BG 6.8 — Dhyāna-Yoga — Sūtrakṛt-Gītā

Bhagavad Gītā 6.8Chapter 6 · Dhyāna-Yoga · Krishna → Arjuna · Tāta · anuṣṭubh

ज्ञानविज्ञानतृप्तात्मा कूटस्थो विजितेन्द्रियः ।

युक्त इत्युच्यते योगी समलोष्टाश्मकाञ्चनः ॥

jñāna-vijñāna-tṛptātmā kūṭastho vijitendriyaḥ

yukta ity ucyate yogī sama-loṣṭāśma-kāñcanaḥ

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

meaning

Satisfied by knowledge and the direct experience of it, standing unmoved with senses mastered, treating a clod of earth, a stone, and gold as equal: such a person is rightly called a yogi.

ekras · bhāṣya

Saturated by knowledge and direct experience; standing immovable; senses subdued; clod, stone, and gold the same to him. Such a one is rightly called yukta.

Shankara holds the verse cleanly. The yogin whose antahkarana is made content by jnana — the scriptural knowledge of truths — and vijnana — the direct self-experience of those same truths — stands kutastha, like an anvil struck but unshaken; the mind no longer grasps outward. Having subdued the senses, he sees clod and stone and gold as equally irrelevant to the Self. The three are listed not by what they cost in the market but by what their cost cannot now reach.

Madhva reads the jnana-vijnana distinction with characteristic precision. Jnana is shravana-manana-born — what arises from hearing and reflection. Vijnana is aparoksha-jnana — direct, non-inferential perception of Vishnu. He cites Shambhu's testimony directly: what arises from hearing and reflection is jnana; vision of Vishnu is vijnana. The yogin whose senses are conquered and whose mind is thus rendered kutastha — like akasha, sky-like, immovable — is thereby installed in full yoga.

Ramanuja softens the picture: the karma-yogin becomes fit for atma-avalokana when his mind is saturated by jnana of the atman's true nature and vijnana of that nature as visajatiya — categorically unlike anything prakriti produces. Established in that one undivided consciousness common to deva, human, and beast, indifferent to what prakriti offers, he is the yukta yogi.

Madhusudana adds a middle step: vijnana arises specifically through vichara — the inquiry that removes the doubt about shastra's validity — and only thereafter yields aparoksha-karana, direct first-person confirmation.

Context

where

Chapter 6 · Dhyāna-Yoga · meter anuṣṭubh

who speaks

Krishna → Arjuna · vocative Tāta

preceded by — BG 6.7

For one who has conquered the mind and found inner stillness, the supreme Self stands gathered and present, unshaken by cold or heat, pleasure or pain, honor or dishonor.

What's going on

Satisfied by knowledge and the direct experience of it, standing unmoved with senses mastered, treating a clod of earth, a stone, and gold as equal: such a person is rightly called a yogi.

Sūtras through this verse (63)

RamsukhdasclassicalA

What binds you (and how to let go)between

6.1True renouncing acts; drops the inner hook.───→here6.8───→7.30Hold the Lord through every layer of life.

RāmānujaclassicalB

The śāstra is one bracket (2.12 → 18.66)between

2.39Practice seam begins.───→here6.8───→6.46The yogi outranks every other path.

MadhvaclassicalT2

Soul depends on Lord — the gap that does not closebetween

5.14The soul rules the inert; the Lord rules the soul.───→here6.8───→6.9Souls differ by nature not by accident alone.

show all 63

RamsukhdasclassicalG

Equanimity in everythingstation · anchor

───→here6.8───→

Madhusūdanaclassicalmadhusudan_bhagavad_arpana

Madhusudan Bhagavad Arpanabetween · other

6.1Renouncer and yogi together───→here6.8───→9.22Yogakshema as offering returned

MadhusūdanaclassicalB

Different students need different teachingsbetween

6.1The renouncer and yogi are one under two views.───→here6.8───→7.16Four kinds of devotee, ranked by ripeness.

MadhusūdanaclassicalC

Action purifies before knowing can landbetween

6.1Renouncing too lives by purity of mind.───→here6.8───→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.───→here6.8───→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.───→here6.8───→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.───→here6.8───→6.46The yogi with mind-stilled stands above mere knowing.

