Bhagavad Gita · 6.42 · Path of Meditation·42 of 47
अथवा योगिनामेव कुले भवति धीमताम्।एतद्धि दुर्लभतरं लोके जन्म यदीदृशम् ॥
atha vā yoginām eva kule bhavati dhīmatām
etad dhi durlabhataraṁ loke janma yad īdṛiśham
Sanskrit recitation
When the mind will not stay · 6.33–6.47 · Teaching
Translation
Or he is born in a family of even the wisest of yogis; verily, such a birth is very difficult to obtain in this world.
Meaning
A birth in a family of wise Yogis is more difficult to obtain than the one mentioned in the preceding verse.
After Swami Sivananda
When the mind will not stay· 6.33–6.47→
Teachers usually read this idea across several verses together, one shared reflection covers the whole unit.
- 6.33Arjuna said, "O Krishna, I do not see how this Yoga of equanimity, which you have taught me, can be maintained steadily, due to the restlessness of the mind."
- 6.34The mind is indeed restless, turbulent, strong, and unyielding, O Krishna; I consider it as difficult to control as controlling the wind.
- 6.35The Blessed Lord said, "Undoubtedly, O mighty-armed Arjuna, the mind is difficult to control and restless; but with practice and dispassion, it can be restrained."
- 6.36I think Yoga is hard to be attained by one with an uncontrolled self, but the self-controlled and striving one can attain it by the appropriate means.
- 6.37Arjuna said, "He who is unable to control himself, even though he has faith, and whose mind wanders away from Yoga, what end does he meet, having failed to attain perfection in Yoga, O Krishna?"
- 6.38Fallen from both, does he not perish like a rent cloud, supportless, O mighty-armed one, deluded on the path of Brahman?
- 6.39O Krishna, please completely dispel this doubt of mine, for it is not possible for anyone but You to do so.
- 6.40The Blessed Lord said, "O Arjuna, neither in this world nor in the next will there be destruction for him; none, indeed, who does good, O my son, ever comes to grief."
- 6.41Having attained to the worlds of the righteous and having dwelt there for everlasting years, he who fell from Yoga is born in a house of the pure and wealthy.
6.42Or he is born in a family of even the wisest of yogis; verily, such a birth is very difficult to obtain in this world.
- 6.43Then he comes into contact with the knowledge acquired in his former body and strives even more for perfection, O Arjuna.
- 6.44By that same former practice, he is borne on in spite of himself. Even he who merely wishes to know Yoga goes beyond the Brahmanic word.
- 6.45But the Yogi who strives assiduously, purified of sins and perfected gradually over many births, reaches the highest goal.
- 6.46The yogi is thought to be superior to the ascetics, even superior to those who have knowledge obtained through the study of scriptures; he is also superior to men of action; therefore, be thou a yogi, O Arjuna.
- 6.47And among all the Yogis, he who, full of faith and with his inner self merged in Me, worships Me is deemed by Me to be the most devoted.
Word-by-word→
- hi
- certainly
- eva
- certainly
- yat
- which
- etat
- this
- kule
- in the family
- loke
- in this world
- janma
- birth
- bhavati
- take birth
- atha vā
- else
- yoginām
- of those endowed with divine wisdom
- dhī-matām
- of the wise
- īdṛiśham
- like this
- durlabha-taram
- very rare
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