BG 6.15 — Dhyāna-Yoga — Sūtrakṛt-Gītā

Bhagavad Gītā 6.15Chapter 6 · Dhyāna-Yoga · Krishna → Arjuna · anuṣṭubh

युञ्जन्नेवं सदात्मानं योगी नियतमानसः ।

शान्तिं निर्वाणपरमां मत्संस्थामधिगच्छति ॥

yuñjann evaṃ sadātmānaṃ yogī niyata-mānasaḥ

śāntiṃ nirvāṇa-paramāṃ mat-saṃsthām adhigacchati

spokensingle-voice recital; rendered via IndicF5 conditioned on a Sanskrit reference clip

meaning

The yogi who practices this way without cease, mind held steady and controlled, reaches the supreme peace of *nirvāṇa*, which rests in Me.

ekras · bhāṣya

The verse names the fruit. "The yogi who continuously yokes the self in this way, with mind controlled, reaches the supreme peace of nirvana, mat-samstha — resting in Me." Yunjann evam sada atmanam — the cadence of the verse holds the continuity. Sada: continuously, not occasionally. Niyata-manasah: with mind made disciplined and held there. The fruit is shanti — but not a passing calm; nirvana-parama shanti, the cessation that admits no return.

Shankara reads nirvana as the complete extinguishing of samsaric motion; mat-samstha as utterly dependent on Bhagavan, having Him as the only ground. The peace is not ownerless; it rests in Me.

Ramanuja reads the same close with a specific warmth. By directing the manas continuously toward Me — the Purushottama who is the auspicious refuge of all minds — the yogi's manas becomes nishchala, unwavering, mat-sparsha-pavitr-krita, purified by the very contact of My touch. Mat-samstha-nirvana-parama shanti is therefore not a void-extinction; it is rest within Bhagavan's own being.

Madhva is terse: nirvana-parama names the kind of peace that follows after sharira-tyaga, the relinquishment of the body — post-mortem liberation, not a present-life dissolved-self. The jiva remains eternally distinct from Hari; mat-samstha is the abiding-in-Him that opens after embodiment ends.

Vallabha catches the boldest reading: mat-samstha as laya, real entry into Krishna — a union surpassing even akshara-tadatmya, identity with the immutable Brahman.

Madhusudana situates the verse as the fruit of samprajnata-samadhi: the yogi's mano-vrittis fully arrested, shanti as sarva-vritti-uparati, flowing without break — prashanta-vahita, the unbroken stream that culminates in mat-samstha.

Context

where

Chapter 6 · Dhyāna-Yoga · meter anuṣṭubh

who speaks

Krishna → Arjuna

preceded by — BG 6.14

With mind stilled and fear gone, established in the vow of self-mastery, draw the mind inward, sit absorbed, your awareness fixed in Me alone.

What's going on

The yogi who practices this way without cease, mind held steady and controlled, reaches the supreme peace of nirvāṇa, which rests in Me.

Sūtras through this verse (63)

RamsukhdasclassicalA

What binds you (and how to let go)between

6.1True renouncing acts; drops the inner hook.───→here6.15───→7.30Hold the Lord through every layer of life.

RāmānujaclassicalB

The śāstra is one bracket (2.12 → 18.66)between

2.39Practice seam begins.───→here6.15───→6.46The yogi outranks every other path.

MadhvaclassicalT2

Soul depends on Lord — the gap that does not closebetween

6.9Souls differ by nature not by accident alone.───→here6.15───→13.23Soul and Lord coexist in the body, not as one.

show all 63

Madhusūdanaclassicalmadhusudan_bhagavad_arpana

Madhusudan Bhagavad Arpanabetween · other

6.1Renouncer and yogi together───→here6.15───→9.22Yogakshema as offering returned

MadhusūdanaclassicalB

Different students need different teachingsbetween

6.1The renouncer and yogi are one under two views.───→here6.15───→7.16Four kinds of devotee, ranked by ripeness.

MadhusūdanaclassicalC

Action purifies before knowing can landbetween

6.1Renouncing too lives by purity of mind.───→here6.15───→16.1The dispositions decide who can even begin.

MadhusūdanaclassicalD

Offer the act to the Lord and it stops bindingbetween

6.1The fruit-unattached one is yogi and renouncer.───→here6.15───→9.22The undivided ones the Lord himself sustains.

