Sri Swami Jyotirmayananda, a direct disciple of Swami Sivananda, continues the sixth chapter of the Bhagavad Gita from verse 7 onward. This chapter is *Adhyatma Yoga*, the Yoga of meditation, and Swamiji presents it as a direct study of the mind.
The central teaching is simple, but not easy: the mind can bind us, or it can become the means of freedom. When the mind is trained, purified, and guided by the higher intellect, it becomes steady in changing conditions. Pleasure and pain, praise and blame, gain and loss still come, but they no longer control the inner life.
The Mind Can Bind or Free Us
Swamiji begins with a familiar Vedantic teaching: the mind is the cause of bondage and liberation. The world we experience is deeply colored by the condition of the mind. In dream, the mind creates a whole world that feels real while it lasts. In waking life, too, our impressions, worries, memories, and expectations shape the way we meet the world.
This does not mean that spiritual life is passive. Swamiji places responsibility directly in the seeker’s hands. The mind can be trained. The senses can be guided. The lower self can be brought under the direction of the higher Self. That is the meaning of jitatmana, one who has conquered the lower self.
Jitatmana: Bringing the Lower Self Under Guidance
The Gita does not ask us to hate the mind. It asks us to understand it and guide it. Swamiji explains that many people do not realize how much they are ruled by the lower self until they begin sadhana, japa, meditation, and self-observation.
The lower mind worries even when there is no reason to worry. It is pulled by habit, reaction, and restless desire. Spiritual discipline brings these forces into view, not so that we become discouraged, but so that we can begin to master them.
The Chariot Image
Swamiji recalls the ancient image of the human personality as a chariot. The senses are the horses. The mind is the reins. The intellect holds the reins. The ego should not seize control; it should become a promoter of good.
In this image, self-control is not repression. It is right order. The senses obey the mind. The mind follows the clear direction of the intellect. The intellect is illumined by spiritual wisdom. When this order is present, the seeker is no longer dragged by every passing impulse.
Peace Like the Sky
The verse describes the peaceful person as prashanta. Swamiji turns to a simple image from nature: the sky remains untouched by clouds. Storms may pass through it, but the sky is not injured by them.
In the same way, the seeker learns to remain inwardly steady while thoughts, moods, and conditions pass through the mind. Meditation, japa, surrender to God, satsanga, and purity of heart gradually lessen the force of negative impressions. As chitta shuddhi grows, peace becomes more natural.
Pleasure, Pain, Praise, and Blame
The Gita speaks of steadiness in cold and heat, pleasure and pain, honor and dishonor. Swamiji explains these as symbols of the many reactions that arise in daily life. Praise can inflate the mind. Criticism can disturb it. Comfort can make it dependent. Difficulty can make it bitter.
But when the mind is disciplined, adverse conditions become part of the training. The seeker does not look for suffering, but when difficulty comes, it can strengthen patience, discrimination, and faith. The steady mind learns to receive both pleasant and unpleasant conditions without losing its center.
Jnana and Vijnana
Swamiji then turns to the yogi who is satisfied with jnana and vijnana. Jnana is spiritual knowledge. Vijnana is realized knowledge, knowledge made direct through reflection, meditation, and inner experience.
Indirect knowledge is still precious. It gives direction and strengthens the intellect. But the teaching must move inward. Through reflection, meditation, and antaranga sadhana, the seeker gradually moves from theory into direct realization.
Clay, Stone, and Gold
The eighth verse speaks of the yogi who sees a clod of earth, a stone, and gold with equal vision. Swamiji does not treat this as carelessness toward practical life. He points to the bondage created by possession and imagined value.
Gold can excite the mind. A necklace can make the face glow. If someone says the necklace is not real, the same mind sinks into gloom. The question is direct: are we slaves to objects and opinion? A person moving toward God-realization must not let inner worth depend on passing values.
Equal Vision Toward All Types of People
The ninth verse expands the teaching into human relationships. The Gita lists well-wishers, friends, enemies, the indifferent, mediators, the hateful, relatives, saints, and wrongdoers. Swamiji explains that society contains all these types, and the yogi cannot build spiritual life by selecting only the pleasant ones.
