BG 6.20 — Dhyāna-Yoga — Sūtrakṛt-Gītā

Bhagavad Gītā 6.20Chapter 6 · Dhyāna-Yoga · Krishna → Arjuna · anuṣṭubh

यत्रोपरमते चित्तं निरुद्धं योगसेवया ।

यत्र चैवात्मनात्मानं पश्यन्नात्मनि तुष्यति ॥

yatroparamate cittaṃ niruddhaṃ yoga-sevayā

yatra caivātmanātmānaṃ paśyann ātmani tuṣyati

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

meaning

Where the mind, stilled by yoga practice, comes to rest, and by that same mind one sees the Self within the Self and is content there.

ekras · bhāṣya

Where the chitta, restrained through yoga-seva, comes to rest — and where, by the self, beholding the self, one is content in the self. Three uses of atman in nine words, each in a different case.

Shankara holds the structure precisely. The chitta, fully withdrawn from outward movement through yoga practice, comes to rest. In that very stillness, by means of the antahkarana purified through samadhi — atmana — one perceives the atman as pure chaitanya, self-luminous; in that atman alone, atmani, one abides in tushti. The instrumental atman is the purified inner instrument; the accusative atman is the seen atman; the locative atman is where the seer rests. One atman across three roles.

Madhusudana distinguishes nirodha-samadhi from the earlier ekagrata. The chitta, reaching a specific parinama through yoga practice, transcends even the single-object flow and becomes still nirindhana-agni-vat — like a fire without fuel. All vrittis ceased. In that parinama, by the antahkarana purified, the atman shines through.

Ramanuja reads the same passage with a Vaishnava warmth: the chitta finds atishayita-sukha — surpassing delight — and recognizes atah eva, this alone is it. The seer beholds the atman as anya-nirapeksha, independent of all else, and is satisfied without recourse to any external support.

Madhva keeps the dependence-frame: through manas made an instrument, one sees Bhagavan within the deha; the verb pashyan has Bhagavan as object, not the jiva's own svarupa. The yogi's stillness is not collapse of distinction but its perfect resolution.

Shridhara distinguishes two uses of yoga across the chapter — the karma-yoga sense at 6.2 and the samadhi sense from 6.16 onward — and says this verse defines samadhi as mukhya-yoga by both svarupa and phala.

Context

where

Chapter 6 · Dhyāna-Yoga · meter anuṣṭubh

who speaks

Krishna → Arjuna

preceded by — BG 6.19

A lamp in a windless spot does not flicker; that is the image given for the yogi whose mind is controlled and absorbed in the practice of the Self.

What's going on

Where the mind, stilled by yoga practice, comes to rest, and by that same mind one sees the Self within the Self and is content there.

Sūtras through this verse (63)

RamsukhdasclassicalA

What binds you (and how to let go)between

6.1True renouncing acts; drops the inner hook.───→here6.20───→7.30Hold the Lord through every layer of life.

RāmānujaclassicalB

The śāstra is one bracket (2.12 → 18.66)between

2.39Practice seam begins.───→here6.20───→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.───→here6.20───→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───→here6.20───→9.22Yogakshema as offering returned

MadhusūdanaclassicalB

Different students need different teachingsbetween

6.1The renouncer and yogi are one under two views.───→here6.20───→7.16Four kinds of devotee, ranked by ripeness.

MadhusūdanaclassicalC

Action purifies before knowing can landbetween

6.1Renouncing too lives by purity of mind.───→here6.20───→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.───→here6.20───→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.───→here6.20───→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.───→here6.20───→6.46The yogi with mind-stilled stands above mere knowing.

MadhusūdanaclassicalE

Devotion is how knowing actually arrivesapproach

───→here6.20───→7.1The chapter elaborates the prior bhajana-line.

MadhusūdanaclassicalF

Every middle chapter opens with a bow to the teacherapproach

───→here6.20───→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.───→here6.20───→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.───→here6.20───→6.24Renounce every desire born of will.

RamsukhdasclassicalG

Equanimity in everythingbetween

6.8Clay, stone, and gold are all level to him.───→here6.20───→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.───→here6.20───→6.46The lover outranks every other yogi.

RamsukhdasclassicalK

The body is not yoursbetween

6.3Body, senses, and mind: none of them yours.───→here6.20───→13.20Nature causes the act; you only experience.

