Bhagavad Gita Chapters: |
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- 1. The Lord said, "He who performs works that ought to be done without seeking their fruits—he is a sannyasin and yogin, and not he who maintains no sacred fires and performs no actions."
- 2. That which is called Sannyasa (Jnana Yoga), know that to be Yoga (Karma Yoga), O Arjuna. For no one, among Karma Yogins, whose delusive identification of the body with the self has not been abandoned, becomes a true Karma Yogin.
- 3. Action is said to be the means for the sage who seeks to climb the heights of Yoga; but when he has climbed the heights of Yoga, tranquility is said to be the means.
- 4. For, when one loses attachment to the things of the senses and to actions, then they have abandoned all desires and are said to have climbed the heights of Yoga.
- 5. One should raise oneself by one's own mind and not allow oneself to sink; for the mind alone is the friend of the self, and the mind alone is the foe of the self.
- 6. The mind is the friend of him by whom it has been conquered. But for him whose mind is not conquered, the mind, like an enemy, remains hostile.
- 7. Of him whose mind is conquered and who is serene, the great self is well-secured in heat and cold, in pleasure and pain, and in honor and dishonor.
- 8. The yogin whose mind is content with knowledge of the self and also with knowledge of the difference between the self and Prakrti, who is established in the self, whose senses are subdued, and to whom earth, stone, and gold all seem alike, is called integrated.
- 9. He who regards with an equal eye well-wishers, friends, foes, the indifferent, neutrals, the hateful, the relations, and even the good and the sinful—he excels.
- 10. The yogin should constantly fix his mind on yoga, remaining in a solitary place all alone, controlling his thoughts and mind, free from desire and a sense of possession.
- 11. Having established for himself, in a clean spot, a firm seat that is neither too high nor too low, and covering it with cloth, deer-skin, and Kusa grass in reverse order—
- 12. Sitting on the seat, with a concentrated mind, controlling the mind and senses, one should practice Yoga for the purification of the self.
- 13. Holding the trunk, head, and neck erect, motionless and steady, gazing at the tip of the nose and not looking in any direction;
- 14. Serene and fearless, firm in their vow of celibacy, controlling their minds and fixing their thoughts on Me, they should sit in Yoga, intent on Me.
- 15. Applying his mind in this way, the Yogin of controlled mind, ever attains the peace which is the summit of beatitude and which abides in Me.
- 16. Yoga is not for him who overeats, nor for him who fasts excessively; not for him, O Arjuna, who sleeps too much, nor for him who stays awake too long.
- 17. Yoga becomes the destroyer of sorrows for those who are temperate in food and recreation, temperate in their actions, and temperate in their sleep and wakefulness.
- 18. When the subdued mind rests solely on the Self, then, free from all yearning for objects of desire, one is said to be fit for Yoga.
- 19. A lamp does not flicker in a windless place"—that is the simile used for the tranquil mind of a yogi who practices yoga.
- 20. Where the mind, controlled through the practice of Yoga, rests, and where one sees the Self by the Self and is delighted by the Self alone.
- 21. Where one knows that infinite happiness which can be grasped by the intellect but is beyond the reach of the senses, and is established in that condition, one does not swerve from it.
- 22. Having gained it, one holds that there is no greater gain; being established in it, one is not moved even by the heaviest sorrow.
- 23. Know this deliverance from association with misery to be Yoga. This Yoga must be practiced with determination and with a mind free from despondency.
- 24. Renouncing entirely all desires born of volition and restraining the mind from all the senses on all sides,
- 25. Little by little, one should withdraw oneself from objects other than the self, with the help of the intellect held by firm resolution; and then one should think of nothing else, having fixed the mind upon the Self.
- 26. Wherever the fickle and unsteady mind wanders, one should subdue it and then bring it back under the control of the self alone.
- 27. For supreme happiness comes to the Yogin whose mind is at peace, who is free from evil, from whom Rajas has departed, and who has become the Brahman.
- 28. Thus, devoting himself to the Yoga of the Self, freed from impurities, the yogin easily attains the supreme bliss of contact with the Brahman.
- 29. He whose mind is fixed in Yoga sees reality everywhere; he sees his Self as abiding in all beings and all beings in his Self.
- 30. To him who sees Me in every self and every self in Me—I am not lost to him, nor is he lost to Me.
- 31. The yogi who, fixed in oneness, worships Me dwelling in all beings—he abides in Me, no matter how he may live.
- 32. He who, due to the similarity of selves everywhere, sees pleasure or pain as the same everywhere—that yogi, O Arjuna, is considered the closest.
- 33. Arjuna said, "O Krsna, this Yoga of reality, which You have declared, I do not see how it can be steady due to the fickleness of the mind."
- 34. For the mind is fickle, O Krsna, impetuous, powerful, and stubborn; I think that restraining it is as difficult as restraining the wind.
- 35. The Lord said, "The mind is indeed hard to subdue and fickle, O mighty-armed one, but, O son of Kunti, it can be brought under control through practice and the exercise of dispassion."
- 36. In my opinion, Yoga is hard to attain by a person of an unrestrained mind; however, it can be attained through the right means by one who strives for it and has a subdued mind.
- 37. Arjuna said, "If a person who is possessed of faith but has put in only inadequate effort finds his mind wandering away from Yoga, and then fails to attain perfection—what way does he go, O Krishna?"
- 38. Without any support, confused in the path leading to the Brahman, and thus having fallen from both, does he not perish, O mighty-armed one, like a rent cloud?
- 39. O Krsna, you should altogether remove this doubt of mine, for there is no other remover of this doubt than you.
- 40. The Lord said, "Neither here in this world nor there in the next is there destruction for him. For no one who does good ever comes to an evil end."
- 41. He who has fallen away from Yoga is born again in the house of the pure and prosperous, having attained to the worlds of doers of good deeds and dwelled there for many long years.
- 42. Or he is born into a family of wise yogis. But such a birth in this world is rare.
- 43. There, O Arjuna, he regains the disposition of mind that he had in his former body, and from there he strives even more for success in Yoga.
- 44. By the power of his earlier practice, he is carried forward even against his will. Even though he is an enquirer about Yoga, he transcends the Sabda-Brahman, i.e., Prakṛti or matter.
- 45. But the yogi, striving earnestly, cleansed of all his stains and perfected through many births, reaches the supreme state.
- 46. Greater than the ascetics, greater than those who possess knowledge, greater than the ritualists is the Yogin. Therefore, O Arjuna, become a Yogin.
- 47. He who, with faith, worships Me, and whose innermost self is fixed in Me, I consider him to be the greatest of the Yogins.