# 06/E.A.S.Y ### In the previous chapter, Krishna briefly mentioned *astanga yoga* – the arduous regime of an ascetic yogi. In the present day, millions of people practice some isolated elements of this path (*hatha-yoga* and *pranayama*) to achieve physical and emotional wellbeing. In Chapter Six, however, the path of *astanga- yoga* is explained in its entirety. Krishna’s purpose in discussing the ‘eight-step path’ is primarily to establish its impracticality in the endeavour towards spiritual perfection. In an age surcharged with temptation, disturbance, and spiritual weakness, the easiest (and most advanced) path of self-realisation is *bhakti-yoga.* ## E [**Enemy or Friend? (1-9)**](#user-content-fn-1)[^1] As spiritual beings, particles of consciousness, we possess two bodies, gross and subtle. The gross comprises of the visible physical frame, while the subtle consists of the invisible mind, intelligence and ego. The subtle body acts as an interface between the spirit and the gross. As spiritual beings, if we’re able to appropriately direct the mind, it acts as a friend which supports and empowers us in the progressive journey of life. If not, the mind can deviate, discourage and damage us. From day-to-day, hour-to-hour and moment-to-moment, it can operate as the unseen enemy within. To be successful in any sphere of life, one must learn the art of mental tranquillity. ## A [**Astanga-Yoga (10-36)**](#user-content-fn-2)[^2] One way to control the mind is through the process of *astanga-yoga* (which includes *dhyana-yoga*, the practice of meditation). Krishna explains how the ancient path was practised in bygone ages. Living in seclusion, practising celibacy, and under strict regulations of eating and sleeping, the yogi would sit in a perfectly erect position, focusing his consciousness on the Supersoul within. Oblivious to mental and bodily distraction, the focused yogi would unwaveringly meditate for many years, maintaining complete stillness, silence and serenity. This is known as *samadhi*, or spiritual trance. After hearing of this strict discipline, Arjuna frankly admits his inability – *“This practice seems impractical and unendurable!”* he says, *“to discipline the mind is more difficult than controlling the wind!”* Krishna reasserts that disciplining the mind is essential and possible, provided one has the appropriate spiritual practice and discipline. ## S [**Success & Failure (37-45)**](#user-content-fn-3)[^3] Hearing about the difficulty of *astanga-yoga* causes Arjuna to doubt himself. What happens if one faithfully takes to the yogic process, but later falls away without perfecting his spiritual consciousness? Arjuna is concerned that the unsuccessful spiritualist is seemingly left in ‘no-man’s land,’ having failed to attain spiritual satisfaction and simultaneously squandered his opportunities for worldly pleasure. Krishna allays all such fears by explaining the eternal benefit of any spiritual endeavour, even if it doesn’t come to the perfectional stage. If we don’t complete the spiritual journey in one lifetime, we carry on in the next life from the same point, taking birth in a situation which facilitates our progressive spiritual evolution. ## Y [**Yogi (46-47)**](#user-content-fn-4)[^4] After summarising the arduous process of *dhyana-yoga* (meditation) and *astanga-yoga*, the chapter concludes with a ray of hope. The perfection and goal of all yoga systems is to help the individual become fully conscious of God at all times. While every yoga system is certainly beneficial, the most advanced, efficient and easiest path is known as *bhakti-yoga* (the yoga of devotion). In this age, the primary practice of *bhakti-yoga* is *mantra* meditation - chanting the names of God (***Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare / Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare***). Through this process any person, from any background, can attain spiritual perfection and experience all the benefits described in this chapter and elsewhere. > ### *“ALL BATTLES ARE FIRST WON OR LOST, IN THE MIND.”* \&#xNAN;*\~ JOAN OF ARC* [^1]: **Bg. 6.1 - 6.9**\ **Source:** [**Vedabase**](https://vedabase.io/en/library/bg/6/) [TEXT 1:](https://vedabase.io/en/library/bg/6/1/) The Supreme Personality of Godhead said: One who is unattached to the fruits of his work and who works as he is obligated is in the renounced order of life, and he is the true mystic, not he who lights no fire and performs no duty. [TEXT 2:](https://vedabase.io/en/library/bg/6/2/) What is called renunciation you should know to be the same as yoga, or linking oneself with the Supreme, O son of Pāṇḍu, for one can never become a yogī unless he renounces the desire for sense gratification. [TEXT 3:](https://vedabase.io/en/library/bg/6/3/) For one who is a neophyte in the eightfold yoga system, work is said to be the means; and for one who is already elevated in yoga, cessation of all material activities is said to be the means. [TEXT 4:](https://vedabase.io/en/library/bg/6/4/) A person is said to be elevated in yoga when, having renounced all material desires, he neither acts for sense