Bhagavad Gītā Chapter 6, Verse 12: Krishna to Arjuna — Dhyāna-Yoga

Bhāṣyakāra purports

• Śaṅkaraadvaita

  Having seated oneself on that āsana (seat), one should withdraw the mind from all objects of sense and render it ekāgra (one-pointed), restraining the activity of citta (mind-stuff) and indriya (sense-organs) alike. Thus gathered, one should practice yoga for ātma-viśuddhi — the purification of the antaḥkaraṇa (inner instrument). Śaṅkara is explicit: the goal here is not liberation itself but fitness of the inner organ to receive jñāna, the direct apprehension of non-dual Brahman.

  divergence: Śaṅkara: 'ātmaviśuddhaye antaḥkaraṇasya viśuddhyartham' — purification is of the antaḥkaraṇa, not yet Brahman-realization; yogic practice is subordinate preparation.

• Rāmānujaviśiṣṭādvaita

  Seated on an āsana that is pure in location, unstained by impure persons or objects, and conducive to mental śānti (tranquillity), the sādhaka (practitioner) should make the mind avyākula — free from agitation toward any object — and withdraw citta and indriya wholly inward. The purpose is ātma-viśuddhi understood as bandha-vimukti (liberation from bondage), not mere mental calm; the āsana's purity reflects the devotee's orientation toward Bhagavān as indwelling support.

  divergence: Rāmānuja: 'ātmaviśuddhaye bandhavimuktyai' and 'manaḥprasādakare sāpāśraye' — the seat must be supportive and conducive to mental brightness; liberation from bondage is the direct framing of viśuddhi.

• Madhvadvaita

  One should practice samādhi-yoga — the yoga of meditative absorption — on the ordained seat. For Madhva the brevity of the bhāṣya is deliberate: the jīva (individual soul), permanently distinct from Hari, has no self-generated capacity for purification; the yoga practice described here is an act of dependent worship, valid only as Hari's own energy operating through the jīva. The verb yuñjyāt (let one yoke) signals subordination, not autonomy.

  divergence: Madhva glosses 6.12-6.14 together with only 'yogaṃ samādhiyogaṃ yuñjyāt' — the terse compression signals that the substance of the yoga is Hari-dependent; elaboration of seat-conditions is not ontologically primary.

• Vallabhaśuddhādvaita

  Vallabha reads this verse inside a bracket spanning 6.10–6.13, describing the svarūpa (essential nature) of one already mounting the ladder of yoga. The yogī practicing in solitude — rahasi sthitaḥ — continuously yokes ātman: here 'continuously' (satatam) points beyond technique to a state of perpetual reliance on Kṛṣṇa's prasāda (grace). Seat and regulation are not preconditions that the aspirant constructs; they are Kṛṣṇa's līlā-gift, flowing downward.

  divergence: Vallabha: 'yogī yuñjāno rahasi sthitaḥ ātmānaṃ satataṃ yuñjīta' within the 6.10–6.13 bracket — continuous yoking in solitude is the hallmark of the grace-sustained practitioner.

• Śrīdharabhakti

  Having seated oneself on that āsana, one should make the mind ekāgra — free from vikṣepa (distraction) — and practice yoga as continuous abhyāsa (repetition). The restraint of the activities of citta and indriya serves upśānti (pacification) of the manas (mind), which is itself ātma-viśuddhi. Śrīdhara's gloss is clean and non-partisan: yoga here means disciplined repetition aimed at inner quieting, open to any upāsaka (worshipper).

  divergence: Śrīdhara: 'ekāgraṃ vikṣeparahitaṃ manaḥ kṛtvā yogaṃ yuñjyād abhyaset... mano viśuddhaye upaśāntaye' — viśuddhi equated directly with upaśānti.

• Madhusūdanaadvaita-bhakti

  Seated — not lying, not standing, since āsīnaḥ sambhavāt (the seated posture alone permits what is required) — one should achieve ekāgratā by abandoning the three lower bhūmis (grounds) of rājasic and tāmasic agitation, bringing the mind to a sattva-dominant stream of unbroken vritti (modification) directed at one object. This is samprajñāta-samādhi — the absorption in which brahma-ākāra-mano-vṛtti-pravāha (the flow of mind-modifications shaped by Brahman) constitutes nididhyāsana (sustained contemplation). Ātma-viśuddhi thus means ripeness for Brahman-sākṣātkāra (direct vision of Brahman), supported at the apex by Kṛṣṇa-bhakti as the living current within that brahma-ākāra stream.

  divergence: Madhusūdana: 'ātmanaḥ antaḥkaraṇasya sarvavikṣepaśūnyatvena atisūkṣmatayā brahmasākṣātkārayogyatāyai' and the śruti citation 'dṛśyate tvagryayā buddhyā sūkṣmayā sūkṣmadarśibhiḥ' — viśuddhi is explicitly fitness for Brahman-vision.