Dhyana Yoga: Shlokas 5 to 9
If you have not already done so, I would request you to review the Chapter 5, Karma Sanyasa Yoga before studying chapter 6 as that would help set the right context.
You can find the explanation of the previous set of shlokas, 1 to 4 of chapter 6 here. Please go through that to get a better understand and maintain continuity in your learning.
You can also listen to all the episodes through my Spotify Portal.
Verses 6.5 to 6.9
उद्धरेदात्मनात्मानं नात्मानमवसादयेत् |
आत्मैव ह्यात्मनो बन्धुरात्मैव रिपुरात्मन: || 5||
uddhared ātmanātmānaṁ nātmānam avasādayet
ātmaiva hyātmano bandhur ātmaiva ripur ātmanaḥ
उद्धरेदात्मनात्मानं (uddhared-ātmanā-ātmānaṃ) – should lift up by the self the self; नात्मानमवसादयेत् (nātmānam-avasādayet) – one should not degrade the self; आत्मैव (ātmaiva) – the self indeed; ह्यात्मनो (hyātmano) – of the self; बन्धुरात्मैव (bandhur-ātmaiva) – is the friend indeed; रिपुरात्मन: (ripur-ātmanaḥ) – the enemy of the self.
One should elevate oneself by the power of one’s own mind and should not degrade oneself; for the mind can be one’s friend as well as one’s enemy.
बन्धुरात्मात्मनस्तस्य येनात्मैवात्मना जित: |
अनात्मनस्तु शत्रुत्वे वर्ते तात्मैव शत्रुवत् || 6||
bandhur ātmātmanas tasya yenātmaivātmanā jitaḥ
anātmanas tu śhatrutve vartetātmaiva śhatru-vat
बन्धुरात्मात्मनस्तस्य (bandhur-ātmātmanas-tasya) – the friend of the self for that person; येनात्मैवात्मना जित: (yena-ātmaivātmanā jitaḥ) – by whom the self is conquered by the self; अनात्मनस्तु (anātmanas-tu) – for the one without self-control; शत्रुत्वे (śatrutve) – in enmity; वर्ते तात्मैव शत्रुवत् (varte tātmaiva śatruvat) – behaves indeed as an enemy.
For one who has controlled their mind, their mind is their best friend. But for one who has not done so, their mind will be their greatest enemy.
जितात्मन: प्रशान्तस्य परमात्मा समाहित: |
शीतोष्णसुखदु:खेषु तथा मानापमानयो: || 7||
jitātmanaḥ praśhāntasya paramātmā samāhitaḥ
śhītoṣhṇa-sukha-duḥkheṣhu tathā mānāpamānayoḥ
जितात्मन: (jitātmanaḥ) – of one who has conquered the mind; प्रशान्तस्य (praśāntasya) – of the peaceful; परमात्मा समाहित: (paramātmā samāhitaḥ) – the supreme soul is established; शीतोष्णसुखदु:खेषु (śītoṣṇa-sukha-duḥkheṣu) – in cold, heat, pleasure, and pain; तथा मानापमानयो: (tathā mānāpamānayoḥ) – likewise in honor and dishonor.
Those who have conquered their mind rise above the dualities of cold and heat, joy and sorrow, and honor and dishonor. They are able to reach Paramātmā.
ज्ञानविज्ञानतृप्तात्मा कूटस्थो विजितेन्द्रिय: |
युक्त इत्युच्यते योगी समलोष्टाश्मकाञ्चन: || 8||
jñāna-vijñāna-tṛiptātmā kūṭa-stho vijitendriyaḥ
yukta ityuchyate yogī sama-loṣhṭāśhma-kāñchanaḥ
ज्ञानविज्ञानतृप्तात्मा (jñāna-vijñāna-tṛptātmā) – one satisfied by knowledge and wisdom; कूटस्थो (kūṭastho) – unchanging; विजितेन्द्रिय: (vijitendriyaḥ) – having subdued the senses; युक्त (yukta) – is said to be disciplined; इत्युच्यते (ityuchyate) – thus is called; योगी (yogī) – a yogi; समलोष्टाश्मकाञ्चन: (samaloṣṭāśma-kāñcanaḥ) – same in a clod, a stone, and gold.
