टीका

Commentary

This verse begins a four-verse sequence (6.20-6.23) that describes the peak state of yogic realization — what Krishna calls samadhi, the state of perfect absorption. The description is given from the inside, as a sequence of interior events rather than outer signs.

The first characteristic of samadhi is that the mind’s activity ceases (“uparamate chittam”) — not through force but through the disciplined withdrawal cultivated by sustained yoga practice. This is the natural quieting that happens when the practitioner has consistently brought the mind home from its wanderings until the wandering itself subsides. The cessation is not blankness; it is the quieting of the noise that normally obscures the signal.

The second characteristic is the experience of seeing the Self by the pure mind (“atmanaa-atmanam pashyan”) — the purified mind becoming transparent enough that the Self perceives itself directly, without the distorting medium of conditioned thought, emotion, or desire. This self-perception is not conceptual; it is immediate and direct, the way sunlight is immediate and direct when the clouds part.

The third characteristic is rejoicing in the Self (“atmani tushyati”) — the discovery that the Self, when directly known, is inherently blissful. This is the Upanishadic teaching that the Atman is identical with Ananda (bliss). The yogi who reaches samadhi does not find an empty silence or a neutral void but discovers that the innermost nature of being is joy — not the excited, acquisitive joy of obtaining a desired object, but the quiet, full, self-sufficient joy of the Self at rest in itself.

Historical Context

The description of samadhi in this and the following verses parallels Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras’ account of samprajnata samadhi (samadhi with cognitive support) and asamprajnata samadhi (samadhi without cognitive support). Yogic philosophy describes multiple gradations of samadhi, from states where the object of meditation is still perceived to the deepest states where all differentiation ceases. The Gita’s account is less technically elaborate than Patanjali’s but captures the essential interior character of the state.