In this lecture on the sixth chapter of the Bhagavad Gita, Sri Swami Jyotirmayananda, a direct disciple of Swami Sivananda, turns to one of the most searching definitions in all of yoga. Union with God, he says, is not the joining of two separate things. It is disunion from pain. The soul was never apart from its source. Like the sun reflected in a jar of water, it only imagines itself small, scattered, and shaken.
Yoga as Severance From Pain
Krishna gives the definition in verse 23: know that severance from every union with pain to be yoga. Sri Swami Jyotirmayananda is careful here. We speak of union with God as if God were elsewhere, a destination to reach. But God is your own reality. There is nothing to travel toward. In sadhana, the false unions dissolve: union with the body, the senses, the restless mind, the dream of time and space. When those loosen, what remains is what was always there.
Nothing Greater Remains to Be Attained
Verse 22 describes the state in which, once established, you regard no other gain as greater, and no sorrow, however heavy, can move you. Every worldly attainment is followed by another. Each promises to be the last and never is. This state alone closes the search, because there is nothing higher than your own Self.
Cleaning the Mirror: Mala, Vikshepa, and Avarana
The center of the lecture is integral yoga: the removal of mala (gross impurities such as anger, greed, and pride), vikshepa (the distraction thrown up by vasanas, the subtle desires of the unconscious), and avarana (the veil of ignorance). Sri Swami Jyotirmayananda compares the chitta to a mirror. When the mirror is clouded, the soul cannot see itself clearly. As virtue grows, a transparency opens, and you look through the chitta to see yourself not as a conditioned personality but as the Absolute.
Sahaja Samadhi: Steadiness in Daily Life
Realization is not earned in sleep, in dream, or even in samadhi, because each of those states comes and goes. The aim is sthiti, an abiding state, distinct from avastha, a passing one. The image is a deep-rooted tree. Storms shake the branches, but the root only grows firmer. The enlightened one may appear shaken on the surface, yet at the root nothing has gone wrong.
Renouncing Desires Born of Will
Verses 24 and 25 give the method: abandon all desires born of egoistic will (sankalpa), restrain the senses with the mind, and gradually, little by little (shanaih shanaih), withdraw with the intellect held firm, fixing the mind on the Self. Sri Swami Jyotirmayananda distinguishes sattvic, rajasic, and tamasic forms of both buddhi (intellect) and dhriti (firmness). Sattvic buddhi knows the difference between pravritti and nivritti, between what binds and what frees. Sattvic dhriti is the steady firmness that holds the mind to liberation, breaking the three granthis of avidya, kama, and karma.
Scholar’s Corner
This lecture covers Bhagavad Gita, Chapter 6 (Dhyana Yoga), verses 22 to 25.
Verse 22: yam labdhva caparam labham manyate nadhikam tatah, yasmin sthito na duhkhena gurunapi vicalyate. “Having gained which, one thinks there is no greater gain, and established in which, one is not shaken even by the heaviest sorrow.”
Verse 23: tam vidyad duhkha-samyoga-viyogam yoga-samjnitam, sa niscayena yoktavyo yogo nirvinna-cetasa. “Let that severance from union with pain be known as yoga; it is to be practiced with determination and an undespairing mind.”
Verses 24 to 25: sankalpa-prabhavan kaman tyaktva sarvan asesatah, manasaivendriya-gramam viniyamya samantatah; sanaih sanair uparamed buddhya dhriti-grihitaya, atma-samstham manah krtva na kincid api cintayet.
Glossary
Yoga: union; here defined as the severance from all union with pain.
Sthiti: an abiding, established state, as against avastha, a passing one.
Mala: gross impurities of mind such as anger, greed, and pride.
Vikshepa: distraction of mind arising from vasanas.
Avarana: the veil of ignorance over the Self.
Vasana: subtle, unconscious tendency or desire.
Sankalpa: egoistic will or resolve from which binding desires arise.
Buddhi: the discriminating intellect.
Dhriti: steady, unswerving firmness.
Sahaja Samadhi: natural, effortless awareness of the Self in daily life.
Eshana: deep-seated craving. Putreshana (progeny), vitteshana (wealth), lokeshana (recognition).
Granthi: knot of bondage. The three are avidya (ignorance), kama (desire), and karma (action).
Chitta: the mind-stuff, likened to a mirror that must be cleansed.
Watch the Full Lecture
Watch the complete talk by Sri Swami Jyotirmayananda here: https://youtu.be/bI1if-nf0sU
This study guide is drawn from the archived teachings of Sri Swami Jyotirmayananda.