Commentary on the Bhagavadgita

by Swami Krishnananda

Uddhared atmanatmanam natmanam avasadayet, atmaiva hy atmano bandhur atmaiva ripur atmanah (6.5).
Bandhur atmatmanas tasya yenatmaivatmana jitah, anatmanas tu satrutve vartetatmaiva satruvat (6.6).

Atmaiva hy atmano bandhur atmaiva ripur atmanah: We must not criticise our own selves or deprecate our own selves or feel diffident about our own selves when we are on the spiritual path, because it is said elsewhere that even a little practice that we do is a great credit in our name and there is no loss of effort. No effort in the direction of spiritual practice is going to be a loss. It is always going to be a gain, even if it is a very insignificant gain. Nehabhikrama-naso’sti pratyavayo na vidyate (2.40). It is mentioned in an earlier chapter that no effort in the direction of spiritual realisation can be a waste. Even a penny that is credited in our bank is a credit, though it is only one farthing or one penny. So no one should imagine that there is some serious defect in one’s own self when they have decided to tread the spiritual path. Once we have taken the step, we should not turn back with diffidence. It is said that he who has put his hand on the plough cannot look back. Once he has started doing the work, no diffidence is permitted. Hence, uddhared atmanatmanam: The self has to be raised with the self’s power. Natmanam avasadayet: Do not depreciate your effort. Atmaiva hy atmano bandhur atmaiva ripur atmanah: We are our own friend, and we are our own enemy. All troubles come to us due to our own errors; also blessings come due to our proper adjustment of personality with reality.

Bandhur atmatmanas tasya yenatmaivatmana jitah: When we have conquered our lower self with the power of the higher self, we have become our own friend. When the lower self disobeys the regulations and rules of the higher self, we become an enemy of our own self. This is because our real self is the higher self, and the higher we go, the more real we become in our own personality. The lower we go, the less and less we are in our own reality. When comprehensive regulations of the higher self restrain the instinctive activities of the lower self, we are supposed to be our own friend. The higher self is our friend because we ourselves are the higher self.

Anatmanas tu satrutve vartetatmaiva satruvat: God Himself may look like an enemy when we disobey His orders which operate in the form of rita and satya. Bandhur atmatmanas tasya yenatmaivatmana jitah, anatmanas tu satrutve vartetatmaiva satruvat: The more we are attached to the objects of sense, the more are we inimical to our own self. The lesser our desires and greater the capacity of our consciousness to establish itself in itself, the more are we friendly with our own self.

Actually, there is no separate God sitting somewhere in the cosmos. It is the largest dimension of our own self that is called Brahman. The miniature of that Brahman is the Atman. That itself, expanding to the widest dimension, is Brahman. Hence, there is no God outside us. There is an immanence of that Universal Being in our own selves. Therefore, if our so-called self is inimical to the regulations of the highest realm, it is acting against the requirements of the highest self, and there will be a reaction in the form of karmaphala, or nemesis, from the cosmic forces. This is the way in which God works if we disobey God’s law. Thus, obedience to the law that is operating in the cosmos is the way in which we can accommodate the highest reality into our own self – which is to be a friend of the highest self and which is equal to being a friend of one’s own self also. To be a friend of the highest self is equal to being a friend of one’s own self, because we are the highest self. Otherwise, the lower self will take an upper hand, the instincts will take revenge, and the sense organs will set up a revolt; and in that case, we will become a friend of the lower self which is the enemy of the higher self – which is another way of saying that we are an enemy of our own self.

This is a psychological foundation which is laid in a first few verses of the Gita, from the first sloka onwards, describing the actual practice of yoga. The Sixth Chapter concerns itself with the actual practice of yoga. Apart from a few minor details, it is similar to the yoga of Patanjali in many ways. Actually, some commentators such as Madhusudhana Saraswati have appended many sutras from Patanjali to supplement their explanations of the Sixth Chapter of the Bhagavadgita. There are abundant quotes from Patanjali in Madhusudhana Saraswati's commentary on the Gita's Sixth Chapter.

