This is the Gita's meditation chapter, and it opens with responsibility: lift yourself by your own self, for the self alone is the friend of the self — and the self alone its enemy (6.5). Krishna then gives the classical practice in detail: a clean, secluded place, a firm seat neither too high nor too low, body and head erect, mind one-pointed (6.11–13). The discipline is moderate, not heroic — yoga is not for one who eats or sleeps too much or too little (6.16–17). The image of the settled mind is a lamp in a windless place that does not flicker (6.19); the method for the unsettled one is patient repetition — wherever the restless mind wanders, bring it back (6.26).
Arjuna's protest is every meditator's: the mind is turbulent, obstinate, as hard to control as the wind (6.34). Krishna concedes the difficulty and names the only two tools that work: practice and detachment (6.35). Even the seeker who falls short loses nothing — no one who does good comes to an evil end (6.40); the effort carries forward. And of all yogis, the highest is the one who worships with faith, inner self absorbed in the Divine (6.47).
Key verses
One must elevate oneself by one's own self; one should never degrade oneself. The self alone is the friend of the self, and the self alone is the enemy of the self.
Just as a lamp in a windless place does not flicker — that is the simile used for the yogi of controlled mind who practices meditation on the Self.
The Blessed Lord said: Undoubtedly, O mighty-armed one, the mind is restless and difficult to control. But it can be restrained through practice (abhyasa) and detachment (vairagya), O son of Kunti.
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