Chapter VI

DHYĀNA-YOGA
What is Dhyanayoga
According to Krishna, right action, or karma yoga, is also renunciation because
it requires the person to renounce their "own selfish will." The self—consisting
of the mind, senses, and body—can aid the soul of a person who has already
mastered those things.
Meditation brings calm and peace to the mind, which then dissolves to reveal
the Self. This practice of yoga through meditation leads to the freeing of the Self
from suffering or sorrow.
Arjuna then inquires how the mind can be quieted, for it is "as hard to master
as the wind." Krishna responds it is difficult but can be achieved with self-
restraint and discipline.
Five important topics on meditation:
1. Bahiraṅga-sādhanā — Those disciplines to be followed throughout daily
life which influence one’s meditation.
2. Antaraṅga-sādhanā — Those disciplines to be followed immediately
before meditation.
3. Dhyāna-svarūpam — Nature of meditation.
4. Dhyāna-phalam — Result of meditation.
5. Dhyāna-pratibandha-parihārau — Obstacle and remedy
Bahiraṅga-sādhanā
At the outset, the Lord indicates the role of karmayoga in meditation by praising
the karmayogī (1, 2).
It converts an extrovert mind into a contemplative mind.
Total detachment is the characteristic of a contemplative mind (4).
Incidentally, Krishna highlights two important values viz. self-confidence and
self-control. One who lacks these two finds himself to be an obstacle for any
pursuit.
Antaraṅga-sādhanā
How to meditate: 11 to 14
1. The meditator has to choose a secluded, undisturbed place for meditation.
2. In that spiritually and physically pure place, he has to fix the seat which is
neither too high nor too low, neither too soft nor too hard.
3. Holding the body, neck, and head erect, he has to fix the sight on the tip of his
nose, as it were (i.e., the eyes are half-closed)
4. Next, the meditator should withdraw the mind and sense organs from all other
activities. The breathing also should be maintained even.
5. With a calm, withdrawn, undisturbed, tension-free, and one-pointed mind, the
meditator should meditate upon the Lord, the Ātmā.
How to meditate?
The straight posture,
focus on one object,
regulated breathing, and
the prescribed sitting in a clean place on some type of cloth (or mat)
Krishna emphasizes moderation in eating, sleeping, and waking, noting that if
one eats or sleeps too much or too little, it can hinder the body in meditation.
Dhyāna-svarūpam
Having given up all desires and having restrained the senses through the mind,
one should gradually bring back the mind with the help of the discriminative
intellect, step by step. Once the mind is made to abide in the Ātmā, there should
be no other thought (25).
Thus, constantly abiding in the Ātmā, the meditator comes to enjoy permanent
peace which culminates in the attainment of liberation (videhamukti) (15).
Neither does he consider any other gain to be superior, nor is he shaken by even
the greatest loss (22).
This infinite ānanda will never be lost because this was never gained. It was
veiled by the false notion that “I am sorrowful”. Once this is removed, the inner
ānanda becomes evident Thus, this is more a dissociation from sorrow rather
than association (23). (This alone is known as jīvanmukti.)
How the equality is established?
Seeing the Ātmā in all beings, and all beings in the Ātmā, he gets estabilshed in
the vision of equality (29).
Oneness with God?
This vision of the Ātmā alone is the vision of the Lord, because the Ātmā is not
different from the Lord. Thus the meditator is ever established in the Lord
inspite of his activities (30, 31).
Dhyāna-pratibandha
Now, Arjuna puts a question regarding an obstacle to meditation. It is the
problem of mental restlessness or extrovertedness. Because of this, one finds it
difficult to meditate and assimilate the Self-knowledge. This frustrates Arjuna’s
mind and he asks for a solution (33, 34).
Krishna gives two methods to solve this problem. They are detachment and
practice. When the mind is extrovert because of desires, one has to remove it by
seeing the futility of desires and their fulfillment. This is detachment. Even a
detached mind can be restless because of past habits. This has to be gradually
removed by consistent practice alone. Thus, mental discipline requires
determination and patience (35, 36).
Continues…
Arjuna feels diffident and he, somehow, thinks that liberation is not possible in
one life. He desperately asks—“What happens to that seeker who has fallen
from meditation? Does he not perish like a scattered cloud?”
Krishna consoles Arjuna by asserting that a spiritual seeker can never have a bad
lot (40).
The very meditation is a puṇyakarma capable of giving heaven and later an ideal
birth for the continuation of the spiritual pursuit. The yogabhraṣṭa (one who has
fallen from the path of spirituality) is reborn in a cultured, prosperous family, or
may be, even in the family of a saint (41, 42).
Continues…
Having got such a birth, he gets associated with the previous wisdom at a very
early age (43).
Irresistibly drawn by the past habits (saṃskāras), he find his spiritual urge
suddenly growing from a small flame to a huge conflagration (44).
Committing his entire life to the spiritual pursuit and supported by the
saṃskāras of all the previous lives, he effortlessly fulfils his mission in life (45).
Self & self
In this chapter there are two uses of the word SELF:
When the text refers to the self, it is usually referring to the elements of the
earthly self, such as the mind, the body, and the senses.
Self with a capital S refers to the soul, or the part of a being that is housed in the
body but is never changing and continuously reborn.
As aforementioned, this is referred to as the atman.
Schools:

Two distinctive schools are touched upon in this text: the nondualist school and
the bhakti school.
The nondualist school proposes that the "Self" and "God" are ultimately the
same, not two separate entities—thus "nondual.“
The bhakti, or devotion-based tradition, emphasizes a personal relationship
with a deity. Both ideas are important to the Gita.
Continues……
Teaching Arjuna how to reach liberation through the path of yoga, realizing the
Self and thus God, Krishna says,
"He who is rooted in oneness / realizes that I am / in every being."
Krishna also has a personal relationship with Arjuna and teaches him that doing
right action and practicing yoga are also types of worship and devotion. He
instructs Arjuna to
"love [him] with perfect faith / bring your whole self to [him]."
These two concepts may have distinct schools built around them in the Hindu
tradition, but Krishna unites them within the Bhagavad Gita.
The Ultimate path….
If you perform jnana-yoga, you get the realization of Brahman, performing
dhyana yoga gives you Paramatma realization and by performing bhakti-yoga,
you get Bhagavān realization. So bhakti yoga is superior to other forms of yoga
because you get the highest realization of the Absolute Truth, i.e., God as a
person, Bhagavān.
God is a supremely divine person, and that’s what you realize when you become
His devotee. So finally everybody, whether he is a dhyana yogi, jnana Yogi, or
karma yogi, sooner or later has to enter into bhakti yoga because the brahman
and paramatma realizations are incomplete.
The absolute truth realization is complete only when you realize Him as the
supreme person by bhakti yoga.