Bhagavad Gita- Chapter 6 (Part-2) Dhyaana Yogah- Yoga of Meditation

sankalpaprabhavaan kaamaanstyaktwaa  sarvaan asheshatah
    manasaivendriyagraamam viniyamya  samantatah  // 6.24 //

Abandoning  without reserve all desires born of Sankalpa and completely restraining the  whole group of senses by the mind from all sides...

shanaih shanairuparamed budddhyaa  dhritigriheetayaa
    aatmasamstham manah kritwaa na  kinchidapi chintayet  // 6.25 //

Little  by little let him attain quietitude by the intellect held in firmness; having  made the mind established in the Self, let him not think of anything.

The  goal of Yoga was to accomplish that state wherein the mind, through the  practice of concentration, comes to get it absolutely restrained and achieves  perfection or bliss. The way of attaining single pointedness of mind, what the  single pointed mind should then do, how to approach and ultimately realize the  Truth have all been exhaustively dealt with here. The various stages to be  undergone in this regard are:

Renounce  all desires fully by controlling the mind and restrain all the sense organs  from their fields of sense objects. This mind-quietening process cannot be  achieved at one go.  It is clearly  advised that mind should achieve quietitude as a result of withdrawal from  sense objects by degrees - slowly and slowly.

Thereafter,  patiently, the mind should be made to contemplate on the Self with the aid of  the intellect. A mind that continuously contemplates on the Self becomes still  and gets pervaded by the divine quietitude.   This is the last stage of the journey that conscious and deliberate  action can take any seeker.

Sri  Krishna warns that the meditator after reaching the last stage of inner peace  should not think of anything else. Undisturbed by any new thought waves he  should maintain inner silence  and come  to live it more and more deeply.

yato yato nishcharati  manashchanchalamasthiram
    tatastato niyamyai tadaatmanyeva  vasham nayet   // 6.26 //

From  whatever cause the restless and the unsteady mind wanders away, from that let  him restrain it and bring it back to be under the control of the Self alone.

Mind  by its very nature is unsteady and restless; it always wanders away from the  point of concentration.  The true seeker  on the path of meditation will therefore get despaired at his inability to fix  his mind on a focal point, contemplating on the Self. During the practice of  meditation although the sense organs are controlled, the chasing of the sense objects  by the mind will continue and cause dejection in the seeker.

The  reasons for this roving mind may be many such as memories of the past,  proximity of the tempting sense objects, attachments etc. Sri Krishna directs  that whatever be the reason for the restlessness of the mind, the seeker is not  to lose hope. On the contrary he should understand that these tendencies are  the very characteristics of the mind and the process of meditation is the  technique to eliminate them.

The  means of bringing under control the restless mind are the realization of the  illusoriness of sense-objects and the cultivation of indifference to them.  Through practice of discrimination and detachment the mind gradually attains  inner peace.

The  Lord advises the seeker to bring back the mind that has gone out on a roaming  mission.  As soon as the mind is  withdrawn through will power it will go out again because mind means flow of  thoughts and it can never be steady without any motion. Therefore in the  meditation when the mind is withdrawn from the sense objects it should be provided  with an alternative to keep it busy. That alternative is its application towards  contemplating on the Self alone.

RESULT OF THE YOGA OF MEDITATION

prashaantamanasam hyenam yoginam  sukhamuttamam
    upaiti shaantarajasam  brahmabhootamakalmasham  // 6.27 //

Supreme  bliss verily comes to this yogi whose mind is completely tranquil, whose  passions are quietened, who is free from sin and has become one with Brahman.

yunjannevam sadaa'tmaanam yogee  vigatakalmashah
    sukhena brahmasamsparsham atyantam  sukham ashnute  // 6.28 //

The  yogi always engaging the mind thus (in the practice of yoga) freed from sins  easily enjoys the Infinite Bliss of contact with Brahman.

In  these two verses the Lord describes the benefits of Yoga. During meditation  when the mind is withdrawn from the world of objects and is concentrated on the  Self, it acquires quietitude and the thought flow ceases.  Where there is no thought flow there is no  mind. Where the mind has ended, there the seeker experiences the Infinite  nature of the Self and the meditator reaches to the Supreme Bliss by ending all  his mental agitations.
  The  ego discovers that it is none other than the Self and hence there is no dualism  at this stage. Such a man of self-realization himself becomes Brahman. The  meditator (Upasaka) becomes one with the object of meditation (Upasya).

A  meditator step by step grows out of his own ignorance and imperfection  represented by his ego and merges with the Supreme.  He loses contact with the objects of the  senses and comes into contact with the Self within - Brahman. This means that the  seeker becomes Brahman and comes to experience the Infinite Bliss as against contact  with the world of objects (`not-Self’) whose joys are always finite. He becomes  a Jivanmukta, liberated while living in a body.

Chandogya  Upanishad (VII-xxiii.I) says “That which is infinite or great beyond all, is  true happiness. There is no joy in that which is finite. Happiness lies in  infinity. Efforts should be made in particular to know the Infinite alone”. It  continues “The Infinite represents that plane of consciousness in which no  other is cognized and the state in which another is seen, another is heard and  another is cognized represents the finite. That which is infinite is immortal.  That which is finite is mortal”. (VII-xxiv.I)

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