अनाश्रितः कर्मफलं कार्यं कर्म करोति यः ।
स सन्न्यासी च योगी च न निरग्निर्न चाक्रियः ।। ६.१ ।।

anāśrita: karma-phalaṃ kāryaṃ karma karoti ya: |
sa sannyāsī ca yogī ca na niragnir-na cākriya: ।।6.1।।

Requisites for Successful Dhyana

The last three verses of the 5th chapter briefly referred to the intense practice of meditative absorption. Krishna pointed out how such an exclusive effort frees the mind from the hold of iccha, bhaya and krodha (desire, fear and hatred) and bestows mukti (liberation). By this Krishna was hinting at a discussion of the exclusive meditational practice in the next chapter. The 6th chapter, called “Dhyana yoga”, is also known by other names – “Abhyasa yoga” and “atma-samyama yoga”. All these names clearly denote meditation.

Meditation is an exclusive effort involving one’s own personality, especially the inner being. Unlike as in rituals and other exercises, here, the emphasis is on eschewing all external activities and dependence.

Meditation essentially means to sit in a place quietly, free of actions, to silence the senses and be focussed on the mind and mind processes, until at last the mind dissolves in its own inmost essence, the Self. In meditation the mind alone is involved. There is no physical movement, activity or involvement with any other object.

Though meditation (dhyana) is the subject of the 6th chapter, Krishna spends a great deal of time explaining the pre-meditational and post-meditational discipline, purity and refinement. Of the 47 verses in the chapter, only 7 verses describe the process of meditation. This evidently means that the non-meditational life of purity and refinement is far more important than it is taken to be. For, until these ‘pre’ and ‘post’ phases are properly understood and lived, the seeker will not be able to employ his mind on meditation effectively.

Keeping this important aspect in mind, the seeker should read the chapter, which begins with a classical description of the renunciate, sannyasin. Why should Krishna speak so much about sannyasa, when he himself is not a sannyasin, nor is Arjuna one? The point needs study and contemplation:

Whoever does all that he has to do without dependence on, or attachment towards the mental responses to the outcome of what is being done, verily becomes a sannyasin as well as a Yogi – not the one who has formally abandoned the rituals or the worldly pursuits.

Traditionally, sannyasa is the fourth order of life, a natural culmination of the earlier three phases – brahmacarya, garhasthya and vanaprastha. The entry into sannyasa necessitates abandoning all kinds of ritualistic disciplines as well as family and domestic involvement. Either alone or in the company of the Guru, the renunciate lives his life given only to spiritual pursuits. Hearing or reading the Scriptures, ruminating over their message and then meditating exclusively, become the sole occupation of a renunciate. These being the practices prescribed for a sannyasin, Krishna forbids such a step for Arjuna.

Krishna, throughout Bhagavad Gita, extols sannyasa as an inward spiritual accomplishment, enrichment. It is related to the mind and intelligence, which become pure and sublime, free from their usual dross and constrictions. Such an inner enrichment – the true spirit and purpose of sannyasa – is possible for any seeker provided he yearns and strives for it vigorously.

Standing in the Kurukshetra battlefield, wielding weapons, Arjuna and Krishna are clearly away from the practice prescribed for sannyasa. Both are plunged into the midst of the most intense activity of human life. The question before them is how best their fighting mission can be accomplished without hindrance. Where is then any scope of physically abandoning or renouncing actions? At the same time, Krishna wants Arjuna to be enlightened on the unique merits and blessings the great pursuit holds, without which any religious or spiritual life will remain unfulfilled. That is how Krishna offers his own description of sannyasa.

Krishna’s task is thus to infuse the full benefits of sannyasa into active life. How this can be done is the sole quest and discussion of Bhagavad Gita. Seekers should not miss this.

Karma – the very pulse of life

Karma is something that none can escape or eschew. Nature keeps every living being incessantly active – a point Krishna has already stressed and substantiated in the 3rd chapter (Karma-yoga). He wants everyone to remain constantly engaged in his own karmic life.

If karma is thus inevitable, there arises the natural enquiry – what, then, is to be renounced? Karma-phala alone, is Krishna’s answer. The phala Krishna refers to or implies is certainly not the object-results of actions. For, these are something that can never be avoided by anyone.

Any karma has its clear objective. When rightly pursued, that objective will be gained. In fact, the completion of an action is itself, in a way, the emergence or gaining of its result. Where is the question then of separating the objective of an action from the action itself?

Every objective-result can evoke only one of the three distinct mental responses – pleasant, unpleasant or a combination of the two. These inner, mental results alone Krishna wants the seeker to deal with and sublimate. The way to do it has already been discussed beginning with the 2nd chapter, when he first defined karma-yoga (2.48). The repeated, and hence constant mental sublimation or evenization of the karmic results, has ever since become the focus of his dialogue. In various words and settings, Krishna has mentioned samatva, samya, sama-buddhi, sama-darsana, driving home their comprehensive relevance and benefit.

While undertaking an action, the actor should not be obsessed by the possibility of desirable or undesirable or partially desirable result. He must set his objective and begin his faithful effort to realize the objective. By the laws of nature and the processes at work, the natural outcome will follow. And whatever that be, the actor should accept it without any reluctance and be reconciled to it. Such a reconciling attitude does not in any way adversely affect the fruition of what he does, rather it is a help and a support for the right outcome.

That the objective effort for the object-result aimed at, gives a beautiful opportunity to strengthen such a reconciliation, is what every seeker should repeatedly contemplate upon and understand. Besides the objective effort and object processes at work, the performer also strives simultaneously for his subjective, spiritual sublimation and elevation. And this has the effect of harmonizing his actions, making them more effective and powerful every time.

Thus, the process of action and its pursuit should flow naturally and harmoniously. Not to allow it, or to try to intercept it in one way or another, will be against the natural scheme of things. This natural attunement, integration and harmony is what constitutes the essence and enrichment called sannyasa, renunciation. Krishna ardently emphasizes this fundamental truth.

True asceticism implies arriving at such an inner sublimation and enrichment, through proper study, reflection and meditation, whatever may be the circumstantial activity the ascetic is engaged in. The core attainment is always inner – it is in the nature of mind-sublimation and mind-enrichment.