MadhusūdanaclassicalE

Devotion is how knowing actually arrivesapproach

───→here6.8───→7.1The chapter elaborates the prior bhajana-line.

MadhusūdanaclassicalF

Every middle chapter opens with a bow to the teacherapproach

───→here6.8───→7.1A bow to the bliss-cloud, Nanda's son, opens seven.

RamsukhdasclassicalG

Equanimity in everythingstation

───→here6.8───→

RamsukhdasclassicalB

This human birth — your one chance to actbetween

3.8Even keeping the body alive requires action.───→here6.8───→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.───→here6.8───→6.24Renounce every desire born of will.

RamsukhdasclassicalH

All paths arrive at the same roombetween

5.4Insight and practice are not two paths.───→here6.8───→6.46The lover outranks every other yogi.

RamsukhdasclassicalK

The body is not yoursbetween

6.3Body, senses, and mind: none of them yours.───→here6.8───→13.20Nature causes the act; you only experience.

RamsukhdasclassicalI

The Lord already inside the heartapproach

───→here6.8───→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.───→here6.8───→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.───→here6.8───→9.27Whatever you do, do it as offering.

MadhvaclassicalT3

Ranking is real — and it never collapsesbetween

4.6Avatāras differ in their fullness of Hari.───→here6.8───→6.9Devas, asuras, mortals are three native kinds.

MadhvaclassicalT6

Citation is the spine — texts carry the loadbetween

6.6Maitrāyaṇī defines the stilled mind.───→here6.8───→7.5Doubled prakṛti named from a single śruti.

MadhvaclassicalT7

Action and knowledge — never rivalsbetween

6.1The renouncer and yogi are one person, two names.───→here6.8───→18.2The ritualists' śruti fixes the closing definition.

MadhvaclassicalT8

Direct vision — the only proximate causebetween

6.7The stilled mind sees the seated supreme self.───→here6.8───→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.───→here6.8───→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.───→here6.8───→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.───→here6.8───→18.1The closing chapter reopens this question.

VallabhaclassicalD

Chapter-opening preludesbetween

6.1Prelude binds yoga to puṣṭi-bhakti.───→here6.8───→7.1Seven-verse prelude opens the bhakti-ṣaṭka.

VallabhaclassicalE

Three paths, one teaching orderbetween

6.1The two paths are one through fruit-renouncing act.───→here6.8───→6.46The lover outranks the wise and the disciplined.

VallabhaclassicalH

Stilling the mind — into the Lordbetween

2.48Yoga itself is just sameness of mind.───→here6.8───→6.46The yogi closing the ṣaṭka is a mind-stiller.

RāmānujaclassicalA

World as the Lord's body (antaryāmin)approach

───→here6.8───→7.4Two natures of the Lord: matter and selves.

RāmānujaclassicalE

Bhakti as continuous recollectionapproach

───→here6.8───→7.17I am dearest to him.

RāmānujaclassicalF

Two prakṛtis · jīva as eternal aṃśaapproach

───→here6.8───→7.4Lower nature: matter.

RāmānujaclassicalJ

Śeṣa-śeṣī · pati-vrata simileapproach

───→here6.8───→7.18He is My self; I cannot hold without him.

VallabhaclassicalB

Grace alone — the technical markapproach

───→here6.8───→7.18The wise one is Myself, by grace alone.

VallabhaclassicalK

Aphorism, gloss, full commentaryapproach

───→here6.8───→6.47Six chapters of aphorism close at this verse.

Gauravmodernchaplaincy_kit_of_tools

Chaplaincy Kit Of Toolsbetween

4.34Paramparā / direct transmission. 'Tad viddhi pranipatena pariprashnena sevaya, u───→here6.8───→6.11Mudra and posture. 'Shuchau deshe pratishthapya sthiram asanam atmanah.' Establi

Gauravmoderncivilizational_air_conditioning

Civilizational Air Conditioningbetween

6.5'Uddhared atmanatmanam natmanam avasadayet.' Lift yourself by yourself, do not l───→here6.8───→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,───→here6.8───→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───→here6.8───→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───→here6.8───→6.20'Yatroparamate chittam niruddham yoga-sevaya, yatra chaivatmana'tmanam pashyann

ĀnandagiriclassicalB

Three hexads = tat tvam asibetween

2.1First hexad opens, tvam-pada implicit.───→here6.8───→6.46Inner-self hexad closes; pivot prepared.

