1 · Learn3 of 6 · 5 min

Study a Verse

Pick any verse to see what it means and how to use it in your life.

700 verses37 detailed

Or browse by chapter

Chapter

Chapter 6 · Dhyāna-yoga · 47 verses

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47

Deep profile← → keys move between verses

How to study this verse, in six steps

1Remember who is speaking. Kṛṣṇa is speaking. Take the verse as He directs.
2Say the verse and its words. Read the Sanskrit, then each word with its meaning.
3Read the translation as it is. Let the translation say what it says, without adding your own meaning.
4Read the purport. Hear the verse through the disciplic succession.
5Bring your own question. Ask: where does this verse meet my life, my trouble, my doubt?
6Act on it, remembering Kṛṣṇa. Carry one instruction into your work today.

Read the full guide: how to read the Bhagavad-gītā ›

Duty & actionChapter 6 · Dhyāna-yoga

6.2 6.4

Bhagavad-gītā As It Is · Text 6.3

Renunciation in the midst of action

Karma · Action

आरुरुक्षोर्मुनेर्योगं कर्म कारणमुच्यते ।

योगारूढस्यतस्यैव शम: कारणमुच्यते ॥ ३ ॥

ārurukṣor muner yogaṁ

karma kāraṇam ucyate

yogārūḍhasya tasyaiva

śamaḥ kāraṇam ucyate

Translation

For one who is a neophyte in the eightfold yoga system, work is said to be the means; and for one who is already elevated in yoga, cessation of all material activities is said to be the means.

Read Śrīla Prabhupāda's purport on Vedabase.io

Understand it

What this verse is saying, and where it sits in the story.

3 study points

Stages of Yoga

1
For beginners in eightfold yoga, work is the means of progress; for advanced practitioners, stopping all material activities is the means.
2
Prabhupāda compares yoga to a ladder leading to perfect spiritual realization. One who always thinks of Kṛṣṇa and serves Him is already beyond material activities.
3
Keep thinking of Kṛṣṇa and serving Him to remain on the platform of meditation.

Key points from the purport

Two levels of yoga practice — In the beginning stages, one should continue to perform his activities, giving up the desire to enjoy the fruit

Yogaruruksa stage — “Beginning Stage” in which prescribed duties are essential to gradually purify one of fruitive desires

Work, cultivating detachment

Also practicing asanas, etc.

Yogarudha stage — “Advanced Stage”; after achieving freedom from desires that impel fruitive work, one retires from active duties for contemplation and meditation

When pratyahara is perfect

Stop Working (‘Dhyana’ stage)

Yoga — Process of linking oneself with the Supreme

Analogy — Yoga is compared to a ladder

It begins from the lowest material condition of living entity to topmost spiritual realisation

Complete ladder is called yoga, divided into 3 parts: Jnana-yoga, Dhyana-yoga, Bhakti-yoga

Beginning is called Yogaruruksa, Highest rung is called Yogarudha

“Understanding the gradual progress in astanga-yoga practice”

Attempts in the beginning to enter into meditation through regulative principles of life and practice of different sitting postures are considered fruitive material activities

All such activities lead to achieving perfect mental equilibrium to control the senses

When one is accomplished in practicing meditation, he ceases disturbing mental activities

How Krishna consciousness situates one on the platform of “meditation” — in beginning itself

Because always thinking of Krishna

Constantly engaged in Krishna’s service

Ceased all material activities

Connected verses · 2

Texts 6.2 & 6.3

Krishna now explains that the yoga process is divided into two levels.

Texts 6.3 & 6.4

Srila Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura answers the question “Should the ashtanga-yogi perform his prescribed duties as long as he lives?”. He says that this third text describes how in the yogaruruksa (beginning) stage, one works in niskama-karma-yoga while simultaneously practicing ashtanga-yoga. That purifies his heart. When the aspiring yogi becomes elevated in his practice to the point of yogarudha, he gives up niskama-karma-yoga and practices astanga-yoga exclusively. Srila Baladeva Vidyabhushana adds, “The yogarudha stage begins at dhyana, which is described in the next verse