Gita Chapter Six

Chapter Six explained the process of practicing Astanga yoga and emphasizes the methods to gain complete mastery over the volatile behavior of mind creates obstacles to concentration necessary for steady progress along the path of desire-lee action and Renunciation of the Ego.
Verses 6.1 - 6.23 The person unattached to the fruits of actions performed, performing actions only as a devotional obligation as part of renunciation and sacrifice is a yogi practicing yoga. Renunciation is yoga to merge with God: one cannot be a yogi without renunciation the desire for sense gratification. Performing desire-free, ego-free actions is a part of the eightfold yoga and achieving success in yoga practice who has already attained to yoga leads to the end of actions of all material activities. A person steadfast in yoga renounces all material desires, does not act for sense gratification and does not engage in actions desirous of the fruits of actions..
The mind is the friend of the conditioned soul, and his enemy as well. By learning to keep the mind under complete control, one can convert the mind into the best friends. The mind becomes the greatest enemy when the mind is not under control and operates freely driven by lust and greed. When the mind has been conquered the mind, a person is enabled to realize the Self and enjoy the state of tranquility in which happiness and distress, heat and cold, honor and dishonor are all worth the same. A person in the steady state of self-realization is called a yogi fully satisfied by virtue of acquired knowledge and realization. Such a person in transcendence and sees everything from pebbles and stones to gold as well as everyone from the honest well-wishers and friends to enemies, from the envious and sinners to the pious, sand those who are indifferent and impartial, as the same and equal..
A transcendentalist yogi free from desires and feeling of possessiveness, always try to concentrate the mind on God, try to live alone in a secluded place and always carefully control the mind. To practice yoga, one needs to go to a secluded place, seats firmly on the ground in the seat made of kusa-grass and covered with a deerskin and a soft cloth. The seat should be neither too high nor too low. The yogi will then be able to practice yoga with greater concentration, controlling the mind and the senses, purifying the heart and fixing the mind on single thought or no thought at all. In this yogic stance, the body, neck and head are erect in a straight line and the eyes stare steadily at the tip of the nose. With a mind no longer continuously volatile straying here and there, and completely free from fear and sexual / sensual thoughts, the Yogi meditate upon God within the heart seeking union with God. In this way giving up all involvement with material life, the Astanga Yogi practices control of the body, mind and activities with the intense urge to unite with God.
One who eats too much or too little, sleeps too much or does not sleep enough. Cannot hope to become a Yogi. A person moderate and balanced in habits of eating, sleeping, working and recreation can hope to overcome the urge of material existence and practice Astanga yoga. Through the practice of this Yoga one day the Yogi hopes to attain the transcendental state when the mind, devoid of all material desires, remains always steady in meditation on the transcendent Self, just as a lamp in a windless place does not waver. In this stage of perfection, called Samadhi, with one's mind completely restrained from material thoughts, the Yogi acquires the ability to see the self by the pure mind and to relish and rejoice in the self. In that joyous state, the Yogi develops transcendental capability to enjoy boundless happiness and Truth of Self Knowledge. Stable in such a state, even in the midst of greatest external adversity or temptation, the Yogi enjoys the real and permanent freedom from all miseries arising from material contact.
Verse 6.24 – 6. 32 To practice of yoga with undeviating determination and faith, all material desires born out of ego have to be abandoned. As one practices, progressively following step by step, with full conviction in the intellect, Samadhi is reached with mind fixed only and exclusively on the Self and nothing else arises in the mind as the intellect withdraws the mind from whatever and wherever the mind tries to wander due to its flickering and volatile nature. With the mind is fixed on God, the Yogi attains the highest level of permanent happiness. With the Yogi’s identity merging with God, the Yogi gets liberated as God from whatever happens in the World and like God the Yogi remain always at peace, without passions and free from all dualities and dilemmas including the dilemmas of god and evil / virtue and sin. A true self realized yogi observes all beings and each being in God and sees God everywhere. As a result of the Yogi’s observing God everywhere and everything, the Yogi and God never loses each other. Realizing that God is resident as the source within each and all creatures, the Yogi worships and remains always in God under all circumstances. The perfect yogi sees the true equality of all beings, both in their happiness and distress.
Verses 6.33 - 6.47
It is true that the system of yoga may appear impractical and unendurable to many since the mind is so restless, unsteady, turbulent, obstinate and so strong that it is impossible to exercise control and rein in the mind. But it is possible to rein in the mind by constant and determined practice of detachment from worldly external objects and sensual enjoyment. Unbridled mind cannot aid an only obstruct self-realization. With appropriate methods however mind can be controlled.
The Yogi who reaches transcendence does not meet with destruction. The unsuccessful yogi will keep trying at a later time to become a perfect Yogi or may remain a failure. Till the human race exists, generations of persons will be born and die over time. Along with various kinds of unintelligent people, yogis will also be born in different generations. There will be Yogis born again and again with Guna-dictated qualities that will attract them to the spiritual path to divinity and union with God. Some Yogis may fail to reach their goals but their attempts to proceed on the path of Yoga will be remembered. The experience of earlier yogis may impart in certain later generation babies the properties that help progress on the path of Yoga. Thus future generation yogis may follow the path laid down by earlier yogis. The new generation yogis may try and make various degrees of progress depending on the qualities /combination of Gunas with which they are born. Some may start practicing yoga on their own accord and do not have to go through the ritualistic steps mentioned in the scriptures. They are born Yogis.
A Yogi is superior to any ascetic, any knowledge-seeking empiricist and any one in action with attachment to fruits of action. Among the yogis, the one who always worship God in great abiding faith in God and performs service in devotion is the best and most intimately unites with God.