Chapter 18 · Verse 51

Yoga through the Perfection of Renunciation and Surrender

बुद्ध्या विशुद्धया युक्तो धृत्याऽऽत्मानं नियम्य च।शब्दादीन् विषयांस्त्यक्त्वा रागद्वेषौ व्युदस्य च

buddhyā viśhuddhayā yukto dhṛityātmānaṁ niyamya cha śhabdādīn viṣhayāns tyaktvā rāga-dveṣhau vyudasya cha

Word Meanings

buddhyā — intellect; viśhuddhayā — purified; yuktaḥ — endowed with; dhṛityā — by determination; ātmānam — the intellect; niyamya — restraining; cha — and; śhabda-ādīn viṣhayān — sound and other objects of the senses; tyaktvā — abandoning; rāga-dveṣhau — attachment and aversion; vyudasya — casting aside; cha — and

Language:

Translation

Endowed with a purified intellect, firmly restraining the mind, renouncing sound and other sense objects, and casting aside attachment and aversion—

Commentary

बुद्ध्या with an intellect? विशुद्धया pure? युक्तः endowed? धृत्या by firmness? आत्मानम् the self? नियम्य controlling? च and? शब्दादीन् sound and other? विषयान् senseobjects? त्यक्त्वा relinishing? रागद्वेषौ attraction and hatred? व्युदस्य abandoning? च and.Commentary The lower self should be controlled with firmness by the Self of pure intellect. The turbulent senses and the mind should be subdued with the help of the pure intellect or reason. Pure reason is a great power. Whenever the senses raise their heads and hiss? they should be hammered by the powerful rod of pure intellect or reason. Reason is the faculty of determination.Pure intellect The intellect that is free from lust? anger? greed? pride? doubt? misconception? etc. It is like a clear mirror. A pure intellect is Brahman Itself. It can be easily merged in Brahman. When the pure intellect is merged in Brahman? the reflected intelligence? Chidabhasa or Jiva? is also absorbed in Brahman. The Jiva becomes identical with Brahman? just as the ether in the pot becomes one with the universal ether when the pot is broken.The self The aggregate of the body and the senses.The aspirant withdraws the senses from their respective objects again and again through the repeated practice of Pratyahara (abstraction) and Dama (selfrestraint). Gradually the senses are fixed in the Self. Their outgoing tendencies are totally curbed. The aspirant attains supreme control of the senses by constant meditation? by the practice of dispassion he coners Raga (attachment)? and through the practice of pure love or cosmic love or divine Preme he coners hatred.He abandons all luxuries. He keeps only those objects which are necessary for the bare maintenance of the body. He has neither attachment nor hatred even for those objects which are necessary for that purpose.