Chapter Six

                      The Path of Meditation

                            Dhyana-yoga

 1) The Supreme Lord said: Know a genuine sannyasi and genuine
yogi as the person who performs obligatory duties as enjoined in
the scriptures, without expecting the fruits of his actions. One is
not a sannyasi merely by renouncing the performance of the fire
sacrifice and other prescribed duties, and one is not a yogi merely
by becoming physically inactive.

2) O Arjuna, you should know the path of selfless action, lauded
by the learned as abnegation, to be nondifferent from the
eightfold path of yoga meditation. This is because without the
renunciation of fruitive desire and sensual craving (which is the
essential characteristic of the path of selfless action), one can
never be accepted as either a yogi on the path of wisdom or a yogi
on the eightfold path of mystic meditation.

3) Initially, action alone is said to be the cause of elevation for the
sage desirous of attaining unflickering yoga meditation. When he
has achieved continuous meditation, renunciation of all activity is
delineated as the cause of his perfect trance in yoga.

4) When the yoga practitioner is no longer addicted to the
enjoyable sense objects of sound, touch, form, taste, and smell,
and when he is no longer attached to any action in pursuance of
enjoying them, having achieved complete renunciation of all plans
of such action, then only can he be acclaimed as one who has truly
attained to yoga.

5) The living being must be delivered from the dark well of
material life by means of the mind detached from sense objects,
and he must never in any way be flung down into the material
world by the mind enchanted by sense objects because the mind is
sometimes his friend, and in another situation the very same mind
is rather the enemy.

6) For the soul who has conquered his mind, his mind is his friend
and well-wisher. For a person unable to control it, his own mind
remains constantly engaged in his disservice, like an enemy.

7) Free from attraction and aversion in the event of cold and heat,
happiness and unhappiness, or honor and insult, the yogi who has
mastered his mind remains deeply absorbed in yogic trance.

8) One who is always internally satisfied by dint of scriptural
wisdom as well as by direct realization, who is always situated in
divine consciousness, who is sense-controlled, and who has the
vision of equality for a lump of earth, a rock, or gold, is known as
a yogi qualified for self-realization.

9) And know that superior to one with equal vision for earth,
rocks, and gold, is the yogi who is capable of viewing with
equipoised intelligence all living beings a natural well-wisher, an
affectionate well-wisher, an enemy, an indifferent person, a
mediator, one detestable, a friend, a saint, and a sinner.

10) A person beginning yoga practice should always reside alone
at a solitary place, and controlling his mind and body, free from
desire and sensual engagement, he should engage his mind in
meditational trance.

11-12) At a pure place, not too high and not too low, the yogi
should establish a secure seat of kusa-straw, deer-skin, and cloth.
Then, sitting on that seat, subjugating all mental and sensual
activity, and locking his mind at one point, he should practice
meditational trance in order to purify his heart.

13-14) Soberly keeping his torso, head, and neck straight and
upright, poised, the yogi should fix his gaze at the top of his nose
without casting a glance in any other direction. Tranquil, fearless,
and reposed in the vow of celibacy, he should then meditate on My
four-armed Visnu form, and absorbing himself in devotion unto
Me, he should practice yoga.

15) In this way, constantly absorbing his mind in the yoga of
meditation (dhyana-yoga), the yogi whose heart has been purged
of sensual desires achieves emancipation from mundanity by
attaining to the nondifferentiated Brahman, the effulgence that
emanates from My person. He attains liberation from the course
of worldly existence.

16) O Arjuna, yoga practice is impossible for anyone who
overeats, undereats, oversleeps, or undersleeps.

17) For a person who eats, relaxes, and exerts himself in all duties
in a regulated way, and who keeps regular hours in proper
measure, the practice of yoga gradually becomes the source of
dispelling all worldly suffering.

18) When a yogi, having checked all mental tendencies of
worldliness situates his mind unwaveringly in soul-conception,
then, devoid of mundane desires, he is said to be actually situated
in yoga, or linked with the Absolute.

19) Know it surely that just as a lamp-flame situated in a windless
place never wavers, similarly, the mind of the yogi absorbed in
soul-conception never flickers in its concentration.

20-23) The state of perfect samadhi, or trance, is that in which the
disciplined mind of the yogi gains detachment from even the
slightest thought of mundane connotation. The yogi remains
satisfied in the Lord alone, having directly seen the Supersoul by
dint of his purified heart, and he experiences that happiness which
is eternal, perceptible by the divine intelligence of the soul, and
devoid of contact with the senses or sense objects; he never
deviates from the intrinsic nature of the soul. By attaining to this
state, he never considers any mundane acquisition as superior,
and in the face of unbearable tribulation his heart never wavers.
Therefore, by the very contact of distress, its absence is
accomplished. Know certainly that such a state of perfect trance is
defined as yoga. Such yoga should be practiced with perseverance
and an untiring heart.

24) Utterly abandoning all mental desires along with their mental
images, in full awareness of the futility of mundane prospect, one
must withdraw the senses from all material objects and engage
himself in the aformentioned yoga practice.

