Bhagavad Gita Chapter 6, Verse 19 (BG 6.19) — Meaning, Translation & Commentary

The comparison of a lamp in a windless place is given here to describe the unified mind of the yogi, and it is most apt. Countless mental modifications continuously arise and dissolve in the mind, yet we experience an unbroken continuity of consciousness. Similarly, a lamp's flame is never truly still—it flickers constantly—yet this oscillation occurs so rapidly that we perceive the light as a steady, defined form. When this flame is protected from the disturbances of wind, it becomes stable and burns upward without wavering. In the same way, the mind, which is ordinarily restless due to worldly desires, becomes steady when calmed through meditation. Then a continuous, unbroken flow of consciousness focused on Brahman is established within. In essence, the constant and uninterrupted meditation upon Brahman—the eternal, infinite, blissful substratum of all existence—is the yoga of the self. The four verses that follow describe the stages of progress that unfold after one attains this concentration through the practice of yoga.