ĀnandagiriclassicalC

Adhikāra: seeker vs. fulfilledbetween

5.1Two saṃnyāsas: fruit and means.───→here6.8───→6.46Yogin vs. jñānin: not synonyms.

ĀnandagiriclassicalK

Upasaṃhāra — recap as instrumentbetween

2.39Wisdom section wound up here.───→here6.8───→6.46Dhyāna section sealed: yogin is supreme.

ĀnandagiriclassicalI

Bhakti carries jñāna, never parallelapproach

───→here6.8───→7.1Upāsya and tat-pada in apposition. Anchor.

ĀnandagiriclassicalJ

Prakṛti is never autonomousapproach

───→here6.8───→7.4Two-fold prakṛti is the Lord's own power.

Śaṅkaraclassicalshankara_jnana_nishtha

Shankara Jnana Nishthabetween · other

6.1Soft sense of renouncer───→here6.8───→18.49Naishkarmya-siddhi by sannyāsa

ŚaṅkaraclassicalB

Knowledge alone, with all action laid downbetween

6.1The fire-keeper is renouncer only in a soft sense.───→here6.8───→18.49Action-freedom comes from full renunciation.

VedāntadeśikaclassicalF

Saṅgati — anticipation-and-resolutionbetween

3.1Arjuna's question resolves 2.49's hint.───→here6.8───→6.47Top-yogin clause — the chapter-7 hinge.

VedāntadeśikaclassicalG

Three yogas — three angles on one configurationbetween

6.1The renouncer and yogi are one figure.───→here6.8───→6.46The yogi outranks tapasvi, jñāni, karmin.

ŚrīdharaclassicalL

Chapter prefaces as the bhāṣya's spinebetween

6.1Pure mind is not yet release: now meditate.───→here6.8───→8.1Now, the questions of Brahman and self.

ŚaṅkaraclassicalI

The lover and the knower are one personapproach

───→here6.8───→7.16Of the four devotees, the knower is dearest.

VedāntadeśikaclassicalB

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

───→here6.8───→7.14Those who take refuge cross the māyā.

VedāntadeśikaclassicalI

9.24 — the standing citation for ārādhyaapproach

───→here6.8───→7.21Deity-worship: His self-arrangement of grace.

ŚrīdharaclassicalC

Devotion is both the way and the homeapproach

───→here6.8───→6.47Be a devotee: that is the meaning.

ŚrīdharaclassicalH

The grammar of single-pointednessapproach

───→here6.8───→7.14Undivided love crosses the great mist.

ŚrīdharaclassicalK

Death-memory as the test of daily habitapproach

───→here6.8───→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.───→here6.8───→

Ekrasmodernvairagya

Vairāgya — dispassion as instrumentbetween · v2

6.4Renounced in resolve───→here6.8───→6.35Practice and dispassion

Ekrasmodernmeditation

Meditation — the dhyāna tourapproach · v2

───→here6.8───→6.10Solitary seat

Ekrasmodernbhakti

Bhakti — devotion pathapproach · v2

───→here6.8───→7.16Four kinds of bhakta

JayatīrthaclassicalC

Refuting Śaṅkara-style readings, named or unnamedbetween

6.1Householder is not figurative saṁnyāsin.───→here6.8───→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.───→here6.8───→7.1First ṣaṭka closed; new pratijñā opens.

