Bhagavad Gita Chapter 6, Verse 12 (BG 6.12) — Meaning, Translation & Commentary

6.12 तत्र there? एकाग्रम् onepointed? मनः the mind? कृत्वा having made? यतचित्तेन्द्रियक्रियः one who has controlled the actions of the mind and the senses? उपविश्य being seated? आसने on the seat? युञ्ज्यात् let him practise? योगम् Yoga? आत्मविशुद्धये for the purification of the self.Commentary The self means the mind. The real Supreme Self is the Atma. This is Primary (Mukhya). Mind also is the self. But this is used in a secondary sense (Gauna). Mukhya Atma is Brahman or the highest Self. Gauna Atma is the mind.Make the mind onepointed by collecting all its dissipated rays by the practice of Yoga. Withdraw it from all senseobjects again and again and try to fix it steadily on your Lakshya or point of meditation or centre. Gradually you will have concentration of the mind or onepointedness. You must be very regular in your practice. Only then will you succeed. Regularity is of paramount importance. You should know the ways and habits of the mind through daily introspection? selfanalysis or selfexamination. You should have a knowledge of the laws of the mind. Then it will be easy for you to check the wandering mind. When you sit for meditation? and when you deliberately attempt to forget the worldly objects? all sorts of worldly thoughts will crop up in your mind and disturb your meditation. You will be ite astonished. Old thoughts that you entertained several years ago? and old memories of past enjoyments will bubble up and force the mind to wander in all directions. You will find that the trapdoor of the vast subconscious mind is opened or the lid of the storehouse of thoughts within is lifted up and the thoughts gush out in a continous stream. The more you attempt to still them? the more they will bubble up with redoubled force and strength.Be not discouraged. Nil desperandum. Never despair. Through regular and constant meditation you can purify the subconscious mind and its constant memories. The fire of meditation will burn all thoughts. Be sure of this. Meditation is a potent antidote to annihilate the poisonous worldly thoughts. Be assured of this.Meditation on the immortal Self will act like a dynamite and blow up all thoughts and memories in the conscious mind. If the thoughts trouble you much? do not try to suppress them by force. Be a silent witness as in a bioscope. They will subside gradually. Then try to root them out through regual silent meditation.During introspection you can clearly observe the rapid shifting of the mind from one line of thought to another. Herein lies a chance for you to mould the mind properly and direct the thoughts and the mental energy in the divine channel. You can rearrange the thoughts and make new associations on a new Sattvic basis. You can throw out wordly and useless thoughts. Just as you remove the weeds and throw them out? you can throw these out? and you can cultivate sublime? divine thoughts in the divine garden of your mind. This is a very patient work. This is a stupendous task indeed. But for a Yogi of determination who has the grace of the Lord and an iron will it is nothing.Calm the bubbling emotions? sentiments? instincts and impulses gradually through silent meditation. You can give a new orientation to your feelings by gradual and systematic practice. You can entirely transmute your wordly nature into divine nature. You can exercise supreme control over the nervecurrents? muscles? the five sheaths (of the Self)? emotions? impulses and instincts through meditation.

Merely sitting in an appropriate posture is not yoga. While the external posture and the specific positioning of the body may indeed be useful for concentrating the mind, we cannot be assured of spiritual development simply by doing this alone. After sitting in the posture, Sri Krishna here provides instruction on how one should meditate through the inner faculties. The first instruction is to concentrate the mind. It is simple for a teacher to give instruction to a confused student of this generation on concentrating the mind, but without knowledge, it is not possible for a seeker to follow the teaching. Therefore, along with this instruction, it is necessary to also explain the practical methods through which this concentration can be achieved. Without practical method, that instruction remains merely as theoretical knowledge. This is the special quality of the Gita—that in making knowledge applicable to life, it also presents many means and methods. To regulate the imaginative power of the mind and the activity of the senses, Sri Krishna says this is one approach. Concentration is indeed the true capacity of the mind, but sometimes when it suddenly attains peace, the mind does not recognize it, and then through memories of past experiences or through the senses grasping objects, it becomes disturbed. It is due to these mental constructs that concentration is broken. If the loss of peace caused by the activities of the mind and senses can be prevented, then the mind immediately and naturally becomes concentrated. In this way, sitting in the external posture, one should meditate on the Self through the inner faculties. All seekers naturally desire to understand the purpose of meditation practice. The prevailing belief is that we will experience the Self in the same way as we experience a visible object. But Sri Krishna, dispelling such a notion, says that the purpose of meditation is purification of the Self—that is, purification of the inner faculties. The distraction of the mind is called its impurity. The scriptures declare that through steadfast daily practice of meditation, the mind becomes pure, and in such a pure and steady inner faculty, the direct experience of the Self is realized—which is eternally self-evident and always available. Just as one recognizes oneself by seeing one's reflection in a mirror, so too is this meditation method. Now in the next verse, the description of the body's posture is given.