Bhagavad Gita Chapter 6: Dhyana Yoga, How to Meditate and Control the Mind

Chapter 6 is the Gita's chapter on meditation. Krishna explains in practical terms where and how to sit, how much to eat and sleep, and how to master the restless mind. It closes the first group of six chapters, on action.

Verses 1 to 4: the true renunciate and yogi

One who does the work that should be done without depending on its fruit is a renunciate and a yogi, not one who merely gives up the sacred fire or all activity. What is called renunciation is yoga, for no one becomes a yogi without giving up selfish resolves. For one who wishes to climb to yoga, action is the means; for one who has climbed, stillness is the means. When one is attached neither to sense objects nor to actions and has given up all selfish resolves, one is said to have ascended to yoga.

Verses 5 to 9: you are your own friend and enemy

Uddhared atmanatmanam natmanam avasadayet
atmaiva hy atmano bandhur atmaiva ripur atmanah (6.5)

Meaning: Lift yourself by yourself; do not let yourself sink. You alone are your own friend, and you alone your own enemy.

For one who has conquered the mind, the mind is a friend; for one who has not, it behaves like an enemy. The self-controlled and serene stay fixed in the Supreme in cold and heat, pleasure and pain, honour and dishonour. Content in knowledge and wisdom, unshaken, master of the senses, the yogi regards a clod, a stone and gold alike. One who is even-minded towards well-wishers, friends, enemies, the indifferent, the neutral, the hateful, relatives, the good and the wicked excels.

Verses 10 to 17: how to meditate

The yogi should stay alone in a quiet place, controlling mind and body, free of expectation and possessions, constantly fixing the mind on the Supreme.

• Place: on clean ground, a seat neither too high nor too low, with kusha grass, then a deer skin or cloth over it.
• Sitting: seated there, making the mind one-pointed and restraining the activity of mind and senses, practise for self-purification.
• Body: hold body, head and neck straight and still, not looking around, gaze resting at the tip of the nose.
• Mind: serene, fearless, firm in self-discipline, mind controlled, thinking of me, intent on me.

The yogi who keeps the mind so engaged attains the peace that rests in me.

Naty ashnatas tu yogo 'sti na chaikantam anashnatah
na chati svapna shilasya jagrato naiva charjuna (6.16)
yuktahara viharasya yukta cheshtasya karmasu
yukta svapnavabodhasya yogo bhavati duhkhaha (6.17)

Meaning: Yoga is not for one who eats too much or not at all, nor for one who sleeps too much or keeps awake too long. For one who is moderate in eating and recreation, in effort at work, in sleep and waking, yoga destroys sorrow.

Verses 18 to 23: a lamp in a windless place

When the controlled mind rests in the self alone, free of longing for any desire, one is said to be in yoga. "As a lamp in a windless place does not flicker" is the image of the yogi's controlled mind (6.19).

The state in which the mind, restrained by practice, becomes still; in which, seeing the self by the self, one is content; in which one knows boundless joy grasped by the intellect beyond the senses and never moves from the truth; having gained which one counts no gain greater, and in which one is not shaken even by great sorrow: know that release from union with sorrow as yoga. Practise it with determination and without discouragement.

Verses 24 to 28: calming the mind step by step

Giving up completely all desires born of selfish will, restraining the senses on every side with the mind, slowly become still with a patient intellect; settle the mind in the self and think of nothing else. Wherever the restless, unsteady mind wanders, bring it back from there and settle it in the self again and again (6.26). Supreme joy comes to the yogi whose mind is calm, whose passions are stilled, who is sinless and one with Brahman.

Verses 29 to 32: God in all, all in God

The yogi sees the self in all beings and all beings in the self. "One who sees me everywhere and everything in me never loses me, and I never lose them (6.30)." One who sees the joy and sorrow of all as their own is the highest yogi (6.32).

Verses 33 to 36: the restless mind

Arjuna says: "Madhusudana, because of the mind's restlessness I do not see how this yoga of evenness can be steady. The mind is restless, turbulent, strong and stubborn; restraining it seems as hard as restraining the wind."

Asamshayam mahabaho mano durnigraham chalam
abhyasena tu kaunteya vairagyena cha grihyate (6.35)

Meaning: Without doubt, mighty-armed one, the mind is restless and hard to control, but it is brought under control by practice and detachment, son of Kunti.

Yoga is hard for one whose mind is uncontrolled, but one who strives and controls the mind can attain it by the right means.

Verses 37 to 45: the yogi who falls short

Arjuna asks: "What becomes of one who has faith but, through a wandering mind, fails to reach perfection in yoga? Does such a person perish like a scattered cloud, lost from both worlds? Only you can remove this doubt."

Krishna says: "Partha, such a person is not destroyed in this world or the next. 'Na hi kalyanakrit kashchid durgatim tata gachchhati': one who does good never comes to a bad end, my dear (6.40). After dwelling long in the worlds of the virtuous, the fallen yogi is born in a pure and prosperous home, or even in a family of wise yogis, which is rarer. There the wisdom of the former life returns and they strive again for perfection. By former practice they are drawn to yoga as if helplessly. Striving diligently, cleansed of sin, perfected over many births, the yogi reaches the supreme goal."

Verses 46 and 47: the best of yogis

The yogi is greater than the ascetic, greater than the scholar and greater than those devoted to ritual; so be a yogi, Arjuna. And of all yogis, the one who worships me with faith, the inner self absorbed in me, I consider the most devoted (6.47).

What this chapter teaches

• Your progress is your own responsibility; blaming others does not lift you.
• Meditation needs neither starvation nor leaving home; balanced food, sleep and work are its foundation.
• A wandering mind is natural; bringing it back gently each time is the practice.
• No effort on a good path is wasted, even if it is not completed in this life.
• Feeling another's sorrow as your own is the highest yoga.