BG6.19

Sri Krishna gave us the elixir of Gita, which we have been tasting in various Kshetrams. We are now in Sathya Giri Kshetram, also known as Thirumeyyam. On the top of the hill is the fort and at bottom is the temple. There are two garbagruha in the temple, in one the Lord is reclining and in the other He is standing to grace the devotees. If we want to divert our mind from the worldly matters, then we need to come to these temples and that is why the idols are called Subhasraya Divya mangala vigraham. When we visit the temples, we realize some attraction in these idols. God is everywhere, and so this fort, the pond , the sky, the earth, etc., all should attract us. But they do not. Whereas these idols of the Lord with Discus, Conch, Bow and Sword weapons, many ornaments and garlands and with His Consorts, attract us. That is why the periodical festivals are held. Prasadams are distributed. All these are done to attract the devotees towards Him. By such attraction, the directionless wandering mind is restrained and disciplined. Yogam is directing the mind coherently on the atman. Now the 18th sloka:

yada viniyatam cittam
atmany evavatisthate
nisprhah sarva-kamebhyo
yukta ity ucyate tada

"When the yogi, by practice of yoga, disciplines his mental activities to think only about atman,he is said to be well qualified to practice yoga and becomes desireless in worldly objects."

Tada =then, yukta = person practicing yoga, ity ucyate = is qualified. When? is the question. It is something like taking a test on-line to see whether one is qualified or not. Sarva =all, kamebhya = from [all] desires, nispraha = desireless. That is one becomes desireless from all in which one had desires. Then one is qualified to start yoga. It may create a fear whether this is possible for us. But let us see further the sloka. This desireless stage has to be reached slowly and steadily, just as we climb a gigantic hill. Yada =when, cittam = mind or thoughts, atmanyeva = towards his atman, vineeyatam = fully involved, avatishtate = exists. So, the person who is starting to practice yoga, has to train his mind to be involved in thoughts about his atman. Such a person qualifies to start yoga. First he has to divert his mind from all objects in which he had desire, towards atman. It may be for a small time, say 15 minutes to start with, and as he progresses, this duration can increase. Let us not forget that the yoga Sri Krishna is telling is not for 24 hours but for specific periods only. In such chosen time, one chooses a proper place and seat and sits erect and with eyes looking at the tip of the nose, starts meditating on atman. It may be for an hour or two. After that he is in his normal routines. We have to agree that atman is different from body and that was explained by the Lord in Chapter 2. To meditate on atman we have to first have a liking for it. Liking will come only if we have understood atman and its superiority. During this meditation naturally, we can not be thinking of other things and that is what Sri Krishna is driving at by saying our thoughts and mind should be directed on atman alone. In other words atman has to order the inanimate mind, which is also identified as an organ of the body, to think only about atman and nothing else. Mind has to be commanded, otherwise it will go its way and drift away. It is like a computer which does not have its own intelligence. We write the programs to be followed by the computer and it obeys all those commands. But sometimes due to bugs in the software, the computer encounters virus and starts malfunctioning. To correct the corrupted software we call experts and get the software cleaned up. Virus in our mind is the age old papa. So we have to remove this 'virus' in our mind. Karma yoga acts as the antivirus here. Once the mind obeys the command of the atman, after it has been debugged, it functions according to the commands and yoga is accomplished. This will make the person desireless. As an example, if a person was living in a hut, with his work, he achieves better salary and goes in for a better accommodation. Then, further progressing in his profession, he goes to a bigger flat and then an independent bungalow. At that time we find him having no desire for the hut or the small flat he used to live in. Because, he has accomplished bigger things and so smaller things no longer attract him or create a desire. Similarly, after enjoying atman, one would become desireless in the transient and cheap desires of worldly objects. Because we are yet to taste atman, we have doubts as to how we can forsake our desires on worldly matters. Once atmanubhavam is experienced, then automatically our desires for worldly matters would vanish. Initially, just like a parent diverts the child's attention from smaller things to better things in life, we have to give commands to the mind and divert it from other matters to atman.