Krishna’s purpose in speaking the Bhagavad-gita is, at one level, to ensure that Arjuna plays his part in the divine mission to establish dharma in the world. For that purpose, Krishna needs Arjuna to act in the world, not renounce the world. Then, why does Krishna describe the world-renouncing process of dhyana-yoga?
To help Arjuna realize for himself that dhyana-yoga is not suitable for him. Being an expert teacher, Krishna knew that understandings arrived at by one’s own reflection were far better internalized than those delivered by others’ prescriptions.
While considering alternatives to his kshatriya duty of fighting, Arjuna might have thought himself capable of renouncing the world. He had been born and brought up in a forest — and he had again lived there during the twelve-year exile. Moreover, he had sat in yogic postures to perform austerities for getting celestial weapons.
While Arjuna might have had the physical discipline necessary to practice dhyana-yoga, did he have the necessary mental discipline? After all, he has just experienced on the battlefield how wild his mind is — though he has at his command weapons that can control the wind, he still couldn’t control his mind; that’s one reason he had ended up with an emotional meltdown in the middle of the two armies.
To help Arjuna understand the indispensable importance of mental discipline in world-renouncing paths, Krishna stresses that inner aspect in his descriptions of dhyana-yoga consistently: in the initial pre-renunciation stage (06.04-09), the subsequent renounced practice stage (06.12-14) or the final perfectional stage (06.18-23). On hearing these descriptions, Arjun acknowledges that the requisite equanimity of mind is beyond him (06.33-34). This acknowledgement increases his receptivity to alternative processes and paves the way for Krishna to explain bhakti-yoga from the next chapter onward.
One-sentence summary:
Instead of telling Arjuna that renouncing the world was unsuitable for him, Krishna expertly describes the world-renouncing path of dhyana-yoga in such a way that Arjuna himself understands its unsuitability.
Think it over:
- Why might Arjuna have thought that he could renounce the world?
- What did Krishna emphasize while describing dhyana-yoga? Why?
- How did Arjuna understand that dhyana-yoga was unsuitable for him?
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06.18: When the yogi, by practice of yoga, disciplines his mental activities and becomes situated in transcendence – devoid of all material desires – he is said to be well established in yoga.
To know more about this verse, please click on the image
… The bodies are material productions of different modes of material nature, but the soul and the Supersoul within the body are of the same spiritual quality. The similarity in the quality of the soul and the Supersoul, however, does not make them equal in quantity, for the individual soul is present only in that particular body whereas the Paramatma is present in each and every body. A Krishna conscious person has full knowledge of this, and therefore he is truly learned and has equal vision. The similar characteristics of the soul and Supersoul are that they are both conscious, eternal and blissful. But the difference is that the individual soul is conscious within the limited jurisdiction of the body whereas the Supersoul is conscious of all bodies. The Supersoul is present in all bodies without distinction.
Ys