Śabda · lemmas (15 unique · 15 occurrences)

योगी yogin — yogi (yoga + -in 'possessor of') · nominative masculine singular noun
उच्यते √vac — to speak (verbal root) · present indicative pass 3rd person singular verb
ज्ञान jñāna — knowledge, wisdom, cognition · compound · also at 1.1, 3.1, 3.2, 3.3, 3.26, 3.32 +70
तृप्त √tṛp — to be satisfied (verbal root) · compound participle (compound member)

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विज्ञान vijñāna — discriminative knowledge, realized knowing (vi- + √jñā) · compound · also at 1.1, 3.41, 7.2, 7.6, 9.1, 18.42
आत्मा ātman — the Self, soul; one's own self · nominative masculine singular noun
कूटस्थः kūṭastha — fixed at the summit, immutable (kūṭa 'peak' + stha 'standing') · nominative masculine singular noun · also at 12.3, 12.4
विजित √viji — (vi- + ji: to conquer) · compound participle (compound member)
इन्द्रियः indriya — sense, sense-organ; the eleven indriyas (5 jñānendriyas + 5 karmendriyas + manas) · nominative masculine singular noun
युक्तः √yuj — to yoke, join, engage in (verbal root) · nominative masculine singular participle noun
इति iti — thus (quotative particle)
सम sama — equal, same, even-minded · compound
लोष्ट loṣṭa — lump of clay, clod · compound · also at 14.24
अश्म aśman — stone · compound
काञ्चनः kāñcana — gold, golden · nominative masculine singular noun

Praśna · so what (7)

01Shankara and Ramanuja both invoke jnana/vijnana but mean different things by the pair — what is actually different between 'scriptural knowledge confirmed by experience' and 'knowledge of the atman as categorically unlike prakrti,' and does the difference change what the practitioner must do?
02Madhva insists the fruit of yoga-sampurnata is aparoksa-jnana of Visnu himself — if equanimity is merely instrumental to that perception, what happens to a practitioner who achieves equanimity but lacks that perception?

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03Vallabha says the fully saturated yogin is vishishta (superior) even among stable yogins — what is the superiority, and is it a degree of same equanimity or a qualitatively different state?
04All six commentators treat sama-buddhi toward clod, stone, and gold as a mark of yuktatva — is this indifference to material value a consequence of deep practice or can it be cultivated directly as a starting point?
05Madhusudana adds vicara (inquiry removing doubt about scripture's validity) as the bridge between instruction and experience — what kind of doubt is he anticipating, and why is removing it structurally necessary rather than optional?
06Sridhara's chain runs: saturation → nirakanksa → nirvikarata → jitendriya → sama-buddhi — if any link in the chain is absent, does the yogin fail to qualify, or is partial qualification possible?
07Kutastha appears in five of the six bhasyams — Shankara glosses it as aprampya (unshakeable), Madhva as nirvikarah kuta-vat-sthitah (standing like an anvil), and the akasa-comparison also appears — which of these glosses carries the most weight for understanding what 'immovability' actually requires of a practitioner?

Vyavahāra · try it in your life

Advaita

When a decision at work keeps recycling in your mind despite having gathered enough information, the recycling is the citta signalling alampratyaya has not landed — the Shankara application is to ask not 'what do I still not know?' but 'what would it take for this knowledge to feel sufficient?' Sufficiency is a felt-state, not an information-state; training yourself to notice when you are already at 'enough' and act from there is the daily practice this verse prescribes.

Dvaita

Madhva's aparoksa-jnana is not a mystical gift but the result of the citta being cleared enough that Paramatman's presence becomes unmistakable rather than inferential. Daily application: end each session of work or conversation by asking whether Hari was perceptible in it — not as a feeling but as a recognition. The question trains the faculty. Equanimity toward outcomes is the prerequisite that keeps the faculty unclouded.

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Bhakti

Sridhara's heyopadeyabuddhi-shunya state — no longer mechanically sorting experience into to-be-acquired and to-be-avoided — is the practical target. Daily exercise: pick one recurring low-stakes preference (preferred seat, preferred route, preferred phrasing) and deliberately suspend the preference for one day, not as austerity but as a test of whether the sorting mechanism is running automatically. The goal is to see the mechanism, not to eliminate preferences by force.

Advaita-Bhakti

Madhusudana's vicara step — inquiry that removes the doubt about whether what you have understood is actually reliable — applies directly to any learning context. When you have studied something thoroughly but still hesitate to act on it, the hesitation is usually not lack of information but unresolved doubt about the validity of what you already know. The application: name the doubt explicitly, trace it to its source, and resolve it directly rather than seeking more information as a proxy for confidence.

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 8: Krishna to Arjuna — Dhyāna-Yoga