gratification nor engages in fruitive activities. [TEXT 5:](https://vedabase.io/en/library/bg/6/5/) One must deliver himself with the help of his mind, and not degrade himself. The mind is the friend of the conditioned soul, and his enemy as well. [TEXT 6:](https://vedabase.io/en/library/bg/6/6/) For him who has conquered the mind, the mind is the best of friends; but for one who has failed to do so, his mind will remain the greatest enemy. [TEXT 7:](https://vedabase.io/en/library/bg/6/7/) For one who has conquered the mind, the Supersoul is already reached, for he has attained tranquillity. To such a man happiness and distress, heat and cold, honor and dishonor are all the same. [TEXT 8:](https://vedabase.io/en/library/bg/6/8/) A person is said to be established in self-realization and is called a yogī \[or mystic] when he is fully satisfied by virtue of acquired knowledge and realization. Such a person is situated in transcendence and is self-controlled. He sees everything – whether it be pebbles, stones or gold – as the same. [TEXT 9:](https://vedabase.io/en/library/bg/6/9/) A person is considered still further advanced when he regards honest well-wishers, affectionate benefactors, the neutral, mediators, the envious, friends and enemies, the pious and the sinners all with an equal mind. [^2]: **Bg. 6.10 - 6.36**\ **Source:** [**Vedabase**](https://vedabase.io/en/library/bg/6/) [TEXT 10:](https://vedabase.io/en/library/bg/6/10/) A transcendentalist should always engage his body, mind and self in relationship with the Supreme; he should live alone in a secluded place and should always carefully control his mind. He should be free from desires and feelings of possessiveness. [TEXTS 11-12:](https://vedabase.io/en/library/bg/6/11-12/) To practice yoga, one should go to a secluded place and should lay kuśa grass on the ground and then cover it with a deerskin and a soft cloth. The seat should be neither too high nor too low and should be situated in a sacred place. The yogī should then sit on it very firmly and practice yoga to purify the heart by controlling his mind, senses and activities and fixing the mind on one point. [TEXTS 13-14:](https://vedabase.io/en/library/bg/6/13-14/) One should hold one’s body, neck and head erect in a straight line and stare steadily at the tip of the nose. Thus, with an unagitated, subdued mind, devoid of fear, completely free from sex life, one should meditate upon Me within the heart and make Me the ultimate goal of life. [TEXT 15:](https://vedabase.io/en/library/bg/6/15/) Thus practicing constant control of the body, mind and activities, the mystic transcendentalist, his mind regulated, attains to the kingdom of God \[or the abode of Kṛṣṇa] by cessation of material existence. [TEXT 16:](https://vedabase.io/en/library/bg/6/16/) There is no possibility of one’s becoming a yogī, O Arjuna, if one eats too much or eats too little, sleeps too much or does not sleep enough. [TEXT 17:](https://vedabase.io/en/library/bg/6/17/) He who is regulated in his habits of eating, sleeping, recreation and work can mitigate all material pains by practicing the yoga system. [TEXT 18:](https://vedabase.io/en/library/bg/6/18/) When the yogī, by practice of yoga, disciplines his mental activities and becomes situated in transcendence – devoid of all material desires – he is said to be well established in yoga. [TEXT 19:](https://vedabase.io/en/library/bg/6/19/) As a lamp in a windless place does not waver, so the transcendentalist, whose mind is controlled, remains always steady in his meditation on the transcendent Self. [TEXTS 20-23:](https://vedabase.io/en/library/bg/6/20-23/) In the stage of perfection called trance, or samādhi, one’s mind is completely restrained from material mental activities by practice of yoga. This perfection is characterized by one’s ability to see the Self by the pure mind and to relish and rejoice in the Self. In that joyous state, one is situated in boundless transcendental happiness, realized through transcendental senses. Established thus, one never departs from the truth, and upon gaining this he thinks there is no greater gain. Being situated in such a position, one is never shaken, even in the midst of greatest difficulty. This indeed is actual freedom from all miseries arising from material contact. [TEXT 24:](https://vedabase.io/en/library/bg/6/24/) One should engage oneself in the practice of yoga with determination and faith and not be deviated from the path. One should abandon, without exception, all material desires born of mental speculation and thus control all the senses on all sides by the mind. [TEXT 25:](https://vedabase.io/en/library/bg/6/25/) Gradually, step by step, one should become situated in trance by means of intelligence sustained by full conviction, and thus the mind should be fixed on the Self alone and should think of nothing else. [TEXT 26:](https://vedabase.io/en/library/bg/6/26/) From wherever the mind wanders due to its flickering and unsteady nature, one must certainly withdraw it and bring it back under the control of the Self. [TEXT 27:](https://vedabase.io/en/library/bg/6/27/) The yogī