MadhusūdanaclassicalG

Knowing and acting cannot run togetherbetween

6.1Calling a karma-yogi 'renouncer' is only a courtesy.───→here6.15───→18.1At the very end, the line still holds.

MadhusūdanaclassicalI

Liberation while alive — the body finishes its runbetween

3.1The architecture ends in living-liberation, then bodily.───→here6.15───→6.46The yogi with mind-stilled stands above mere knowing.

MadhusūdanaclassicalE

Devotion is how knowing actually arrivesapproach

───→here6.15───→7.1The chapter elaborates the prior bhajana-line.

MadhusūdanaclassicalF

Every middle chapter opens with a bow to the teacherapproach

───→here6.15───→7.1A bow to the bliss-cloud, Nanda's son, opens seven.

RamsukhdasclassicalB

This human birth — your one chance to actbetween

3.8Even keeping the body alive requires action.───→here6.15───→6.40A fallen seeker still keeps the human birth.

RamsukhdasclassicalC

Desire is the root — not actionbetween

5.26With desire gone, the goal stands on all sides.───→here6.15───→6.24Renounce every desire born of will.

RamsukhdasclassicalG

Equanimity in everythingbetween

6.8Clay, stone, and gold are all level to him.───→here6.15───→6.32Sees others' pain and joy as his own.

RamsukhdasclassicalH

All paths arrive at the same roombetween

5.4Insight and practice are not two paths.───→here6.15───→6.46The lover outranks every other yogi.

RamsukhdasclassicalK

The body is not yoursbetween

6.3Body, senses, and mind: none of them yours.───→here6.15───→13.20Nature causes the act; you only experience.

Ramsukhdasclassical

Sādhaka Sañjīvanī commentary at this versebetween

───→here6.15───→

RamsukhdasclassicalI

The Lord already inside the heartapproach

───→here6.15───→6.30See Me everywhere, I am never lost.

RāmānujaclassicalC

Three ṣaṭkas (1–6 / 7–12 / 13–18)between

6.1The renouncer and yogi are the same person.───→here6.15───→7.1Open the second ṣaṭka: mind clung to Me.

RāmānujaclassicalD

Karma-yoga as kainkarya (worship)between

6.1The renouncer is the one who acts for Me.───→here6.15───→9.27Whatever you do, do it as offering.

MadhvaclassicalT3

Ranking is real — and it never collapsesbetween

6.9Devas, asuras, mortals are three native kinds.───→here6.15───→14.27Brahman has gradations within its own form.

MadhvaclassicalT6

Citation is the spine — texts carry the loadbetween

6.6Maitrāyaṇī defines the stilled mind.───→here6.15───→7.5Doubled prakṛti named from a single śruti.

MadhvaclassicalT7

Action and knowledge — never rivalsbetween

6.1The renouncer and yogi are one person, two names.───→here6.15───→18.2The ritualists' śruti fixes the closing definition.

MadhvaclassicalT8

Direct vision — the only proximate causebetween

6.7The stilled mind sees the seated supreme self.───→here6.15───→6.46The five-rung ladder ends in love, not knowledge.

MadhvaclassicalT9

Devotion and grace — what knowledge cannot do alonebetween

2.72Many lives of bhakti precede the final crossing.───→here6.15───→6.30Devotion brings what the seeker cannot earn.

MadhvaclassicalT12

Closure by gloss — the small repertoirebetween

5.7'Self of all' resolves to the Lord himself.───→here6.15───→6.20'Self' here is not soul but the Lord within.

VallabhaclassicalC

Drop the doer, not the deedbetween

6.1Real renouncing keeps the act alive.───→here6.15───→18.1The closing chapter reopens this question.

VallabhaclassicalD

Chapter-opening preludesbetween

6.1Prelude binds yoga to puṣṭi-bhakti.───→here6.15───→7.1Seven-verse prelude opens the bhakti-ṣaṭka.

VallabhaclassicalE

Three paths, one teaching orderbetween

6.1The two paths are one through fruit-renouncing act.───→here6.15───→6.46The lover outranks the wise and the disciplined.

VallabhaclassicalH

Stilling the mind — into the Lordbetween

2.48Yoga itself is just sameness of mind.───→here6.15───→6.46The yogi closing the ṣaṭka is a mind-stiller.