It is easy to be good with good people. The test comes with difficult people. They reveal whether our peace is real or only dependent on agreeable surroundings. A mature seeker learns to adapt without sacrificing spiritual values, and to convert negative situations into opportunities for growth.
Hate the Disease, Not the Patient
Near the close of the lecture, Swamiji gives a strong and practical teaching: hate the disease, not the patient. A person may be acting from ignorance, anger, hatred, or inner disorder. The wrong action should not be approved. But the person should still be seen as one who is suffering from a mental or spiritual disease.
This attitude is not weakness. It protects the heart from hatred. It also opens the possibility of service. The seeker does not allow destructive people to consume the mind, but neither does he become consumed by hatred toward them. He works, when possible, to help restore them to themselves.
The Teaching for the Seeker
The Gita’s teaching is not an escape from life. It is training for life. The mind must become steady in pleasure and pain, praise and blame, gain and loss, friend and enemy. This steadiness is not emotional numbness. It is a deeper peace rooted in the Supreme Self.
Swamiji’s message is both practical and high: discipline the mind, purify the heart, deepen knowledge into realization, and meet the world with balanced vision. Then the mind becomes not a source of bondage, but an instrument of freedom.
Scholar’s Corner
Bhagavad Gita 6.7
Jitatmanah prashantasya paramatma samahitah, shitoshna-sukha-duhkheshu tatha manapamanayoh. Swamiji explains this verse as the state of one who has mastered the lower self and remains inwardly peaceful in heat and cold, pleasure and pain, honor and dishonor.
Bhagavad Gita 6.8
Jnana-vijnana-triptatma kutastho vijitendriyah, yukta ity ucyate yogi sama-loshtashma-kanchanah. Swamiji emphasizes the movement from knowledge to realization, and the balanced vision that no longer becomes enslaved by possessions.
Bhagavad Gita 6.9
Suhrn-mitra-ary-udasina-madhyastha-dveshya-bandhushu, sadhushv api ca papeshu sama-buddhir vishishyate. Swamiji uses this verse to explain equal vision toward many kinds of people, including friends, enemies, relatives, saintly people, and wrongdoers.
Glossary of Sanskrit Terms
Adhyatma Yoga
The Yoga of the inner Self; in this lecture, the meditative discipline of Chapter 6 of the Bhagavad Gita.
Jitatmana
One who has conquered the lower self, especially the restless mind and senses.
Prashanta
Peaceful, calm, inwardly quiet.
Paramatma
The Supreme Self.
Shitoshna
Cold and heat, used in the Gita as a symbol for changing conditions.
Sukha and Duhkha
Pleasure and pain.
Mana and Apamana
Honor and dishonor, praise and blame.
Jnana
Spiritual knowledge.
Vijnana
Direct realization or lived spiritual knowledge.
Paroksha Jnana
Indirect knowledge, accepted through scripture, teaching, and reasoning before direct realization.
Antaranga Sadhana
Inner spiritual practice, especially reflection, meditation, and absorption.
Samadhi
A state of deep spiritual absorption.
Chitta Shuddhi
Purity of heart or purification of the mind-field.
Satsanga
Holy company; association with truth, scripture, saints, and spiritual teachings.
Japa
Repetition of a mantra or Divine name.
Yukta
United with God; spiritually integrated.
Sama-buddhi
Balanced understanding or equal vision.
Suhrd
A well-wisher.
Mitra
A friend.
Ari
An enemy or opponent.
Udasin
One who remains indifferent or detached.
Madhyastha
A mediator, one who helps resolve conflict.
Dveshya
One who is disliked or hateful.
Bandhu
A relative or close relation.
Sadhu
A saintly person, one inclined toward righteous action.
Papi
A wrongdoer, one inclined toward negative action.
Maya
The power of illusion that makes passing values appear final.
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This study guide is drawn from the archived teachings of Sri Swami Jyotirmayananda.
This post was very well-written and extremely helpful, much appreciated.