whose mind is fixed on Me verily attains the highest perfection of transcendental happiness. He is beyond the mode of passion, he realizes his qualitative identity with the Supreme, and thus he is freed from all reactions to past deeds. [TEXT 28:](https://vedabase.io/en/library/bg/6/28/) Thus the self-controlled yogī, constantly engaged in yoga practice, becomes free from all material contamination and achieves the highest stage of perfect happiness in transcendental loving service to the Lord. [TEXT 29:](https://vedabase.io/en/library/bg/6/29/) A true yogī observes Me in all beings and also sees every being in Me. Indeed, the self-realized person sees Me, the same Supreme Lord, everywhere. [TEXT 30:](https://vedabase.io/en/library/bg/6/30/) For one who sees Me everywhere and sees everything in Me, I am never lost, nor is he ever lost to Me. [TEXT 31:](https://vedabase.io/en/library/bg/6/31/) Such a yogī, who engages in the worshipful service of the Supersoul, knowing that I and the Supersoul are one, remains always in Me in all circumstances. [TEXT 32:](https://vedabase.io/en/library/bg/6/32/) He is a perfect yogī who, by comparison to his own self, sees the true equality of all beings, in both their happiness and their distress, O Arjuna! [TEXT 33:](https://vedabase.io/en/library/bg/6/33/) Arjuna said: O Madhusūdana, the system of yoga which You have summarized appears impractical and unendurable to me, for the mind is restless and unsteady. [TEXT 34:](https://vedabase.io/en/library/bg/6/34/) The mind is restless, turbulent, obstinate and very strong, O Kṛṣṇa, and to subdue it, I think, is more difficult than controlling the wind. [TEXT 35:](https://vedabase.io/en/library/bg/6/35/) Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa said: O mighty-armed son of Kuntī, it is undoubtedly very difficult to curb the restless mind, but it is possible by suitable practice and by detachment. [TEXT 36:](https://vedabase.io/en/library/bg/6/36/) For one whose mind is unbridled, self-realization is difficult work. But he whose mind is controlled and who strives by appropriate means is assured of success. That is My opinion. [^3]: **Bg. 6.37 - 6.45**\ **Source:** [**Vedabase**](https://vedabase.io/en/library/bg/6/) [TEXT 37:](https://vedabase.io/en/library/bg/6/37/) Arjuna said: O Kṛṣṇa, what is the destination of the unsuccessful transcendentalist, who in the beginning takes to the process of self-realization with faith but who later desists due to worldly-mindedness and thus does not attain perfection in mysticism? [TEXT 38:](https://vedabase.io/en/library/bg/6/38/) O mighty-armed Kṛṣṇa, does not such a man, who is bewildered from the path of transcendence, fall away from both spiritual and material success and perish like a riven cloud, with no position in any sphere? [TEXT 39:](https://vedabase.io/en/library/bg/6/39/) This is my doubt, O Kṛṣṇa, and I ask You to dispel it completely. But for You, no one is to be found who can destroy this doubt. [TEXT 40:](https://vedabase.io/en/library/bg/6/40/) The Supreme Personality of Godhead said: Son of Pṛthā, a transcendentalist engaged in auspicious activities does not meet with destruction either in this world or in the spiritual world; one who does good, My friend, is never overcome by evil. [TEXT 41:](https://vedabase.io/en/library/bg/6/41/) The unsuccessful yogī, after many, many years of enjoyment on the planets of the pious living entities, is born into a family of righteous people, or into a family of rich aristocracy. [TEXT 42:](https://vedabase.io/en/library/bg/6/42/) Or \[if unsuccessful after long practice of yoga] he takes his birth in a family of transcendentalists who are surely great in wisdom. Certainly, such a birth is rare in this world. [TEXT 43:](https://vedabase.io/en/library/bg/6/43/) On taking such a birth, he revives the divine consciousness of his previous life, and he again tries to make further progress in order to achieve complete success, O son of Kuru. [TEXT 44:](https://vedabase.io/en/library/bg/6/44/) By virtue of the divine consciousness of his previous life, he automatically becomes attracted to the yogic principles – even without seeking them. Such an inquisitive transcendentalist stands always above the ritualistic principles of the scriptures. [TEXT 45:](https://vedabase.io/en/library/bg/6/45/) And when the yogī engages himself with sincere endeavor in making further progress, being washed of all contaminations, then ultimately, achieving perfection after many, many births of practice, he attains the supreme goal. [^4]: **Bg. 6.46 - 6.47**\ **Source:** [**Vedabase**](https://vedabase.io/en/library/bg/6/) [TEXT 46:](https://vedabase.io/en/library/bg/6/46/) A yogī is greater than the ascetic, greater than the empiricist and greater than the fruitive worker. Therefore, O Arjuna, in all circumstances, be a yogī. [TEXT 47:](https://vedabase.io/en/library/bg/6/47/) And of all yogīs, the one with great faith who always abides in Me, thinks of Me within himself and renders transcendental loving service to Me – he is the most intimately united with Me in yoga and is the highest of all. That is My opinion.