu, for one can never become a yogi
unless he renounces the desire for sense gratification.
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.
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.
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.
6: For him who has conquered the mind, the mind is
the best of friends; but for who has failed to do so,
his mind will remain the greatest enemy.
7: For one who has conquered the mind, the
Supersoul is already reached, for he has attained
tranquility. To such a man happiness and distress, heat
and cold, honor and dishonor are all the same.
8: A person is said to be established in
self-realization and is called a yogi [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.
9: A person is considered still further advanced
when he regards honest well-wisher, affectionate
benefactors, the neutral, mediators, the envious,
friends and enemies, the pious and the sinners all with
an equal mind.
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.
11-12: To practice yoga, one should go to a
secluded place and should lay kusa 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 yogi 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.
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.
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 Krsna] by cessation of material existence.
16: There is no possibility of one’s becoming a
yogi, O Arjuna, if one eats too much or eats too little,
sleeps too much or does not sleep enough.
17: He who is regulated in his habits of eating,
sleeping, recreation and work can mitigate all material
pains by practicing the yoga system.
18: When the yogi, 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.
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.
20-23: In the stage of perfection called trance, or
Samadhi, 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.
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.
25: Gradually, step by step, one should become
situated in the 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.
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.
27: The yogi 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.
28: Thus the self-controlled yogi, 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.
29: A true yogi observes Me in all beings and also
sees every being in Me. Indeed, the self-realized person
sees Me, the same Supreme Lord, everywhere.
30: For one who sees Me everywhere and sees
everything in Me, I am never lost, nor is he ever lost
to Me.
31: Such a yogi, who engages in the worshipful
service of the Supersoul, Knowing that I and the
Supersoul are one, remains always in Me in all
circumstances.
32: He is a perfect yogi who, by comparison to his
own self, sees the true equality of all beings, in both
their happiness and their distress, O Arjuna!
33: Arjuna said: O Madhusudana, the system of yoga
which You have summarized appears impractical and
unendurable to me, for the mind is restless and
unsteady.
34: The mind is restless, turbulent, obstinate and
very strong, O Krsna, and to subdue it, I thing, is more
difficult than controlling the wind.
35: Lord Sri Krsna said: O mighty-armed son of
Kunti, it is undoubtedly very difficult to curb the
restless mind, but it is possible by suitable practice
and by detachment.
36: For one whose mind is unbridled, self-realized
is difficult work. But he whose mind is controlled and
who strives by appropriate means is assured of success.
That is my opinion.
37: Arjuna said: O Krsna, what is the destination
of the unsuccessful transcendentalist, who in the
beginning take to the process of self-realization with
faith but who later desists due to worldly mindedness
and thus does not attain perfection in mysticism?
38: O mighty-armed Krsna, 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?
39: This is my doubt, O Krsna, and I ask You to
dispel it completely. But for You, no one is to be found
who can destroy this doubt.
40: The Supreme Personality of Godhead said: Son of
Prtha, a transcendentalist engaged in auspicious
activities does not meet destruction either in this
world or in the spiritual world; one who does good, My
friend, is never overcome by evil.
41: The unsuccessful yogi, 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.
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.
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.
44: By virtue of the divine consciousness of his
previous life, he automatically becomes attracted to the
yogic principles-even without seeing them. Such an
inquisitive transcendentalist stands always above the
ritualistic principles of the scriptures.
45: And when the yogi 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.
46: A yogi is greater than the ascetic, greater
than the empiricist and greater than the fruitive
worker. Therefore, O Arjuna, in all circumstances, be a
yogi.
47: And of all yogis, 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.
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