A person is said to be established in self-realization and is called a yogi when they are fully satisfied by virtue of acquired knowledge and realization. Such a person is situated in transcendence and is self-controlled. They see everything—whether it be pebbles, stones, or gold—as the same.
सुहृन्मित्रार्युदासीनमध्यस्थद्वेष्यबन्धुषु |
साधुष्वपि च पापेषु समबुद्धिर्विशिष्यते || 9||
suhṛin-mitrāryudāsīna-madhyastha-dveṣhya-bandhuṣhu
sādhuṣhvapi cha pāpeṣhu sama-buddhir viśhiṣhyate
सुहृन्मित्रार्युदासीनमध्यस्थद्वेष्यबन्धुषु (suhṛn-mitrāry-udāsīna-madhyastha-dveṣya-bandhuṣu) – towards well-wishers, friends, enemies, the indifferent, the neutral, the hateful, and relatives; साधुष्वपि च पापेषु (sādhuṣv-api cha pāpeṣu) – among the righteous as well as the sinful; समबुद्धिर्विशिष्यते (sama-buddhir-viśiṣyate) – one who has an equanimous intellect is distinguished.
The yogi who maintains an equal disposition towards well-wishers, friends, foes, the pious, sinners, companions, neutral mediators, despisers, relatives, and remains unbiased between the righteous and sinful is considered distinguished among humans and excels in their spiritual practice.
Raise yourself by yourself
In 6.5 Shri Krishna says that You should raise Yourself by yourself. You should not let yourself bring yourself down. For you alone are your own friend, and You alone are your own enemy. This is such a profound and impactful message! That we are responsible for ourselves. That we are empowered to make ourselves successful. We do not need to depend on any external factors for our success nor should we hold anyone else accountable for our failures. Our own inner self holds the key to ultimate success and realization of God.
We usually tend to blame others or our circumstances for not being able to progress in life or in spirituality and Krishna says that you should take accountability for your own self and that you are empowered to lift yourself and elevate yourself. The mind will keep distracting you. However Krishna is saying ‘udd-haret’, resist the path the mind is trying to take you towards and forcefully uplift yourself. The word ‘haret’ is similar to the word ‘haran’ as used in ‘apaharan’, which means ‘kidnapping’. Krishna is asking us to be very mindful of our mind and ensure that it doesn’t do our ‘haran’.
Inside each of us, there’s a clear picture of the person we want to be—good-hearted, honest, loving, and disciplined. Yet, our mind and our emotions often pull us in different directions, making us act impulsively, like stray dogs fighting over scraps. Many don’t recognize this inner conflict, but once we see it, we realize there’s a higher path. This path, guiding us to be our best self, is what leads us towards our absolute goal in life, of self realization. Our mind can trick us, making us chase short-lived pleasures. But when we use our intellect to guide our mind, we align with our true, noble nature. The journey of making our impulsive side listen to our wise side is the essence of spiritual growth.
Here is 2.41 for further context:
व्यवसायात्मिका बुद्धिरेकेह कुरुनन्दन |
बहुशाखा ह्यनन्ताश्च बुद्धयोऽव्यवसायिनाम् || 41||
vyavasāyātmikā buddhir ekeha kuru-nandana
bahu-śhākhā hyanantāśh cha buddhayo ’vyavasāyinām
O, descendant of the Kurus, those who follow this path possess a firm and determined intellect, with a singular and focused aim. However, those with an indecisive intellect have a multitude of conflicting thoughts and ideas.
As discussed here, our intellect is the decision maker. Our mind is the follower. For example, once our intellect decides that money is what is important in life, the mind will keep craving for it all the time. Those who are resolute on the spiritual path need to have an intellect which is focused and not distracted and going in multiple directions and going behind material things.
The true meaning of free will
Because our intellect possesses the ability to control the mind, we must cultivate the intellect with proper divine knowledge and use it to guide the mind in the proper direction. Krishna is making it very clear that ultimately we are empowered to uplift ourselves or destroy ourselves. That is the true meaning of free will.
