Chapter 6, Verses 1-9

The block

Nine verses opening Chapter 6 — titled Dhyana Yoga, the yoga of meditation. Krishna opens by reasserting that the true renunciate is the karma-yogi whose action is free of fruit-claim (6.1–6.2), gives the gradational program (action then stillness, 6.3–6.4), and states the Gita’s most famous self-empowerment verse (6.5: uddhared ātmanātmānam). 6.7–6.9 describe the stable ground on which meditation can begin: equanimity toward all beings.

Translation (compressed)

• 1. One who performs the necessary action without depending on its fruit is the sannyasi and the yogi — not the one without the sacred fires or without action.
• 2. Know yoga to be what is called sannyasa, O Pandava; no one becomes a yogi who has not renounced imagination (saṅkalpa).
• 3. For a sage wishing to climb yoga, action is said to be the means; for one who has scaled yoga, quiet (śama) is said to be the means.
• 4. One whose attachment neither to sense-objects nor to actions remains, who has renounced all imaginings — that one is said to have climbed yoga.
• 5. uddhared ātmanātmānaṁ nātmānam avasādayet; ātmaiva hy ātmano bandhur ātmaiva ripur ātmanaḥ. Lift yourself by yourself; do not drag yourself down. The self alone is the friend of the self; the self alone is the enemy of the self.
• 6. The self is a friend to the self who has conquered the self; but to one who has not, the self remains hostile, like an enemy.
• 7. For the self-conquered one, the supreme Self is established in perfect tranquility in cold, heat, pleasure and pain, honor and dishonor.
• 8. One whose self is content with knowledge and realization, firm in the senses’ mastery — that yukta is called a yogi to whom a clod, a stone, a piece of gold are equal.
• 9. One who regards with equal mind well-wishers, friends, enemies, neutrals, mediators, the hateful, relatives, good, and sinful — that one excels.

Concepts discussed

• dhyana — introduced as the chapter’s theme
• sannyasa — Krishna’s 6.1–6.2 redefinition: the true sannyasi is the fruit-renouncing karma-yogi
• karma-yoga — 6.3’s action as the means for the climbing yogi
• samatva / samadarshana — 6.7–6.9 develop these across increasing scope
• saṅkalpa — imaginative project-making of the mind; 6.2 and 6.4’s target
• atman — the 6.5–6.6 word-play on “self” as both agent and enemy

Swami’s commentary

6.1–6.2 — who is the true sannyasi? Krishna opens Ch 6 by closing the karma-sannyasa debate of Ch 5 once more. Anāśritaḥ karma-phalaṁ kāryaṁ karma karoti yaḥ; sa sannyāsī ca yogī ca na niragnir na cākriyaḥ. “One who performs necessary action without depending on its fruit — that is the sannyasi and the yogi; not the one without the sacred fires or without action.” The formal sannyasi who has dropped ritual fires and outward work is not automatically a sannyasi; the karma-yogi who does necessary action without fruit-grasping is. Inner structure, not outer marker.

6.2 adds: saṅkalpa (imaginative project-making — “I want this, I will do that, then I will have”) must be renounced. The outward act of ritual-dropping doesn’t automatically renounce saṅkalpa; an ex-monk daydreaming about possessions is still saṅkalpa-bound.

6.3–6.4 — the gradational program. Ārurukṣor muner yogaṁ karma kāraṇam ucyate; yogārūḍhasya tasyaiva śamaḥ kāraṇam ucyate. “For a sage climbing yoga, action is the means; for one who has climbed yoga, shama (stillness) is the means.” The Advaita Vedanta matrix precisely: when mind is impure, karma-yoga; when pure, dhyana; when dhyana matures, shama (the settled quiet of realization). 6.4 defines the climbed-state: no attachment to sense-objects or actions; all imaginings renounced.

This is pedagogically important. Krishna is not saying “drop action immediately to meditate” — he has just insisted in Ch 5 that this is nearly impossible. He is saying: climb first through karma-yoga; when you have climbed, transition to stillness. Stages, not alternatives.

6.5–6.6 — the self-empowerment verse. Uddhared ātmanātmānam nātmānam avasādayet; ātmaiva hy ātmano bandhur ātmaiva ripur ātmanaḥ. “Lift yourself by yourself; do not drag yourself down. The self alone is the friend of the self; the self alone is the enemy of the self.”

The Gita’s single most-quoted self-empowerment verse. The word-play on ātman is deliberate: the higher self (atman as witness / one’s true nature) must lift the lower self (the body-mind / ahamkara-bound personality). No external savior is going to do this work; no guru, no god in the religious-dependency sense. You must be the agent of your own lifting. And yet — uddhared ātmanā, by the self, using the very faculty that can get you out. The will, the viveka, the reason, the reflective capacity — these are the tool and the toolholder. You have what you need. Use it.

6.6 unpacks: jitātmanaḥ praśāntasya paramātmā samāhitaḥ śītoṣṇa-sukha-duḥkheṣu tathā mānāpamānayoḥ. “For one who has conquered the self (controlled the lower self), the supreme Self is established in equanimity through cold-heat, pleasure-pain, honor-dishonor.” The conquered lower self reveals the already-present higher self underneath. Self-conquest is not an achievement of the lower self but the un-obscuring of the higher.

Memorization note. Swami mentions (Ep 72 opening) that this was the first verse he memorized as a young monk — his teacher assigned him Ch 6, starting with 6.1. The chapter is often the first a novice memorizes because of its practical immediacy and the singular power of 6.5.

6.7–6.9 — the expanding scope of equanimity. Three verses tracking samatva-samadarshana across increasing range:

• 6.7 — opposites in the self’s experience: cold/heat, pleasure/pain, honor/dishonor. Equanimity within one’s own life.
• 6.8 — objects in the world: clod, stone, gold. Equal in valuation.
• 6.9 — people: well-wishers, friends, enemies, neutrals, mediators, the hateful, relatives, good, sinful. Nine categories of human relation. Equal mind toward all.

The progression is outward: start with your own mental states, then objects, then people. The full samadarshana of 5.18 is here developed in the specific context of the meditator’s psychological ground: you cannot meditate effectively while still partial toward some people and hostile toward others. The meditation-seat has 6.9 as its prerequisite.

Episodes 72–77 [cumulative]: Ch 6 opens; 6.1–6.2 restate that the true renunciate is the karma-yogi; 6.3–6.4 give the gradational program (action → stillness); 6.5–6.6 as the self-empowerment verse with the self-as-friend-and-enemy word-play; 6.7–6.9 develop equanimity’s scope across opposites, objects, and people as the meditative ground.