Sri Bhagavan said:
He who does what ought to be done without attachment to or seeking its fruits is both an ascetic and Yogi and not he that is without sacrificial fire or without rites.
6-1
O Arjuna, What they speak of as renunciation know that to be Yoga, for no one becomes Yogi who has not renounced desire for fruits and other attachments.
6-2
For the sage who is seeking to enter on Yoga, performance of duties as enjoined on one's occupation and Ashrama is said to be the means; and when the self-same sage becomes a seer of God for him complete concentration on God becomes the means of further happiness in liberation.
6-3
When one ceases to have any attachment either for the objects of senses or for actions and completely renounces all desire and thought, he is said to be one that has ascended to the summit of Yoga or well established in Yoga.
6-4
One should elevate his soul by the mind, and not depress it. The mind alone is the friend of soul and mind alone is the enemy of the soul.
6-5
For him whose mind is conquered by knowledge, the mind is truly his friend. But for him who has not subdued the mind, the same mind turns hostile like a foe.
6-6
To him who has subdued his senses and whose mind is thoroughly unperturbed and calm, God becomes manifest.
6-7
Such a Yogi who is contented with his general knowledge of the greatness of the Lord as described in vedas and with his special knowledge of the greatness of the Lord through special insight and has consequently acquired equanimity of mind that would enable him to react equally well to cold and heat, pleasure and pain and honor and dishonor, unaffected by them like the sky and who values equally a lump of clay, stone and gold is considered a full-fledged Yogi.
He is the perfect Yogi who regards evenly the good hearted, the friend, the foe, the indifferent, the neutral, the hated and the relative, the righteous and the unrighteous.
6-8,9
Let the Yogi apply his mind to meditation constantly staying in a secluded place with his mind and body under restraint, having eschewed desires and receiving no favors from others.
6-10
For the purification of the self one should practice Yoga in a pure place, seated firmly on a seat neither very much raised nor very low, with cloth, deer-skin and kusha grass spread one over the other, with his mind, senses and activities controlled.
6-11,12
Holding the body, head and neck, all erect, motionless and steady, gazing with fixed eyes at the tip of the nose without looking in other directions, tranquil in mind, without fear, firm in the vow of celibacy and the mind controlled and turned to Me and believing that I am the supreme, he should sit meditating on me.
6-13,14
Having thus always fixed the mind on the Lord, the Yogi with mind controlled, attains liberation the blessed state of being in Me after final destruction of the Body.
6-15
O Arjuna, Yoga is no good for him who eats too much or who abstains altogether from food or who is addicted to too much of sleep or keeps awake too much.
6-16
Yoga destroys the misery of him, who is regular and balanced in food and recreation in performing actions and in sleeping and waking.
6-17
When the mind completely kept under control is transfixed in God alone, free from other longing, he is then said to be a full blown yogi.
6-18
A lamp in a windless place does not flicker; to such is to be linked the Yogi who has restrained his mind and who devotes it to the contemplation of God.
6-19
That state in which the mind arrested by the practice of Yoga rests undisturbed withdrawing itself from external activities and in which the Yogi sees the Lord through the mind and rejoices within himself.
6-20
That state in which he finds that supreme happiness which is realized by direct self experience and is beyond ordinary sense experience and wherein staying, his vision is not distracted or diverted from the seen Divine form.
6-21
That state having attained which he does not regard any other gain as superior to it and where in staying, he is not moved even by the heaviest sorrow.
6-22
That state is to be understood as Yoga which is free from all contact of pain and suffering; this Yoga should be pursued with determination and with a detached mind.
6-23
Abandoning completely all desires born of Sankalpa (the mental resolve to do things for a definite purpose) and restraining on all sides the group of the senses by the mind, he should little by little, withdraw the mind with the aid of wisdom or reason controlled by steadiness from external objects and let it rest and delight in God.
6-24,25
Whenever the wavering and unsteady mind wanders away, he should restrain and withdraw it from those objects of senses and cause it to rest entirely in God.
6-26
Supreme joy certainly comes to the Yogi whose mind is perfectly calm and who has subdued his desire and anger arising out of the Rajoguna and who firmly rests in God and who is free from all faults and taints.
6-27
The Yogi who has become free from taints and impurities by thus contemplating ever on God, enjoys unsurpassed bliss brought about by direct contact with Brahman.
6-28
He whose mind is devoted to Yoga and who sees God in everything and realizes that He is immanent equally in everything from Brahma to blade of grass with the same glory and power, that Yogi - sees God in all beings and all beings in God.
6-29
Whoever sees me everywhere and sees everything in me as dependent on me, of him I do not cease to be protector nor does he cease to be my devotee.
6-30
He who considering that the supreme Lord is but one every where worships me abiding in all things - that Yogi lives in Me, whatever may be his mode of living.
6-31
O Arjuna, he who regards on the analogy of his own self that, whatever is pleasure and pain to himself, is equally so to all beings, that person is deemed to be a perfect Yogi.
6-32
Arjuna said:
O Madhusudhana, this Yoga you have described with reference to God's presence everywhere and in everything of this, I am unable to understand its permanent characteristic or form on account of the restlessness of the mind.
6-33
For, O Krishna, the mind is verily restless, turbulent, dogged and difficult to bend. I think its control is as difficult as that of the wind.
6-34
Sri Bhagavan said:
O Mighty armed, the mind is undoubtedly difficult to curb, and is unsteady. But O Kunti's son, it can be restrained by constant practice and renunciation.
6-35
My opinion is that Yoga is not attainable by him who has not restrained his mind. But it is attainable by one who has brought the mind under control, by ceaseless striving and skill.
6-36
Arjuna said:
O Krishna, what fate would be his, who does not exert himself in full but has faith and nevertheless fails to attain perfection in Yoga through disturbances in contemplating on God. Fallen from both, O Mighty Armed Krishna, does he, like a rent cloud without support and deluded in the path leading to Brahman, get destroyed. O Krishna, it behaves you to completely dispel this doubt of mine, for there is verily none except you who is able to dispel it.
6-37,38,39
Sri Bhagavan said:
O Partha, neither in this world nor in the world to come is there destruction for him. For no one who practices meditation and other pious and auspicious duties with faith meets with an evil end.
6-40
Having attained the worlds earned by merit and having dwelt there for many years, he who has swerved away from Yoga, is again born in the home of the pure and the wealthy.
6-41
Or, he may be born in the family of wise and adept Yogis. Really such a birth is very rare to obtain in this world.
6-42
O Son of Kuru, there he recalls and regains the contemplation of the Lord which he had practiced in his previous birth and with this, he strives again for further accomplishment.
6-43
By the former practice, in spite of himself he is drawn involuntarily to it. Even the seeker of intellectual clarification of Yoga passes beyond the law of "do and refrain" rules relating to religious injunctions and prohibitions and attains salvation.
6-44
But the Yogi, who strives him self with assiduity, becomes cleansed of all taints and impurities and perfected through and after many lives, reaches the highest goal.
6-45
The actual Yogi is superior to the performers of penance. He is also superior to Yogi of true knowledge, he is considered greater than those who perform vedic rituals. Therefore, Arjuna, you better develop to be a Yogi.
6-46
Even amongst all the Yogis, he who worships me with devotion with his mind absorbed in me is considered by me as the most perfect Yogi.
6-47
Thus ends the Sixth Chapter of Bhagavad Gita entitled "The Yoga of Self Restraint".
