Song of the Beloved

Chapter VI

Communion Through Meditation

The Blessed Lord said:

1. It is the man who performs his duties without dependence on the fruits that deserves to be called a Sannyasin (renouncer) and a Yogin, not the one who keeps no fire or avoids works.

2. O son of Pandu! What is called Sannyasa or renunciation know that to be identical with Yoga or disciplines of selfless action. For, whoever has not abandoned subtle hankerings and self-centred objectives, can never become a Yogi, or a practitioner of spiritual communion through works.

3. For one who desires to ascend the path leading to the heights of spiritual communion (Yoga), detached work is the means. For one who has ascended it, quiescence is verily the means.

4. When one ceases to be attached to sense objects and to one's actions, then that one, who has thus abandoned all subtle hankerings and self-centred objectives, is said to have ascended the heights of spiritual communion (Yoga).

5. One should uplift one's lower self by the higher self. One should not depress or downgrade one's self. For the self verily is both the friend and the foe of the self.

6. To him who has subdued the lower self by the higher self, the self acts like a friend. But to him who has lost his higher self by the dominance of the lower one. the self functions as the enemy, always hostile to him.

7. In one who has conquered his mind, the Self remains steady and unperturbed in the experience of the pairs of opposites like heat and cold, pleasure and pain, honour and dishonour.

8. A Yogin whose spirit has attained contentment through knowledge and experience, who is unperturbed, who has subdued his senses, to whom a lump of earth and a bar of gold are alike - such a Yogi is said to have attained steadfastness in spiritual communion.

9. Specially noteworthy in excellence is he who is even-minded in his outlook on friend and foe, on comrade and stranger, on the neutral, on the ally, on the good, and even on the evil ones.

10. Let a Yogin constantly practise spiritual communion, residing alone in a solitary spot, desireless, possessionless, and disciplined in body and mind.

11-12. At a clean spot, which is neither too high nor too low, a seat should be made with Kusha grass, spread over with a skin and a cloth. Firmly seated on it, the Yogi should practise spiritual communion, with mind concentrated and with the working of the imaginative faculty and the senses under control, for self-purification.

13-14. Holding the body, head and neck erect, motionless and firm, gazing at the tip of the nose and not round about, fearless, serene, restrained in mind, and established in the vow of continence, he should sit in spiritual communion with Me, looking upon Me as his highest and most precious end.

15. With the mind restrained from going outward to objects and always uniting with the Supreme in spiritual communion, the Yogi attains to Peace, which is the summit of bliss and enduring establishment in My state.

16. O Arjuna! Success in Yoga is not for those who eat too much, nor for those who eat too little. It is not also for those given to too much sleeping, nor to those who keep vigil too long.

17. For one who is temperate in food and recreation, who is detached and self-restrained in work, who is regulated in sleep and in vigil - Yoga brings about the cessation of the travail of Samsara.

18. When the disciplined mind is able to remain established in the Atman alone, when it is free from longing for all objects of desire - then is it spoken of as having attained to spiritual communion.

19. The flame of a lamp sheltered from wind does not flicker. This is the comparison used to describe a Yogi's mind that is well under control and united with the Atman.

20. That state in which the Chitta (mind stuff), with its movements restrained by the practice of Yoga, finds rest; in which is experienced the joy of the Spirit born of the higher mind intuiting the Spirit.

21. In which he (the Yogin) experiences that endless bliss which is beyond the ken of the senses but is intuited by the purified intellect; wherein established, one does not waver from the Truth.

22. Having obtained which no other gain is considered as greater; remaining in which one is not shaken even by the heaviest of afflictions,

23. Know that severence of connection with pain as what is designated as Yoga. It has to be practised tirelessly with determination.

24-25. Abandoning imagination - born longings in their entirety, restraining all the senses with the mind on every side, and setting that mind firmly on the Self under the direction of a steadfast intellect, one should practise tranquillity little by little, and abstain from every kind of thought.

26. From whatsoever reason this wavering and fickle mind wanders away, it should be curbed and brought to abide in the Self alone.

27. Supreme Bliss wells up in a Yogi, who is tranquil in mind, whose passions are subdued, who is free from impurities and who is in the Brahmic state.

28. Thus, ever engaged in making the mind steadfast in spiritual communion and having all the impurities of the mind effaced thereby, the Yogin easily experiences the infinite Bliss of contact with Brahman.

29. The man of spiritual insight, established in same-sightedness, sees the Self as residing in all beings and all beings as resting in the Self.

30. He who sees Me in all beings, and all beings in Me - to him I am never lost, nor he to Me.

31. Established in the unity of all existence, a Yogin who serves Me present in all beings, verily abides in Me, whatever be his mode of life.

32. O Arjuna! In My view that Yogi is the best who, out of a sense of identity with others on account of the perception of the same Atman in all, feels their joy and suffering as his own.

Arjuna said:

33. O Slayer of Madhu! Owing to the fickleness of the mind, I find no way of firm establishment in spiritual communion through equanimity as instructed by you.

34. O Krishna! Verily, the mind is fickle, turbulent, powerful and unyielding. To control it, 1 think, is as difficult as controlling the wind itself.

The Blessed Lord said:

35. O mighty armed one! Undoubtedly the mind is fickle and difficult to be checked. Yet, O son of Kunti, it can be brought under control by dispassion and spiritual practice.

36. My view is that Yoga is difficult of attainment by men of uncontrolled mind. But for those who have their minds under control, it is possible to attain, if they strive with the proper means.

Arjuna said:

37. What, O Krishna, is the fate of a man who. though endowed with a firm faith, is not steadfast in his practices owing to distractions, and therefore fails to reach spiritual perfection?

38. O mighty-armed Lord! Bewildered in the path of Brahman, supportless, does he not lose both this world and the next? Does he not perish like a rain-cloud rent asunder?

39. O Krishna! My doubt in this respect has yet to be cleared completely. Indeed! I find none better than Thee to be that doubt dispeller.

The Blessed Lord said:

40. O son of Pritha! He does not meet with downfall either here in this world or in the hereafter. Know for certain, O dear one, that one who treads the path of virtue never goes the way of evil ones.

41. The fallen Yogi goes (after death) to the spheres of the righteous, and after having lived there for unnumbered years, is reborn in this world in a pure and prosperous family.

42. Or he is re-born in a family of men full of wisdom and spirituality. Re-birth under such conditions is passing hard to get in this world.

43. There, O scion of the clan of Kurus! he will regain the spiritual discernment of his previous birth, and then he will strive harder than ever for perfection.

44. Even if helpless, he will be driven towards the path of Yoga by the force of his previous striving. For even a beginner in the path of Yoga goes above the stage requiring the aid of Vedic ritualism (not to speak then of one who has made some progress in Yoga).

45. As for the Yogi striving diligently, he is cleansed of all his sins and gains spiritual perfection after passing through several embodiments. Finally he reaches the highest state (which consists in release from the bondage of the body).

46. A Yogi (one practising meditation) is superior to a man of austerity; he is superior to a scholar; he is superior to a ritualist too. Therefore, O Arjuna, be you a Yogi.

47. Of all the Yogins, he is the most attuned in spiritual communion, who worships Me with abiding faith, and with his innermost self fused with Me.

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