Yogi yunjita satatam atmanam rahasi sthitah, ekaki yata-chittatma nirasir aparigrahah (6.10): A yogi is a person who is attempting to practice yoga, and a yogi is one who is established in yoga. Whether we are in the second standard in the primary school or we are studying in college at the post-graduate level, we are undergoing education. So yoga is a common word that applies to the preliminary stages of attempt, as well as the final establishment. Therefore, a yogi who is a student of spiritual practice in any level – the first, the second or the third, or whatever level it is – such a person should undergo certain disciplines that are described in this chapter in order to carry on meditation.

Yogi yunjita satatam atmanam rahasi sthitah: Aloneness being our friend – living in a secluded place and not in a place of disturbance or noise – we try to collect ourselves into ourselves. We collect our energies, muster the forces of the mind and the senses, and try to be more and more in ourselves instead of being more and more in the objects of sense. This is the meaning of this half-verse: yogi yunjita satatam atmanam rahasi sthitah. We have to unite our self with our own self. The uniting of one’s self with one’s own self is a process of psychological integration whose methods have been described in the previous five chapters.

Ekaki: We should sit alone in a secluded place for meditation, unbefriended, unknown. Yata-chittatma: Bring about a union of the mind and the intellect and the self, so that there is no disparity among the thoughts of the mind or the understandings of the intellect or the yearnings of the soul. They must be in a state of balance. Such a state of attaining balance is yata-chittatma. Ekaki: being alone to oneself and united in mind and spirit and intellect. Nirasir aparigrahah: Expecting nothing from the world outside, having no desires for anything in the world is nirasih; and aparigrahah means expecting no gifts from anybody. When we have abandoned things, we may expect gifts to come from different sources – and actually gifts will come, as that is the law of action and reaction. The more we renounce things, the more are things abundantly poured on us. The more we try to renounce the world, the more it will try to pursue us and become our friend and be with us. Therefore it is said that when we are desireless, we should not expect any recompense or remuneration for our desirelessness. Expecting to obtain something as a result of being desireless is another kind of desire and, therefore, the desire to receive something because of our desirelessness has also to be given up. That is aparigrahatva – nirasir aparigrahah. Yogi yunjita satatam atmanam rahasi sthitah, ekaki yata-chittatma nirasir aparigrahah.

Suchau dese pratishthapya sthiram asanam atmanah, naty-ucchritam natinicham chailajina-kusottaram (6.11). We have to sit on a seat which is a non-conductor of electricity. That is why it is said a grass mat may be spread on the ground. A grass mat is a non-conductor of electricity. Some people place a deerskin or some such thing over the grass mat, and then spread a cloth to sit on. The seat should not be directly on the ground, nor should it be too high. Naty-ucchritam natinicham: neither too high nor too low. This is because if the seat is too low, insects may crawl on us and disturb our session; and if it is too high, there is a possibility of our falling down while in the state of concentration. The seat should be of moderate height. A very practical suggestion is given here: We should sit in one particular posture. The yoga meditation posture is the same posture in which most of us are sitting now (cross-legged on the floor with spine held upright), or it can be any other meditation pose such as padmasana, siddhasana, etc. Whatever is convenient to us and doesn’t cause us discomfort is the posture that we may assume for meditation.

In Patanjali’s sutras, a very non-committal description is given of the asana: sthirasukhamasanam (II.46). Patanjali does not say that we should be seated in padmasana, sthira, etc. Nothing is mentioned; no nomenclature is used. We can assume any pose which will enable us to be fixed and not cause pain in the knees or the joints. The pose should be fixed, and it should also be comfortable: sthira sukham asana. Whatever be the pose that we assume, it should be fixed and comfortable. Suchau dese: In a pure spot be seated. Naty-ucchritam natinicham chailajina-kusottaram: The seat should not be too high or too low.

Tattraikagram manah kritva yata-chittendriya-kriyah, upavisyasane yunjyad yogam atma-visuddhaye (6.12). Then, what should we be doing while seated there? We should try to bring the mind to a point of concentration. Yata-chittendriya-kriyah: By restraining our mental function and restraining our sense functions with the effort by pratyahara, we should try to bring the mind to a point of concentration. Tattraikagram manah kritva yatachittendriyakriyah, upavisyasane yunjyat yogam atmavisuddhaye: For the purification of the self, for the raising of the lower self to the higher self, one should resort to the practice of yoga which is meditation.