Commentary on the Bhagavadgita

by Swami Krishnananda

Samam kaya-siro-grivam (6.13): We must be seated erect with the head, neck and the spine in a straight line so that the prana may move harmoniously through the channels of the body. If we sit in a distorted position, it will be difficult for the prana to move in a harmonious manner. Therefore, we remain in a stabilised pose in order to help the prana move in a stabilised fashion. We should be fixed; there should be no shaking of the personality. Dharanyann achalam sthirah: With eyes neither open eyes nor closed, we should gaze as if we are looking at the tip of the nose. It does not actually mean that we should concentrate on the tip of the nose. This is only a metaphor for not opening the eyes entirely because objects outside – colors and forms – may disturb our mind. So we should not keep the eyes open, nor should we close them completely, as that may lead to sleep. Samprekshya nasikagram svam disas chanavalokayan: Therefore the eyelids are half-closed, as if we are looking at the nose. Disas chanavalokayan: We should not look here and there, in different directions.

Prasantatma vigata-bhir brahmachari-vrate sthitah, manah samyamya mach-chitto yukta asita mat-parah (6.14). Prasantatma means subdued in one’s own self, calm and quiet and never susceptible to any kind of disturbance from outside events or sources. Prasantatma also means calm, quiet and subdued because of desirelessness in the mind. We are not agitated either by the operations of the mind inside or by the activities of people externally.

Vigata-bhir: Fearless are we. Fearlessness comes only when we are sure that we have a very secure position individually. If we are insecure, fear will haunt us from all directions. Yoga is the attempt at assuming a tremendous security of oneself in the world of cosmic rulers. In the Yoga Vasishtha it is clearly mentioned that an ardent student of yoga who is sincerely attempting to achieve perfection will be guarded by the rulers of the cosmos. The divinities that superintend over the powers of nature will open their eyes and befriend us and, therefore, we need not be in a state of agony or insecurity. The more are we dependent on people outside, the more are we insecure. The more we are dependent on the inner forces that are commensurate with the cosmic forces, the more are we fearless. But many a time doubts arise in the mind, and these doubts cause a diminution of the level in the state of meditation. Then we may suddenly come down from the level in which we are protected by the cosmic forces, and we may feel disturbed as if some tremendous trouble is going to take place.

These fears do not come in an ordinary manner. They come in a tremendously ferocious form, and are highly disturbing. It is impossible to describe what kind of fears can come upon us. The terror and the temptations that Buddha had to face during his meditations are described in a beautiful poetic style in the sixth chapter of Edwin Arnold’s Light of Asia. Edwin Arnold was a very good writer who also wrote Light of the World, which is about the life of Christ, and Song Celestial, which is the Bhagavadgita rendered in English poetry.

The sixth chapter of Light of Asia is a description of the fear, agony, temptation and torment that Buddha had to undergo before he attained illumination. These temptations and troubles – the devils attacking us from all sides – may be a phenomenon that everybody has to face one day or the other, because what one person has experienced may be the experience of everyone else also. Because there is only one road to God, whatever we see on the way has been seen by others also, and future meditators will also see the same thing. Vigata-bhir: Therefore, we must be fearless by establishing ourselves in ourselves and having confidence in ourselves.

Prasantatma vigata-bhir brahmachari-vrate sthitah: Completely restraining the sense organs from disturbing the energy of the body and the mind is called brahmacharya. Brahmacharya does not mean a physical dissociation from contact with things. Vishaya vinivartante niraharasya dehinah, rasa-varjyam raso’pyasya param drishtva nivartate (2.59). Physical dissociation is not brahmacharya, because the mind will be brooding. What our body is doing is not actually our action. What the mind is doing is our action. Therefore, there should be a withdrawal of the desire to see through the eyes, and a withdrawal of the energy that makes the ears hear. There should also be a withdrawal of all the powers of the sense organs, including the ten organs – the five organs of perception and the five organs of action. All these must be restrained. There must be no inclination to move at all. Stabilised, are we seated. That condition is the filling of our entire personality with the total energy that we consist of, and no energy should leak out through any organ of sense. Then we become indomitably strong, physically as well as mentally, and we develop a sharp memory and will not forget things.