The Sufi poet Rumi has said this beautifully:
Man arafa nai sahu
Faqo araba nab bahu
He alone who recognizes his own self can recognize God.
I request you all to bookmark verse 6.6 as one of the most profound messages on mind management. Here, Lord Krishna says that “…for him who has conquered the mind, the mind is the best of friends, and for one who has failed to do so, the mind will remain the greatest enemy.”
Our higher self is our spirit soul and our lower self is our mind. It is a profoundly beautiful concept of the self being the friend or enemy of the self. The self, keeping a watch on the self, and the self, helping with the liberation of the self.
That was what we discussed in Pragma 1. “Recognize the saboteur within you. Don’t give in to it. Confront it and vanquish it”.
Our mind is our saboteur. Our mind is meant to be our best friend. However, if not controlled and purified, it can turn into our enemy number 1.
The power of the mind
You may have heard some friends or relatives say “I don’t know why failures keep chasing me”. The sad truth is that it is them who are chasing failures by not keeping a watch on their mind. Likewise, if we want to always attract success, we just have to start getting our mind under our control.
Another example we can use to showcase the power of the mind is the difference between punishment and exercise. If someone scolds you and asks you to do 10 pushups, that is punishment, you feel bad and your body will start hurting. However, when you go to the gym and do 10 pushups, it becomes exercise. You feel good and your body responds by building muscles. The act was the same.
You were doing the same 10 pushups. What was different between the two examples was just our mind. In the first case, the mind was telling us that we are going through a punishment and it wanted you to feel sorry for yourself and eventually it was causing hurt to you. Whereas when we were in the gym, the same mind was telling us that we were doing something beneficial for ourselves and we are going to look fab with muscles we are going to build. That is the power of the mind.
The four sources of strength
There are four sources of strength in every human being. The first is muscular strength (bahu balam), the second is intellectual strength (buddhi balam) and the third is mental strengh (mano balam) and the fourth is spiritual strength (atma balam).
We need to try and cultivate all four strengths. However, we should also realize that buddhi balam is superior to bahu balam, mano balam is superior to buddhi balam and atma balam is the most superior of all. We can cultivate bahu balam by performing various physical activities and raja yoga. The other three strengths can be cultivated by striving to become Vishudatma, Vijitatma and Jitendriya as discussed in chapter 5. Ultimate atma balam comes when we have faith in ourselves and faith in Bhagavan.
If we can understand this fully, we can get closer to understanding God and His divine design. Good and evil are both different aspects of the self and the goal is for the good self to achieve victory over the evil self.
The way we gain control over our mind is by starting to practice samatvam. This is what Krishna explained back in 2.14.
मात्रास्पर्शास्तु कौन्तेय शीतोष्णसुखदु: खदा: |
आगमापायिनोऽनित्यास्तांस्तितिक्षस्व भारत ||14||
mātrā-sparśhās tu kaunteya śhītoṣhṇa-sukha-duḥkha-dāḥ
āgamāpāyino ’nityās tans-titikṣhasva bhārata
The contacts of the senses with their objects create, O son of Kunti, feelings of heat and cold, of pain and pleasure. They come and go and are impermanent. Bear them patiently, O Bharata.
A gist of Dhyana Yoga
We should train our mind to handle ups and downs in life with a calm mind. That is what is required to eventually gain mastery over our mind and make it our best friend. This ability to calm our mind and maintain samatvam is the gist of Dhayana Yoga. We have to remember that Dhyana Yoga is a tool to help us progress in yoga, perform Nishkama Karma and develop devotion. I would like to reiterate the importance of devotional surrender to God which is the only way to proceed on the path of bhakti towards liberation. We will also go through the concept of how exactly to surrender.
