Bhagavad Gita Chapter 13, Verse 25 (BG 13.25) — Meaning, Translation & Commentary

13.25 ध्यानेन by meditation? आत्मनि in the self? पश्यन्ति behold? केचित् some? आत्मानम् the Self? आत्मना by the self? अन्ये others? सांख्येन योगेन by the Yoga of knowledge (by the Sankhya Yoga)? कर्मयोगेन by Karma Yoga? च and? अपरे others.Commentary There are severla paths to reach the knowledge of the Self according to the nature or temperament and capacity of the individual. The first path is the Yoga of meditation taught by Maharshi Patanjali. The Raja Yogins behold the Supreme Self in the self (Buddhi) by the self (purified mind). Meditation is a continous and unbroken flow of thought of the Self like the flow of oil from one vessel to another. Through concentration hearing and the other senses are withdrawn into the mind. The senses are not allowed to run towards their respective sensual objects. They are kept under proper check and control through the process of abstraction. Then the mind itself is made to abide in the Self through constant meditation on the Self. The mind is refined or purified by meditation. The mind that is rendered pure will naturally move towards the Self. It is not attracted by nor is it attached to the sensual objects.Sankhya Yoga is Jnana Yoga. The aspirant does Vichara (analysis? reflection) and separates himself from the three alities of Nature? the three bodies and the five sheaths and identifies himself with the witness (Self). He thinks and feels? I am distinct from the three alities. I am the silent witness. I am unattached. I am nondoer. I am nonenjoyer. I am immortal? eternal? selfexistent? selfluminous? indivisible? unborn and unchanging.The Karma Yogi surrenders his actions and their fruits to the Lord. He has Isvarapana Buddhi (intelligence that offers everything to God). This produces purity of mind which gives rise to knowledge of the Self. Karma Yoga brings about concentration of the mind through the purification of the mind. It leads to Yoga through the purification of the mind and so it is spoken of as Yoga itself.Those who practise Sankhya Yoga are the highest class of spiritual aspirants. Those who practise the Yoga of meditation are aspirants of the middling class. Those who practise Karma Yoga are the lowest class of spiritual aspirants. The aspirants of the middling and lowest class soon become aspirants of the highest class through rigorous Sadhana or spiritual practices. (Cf.V.5VI.46)

Commentaries

Contemporary scholarly and practical interpretations for modern seekers.

This interpretation draws on a specific tradition and may not represent the view of any single school. For authoritative guidance within a specific tradition, seek a qualified teacher.

Modern

The ultimate goal of spiritual practice is to experience the pure nature of the atman, liberated from all limitations. Multiple means and alternatives have been described here for its accomplishment. The development of human personality should begin from the very point where a person finds themselves in the present moment. No education can succeed without systematic, sequential instruction. Even for a person with an extremely impure and restless mind, suitable practices are necessary for self-development. Spiritual progress cannot occur merely through intellectual understanding of the principle of perfection. True development becomes possible only when one's life aligns with one's knowledge. Therefore, the seeker must engage in active practice with discernment and enthusiasm, controlling their thought-life and redirecting it through re-education toward the right path. This is why every person experiences difficulty on this path of self-improvement. The great sages of ancient times discovered various paths of practice suited to people of different types and levels, all leading to the same goal. For each follower, their own path is most suitable. No single path can be called superior to others. A pharmacy contains many medicines; each medicine is for a specific ailment, and for the patient suffering from that particular disease, that medicine alone is the best until health is restored. The apparent differences among various seekers arise from differences in their mental balance and intellectual capacity—what the scriptures call impurity of the inner instrument. All practices through which mental purification is attained are called external or secondary practices. When the mind becomes pure, meditation is the direct and internal means for self-realization. Some perceive the atman through meditation. Regarding meditation, Shankaracharya writes that it is the practice of withdrawing the senses from sense objects like sound, and focusing the mind one-pointedly on the atman, which is consciousness itself, in contemplation. In this contemplation, the flow of thoughts regarding the object of meditation remains unbroken and continuous, like a stream of oil. Naturally, this path is suited for the highest seekers whose heart and discernment are equally developed. Perceiving the atman does not mean seeing form and color with the eyes; otherwise it would contradict the principles of Vedanta. The atman is the seer, not the seen. Therefore, self-realization means the direct experience of one's true nature. Because this experience is as clear and free from doubt as seeing an object in one's palm, the tradition has arisen of saying that they "see" the atman. One sees the atman through the atman. In his commentary on this verse, Shankaracharya says: through meditation—that is, through the inner instrument purified by meditation—one perceives. The atman is clearly experienced only in a purified inner instrument. Some may wonder why the word "atman" is used here even for intellect and mind. The reason is that when the seeker experiences their true nature as ultimate reality, from the perspective of that truth, mind and intellect have no separate existence. All become the nature of atman. All waves and foam are nothing but the ocean. The dreamer, the dream world, and the dream experience are all ultimately only the mind of the waking person. From this perspective, our spiritual texts even refer to the outermost aspects of our personality, such as the body, by the word "atman." The path of meditation described above is suited only for the highest seekers endowed with discernment and detachment. Therefore, for seekers of middling capacity, alternative means are described. Sankhya Yoga: For those seekers who, despite possessing discernment, lack detachment, and whose minds cannot become steady in meditation, whose identification becomes entangled with the mental modifications arising in the mind—for them, the practice of Sankhya Yoga is prescribed. The path of systematic, logical reasoning through which we arrive at a definite principle that can never be contradicted by other evidence or logic—that which remains irrefutable—is called Sankhya Yoga. In practicing this discipline, the seeker should firmly maintain the knowledge that the mental modifications arising in the mind are the effects of sattva, rajas, and tamas gunas and are objects of perception. I am the witness of these, distinct from them and eternal. In this way, when the mind's attention withdraws from the modifications and becomes established in the witness, other modifications will naturally dissolve, and only the awareness of the attributeless atman will remain. Karma Yoga: Those persons whose inner instrument is filled with abundant desires cannot follow Sankhya Yoga through study, and the question of meditation yoga does not even arise for them. For such seekers, Karma Yoga is prescribed first as a means to exhaust desires. Its detailed description is given in the third chapter of the Gita. By performing actions while renouncing ego and selfishness, with the feeling of offering to the Divine, the previously accumulated desires are exhausted and new desires do not arise. In this way, when the mind becomes pure and the longing for self-knowledge awakens, that person becomes qualified for scriptural study (Sankhya Yoga). Thereafter, when discernment and detachment become firm, through meditation yoga one attains the highest peak of spiritual practice—the knowledge of unity with Brahman. In summary: for the person dominated by sattva guna, meditation yoga is suitable. For the person with an excess of rajas guna and deficiency of sattva guna, Sankhya Yoga is appropriate. For the person dominated entirely by rajas guna, Karma Yoga is the means. Then what of the person dominated by tamas guna—one lacking in the power of discrimination? The Blessed Lord explains this.