Bhagavad Gita
Chapter VI — Religion by Self-Restraint
Bhagavān Śrī Kṛṣṇa18856 min read
Bhagavad GitaKrishnaBhakti
Krishna
Therefore, who doeth work rightful to do,Not seeking gain from work, that man, O Prince!Is Sanyasi and Yogi--both in oneAnd he is neither who lights not the flameOf sacrifice, nor setteth hand to task.
Regard as true Renouncer him that makesWorship by work, for who renounceth notWorks not as Yogin. So is that well said:"By works the votary doth rise to faith,And saintship is the ceasing from all works;Because the perfect Yogin acts--but actsUnmoved by passions and unbound by deeds,Setting result aside.
Let each man raiseThe Self by Soul, not trample down his Self,Since Soul that is Self's friend may grow Self's foe.Soul is Self's friend when Self doth rule o'er Self,But Self turns enemy if Soul's own selfHates Self as not itself.
The sovereign soulOf him who lives self-governed and at peaceIs centred in itself, taking alikePleasure and pain; heat, cold; glory and shame.He is the Yogi, he is Yukta, gladWith joy of light and truth; dwelling apartUpon a peak, with senses subjugateWhereto the clod, the rock, the glistering goldShow all as one. By this sign is he knownBeing of equal grace to comrades, friends,Chance-comers, strangers, lovers, enemies,Aliens and kinsmen; loving all alike,Evil or good.
Sequestered should he sit,Steadfastly meditating, solitary,His thoughts controlled, his passions laid away,Quit of belongings. In a fair, still spotHaving his fixed abode,--not too much raised,Nor yet too low,--let him abide, his goodsA cloth, a deerskin, and the Kusa-grass.There, setting hard his mind upon The One,Restraining heart and senses, silent, calm,Let him accomplish Yoga, and achievePureness of soul, holding immovableBody and neck and head, his gaze absorbedUpon his nose-end, rapt from all around,Tranquil in spirit, free of fear, intentUpon his Brahmacharya vow, devout,Musing on Me, lost in the thought of Me.That Yojin, so devoted, so controlled,Comes to the peace beyond,--My peace, the peaceOf high Nirvana!
But for earthly needsReligion is not his who too much fastsOr too much feasts, nor his who sleeps awayAn idle mind; nor his who wears to wasteHis strength in vigils. Nay, Arjuna! callThat the true piety which most removesEarth-aches and ills, where one is moderateIn eating and in resting, and in sport;Measured in wish and act; sleeping betimes,Waking betimes for duty.
When the man,So living, centres on his soul the thoughtStraitly restrained--untouched internallyBy stress of sense--then is he Yukta. See!Steadfast a lamp burns sheltered from the wind;Such is the likeness of the Yogi's mindShut from sense-storms and burning bright to Heaven.When mind broods placid, soothed with holy wont;When Self contemplates self, and in itselfHath comfort; when it knows the nameless joyBeyond all scope of sense, revealed to soul--Only to soul! and, knowing, wavers not,True to the farther Truth; when, holding this,It deems no other treasure comparable,But, harboured there, cannot be stirred or shookBy any gravest grief, call that state "peace,"That happy severance Yoga; call that manThe perfect Yogin!
Steadfastly the willMust toil thereto, till efforts end in ease,And thought has passed from thinking. Shaking offAll longings bred by dreams of fame and gain,Shutting the doorways of the senses closeWith watchful ward; so, step by step, it comesTo gift of peace assured and heart assuaged,When the mind dwells self-wrapped, and the soul broodsCumberless. But, as often as the heartBreaks--wild and wavering--from control, so oftLet him re-curb it, let him rein it backTo the soul's governance; for perfect blissGrows only in the bosom tranquillised,The spirit passionless, purged from offence,Vowed to the Infinite. He who thus vowsHis soul to the Supreme Soul, quitting sin,Passes unhindered to the endless blissOf unity with Brahma. He so vowed,So blended, sees the Life-Soul residentIn all things living, and all living thingsIn that Life-Soul contained. And whoso thusDiscerneth Me in all, and all in Me,I never let him go; nor looseneth heHold upon Me; but, dwell he where he may,Whate'er his life, in Me he dwells and lives,Because he knows and worships Me, Who dwellIn all which lives, and cleaves to Me in all.Arjuna! if a man sees everywhere--Taught by his own similitude--one Life,One Essence in the Evil and the Good,Hold him a Yogi, yea! well-perfected!
Arjuna
Slayer of Madhu! yet again, this Yog,This Peace, derived from equanimity,Made known by thee--I see no fixityTherein, no rest, because the heart of menIs unfixed, Krishna! rash, tumultuous,Wilful and strong. It were all one, I think,To hold the wayward wind, as tame man's heart.
Krishna
Hero long-armed! beyond denial, hardMan's heart is to restrain, and wavering;Yet may it grow restrained by habit, Prince!By wont of self-command. This Yog, I say,Cometh not lightly to th' ungoverned ones;But he who will be master of himselfShall win it, if he stoutly strive thereto.
Arjuna
And what road goeth he who, having faith,Fails, Krishna! in the striving; falling backFrom holiness, missing the perfect rule?Is he not lost, straying from Brahma's light,Like the vain cloud, which floats 'twixt earth and heavenWhen lightning splits it, and it vanisheth?Fain would I hear thee answer me herein,Since, Krishna! none save thou can clear the doubt.
Krishna
He is not lost, thou Son of Pritha! No!Nor earth, nor heaven is forfeit, even for him,Because no heart that holds one right desireTreadeth the road of loss! He who should fail,Desiring righteousness, cometh at deathUnto the Region of the Just; dwells thereMeasureless years, and being born anew,Beginneth life again in some fair homeAmid the mild and happy. It may chanceHe doth descend into a Yogin houseOn Virtue's breast; but that is rare! Such birthIs hard to be obtained on this earth, Chief!So hath he back again what heights of heartHe did achieve, and so he strives anewTo perfectness, with better hope, dear Prince!For by the old desire he is drawn onUnwittingly; and only to desireThe purity of Yog is to passBeyond the Sabdabrahm, the spoken Ved.But, being Yogi, striving strong and long,Purged from transgressions, perfected by birthsFollowing on births, he plants his feet at lastUpon the farther path. Such as one ranksAbove ascetics, higher than the wise,Beyond achievers of vast deeds! Be thouYogi Arjuna! And of such believe,Truest and best is he who worships MeWith inmost soul, stayed on My Mystery!
“HERE ENDETH CHAPTER VI. OF THE BHAGAVAD-GITA, Entitled "Atmasanyamayog," Or "The Book of Religion by Self-Restraint."”
— Bhagavad Gita