Here is a funny story of a man who went seeking a Guru as told by Swami Mukundananda. A man goes in search of a Guru and meets someone who just says a mantra in his years and says that’s all is required. Man asks ‘what have you given me?’ and the guru says ‘I have given you Goloka, when you die I will meet you at the other side of the gates of Goloka’. Guru says now give me my guru dakshina and the man says ‘I give you Delhi, and Mumbai and Kolkata’. The guru says ‘badmaash, do these cities belong to your father that you are giving them to me?’. And the man says ‘guru ji, does Goloka belong to your father that you are offering it to me?’.
The moral of the story is that there is no magic mantra that we should be seeking for God realization or even advancement in the spiritual path. What we need is a process and the right philosophy along with a set of practices that we need to follow sincerely. The reason we are covering it here is because until now, all these points have already been covered in the Bhagavad Gita in various verses and this is a good place to summarize them.
As per our scriptures and as reiterated by Lord Chaitanya, there are 6 conditions we need to fulfill in order to have fully surrendered and receive the grace of God. Now we cannot say ‘if I fulfill 3 out of those 6 conditions will I become half God realized?’. With God, there is no ‘half realization’. You either realize or you don’t. So we have to strive to fulfill all 6 conditions.
- To have desires which are aligned with the desire of God. The mindset that I want whatever God wants for me. In 2.55 Krishna had said that we should get rid of selfish desires and cravings. Desires will come, we just have to make sure they don’t stay. How do we know if our desires are aligned with the desire of God? First of all, our biggest desire should be that of attaining God realization. There is a saying, When sunlight comes, a candle has no meaning. You don’t have to put out the candle, It just becomes irrelevant in the presence of sunlight. Just like that, once our desire for God and God consciousness grows, all other smaller desires will become irrelevant.
- Not to desire against the desire of God. Our job is to put in our best. The results are in His hands. After doing our best, whatever is the outcome, accept it. If we question ‘why did God do this to me?’, then there is no surrender.
- To have faith that God is protecting me. If we are all a part of God then why will He not take care of us? When we face trials of various kinds, we should realize that the testing of our faith produces steadfastness. Once we become steadfast in our faith, we become eligible to receive God’s grace. Once we start receiving God’s grace you should be assured that you will always have His protection.
- To feel gratitude for all the grace we have already received. Our final goal is liberation, however, on the way we receive so many graces. We need to be grateful for all of them. There are many things we take for granted. Like the human form we got, the air we breath, the water we drink, etc. We should feel grateful for everything.
- See all you have as belonging to God. Do not have any sense of ownership. Any time we have this mindset of ‘mine’ we get into bondage. If we can replace it with the mindset of ‘not mine’ then it will lead us towards liberation. It is a fact that we are going to leave everything behind one day, including our own body.
- As we discussed in earlier verses, when we progress spiritually, Maya also ups her game and we have to be consciously aware of this and make even better efforts to overcome Maya. So the 6th point is that we should surrender the pride of having surrendered. The moment we take pride in our spiritual progress, we start going backwards on the path. Whatever spiritual progress you have made, give the credit to God. It is all happening by His grace only.
Now that we have revisited and understood the topic of surrender, we can continue with our Bhagavad Gita study. Earlier, Shri Krishna has said that once we have elevated ourselves, we will be able to see everything with the vision of knowledge, see oneness in everything and everybody.
This is referred to as “sama buddhiḥ” or “equanimous vision”. This means treating everyone—the friend, the enemy, those indifferent to us, mediators, those who dislike us, relatives, good people, and those who may have wronged us, etc., with the same level of respect and understanding. Having this balanced mindset is the indication that we have evolved spiritually. In this state, insults or praises don’t affect us as much; they’re like minor annoyances. This inner strength comes from connecting with the deeper, infinite part of oneself.
When fully invested in the material world, even small things can disturb one’s peace. However, with a spiritual foundation, these disturbances don’t hold power. This isn’t about physical strength but a mental connection to something higher. Shri Krishna emphasizes this idea in many chapters, highlighting the importance of maintaining a steady and balanced outlook in various situations.
How do we reach that stage where we start viewing everyone with oneness? Krishna will explain this in the next few verses 10 to 17 that you can find here.
Hare Krishna.
kṛṣṇadaasa
Servant of Krishna
Aka +Vinayak Raghuvamshi