25) With the help of intelligence controlled by dharana (the limb
of the eightfold yoga in which the seat of intellect is brought into
concentration), one should completely steady the mind within the
soul. Then, by gradual practice, with-drawing the mind from
external objects, one should enter the trance of samadhi, and
should not think of anything but the soul for even a second.

26) The naturally fickle and unsteady mind should be carefully
withdrawn from whatever objects it pursues, and brought back
under the control of the self.

27) Devoid of passionate agitation, peaceful-hearted, free from the
blemishes of attachment, fear, and anger, and endowed with the
conception of the Absolute, such a yogi is blessed with the joy of
realizing the divine nature of the soul.

28) In this way, through constant realization of his internal divine
nature, the sinless yogi easily attains the profound ecstasy of
Supersoul realization. (At this point the yoga practice mentioned
herein is in accordance with the path of devotion [bhakti].)

29) His heart united with the infinite consciousness, that master of
yoga perceives consciousness in all beings. He sees the Supreme
Soul within everyone, and everyone within the Supreme.

30) For one who sees Me in everything and sees the whole creation
in Me alone, I am never unseen for him, and he is never
unwitnessed by Me he never fails in thinking of Me.

31) Although one, I am separately situated within the heart of
every living being as the Supersoul, in My four-armed form
measuring one pradesa (the distance between one's thumb and
forefinger). Realizing Me, Syamasundara, as nondifferent from
the Supersoul, the yogi who surrenders unto Me and worships Me
in devotion beginning with hearing, chanting and remembering
irrespective of performing scripturally prescribed duties or not,
he resides in Me eternally.

32) I consider highest of all masters of yoga the one who sees, as in
his own case, the happiness and unhappiness of all beings to be
equal he knows the joy and sorrow of others as his own.

33) Arjuna said: O Madhusudana, due to the fickle nature of the
mind, I cannot visualize the infinite stability of such a state of
equilibrium in yoga as described by You.

34) O Krsna, the mind is by its very nature fickle, the source of
disturbing one ́s judgement and agitating the senses and body. It
is unconquerable and extremly obstinate. Therefore, I consider
control of the mind by eightfold yoga practice to be practically
unapproachable, just as by mere breath-control, one cannot
control the wind blowing through the skies.

35) The Supreme Lord said: O heroic Arjuna, undoubt- edly the
mind is fickle and extremely difficult to control. However, O son
of Kunti, it is subjugated by repeatedly practicing the yoga of
meditation on the Supersoul as taught by a bona fide spiritual
master and abandoning mundane sense enjoyment.

36) In My consideration, no doubt the yoga described by Me for
controlling the mental faculty is difficult for the person of
unrestrained mind. But one who zealously subjugates the mind by
the authentic practice is definitely successful in yoga.

37) Arjuna said: O Krsna, a mediocre person may, due to his faith
in scripture, engage in yoga practice. However, lacking proper
practice and abnegation, he subsequently deviates due to
mundane propensities. It seems that he will surely be unsuccessful
in yoga. What, then, is his destination?

38) O mighty hero, O Krsna, having deviated from the yoga path
of attaining the Absolute, shelterless and fallen from the paths of
both action and meditation, is not such a person utterly lost like a
fragmented cloud?

39) O Krsna! No one but You can dispel this doubt of mine. Please
mercifully slash it at the root.

40) The Supreme Lord said: O Arjuna, son of Kunti, the
unsuccessful yogi does not suffer ruination either in this life or the
next. He is not deprived of the pleasures of the heavenly planetary
systems in this universe, nor is he denied the chance to personally
see the Supersoul in the divine realm. This is so, O dear one,
because a person who perform virtuous actions never becomes ill-
fated.

41) After residing for many years in all those heavenly planets
that are attainable by the performers of great sacrifices such as
the Asvamedha, the unsuccessful yogi takes the supreme goal.

42) On the other hand, if a person falls from his attempt in yoga
after a considerably long period of practice, then certainly he
takes birth in the home or lineage of teachers of yoga who are
absorbed in yoga practice. Know that birth in such a location is
very rarely atteined.

43) O son of Kuru, within one of the births I have just described
to you, that unsuccessful yogi revives, from the practices of his
previous life, his intelligence centered in the worship of the
Supersoul. Thereafter, with renewed vigor, he again endeavors for
the perfection of seeing Him.

44) Although undesirous due to some obstacle, he again becomes
attracted to yoga, by dint of the practice he applied in his last life.
And though he may be a practitioner still striving for perfection,
he surpasses the path of fruitive action mentioned in the Vedas,
and achieves a far superior fruit.

45) With more arduous endeavor than previously, the yogi who
fully purifies his consciousness by rejecting the filth of all worldly
desires and mental images, finally achieves the fruit of many
lifetimes of yoga practice. Thereafter, he reaches the supreme
goal.

46) The yogi who is a worshiper of the Supersoul is superior to
persons engrossed in severe austerities such as the candrayana,
superior to the worshipers of Brahman, and superior to the
fruitive workers. Know this certainly to be My conclusion.
Therefore, O Arjuna, be a yogi.

47) Among all types of yogis, the most elevated of all is the devotee
who has full faith in the authoritative pure devotional scriptures,
and who adores Me with all his heart by hearing and singing My
divine glories, rendering all services unto Me. Certainly this is My
opinion.

INDEX