Gita 06.15 – Yoga brings mental regulation and spiritual liberation

Thank you.

Having engaged in this way constantly. Yogi has controlled the mind. Yogi attains shanti.

Which kind of shanti? Shanti that comes from the supreme nirvana, the supreme liberation from existence. One attains my place or my nature comes to me now. In the previous verse Krishna had talked about focusing internally on yoga after the going to secluded place and sitting in asana and all that was talked from 6.11 to 13.

In 14th verse Krishna talked about inner disposition of being free from fear and desire and focusing on Krishna. So when one engages steadily in this yunjan evam sadatmanam yunjan This engagement is there but how? Sada, constantly. yunjan evam sadatmanam yogi niyatmanasaham Yogi is niyatmanasaham is regulated constant practicing by which brings the mind under control.

The mind is basically a trainable thing. If we strive to train it surely gets trained. It takes time but that's why we said evam sadatmanam by constant engagement niyatmanasaham niyat yogi engages constantly and by that the mind comes under control shantil nirvana paramaam So the word nirvana we have discussed has come several times in the Bhagavad Gita that it has come firstly in the second chapter 2.72 eshate brahmisthiti padhana innam prapya nitya siddhvasyam antakaleti brahma nirvanam vichati So wherever it has come in the past, it has come with the word Brahma.

Nirvana is often thought of as a buddhistic term but it talks about extinction of existence as we have mentioned. So Krishna is using in the sense of Brahma nirvana earlier after 2.72 and also 4.24, 25, 26 there also the word is Brahma nirvana Here Krishna is using the word nirvana paramaam So nirvana usually just means extinction of existence but here Krishna is talking about not just nirvana the highest nirvana the transcendental nirvana this refers to extinction of material existence followed by the transfer to spiritual existence and so by the practice of yoga when one's mind gets regulated then one no longer pursues material things one no longer pursues material pleasures and that way one's material existence ends but then because there is also the positive focus which is mentioned in Yukta Asita Matparaha in 6.14 in D.V last line, so because of that positive focus there is not just nirvana but there is paramaam, so one gets goes into the spiritual level of existence not only does one ends one's material existence in this path the end of the material existence is considered the success but after end of material existence there is the there is the situation in spiritual existence that's what is talked about here mat samstham adhi gacchati mat samstham so mat samstham means that one attains my abode or no, mat samstham what exactly this is referred to that will vary according to the particular yogi practice and according to one's individual disposition so which yoga one is practicing or one's own disposition conception so accordingly it will determine where exactly one will attain, so it could refer to the attainment of brahman if there is utilitarian conception of krishna as a tool for meditation but if there is a more positive conception of krishna then one will go beyond the conception beyond brahman one can even attain eventually bhagwan and supreme liberation therein so here in this verse essentially krishna is saying that practice consistently in janevam sadat manam and by that practice this chapter has two key verses about the mind 6.5 and 6, of course 7 also talks about the mind krishna says here mind will become niyat so by consistent practice you get the mind under control and then shanti nirvana parama so now it's interesting krishna has used the word shanti over here so shanti is not just in the context of the war like the shanti the peace attained through a peace treaty but this is the inner shanti that comes from the pacification of desires not just the pacification of the mind that comes by we could say the regulation of the mind, the conquest of the mind through the cessation of desires so shanti nirvana parama essentially krishna is saying practice yoga regularly by which you will be able to attain the supreme perspective mat samstham adivachyati so the transition from material existence to spiritual existence requires consistent practice and the concept of nirvana is based largely on a negative focus on the focus that this world is a place of misery and we just have to get out of this world somehow or the other whereas nirvana paramam it's like a person who is sick wants to become free from sickness that is the primary goal but then after becoming free from sickness what do you want to do, how do you want to live, what job you want to have what kind of career you want to have that also has to be considered but when a person is extremely sick the focus might just be I just want to get healthy however if one has already a promise and a dream of how one will live after one becomes healthy then it becomes much easier to get the inspiration to take the serious treatment to eventually become healthy so like that bhakti the path of jnana or even the path of shunya like the buddhist path they focus largely on recognizing how this world is like a place of misery and so our condition is like a diseased condition and so we have to get out of it but beyond that the path of bhakti uses the vision of healthy life and when we get captivated by the vision of healthy life then giving up the diseased life becomes much easier so that is what is the focus here shantin nirvana paramam one attains the transcendental existence nirvana paramam by the practice of yoga consistent practice.