Ramsukhdasclassical

Sādhaka Sañjīvanī commentary at this versebetween

───→here6.20───→

RamsukhdasclassicalI

The Lord already inside the heartapproach

───→here6.20───→6.30See Me everywhere, I am never lost.

MadhvaclassicalT12

Closure by gloss — the small repertoirestation

───→here6.20───→

RāmānujaclassicalC

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

6.1The renouncer and yogi are the same person.───→here6.20───→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.───→here6.20───→9.27Whatever you do, do it as offering.

MadhvaclassicalT3

Ranking is real — and it never collapsesbetween

6.9Devas, asuras, mortals are three native kinds.───→here6.20───→14.27Brahman has gradations within its own form.

MadhvaclassicalT6

Citation is the spine — texts carry the loadbetween

6.6Maitrāyaṇī defines the stilled mind.───→here6.20───→7.5Doubled prakṛti named from a single śruti.

MadhvaclassicalT7

Action and knowledge — never rivalsbetween

6.1The renouncer and yogi are one person, two names.───→here6.20───→18.2The ritualists' śruti fixes the closing definition.

MadhvaclassicalT8

Direct vision — the only proximate causebetween

6.7The stilled mind sees the seated supreme self.───→here6.20───→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.───→here6.20───→6.30Devotion brings what the seeker cannot earn.

VallabhaclassicalC

Drop the doer, not the deedbetween

6.1Real renouncing keeps the act alive.───→here6.20───→18.1The closing chapter reopens this question.

VallabhaclassicalD

Chapter-opening preludesbetween

6.1Prelude binds yoga to puṣṭi-bhakti.───→here6.20───→7.1Seven-verse prelude opens the bhakti-ṣaṭka.

VallabhaclassicalE

Three paths, one teaching orderbetween

6.1The two paths are one through fruit-renouncing act.───→here6.20───→6.46The lover outranks the wise and the disciplined.

VallabhaclassicalH

Stilling the mind — into the Lordbetween

2.48Yoga itself is just sameness of mind.───→here6.20───→6.46The yogi closing the ṣaṭka is a mind-stiller.

RāmānujaclassicalA

World as the Lord's body (antaryāmin)approach

───→here6.20───→7.4Two natures of the Lord: matter and selves.

RāmānujaclassicalE

Bhakti as continuous recollectionapproach

───→here6.20───→7.17I am dearest to him.

RāmānujaclassicalF

Two prakṛtis · jīva as eternal aṃśaapproach

───→here6.20───→7.4Lower nature: matter.

RāmānujaclassicalJ

Śeṣa-śeṣī · pati-vrata simileapproach

───→here6.20───→7.18He is My self; I cannot hold without him.

VallabhaclassicalB

Grace alone — the technical markapproach

───→here6.20───→7.18The wise one is Myself, by grace alone.

VallabhaclassicalK

Aphorism, gloss, full commentaryapproach

───→here6.20───→6.47Six chapters of aphorism close at this verse.

Gauravmodernwitness_self_neti_neti

'Yatroparamate chittam niruddham yoga-sevaya, yatra chaivatmana'tmanam pashyann station · station 4/6

───→here6.20───→

Gauravmodernchaplaincy_kit_of_tools

Chaplaincy Kit Of Toolsbetween

6.11Mudra and posture. 'Shuchau deshe pratishthapya sthiram asanam atmanah.' Establi───→here6.20───→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───→here6.20───→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,───→here6.20───→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───→here6.20───→6.46'Tapasvibhyo'dhiko yogi jnanibhyo'pi mato'dhikah, karmibhyash chadhiko yogi tasm

ĀnandagiriclassicalB

Three hexads = tat tvam asibetween

2.1First hexad opens, tvam-pada implicit.───→here6.20───→6.46Inner-self hexad closes; pivot prepared.

ĀnandagiriclassicalC

Adhikāra: seeker vs. fulfilledbetween

5.1Two saṃnyāsas: fruit and means.───→here6.20───→6.46Yogin vs. jñānin: not synonyms.

ĀnandagiriclassicalK

Upasaṃhāra — recap as instrumentbetween

2.39Wisdom section wound up here.───→here6.20───→6.46Dhyāna section sealed: yogin is supreme.

ĀnandagiriclassicalI

Bhakti carries jñāna, never parallelapproach

───→here6.20───→7.1Upāsya and tat-pada in apposition. Anchor.