RāmānujaclassicalA

World as the Lord's body (antaryāmin)approach

───→here6.15───→7.4Two natures of the Lord: matter and selves.

RāmānujaclassicalE

Bhakti as continuous recollectionapproach

───→here6.15───→7.17I am dearest to him.

RāmānujaclassicalF

Two prakṛtis · jīva as eternal aṃśaapproach

───→here6.15───→7.4Lower nature: matter.

RāmānujaclassicalJ

Śeṣa-śeṣī · pati-vrata simileapproach

───→here6.15───→7.18He is My self; I cannot hold without him.

VallabhaclassicalB

Grace alone — the technical markapproach

───→here6.15───→7.18The wise one is Myself, by grace alone.

VallabhaclassicalK

Aphorism, gloss, full commentaryapproach

───→here6.15───→6.47Six chapters of aphorism close at this verse.

Gauravmodernchaplaincy_kit_of_tools

Chaplaincy Kit Of Toolsbetween

6.11Mudra and posture. 'Shuchau deshe pratishthapya sthiram asanam atmanah.' Establi───→here6.15───→9.26Puja and havan. 'Patram pushpam phalam toyam yo me bhaktya prayachchhati.' Whoev

Gauravmoderncivilizational_air_conditioning

Civilizational Air Conditioningbetween

6.5'Uddhared atmanatmanam natmanam avasadayet.' Lift yourself by yourself, do not l───→here6.15───→16.21'Tri-vidham narakasyedam dvaram nashanam atmanah, kamah krodhas tatha lobhah.' T

Gauravmodernheart_leadership

Heart Leadershipbetween

6.7'Jitatmanah prashantasya paramatma samahitah.' For the self-conquered, in-peace,───→here6.15───→6.35'Asamshayam maha-baho mano durnigraham chalam, abhyasena tu Kaunteya vairagyena

Gauravmodernthree_yogas_braid

Three Yogas Braidbetween

5.5'Yat sankhyaih prapyate sthanam tad yogair api gamyate.' The place reached by sa───→here6.15───→6.46'Tapasvibhyo'dhiko yogi jnanibhyo'pi mato'dhikah, karmibhyash chadhiko yogi tasm

Gauravmodernwitness_self_neti_neti

Witness Self Neti Netibetween

2.20'Na jayate mriyate va kadachit, nayam bhutva bhavita va na bhuyah, ajo nityah sh───→here6.15───→6.20'Yatroparamate chittam niruddham yoga-sevaya, yatra chaivatmana'tmanam pashyann

ĀnandagiriclassicalB

Three hexads = tat tvam asibetween

2.1First hexad opens, tvam-pada implicit.───→here6.15───→6.46Inner-self hexad closes; pivot prepared.

ĀnandagiriclassicalC

Adhikāra: seeker vs. fulfilledbetween

5.1Two saṃnyāsas: fruit and means.───→here6.15───→6.46Yogin vs. jñānin: not synonyms.

ĀnandagiriclassicalK

Upasaṃhāra — recap as instrumentbetween

2.39Wisdom section wound up here.───→here6.15───→6.46Dhyāna section sealed: yogin is supreme.

ĀnandagiriclassicalI

Bhakti carries jñāna, never parallelapproach

───→here6.15───→7.1Upāsya and tat-pada in apposition. Anchor.

ĀnandagiriclassicalJ

Prakṛti is never autonomousapproach

───→here6.15───→7.4Two-fold prakṛti is the Lord's own power.

Śaṅkaraclassicalshankara_jnana_nishtha

Shankara Jnana Nishthabetween · other

6.1Soft sense of renouncer───→here6.15───→18.49Naishkarmya-siddhi by sannyāsa

ŚaṅkaraclassicalB

Knowledge alone, with all action laid downbetween

6.1The fire-keeper is renouncer only in a soft sense.───→here6.15───→18.49Action-freedom comes from full renunciation.

VedāntadeśikaclassicalF

Saṅgati — anticipation-and-resolutionbetween

3.1Arjuna's question resolves 2.49's hint.───→here6.15───→6.47Top-yogin clause — the chapter-7 hinge.

VedāntadeśikaclassicalG

Three yogas — three angles on one configurationbetween

6.1The renouncer and yogi are one figure.───→here6.15───→6.46The yogi outranks tapasvi, jñāni, karmin.

