Understanding the Gita
The Heart of the Bhagavad Gita With Swami Shambhudevananda
The Bhagavad Gita, a 700-verse Hindu scripture, is a dialogue between Prince Arjuna and Lord Krishna. It addresses the moral and philosophical dilemmas faced by Arjuna, providing timeless guidance on how to live a life of righteousness and purpose.
🕉️ Bhagavad Gita — Chapter 6, Verse 6
बन्धुरात्मात्मनस्तस्य येनात्मैवात्मना जितः ।
अनात्मनस्तु शत्रुत्वे वर्तेतात्मैव शत्रुवत् ॥ ६.६ ॥
bandhur ātmātmanas tasya yenātmaivātmanā jitaḥ
anātmanas tu śatrutve vartetātmaiva śatruvat
For one who has mastered the mind, the mind is the best of friends;
but for one who has failed to do so, the mind will remain the greatest enemy.
🕉️ Chapter 6 — Dhyana Yoga (The Yoga of Meditation) Verse 6.6
🔸 1. Meditation is not a stand-alone practice
The name of the chapter is Dhyana Yoga, Yoga of Meditation, or Atma Samyama Yoga, meditation or samadhi on the true Self.
Lord Krishna explains that meditation is not a stand-alone practice. Usually in the West, meditation is seen as something separate — a meditation retreat, a workshop, something to reduce stress, to sleep better, or to fix attention.
But in the Vedic tradition, meditation is the pinnacle. It is the pinnacle of a well-regulated life.
Not only going to sleep at the right time, waking up at the right time, eating properly, but understanding life itself, understanding the purpose of life, and aligning ourselves with that purpose.
Only when everything is well aligned does meditation arise as the highest point.
🔸 2. The illusion of “I am doing”
Meditation is the subtlest action that we can perform.
By meditation, we can come out of the notion that “I am the doer.”
Because if we observe carefully, we will see:
We believe — I act, I build, I achieve, I enjoy.
But if we look deeper:
Do we know how breathing works?
Do we know how thoughts arise?
Do we know how anxiety or depression happens?
We experience, but we do not truly create.
Still, we take the credit. We identify ourselves with the actions, with the results, with everything.
This is because we experience it, and therefore we believe it.
🔸 3. Meditation as negation
The yogi is trying to realize the truth.
And to realize the truth, one must first realize what is not real.
Only when all that is not real is negated, what remains is reality.
Meditation becomes a process of examining:
- thoughts
- perceptions
- belief systems
Everything that seems obvious is put under the microscope.
And gradually, we discover that what we believed we knew — we do not really know.
Meditation becomes a renunciation:
- of false ideas
- of false ownership
- of false identification
🔸 4. One should raise oneself (Verse 6.5)
Krishna says:
“One should raise oneself by oneself alone. Let no one lower oneself. For the self alone is the friend of oneself and the self alone is the enemy of oneself.”
Here, the word “self” can refer to the mind.
The mind can compel us to identify with a very small, limited sense of self:
“I am this person, this body, these capacities, these limitations.”
For the yogi, this identification is going down.
So Krishna says:
The inner self should raise the mind.
Through practice, through learning, through spiritual discipline, the mind must be elevated toward truth.
Otherwise, the mind will naturally move toward the senses and the objects.
🔸 5.The mind — friend or enemy (Verse 6.6)
If the mind drags you toward objects, it becomes your enemy.
If the mind follows you upward, it becomes your friend.
It is like a person walking with a dog:
Who is taking whom?
If the mind leads, you are dragged.
If you lead, the mind follows.
Krishna explains:
The conquered mind is a friend.
The unconquered mind is an enemy.
The word “Self” can denote:
- the mind
- the individual soul
- the Supreme Spirit
When the mind is trained and directed toward the Supreme, it becomes a support.
When it is uncontrolled, it pulls the individual soul away from truth.
🔸 6. The example of the beYour Title Goes Here
Swami Sivananda gives a beautiful example.
A bee goes from flower to flower, drinking nectar. That is its nature.
A fly may sit on something sweet, but then it may go to garbage.
Even when it has the option of purity, it may choose impurity.
Swami Sivananda ends with a prayer:
“Oh God, make me like the bee.
Let me always seek the nectar,
and never find pleasure in garbage.”
✨ Conclusion (optionnel pour ton site)
The mind must be trained, elevated, and directed.
Otherwise, it will naturally go toward the lower.
“The same mind can raise you to the highest,
or drag you to the lowest.
Train it, and it becomes your greatest friend.”e wise choose the good over the pleasant.
The unwise choose the pleasant over the good.”
Swami Shambhudevananda