yatroparamate chittam niruddham yogasevayaa |
yatra chaivaatmanaatmaanam pashyannaatmani tushyati || 20 ||
When the mind is quietened through restraint by engaging in yoga, and when, beholding the self in the self, the self is content.
yatra : when
uparamate : quietened
chittam : mind
niruddham : removal
yogasevayaa : by engaging in yoga
yatra : when
cha : and
eva : only
aatmanaa : in the self
aatmaanam : the self
pashyan : beholds
aatmani : in the self
tushyati : content
Shri Krishna further elaborates on the state of the perfected meditator in this shloka. He says that the perfected meditator severs all connections of his mind with material objects, and established a connection to the self or aatmaa during meditation. When the connections with the material objects are severed, he achieves a level of satisfaction never achieved with material objects. The big difference here is that the satisfaction is from within, not from without.
Imagine a 100 watt bulb that is connected to a generator. The generator cannot produce more than 10 watts. Moreover, the generator is defective so even the 10 watts that it produces is intermittent. The bulb will be temporarily satisfied, but will never achieve complete satisfaction. Now, imagine that the bulb finds out that it was inside a power plant all along. When it disconnects itself from the faulty generator, and connects itself to the power plant, it will immediately experience unlimited power. Moreover, this power will be consistent and long-lasting.
Similarly, Shri Krishna says that the satisfaction that our mind achieves from the material world is limited and temporary. The only way to gain unlimited and permanent happiness is to connect our mind to the self or aatmaa. But this happens only when we first disconnect the mind from material objects. The state of the mind when it has disconnected from material objects, and is ready to settle into the self, is called uparamate in the shloka.
Withdrawal from the material world is not easy. It is the outcome of following a disciplined spiritual curriculum. First, we have to develop discrimination or viveka by strengthening our intellect through reading and listening about the eternal essence through scriptures. This enables us to develop dispassion or vairagya towards the material world. Dispassion starts turning the mind away from material objects, leading to withdrawal from the material world. It is like our attitude towards toys versus a child’s attitude - we have dispassion, the child does not.
So therefore, when the mind has fully turned inward, and has settled into the aatmaa or the self, we experience a deep and lasting level of satisfaction and bliss. But what exactly is meant by the mind settling into the self? It is when the only thought that remains is that “I am the aatmaa” or “I am the eternal essence”. All other thoughts about the world, people, objects, situations and so on have gone away.
Having gained this everlasting bliss and satisfaction, what does the meditator do? Shri Krishna explains this next.
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