ŚrīdharaclassicalL

Chapter prefaces as the bhāṣya's spinebetween

6.1Pure mind is not yet release: now meditate.───→here6.15───→8.1Now, the questions of Brahman and self.

ŚaṅkaraclassicalI

The lover and the knower are one personapproach

───→here6.15───→7.16Of the four devotees, the knower is dearest.

VedāntadeśikaclassicalB

Prapatti — bhakti's access for those the long path defeatsapproach

───→here6.15───→7.14Those who take refuge cross the māyā.

VedāntadeśikaclassicalI

9.24 — the standing citation for ārādhyaapproach

───→here6.15───→7.21Deity-worship: His self-arrangement of grace.

ŚrīdharaclassicalC

Devotion is both the way and the homeapproach

───→here6.15───→6.47Be a devotee: that is the meaning.

ŚrīdharaclassicalH

The grammar of single-pointednessapproach

───→here6.15───→7.14Undivided love crosses the great mist.

ŚrīdharaclassicalK

Death-memory as the test of daily habitapproach

───→here6.15───→8.5Whoever remembers Me at the last reaches Me.

ŚaṅkaraclassicalG

After knowing, act only to hold the worldexit

5.8I do nothing at all, says the knower.───→here6.15───→

Ekrasmodernmeditation

Meditation — the dhyāna tourbetween · v2

6.14Mind on Me───→here6.15───→6.19Lamp in a windless place

Ekrasmodernvairagya

Vairāgya — dispassion as instrumentbetween · v2

6.4Renounced in resolve───→here6.15───→6.35Practice and dispassion

Ekrasmodernbhakti

Bhakti — devotion pathapproach · v2

───→here6.15───→7.16Four kinds of bhakta

JayatīrthaclassicalC

Refuting Śaṅkara-style readings, named or unnamedbetween

6.1Householder is not figurative saṁnyāsin.───→here6.15───→7.13Why this declaration? The gloss must answer.

JayatīrthaclassicalD

Saṅgati declared at the head of every adhyāyabetween

6.1Karma-yoga is outer; samādhi-yoga inner.───→here6.15───→7.1First ṣaṭka closed; new pratijñā opens.

Śabda · lemmas (13 unique · 13 occurrences)

योगी yogin — yogi (yoga + -in 'possessor of') · nominative masculine singular noun
युञ्जन् √yuj — to yoke, join, engage in (verbal root) · nominative masculine singular present participle verb · also at 6.28, 7.1
अधिगच्छति adhi-√gam — (adhi- + gam: to go) · present indicative 3rd person singular verb

show all 13

एवम् evam — thus, in this way
सदा sadā — always, ever
आत्मानम् ātman — the Self, soul; one's own self · accusative masculine singular noun
नियत ni-√yam — to restrain, control (verbal root) · compound participle (compound member)
मानसः mānasa — pertaining to the mind; mental (from manas) · nominative masculine singular noun
शान्तिम् śānti — peace, tranquillity (from √śam) · accusative feminine singular noun
निर्वाण nirvāṇa — extinction, liberation (nis- + √vā 'blow out') · compound
परमाम् parama — highest, supreme · accusative feminine singular noun
मद् mad — I, me (1st person pronoun stem); also: to rejoice (verbal root) · compound
संस्थाम् saṃsthā — to abide, stand together (sam- + √sthā) · accusative feminine singular noun

Praśna · so what (7)

01If mat-saṃsthā means 'dependent on Me' (Śaṅkara) versus 'residing in Me' (Rāmānuja) versus 'entry into Me' (Vallabha), does the verse itself (mūla alone) permit all three readings, and what syntactic feature carries the disambiguation?
02Madhva limits nirvāṇa-paramā to post-mortem liberation — does this make the verse's promise inaccessible to the living practitioner, and how does Dvaita answer the jīvanmukti question?

show all 7

03Madhusūdana lists worldly powers as upasarga (obstacles) citing Patañjali (YS 3.37) — does BG 6.15 itself encode this warning, or is Madhusūdana importing Yoga-Sūtra doctrine into a verse that is silent on it?
04Śrīdhara pairs saṃsāra-uparati with mat-rūpeṇa-avasthiti as two distinct clauses — is the negative-cessation and positive-resting actually a hendiadys in the mūla, or do the schools force a choice between them?
05All six schools agree niyata-mānasa (restrained mind) is the proximate cause — but they diverge sharply on whether that restraint is preparation for jñāna (Śaṅkara), purification for bhakti (Rāmānuja), or the immediate vehicle of laya (Vallabha). Does niyata-mānasa itself underdetermine its teleology?
06Vallabha's paramam praveśam ('supreme entry') exceeds even akṣara-tādātmya — does this create a hierarchical ontology in which the Puṣṭi-mārga liberation is literally a higher state than Advaita mokṣa?
07The verse uses sada (always/continuously) — does continuous practice imply that nirvāṇa-paramā śānti is a gradual attainment or a sudden threshold-crossing, and do the schools split on this process-vs-event question?