ĀnandagiriclassicalJ

Prakṛti is never autonomousapproach

───→here6.20───→7.4Two-fold prakṛti is the Lord's own power.

Śaṅkaraclassicalshankara_jnana_nishtha

Shankara Jnana Nishthabetween · other

6.1Soft sense of renouncer───→here6.20───→18.49Naishkarmya-siddhi by sannyāsa

ŚaṅkaraclassicalB

Knowledge alone, with all action laid downbetween

6.1The fire-keeper is renouncer only in a soft sense.───→here6.20───→18.49Action-freedom comes from full renunciation.

VedāntadeśikaclassicalF

Saṅgati — anticipation-and-resolutionbetween

3.1Arjuna's question resolves 2.49's hint.───→here6.20───→6.47Top-yogin clause — the chapter-7 hinge.

VedāntadeśikaclassicalG

Three yogas — three angles on one configurationbetween

6.1The renouncer and yogi are one figure.───→here6.20───→6.46The yogi outranks tapasvi, jñāni, karmin.

ŚrīdharaclassicalL

Chapter prefaces as the bhāṣya's spinebetween

6.1Pure mind is not yet release: now meditate.───→here6.20───→8.1Now, the questions of Brahman and self.

ŚaṅkaraclassicalI

The lover and the knower are one personapproach

───→here6.20───→7.16Of the four devotees, the knower is dearest.

VedāntadeśikaclassicalB

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

───→here6.20───→7.14Those who take refuge cross the māyā.

VedāntadeśikaclassicalI

9.24 — the standing citation for ārādhyaapproach

───→here6.20───→7.21Deity-worship: His self-arrangement of grace.

ŚrīdharaclassicalC

Devotion is both the way and the homeapproach

───→here6.20───→6.47Be a devotee: that is the meaning.

ŚrīdharaclassicalH

The grammar of single-pointednessapproach

───→here6.20───→7.14Undivided love crosses the great mist.

ŚrīdharaclassicalK

Death-memory as the test of daily habitapproach

───→here6.20───→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.───→here6.20───→

Ekrasmodernmeditation

Meditation — the dhyāna tourstation · v2 · station 6/11

───→here6.20───→

Ekrasmodernvairagya

Vairāgya — dispassion as instrumentbetween · v2

6.4Renounced in resolve───→here6.20───→6.35Practice and dispassion

Ekrasmodernbhakti

Bhakti — devotion pathapproach · v2

───→here6.20───→7.16Four kinds of bhakta

JayatīrthaclassicalC

Refuting Śaṅkara-style readings, named or unnamedbetween

6.1Householder is not figurative saṁnyāsin.───→here6.20───→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.───→here6.20───→7.1First ṣaṭka closed; new pratijñā opens.

Śabda · lemmas (11 unique · 14 occurrences)

आत्मना·आत्मानम्·आत्मनि ātman ×3 — the Self, soul; one's own self · instrumental masculine singular noun / accusative masculine singular noun / locative masculine singular noun
पश्यन् dṛś — to see (verbal root) · nominative masculine singular present participle verb · also at 1.38, 3.20, 5.8, 5.9, 13.24, 13.28 +2
तुष्यति √tuṣ — to be satisfied, content (verbal root) · present indicative 3rd person singular verb

show all 11

यत्र yatra ×2 — where
उपरमते upa-√ram — (upa- + ram: to delight in) · present indicative 3rd person singular verb
चित्तम् citta — mind, thought, consciousness, mental substance · nominative neuter singular noun
निरुद्धम् nir-√udh — to restrain, hold back (ni- + √rudh) · nominative neuter singular participle noun
योग yoga — yoga; union, discipline, application · compound
सेवया sevā — service, attendance (from √sev) · instrumental feminine singular noun · also at 4.34
च ca — and; (homonym: also the consonant ca)
एव eva — indeed, truly, only (emphatic particle)

Praśna · so what (7)

01All six commentators cite Patañjali's 'yogaś citta-vṛtti-nirodhaḥ' (YS 1.2) or its equivalent — does this convergence make BG 6.20 a sūtra-class statement, and what does that imply for the Gītā's relationship to the Yoga-Sūtra tradition?
02Madhva's commentary is the shortest by far (one line, object = Bhagavān) while Madhusūdana's is the longest (full phenomenology of nirodha-samādhi) — what does this compression-ratio difference reveal about each school's theory of what commentary is for?

