A core teaching · calming in mood · builds on earlier teachings
“Stillness reveals a completeness that no outside thing can improve.”
When the restrained mind becomes still through yoga practice, and the person sees the true self by the true self, one is content in the true self alone.
The verse in reading order — each Sanskrit word with its meaning beneath. Tap a word to focus on it.
Read literallywhere/in which state · comes to rest · the mind · restrained · through the practice of yoga · where/in which state · and · indeed · by the true self · the true self · seeing · in the true self · is content
Through steady yoga practice, the mind becomes quiet. In that quiet, a person directly sees the true self and feels complete within it.
Krishna speaks this verse, on the battlefield of Kurukshetra, in the chapter titled "Dhyana Yoga" (The Yoga of Meditation).
Verse 20 sits in Chapter 6 of the Bhagavad Gita — Dhyana Yoga, "The Yoga of Meditation". The chapter has 47 verses in total.
On a long train ride with no work to do, you find a moment where nothing is missing and nothing needs fixing. Krishna describes that contentment fully grown: the self seen by the self, complete within.
Did you like this verse?
Stilled through practice, the mind sees the self by the self and is content there.
What this verse means
Through steady yoga practice, the mind becomes quiet. In that quiet, a person directly sees the true self and feels complete within it.
Context & commentary
Krishna describes the state meditation can reach: the mind settles, the true self is directly seen, and contentment no longer depends on outside things.
What it looks like today
On a long train ride with no work to do, you find a moment where nothing is missing and nothing needs fixing. Krishna describes that contentment fully grown: the self seen by the self, complete within.
“Stillness is not emptiness; it is the relief of no longer needing anything outside yourself.”
Explore related themes: dhyana (31 verses)