Bhagavad Gita · 6.3 · Path of Meditation·3 of 47
आरुरुक्षोर्मुनेर्योगं कर्म कारणमुच्यते।योगारूढस्य तस्यैव शमः कारणमुच्यते ॥
ārurukṣhor muner yogaṁ karma kāraṇam uchyate
yogārūḍhasya tasyaiva śhamaḥ kāraṇam uchyate
Sanskrit recitation
Who is truly a yogi · 6.1–6.9 · Teaching
Translation
For a sage who wishes to attain to Yoga, action is said to be the means; for the same sage who has attained Yoga, inaction is said to be the means.
Meaning
For a man who cannot practise meditation for a long time and who is not able to keep his mind steady in meditation, action is a means to get himself enthroned in Yoga. Action purifies his mind and makes the mind fit for the practice of steady meditation. Action leads to steady concentration and meditation.For the sage who is enthroned in Yoga, Sama or renunciation of actions is said to be the means.The more perfectly he abstains from actions, the more steady his mind is, and the more peaceful,he is, the more easily and thoroughly does his mind get fixed in the Self. For a Brahmana there is no wealth like unto the knowledge of oneness and homogeneity (of the Self in all beings), truthfulness, good character, steadiness, harmlessness, straightforwardness and renunciation of all actions. (Mahabharata, Santi Parva, 175.38)
After Swami Sivananda
Who is truly a yogi· 6.1–6.9→
Teachers usually read this idea across several verses together, one shared reflection covers the whole unit.
- 6.1The Blessed Lord said: He who performs his bounden duty without depending on the fruits of his actions—he is a sannyasi and a yogi, not he who is without fire and without action.
- 6.2Do you, O Arjuna, know that Yoga is what they call renunciation; no one indeed becomes a Yogi who has not renounced their thoughts.
6.3For a sage who wishes to attain to Yoga, action is said to be the means; for the same sage who has attained Yoga, inaction is said to be the means.
- 6.4When a person is not attached to the sense-objects or to actions, having renounced all thoughts, then they are said to have attained Yoga.
- 6.5One should raise oneself by one's own self alone; let not one lower oneself; for the self alone is one's own friend, and the self alone is one's own enemy.
- 6.6The Self is the friend of the self of him by whom the Self has been conquered; but to the unconquered self, this Self stands in the position of an enemy, like an external foe.
- 6.7The Supreme Self of him who is self-controlled and peaceful remains balanced in cold and heat, pleasure and pain, as well as in honor and dishonor.
- 6.8The Yogi who is satisfied with the knowledge and wisdom of the Self, who has conquered the senses, and to whom a clod of earth, a piece of stone, and gold are all the same, is said to have attained Nirvikalpa Samadhi.
- 6.9He who is of the same mind towards the good-hearted, friends, enemies, the indifferent, the neutral, the hateful, the relatives, the righteous, and the unrighteous, excels.
Word-by-word→
- eva
- certainly
- karma
- working without attachment
- tasya
- their
- yogam
- Yog
- muneḥ
- of a sage
- uchyate
- is said
- śhamaḥ
- meditation
- kāraṇam
- the cause
- ārurukṣhoḥ
- a beginner
- yoga ārūḍhasya
- of those who are elevated in Yog
Related verses
- 4.28Others again offer wealth, austerity, and Yoga as sacrifice, while ascetics of…
- 6.2Do you, O Arjuna, know that Yoga is what they call renunciation; no one indeed becomes a…
- 6.5One should raise oneself by one's own self alone; let not one lower oneself; for the self…
- 6.6The Self is the friend of the self of him by whom the Self has been conquered; but to the…