Prasantatma vigata-bhir brahmachari-vrate sthitah, manah samyamya mach-chitto yukta asita mat-parah. This is the first time that the Lord uses the words “depend on me”. Later on it will be told in more elaborate form. In the Gita up to this time, the Lord has not said, “You should depend on me.” He has only said, “Do this work,” “Do that work,” “You should not be reactive,” “You should conduct yourself in this fashion,” “This is the discipline that you have to practise,” and so on, but he did not bring God into the picture. In a way, he brings God here by saying mach-chitto yukta asita mat-parah: “Depending on Me entirely, be united with your own Self.”

Manah samyamya: With great effort, restrain the mind. The mind will not yield so easily. It will wander here and there. Wherever it goes, from there we bring it back, as we control a horse with the reins. The sense organs are like horses, and they have to be restrained by the power of the higher reason. Mach-chitta: entirely depending on God’s grace, and on nothing else. Manah samyamya mach-chitto yukta asita mat-parah: United with our own self, integrated in our psyche, fearless in our behaviour and vision of life, depending entirely on the grace of God for His mercy and His coming to us quickly, thus we should be seated for this highest form of concentration and meditation.

Yunjann evam sadatmanam yogi niyata-manasah, santim nirvana-paramam mat-samstham adhigacchati (6.15). We should do this practice continuously every day. It may be for a few minutes in the beginning, and later on for half an hour, one hour, etc.; nevertheless, this practice should be carried on daily, continuously, and without remission. Santim nirvana-paramam: One who has restrained oneself perfectly attains a peace which is a reflection of Ultimate Bliss itself. Nirvana itself is reflected in our personality, and heaven throbs in our mind, as it were. We will automatically feel such bliss inside, and will not know from where that happiness comes. Mat-samstham adhigacchati: Actually, this bliss comes from God. The meaning is that this internal joy or satisfaction which we feel in this form of contemplation or meditation is a reflection of God Himself in our personality.

Certain formulas are now mentioned so that we may not go to excesses in the practice of yoga. Yoga is a practice of a kind of harmony in every kind of behaviour. Natyasnatas tu yogo’sti (6.16): We should not eat too much. A glutton cannot practise yoga. Na chaikantam anasnatah: One who is abstemious to an extreme extent and is starving, that person also cannot practise yoga. This is because as gluttons we make the body so heavy and tamasic that sattvic qualities cannot manifest themselves in us and, therefore, we cannot practise yoga. But if we go to the other extreme, which is starvation, we cannot even sit or stand or breathe. We cannot even think. At that time, the mind will not concentrate. Natyasnatas tu yogo’sti na chikantam anasnatah: Neither a glutton nor an abstemious person going to the extreme is considered fit for meditation.

Na chati svapna-silasya jagrato naiva charjuna: A person who sleeps too much is so tamasic that he is not fit for meditation. But a person who never sleeps at all is also not fit for meditation because his mind is disturbed by certain psychological or biological factors, which is why there is sleeplessness to such an extent. It is a kind of illness. Therefore, a person who is always awake, who never rests, as well as a person who always sleeps, cannot practise yoga.

Then who is fit to practise yoga? Yuktahara-viharasya yukta-cheshtasya karmasu, yukta-svapnavabodhasya yogo bhavati duhkha-ha (6.17): Yoga, which is the destroyer of all sorrow, will come to us; yoga, which is the destroyer of all pain and suffering, will come to us. When will it come? It will come when our diet is harmonious, when our behaviour is harmonious, when our activities are also harmonious and not disturbing to anybody. One who is harmonious in his waking and his sleeping, such a person is fit for yoga because he is himself in a state of harmony.