show all 7

03Śrīdhara's philological move — distinguishing karma-yoga 'yoga' from samādhi 'yoga' across the chapter — suggests the Gītā contains a register shift mid-chapter. Which other verses exhibit this two-register ambiguity, and can it be detected computationally?
04Rāmānuja's phrase anya-nirapekṣa (requiring nothing else) and Madhva's object-swap (ātmānam = Bhagavān, not jīva) are both responses to the same word — ātmānam — in the mūla. How many other key terms in BG 6.20-23 carry this three-way semantic fork (Advaita: consciousness, Viśiṣṭādvaita: qualified self, Dvaita: Bhagavān-as-indweller)?
05Madhusūdana's 'nirindhanāgni' (fire without fuel) image for citta-vṛtti-nirodha is absent from the other five commentators. Does it derive from an Upaniṣadic locus, and if so which — BU, ChU, or KaṭhaU?
06Vallabha and Śrīdhara both identify a three-and-a-half verse unit beginning here (6.20-23). Śaṅkara says 'kiñca' (moreover) at the verse-end, signaling continuation. What is the discourse-structure of this mini-prakaraṇa, and does Sūtrakṛt's discourse-edge typology (OPEN/DELIVER/ACK/APORIA) capture its internal flow?
07The satisfaction (tuṣyati) described here is located 'in ātman alone' across all six readings, yet the ātman being satisfied in is defined differently by each school. Is tuṣyati itself polysemous, or is it a fixed phenomenological anchor that each school fills with its own ontology?

Vyavahāra · try it in your life

Advaita

When a persistent low-grade dissatisfaction follows you even through pleasant experiences, Advaita reads this verse as diagnostic: the citta is still 'in outward movement' (pravṛtta). The practice is not seeking better objects but allowing the mind to pause between one stimulus and the next — the gap is the jyotiḥsvarūpa already present. Notice the moment after a decision is made and before the next desire arises; that pause is the nearest everyday approach to uparama (cessation).

Viśiṣṭādvaita

Rāmānuja's anyanirapekṣa (requiring nothing else) offers a practical test: after a period of work or service, sit quietly and ask whether the sense of sufficiency arises from the work's outcome or from the act of offering itself. Viśiṣṭādvaita locates the atiśayita-sukha (surpassing delight) in the latter — in kainkarya (service) completed as Bhagavān's mode. This reframes professional burnout: exhaustion comes from needing results, not from the service itself.

show all 6

Dvaita

Madhva's reading — seeing Bhagavān within the deha (body-field) — grounds a somatic practice: in moments of agitation, locate the physical sensation of the agitation and recognize Hari as its witness-ground. The jīva does not dissolve into that ground; it stands in it as dependent devotee. This preserves personal accountability (the jīva is real and distinct) while dissolving the panic of isolation — Hari is never absent from the field you inhabit.

Śuddhādvaita

Vallabha's citation of Patañjali within a Puṣṭi-mārga reading suggests that restraint-practice is not contrary to bhakti but is one of its instruments. For everyday life: treat moments of enforced stillness (waiting, silence, illness) not as interruptions of Kṛṣṇa-contact but as yoga-tantra-sevā itself — the citta is being restrained by grace (puṣṭi), not by personal effort alone. Receive the stillness as Kṛṣṇa's gift rather than a gap in productivity.

Bhakti

Śrīdhara's distinction between karma-yoga and samādhi as two registers of the word yoga is directly applicable to work: recognize when you are in karma-yoga mode (engaged action, legitimate) versus when you are claiming to be in samādhi mode (stillness) while actually just avoiding action. The mukhya-yoga (principal yoga) cannot be performed as evasion. Honest self-assessment of which register you are actually operating in — engaged or withdrawn — is itself a form of śuddha manas (purified mind).

Advaita-Bhakti

Madhusūdana's nirindhanāgni image — fire that goes out not by being extinguished but by running out of fuel — offers a practical de-escalation method: do not fight anxious thought directly (that adds fuel); instead, stop feeding the chain by withdrawing attention from the next thought before it arrives. The fire dies by itself. This is consistent with both Advaita (vṛtti-nirodha as natural, not violent) and bhakti (the paramānanda that remains is the bliss of the Lord's presence, not a blank void).

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 20: Krishna to Arjuna — Dhyāna-Yoga