Vyavahāra · try it in your life

Advaita

When a decision or conversation pulls the mind into reactive loops, pause and ask: 'Whose manas is this?' The Śaṅkara reading points to niyata as self-governance through discernment (viveka), not suppression. Each such pause is a micro-practice of the uparati (withdrawal) the verse promises at its limit. Work, debate, planning — all continue; but their source is re-anchored in the witness-self, not the reactive self.

Viśiṣṭādvaita

Rāmānuja's mat-sparśa-pavītr-kṛta — 'purified by My contact' — offers a daily reframe: treat each moment of sincere bhajana (devotional engagement) as a cleaning of the mind's lens, not a transaction for merit. The mind becomes steady (niścala) precisely because it rests on Bhagavān as its śubhāśraya (auspicious support), the way a lake becomes still when its inlet streams stop churning. Offer the day's first attention to that support before the inbox.

show all 6

Dvaita

Madhva's insistence that liberation is post-mortem (śarīra-tyāga-uttara-kālīna) reframes striving: this life's yoga is not about achieving a dissolved state here and now but about the quality of hari-smaraṇa (remembrance of Hari) sustained until the body is relinquished. The practical upshot is patience and long-term fidelity — daily practice is investment in a payoff at death, not a present-moment experience to optimize.

Śuddhādvaita

Vallabha's paramam praveśam as prasāda (grace-gift) means the yogin cannot engineer the summit by effort alone — the highest entry is given by Kṛṣṇa's own will. The everyday implication: practice sincerely (yuñjan sada), but hold results loosely, recognizing that the deepest peace is a gift from Kṛṣṇa's līlā, not a personal achievement. This dissolves the performance-anxiety that can covertly enter dedicated spiritual practice.

Bhakti

Śrīdhara's framing of the verse as yogābhyāsa-phalam (fruit of yoga-practice) suggests tracking practice by its fruit: is there less reactive wandering (saṃsāra-uparati) over the weeks? Not every sit yields stillness, but the arc should show increasing intervals between being swept by circumstance. The positive indicator — mat-rūpeṇa-avasthiti, resting in the form of the Lord — can be felt as those moments in the day when action flows from a settled center rather than from anxiety.

Advaita-Bhakti

Madhusūdana's explicit warning — worldly powers and attainments that emerge from samādhi are upasarga (obstacles), not goals — maps directly onto professional and creative life: states of peak focus, insight, or flow are tools, not trophies. The moment flow becomes a thing to pursue or display, it converts from praśānta-vāhitā (the unbroken current of stillness) into an aiśvarya (a glamour) that blocks the deeper mat-saṃsthā. Continue practicing; do not commodify the states.

Adhiṣṭhāna · substrate signature

substratev2.6-frozen

parserByT5-Sanskrit-multitask (Nehrdich/Hellwig/Keutzer EMNLP 2024)

mūlaBelvalkar critical edition (BORI 1947), via Ambuda multi-witness

show all metadata

weightsa=1 · b=0.01 · e_v=0.005 · z=0.2 · h=0 · th=0.01

anchorfit on Ramsukhdas's Sādhak Sañjīvanī (1980), frozen across the eight-commentator panel; cross-validated R@4 = 71.6% on Śaṅkara

extracted2026-04-21

methodPaper 1, Section II.B

↓ view raw per-verse object (JSON)↗ per-verse-object schema ↗ substrate code (MIT) + data (CC-BY 4.0)

The schema generalizes to any bounded-polysemy corpus with discrete primary text units, attested witness traditions, identifiable schools, and formal substrate. Port the per-verse object; refit weights on a domain-appropriate Layer-3 anchor; ship.

Bhagavad Gītā Chapter 6, Verse 15: Krishna to Arjuna — Dhyāna-Yoga