A core teaching · reflective in mood · a little context helps
“Yoga is the breaking of suffering’s grip, practiced steadily.”
Know that as yoga: the severance of union with suffering. Practice that yoga with certainty, with an undiscouraged mind.
The verse in reading order — each Sanskrit word with its meaning beneath. Tap a word to focus on it.
Read literallythat · one should know · the separation from union with suffering · called yoga · that · with certainty · should be practiced · yoga · with an undiscouraged mind
True meditation is the ending of the mind’s bond with suffering. That practice should be continued steadily, without losing heart.
Krishna speaks this verse, on the battlefield of Kurukshetra, in the chapter titled "Dhyana Yoga" (The Yoga of Meditation).
Verse 23 sits in Chapter 6 of the Bhagavad Gita — Dhyana Yoga, "The Yoga of Meditation". The chapter has 47 verses in total.
Three weeks into learning to sit still, you feel no calmer and want to quit. Krishna asks for the practice anyway, with firm resolve and a mind that does not lose heart, since its aim is unhooking from suffering.
Did you like this verse?
Yoga, Krishna says, is the cutting of the bond with suffering, practised with resolve and without discouragement.
What this verse means
True meditation is the ending of the mind’s bond with suffering. That practice should be continued steadily, without losing heart.
Context & commentary
Krishna has already described the calm that meditation can bring, and now he names it plainly: real yoga is freedom from suffering's grip. This verse urges steady practice without discouragement.
What it looks like today
Three weeks into learning to sit still, you feel no calmer and want to quit. Krishna asks for the practice anyway, with firm resolve and a mind that does not lose heart, since its aim is unhooking from suffering.
“You can keep going without expecting every session to feel good. The practice itself is already the release.”
Explore related themes: vairagya (51 verses), dhyana yoga (13 verses)