May 7 – Bhagavadgita Chapter 6; Verses 6.10-6.11 (Day 128) Adhyatma Yoga, Yoga of Meditation

 Lesson 6.3 (Verses 10-17)

Eternal Vigilance over Body and Mind is Essential

May 7 – Day 128

Verse 6.10-6.11

योगी युञ्जीत सततमात्मानं रहसि स्थितः ।

एकाकी यतचित्तात्मा निराशीरपरिग्रहः ॥ ६-१०॥ 

yogī yuñjīta satatam ātmānaṁ rahasi sthitaḥ
ekākī yata-chittātmā nirāśhīr aparigrahaḥ (10) 

யோகீ³ யுஞ்ஜீத¹ ஸத¹த¹மாத்¹மானம் ரஹஸி ஸ்தி²த¹: |
ஏகா¹கீ¹ யத¹சி¹த்¹தா¹த்¹மா நிராஶீரப¹ரிக்³ரஹ: ||10|| 

10. Let the Yogi try constantly to keep the mind steady, remaining in solitude, alone, with the mind and the body controlled, and free from hope and greed. 

Commentary: The Yogi who treads the path of renunciation (Nivritti-Marga) can practice meditation in a solitary cave in the mountains.  He should renounce all possessions.

A householder with Yogic tendencies and spiritual inclination, can practice meditation in a solitary and quiet room in his own house or any solitary place on the banks of any holy river (during the holidays or throughout the year if he is a whole-time aspirant or if he has retired from service).

The practice must be constant.  Only then can one attain Self-realization surely and quickly.  He who practices meditation by fits and starts, and for a few minutes daily will not be able to achieve any tangible results in Yoga.  The Yogic aspirant should be free from hope, desire and greed.  Only then will he have a steady mind. Hope, desire and greed make the mind ever restless and turbulent.  They are the enemies of peace and Self-knowledge.  The aspirant should not have many possessions either.   He can only keep those articles which are absolutely necessary for the maintenance of his body. If there are many possessions, the mind will be ever thinking of them and attempting to protect them.

If you are well established in the practice of Pratyahara, Sama and Dama (withdrawal of the senses, control of mind and the body respectively), if you have the senses under your full control, you can find perfect solitude and peace even in the most crowded and noisy place of a big city.  If the senses are turbulent, if you have not got the power to withdraw them, you will have no peace of mind even in a solitary cave of the Himalayas.  A disciplined Yogi who has controlled the senses and the mind can enjoy peace of mind in a solitary cave.  A passionate man who has not controlled the senses and the mind will only be building castles in the air if he lives in a solitary cave in a mountain.

He who has reduced his wants, who has not a bit of attraction for the world, who has discrimination and burning aspiration for liberation, and who has observed Mauna (the vow of silence) for months together will be able to live in a cave.

You should have perfect control over the body through the regular practice of Yoga Asanas before you take to serious and constant meditation.

Aparigraha means ‘non-covetousness’, ‘freedom from possessions.’

The spiritual aspirant need not bother himself about his bodily needs.  Everything is provided by God.  Everything is pre-arranged by Mother Nature.  She looks after the bodily needs of all very carefully in a more efficient manner than they themselves would do.  She knows better what the requirements are and provides them then and there.  Understand the mysterious ways of Mother Nature and become wise.  Be grateful to Her, for Her unique kindness, grace and mercy.

If you want to retire into solitude for the practice of meditation, and if you are a householder with a thirst for intense spiritual Sadhana, you cannot all of a sudden sever your connection with your family.  Sudden severance of worldly ties may produce intense mental agony in you and shock in them. You will have to break the ties gradually.  Stay for a week or a month in seclusion to begin with.  Then gradually prolong the period.  They will not feel the pangs of separation from you.

As your will has become very weak, as you had no religious discipline or training in schools and colleges when you were young, and as you are under the sway of materialistic influences, it is necessary for you to go in for seclusion for some days or weeks (during the Christmas, Easter or other holidays) to practice rigorous Japa and mediation and to develop your will-power.

Those who have fixed up their sons in life and who have retired from service, and who have discharged their duties as householders can remain in seclusion for four or five years and practice intense meditation and Tapas (penance) for self-purification and Self-realization.  This is like entering a university for higher studies or postgraduate course of study.  When the Tapas is over, and when they have attained to Self-knowledge, they should come out and share their knowledge of the Self with others through lectures, conversations, discourses or heart-to-heart talks according to their capacity and disposition.

How can sense-control be tested in a lonely forest where there are no temptations?  The Yogic student living in a cave should test himself after he has sufficiently advanced, by coming into the society of people.  But he should not test himself every now and then like the man who removed the young plant daily after watering it to see whether it had struck deep root or not. 

शुचौ देशे प्रतिष्ठाप्य स्थिरमासनमात्मनः ।

नात्युच्छ्रितं नातिनीचं चैलाजिनकुशोत्तरम् ॥ ६-११॥ 

śhuchau deśhe pratiṣhṭhāpya sthiram āsanam ātmanaḥ
nātyuchchhritaṁ nāti-nīchaṁ chailājina-kuśhottaram (11) 

ஶுசௌ தே³ஶே ப்¹ரதி¹ஷ்டா²ப்¹ய ஸ்தி²ரமாஸனமாத்¹மன: |
நாத்¹யுச்¹ச்²ரித¹ம் நாதி¹னீச¹ம் சை¹லாஜினகு¹ஶோத்¹த¹ரம் ||11|| 

11. In a clean spot, having established a firm seat of his own, neither too high nor too low, made of a cloth, a skin and Kusa-grass, one over the other, 

Commentary: In this verse the Lord has prescribed the external seat for practicing meditation.  Details of the pose are given in verse 13.

Spread the Kusa-grass on the ground first.  Over this spread a tiger-skin or deer-skin; over this spread a white cloth.

Sit on a naturally clean spot, such as the bank of a river.  Or make the place clean, wherever you want to practice meditation. 

Commentary by Swami Venkatesananda: 

Now follows practical instruction on the art of meditation. It is not as if God is somebody else upon whom we meditate. When the wandering self abandons its pleasure-seeking misadventure, God-consciousness is experienced. The effort put forth is more to restrain this waywardness of the mind than to ‘see’ anything. Seeing sights and hearing sounds are often subtler expressions of the waywardness of the mind. Patañjali (the author of Rāja Yoga Sūtrā) asks us to beware of them.

The ‘hope and greed’ mentioned here need not necessarily be restricted to worldliness. Even greed for rapid spiritual evolution may be included, for such greed will inevitably give the ego the best chance to present illusions of supernormal phenomena and thus distract the self from its higher pursuits.

Solitude is important; we should choose for the following practice a place and a time where and when we are not likely to be disturbed and where, therefore, our attention is secure. However, true solitude is psychological and inward – the knowledge that you and I are alone in this world.

A clean spot refers not only to physical and outward cleanliness, but also to the ‘atmosphere’ of the place. It should be holy – associated with God. In meditation the mind becomes extremely subtle and is therefore subject to the very vibrations in the atmosphere.

The seat should neither be too low (thus subject to disturbance from insects) nor too high (causing fear of a fall). The prescribed seat of grass, skin (deer-skin) and cloth prevents the body from being affected by the condition of the earth and also preserves the inner magnetic force, preventing it from being ‘earthed’ and lost. 

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