Chapter 6: Dhyana yoga (Bliss of Meditation)

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In this chapter, Krishna emphasizes on performing duties without expectation. He gives an extensive explanation of meditation and how to meditate.
 
  • Man should elevate himself with his own mind, not degrade.  For humans, the mind is the cause of happiness and sorrow.
  • Regulation of diet and sleep is recommended.
  • See God every where and in every thing.

While I was reading all these verses, I had lot of questions in my mind. Is it really that easy to do meditation by sitting in a calm place and focus? Let me start tomorrow. I should get up early in the morning and start practicing yoga. I need to clean kitchen tonight. I should have idly batter ready, so I can make idlis immediately after my meditation.  But how about the weekend then? In the weekend, I want to sleep a little longer and by the time I get up, I will be hungry. When I wake up, I would have forgotten about meditation. Oh no! It’s already Thursday! So I can’t continue if I start tomorrow, so I will start on Monday.  Is self control that easy? I can’t stop eating chips until the bag is over, though I want to. 

Then Arjuna said, “Krishna, The system of yoga which you have summarized appears impractical and unendurable to me. My mind is restless, turbulent and obstinate.”

Yes! This is what makes Bhagavad Gita user friendly book!

Krishna responds, “It is undoubtedly very difficult to curb the restless mind but it is possible by constant practice.”

Discipline is the most important thing in human life.  For us, it is easier to be disciplined (or to act as if we are disciplined) when there are certain imposed rules. It is easier to be on time for doctor appointment than to a family party.

In this modern world, we even have multiple choices for basic things like where to go, what to eat and what to drink. We are constantly challenged to make decisions.

Did we ever spend 30 minutes on selecting a program to watch while having dinner during Doordarshan days?
Now that we have Netflix, Amazon prime, Hulu and Youtube, we spend 30 min(or more) searching paid, free (some times pirated) services to watch a 30 minute program, which is a waste of time. No one ever complained that they are very busy with work while wasting time with TV.

Self-discipline and self-control should be essential ingredients in our daily life to limit our exposure to distractions.
Practice of self discipline is very important and lack this this may limit our ability to reach our goals and success in life.

As someone once said, “Motivation gets you going, but discipline keeps you growing.” Most of us get motivated easily and begin doing things but stop later on due to various reasons.  That is the reason why most of the gyms are full during the month of January :-).

Arjuna asks Krishna the same question, “What is the destination of the man who has faith but lacks perseverance? Who starts the things but can’t continue due to lack of self-discipline?“

Krishna assures that any goodness done will only perpetuate more goodness.

Let’s start doing good things and practice self-discipline. If we get carried away, let’s try again to self-disciple ourselves.

Comments

  1. Jay PasupuletiJuly 2, 2020 at 8:51 PM

    Very inspirational and funny at the same time, keep it up

    ReplyDelete

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