Gita 06.17 – Material regulation cataylzes yogic liberation

In our handling of the body thank you. Bhagavad Gita 6.17 So here Krishna is continuing his emphasis on striving for body balance so he states that be sure be yukta in the previous verse he stated that na tyakṣṇutas tu not no extremes avoid extremes so then here he states be yukta and when one is yukta what it says yukta āhāra vihārasya in eating in recreation yukta cēṣṭhasya karmasu in one's endeavors and one's work so yukta-sapna-agodhasya in one's dreaming and sleeping basically one's sleeping yogo bhavati dukkha then by the practice of yoga one will be able to bhavati dukkha eliminate misery so yukta when it means regulated balanced so when we practice yoga it's it's important to know that ultimately we want to realize who we are souls who have nothing to do with the body but the practice of yoga here the success is yogo bhavati dukkha the yoga sutras begin with a recognition that this world is dukkha there is dukkha in this world and one has to go beyond this world now that's become to one has to go beyond misery so yogo bhavati dukkha the end of misery is success on the path of yoga so that success can be attained krishna is saying when one is yukta and one is regulated so now regulation alone doesn't lead to the eradication of misery but regulation regulation as the foundation for application to yoga for the practice of yoga leads to the termination of misery the central thing is yogo central point is that one has to practice yoga but while practicing yoga there has to be a balance in fact the whole principle of varnashram dharma was a system of balance here okay people whatever their natures are they act according to natures they work work according to those natures and that way they are able to move onwards in their spiritual journey so while they work according to the material propensities so they are not very agitated they're not very disturbed they are not too disharmonious at the material level and then they can go upwards so apart from the broad vocation so that vocation we could say is referred to by yukta karmasu but more specifically here it's in terms of the not of which vocation one does but how one does over here so one doesn't go into extremes go into excesses so the pursuit of yoga requires us to find a balance between the self that we are eternally and the self that we are presently so the self we are presently is we identify with the body-mind complex and the self we are eternally is the soul and we need to achieve a balance between the two so that the self that we are presently is is channelized for the purpose of realizing the self that we are eternally moving onwards yukta can have another meaning also the word yukta can also be engaged in yoga so that and then it would mean that one should stay engaged in yoga in whatever one does it is not that the practice of yoga is to be limited to only the only the yoga sadhana so when you're sitting in a pranayama and we discussed about this Krishna talked about that in this chapter 16 6.11 12 13 14 so it's not that yoga is to be practiced only at the time of doing asanas and pranayama and dhyana and things like that no one has to have the consciousness of a yogi while doing other activities also so yukta ahara vyahara is so that even when one is eating one remembers that the purpose of my life is to connect with the highest spiritual truth and there can be a whole huge discussion about how we can actually be yukta be conscious of Krishna while we are eating and to some extent this has been discussed when we talked about yajna concept of yajna in the third chapter verses 10 to 16 but here so why eating then yukta vyahara the recreation can be for the yogis and jungle walking and the recreation can be also for devotees swimming wrestling some sort of sports which do not induce passion and they are done like they are in the regulated way they can actually lead to they can lead to a sort of refreshment rejuvenation that enables one to practice yoga with greater focus so yukta ahara vyaharasya yukta cheshtasya karmasu and then cheshta means endeavor has to be done but endeavor should not be excessive because if one doesn't there's too much endeavor and there is too much friction too much agitation and this dysfunction that result just like when people overwork just like when we lift a weight if our capacity is 10 kg then if say it's 15 kg or 10 kg whatever then we can lift a little more 11 kg or 16 kg but if somebody this capacity 10 kg tries to lift 25 kg then we are disruption so like that in one whatever work one is doing one endeavors but endeavors also in a balanced way so yukta cheshtasya karmasu and work also nowadays you know people work so much that they end up in the pursuit of professional success they don't have time even for their own health what to speak of their families and what to speak of other aspects of life people work so many hours in their offices that they don't have they don't spend quality time even with their family members and it is unfortunate so there has to be a balance yukta cheshtasya karmasu and of course the regulation in sleep has already been talked about so by maintaining or so yukta now if we consider if you consider yukta as cheshtasya karmasu or sapnaavodasya in terms of the yukta meaning being engaged in yoga then we wonder that how can one engage in yoga while one is sleeping actually if one's whole life is devoted to the pursuit of yoga and if one understand rest for the body not as a not as a means to delight some people enjoy sleeping not as a means to enjoy at the body level but as a means to rest and rejuvenate the body so that one can continue the pursuit of yoga so one prays before sleeping prays after waking up then that enables one to even sleep in a devotional consciousness and this way one is able to pursue the pursue yoga throughout one's life in all of one's activities and thus the yogi can progress towards dukkha yoga bhavati so now Krishna has talked about how many activities in this verse yukta har viharasya to eating and recreation yukta cheshtasya karmasu endeavour ever the sapnaavodasya our bodha literally means bodha means to be aware our bodha means to not be aware generally when we are sleeping we may dream sometimes sometimes you may have to sleep but either way the point is that we keep oneself regulated in that so we could use yukta as regulated then then this verse is basically positively statement of what was stated negatively in the previous verse that naatya asana dostu don't do excess but do in a regulated way so in this thing in this sense if yukta means regulated then it is a restatement for emphasis of what is stated in the previous verse if yukta is meant as connected then this is making a distinct point first the previous was stated that be regulated in your activities avoid extremes in your activities and then while avoiding extremes then while doing that is not the only thing that a yogi should do just avoiding extremes is something materialistic people can do but after avoiding extremes then while doing the activities spiritualize them make them also part of yoga keep your consciousness yukta while doing these activities and thus the pursuit of yoga permeates one's full life and then when one becomes a all-round yogi like this that means around the clock you need 24 by 7 yogi not just a morning evening sadhana yogi or something like that then one's consciousness becomes permeated with comes completely reoriented towards the spiritual direction and then one transcends material existence and yoga bhavati dukkha one attains.