Chapter VI (VERSE 11, 13)
Dhyana Yoga – The Yoga of Meditation
(Verses 11)
शुचौ देशे प्रतिष्ठाप्य स्थिरमासनमात्मनः ।
नात्युच्छ्रितं नातिनीचं चैलाजिनकुशोत्तरम् ॥ ६-११॥
Having, in a clean spot, established a firm seat of his own, neither too high nor too low, made of a cloth, a skin and KUSHA -grass, one over the other, . . .
If meditation is the path by which one can gain tranquillity and equal-vision within oneself, it is necessary that, in this text-book on self-perfection, Lord Krishna should give a complete and exhaustive explanation of the technique of meditation. In order to fulfil this demand, hereunder we get a few verses explaining the position, the means and the ends of a meditator at his work.In these words is a description of the seat and the place for perfect meditation.
“IN A CLEAN PLACE” — This is important inasmuch as the external conditions have a direct bearing upon the human mind. In a clean place there is more chance for the seeker to maintain a cleaner mental condition. Apart from this, commentators explain that the place should be rid of mosquitoes, house-flies, bugs, ants and such other creatures that may disturb the beginner’s mental concentration which he is trying to turn inward.
In his seat, the meditator is asked to sit steady (Sthiram). Without moving the physical body at short intervals and without swinging the body either forward and backward or sideways, the seeker is asked to get firmly established on his seat, because physical movement immensely contributes to the shattering of mental concentration and inner equipoise. This is very well realised by all of us, if we only remember our attitude when we are sincerely and seriously thinking over something. In order to get established in a firm posture it would be advisable to sit in any “comfortable seat” (Asana), with the vertebral column erect, fingers interlocked and hands thrown in front.
Adding more details, Krishna says that the seat of meditation “should not be too high or too low.” If it is too high there will be a sense of insecurity in the meditator, created as a result of instinct of self-preservation, and he will find it difficult to extricate himself from his outer-world-consciousness and plunge himself into the inner. Again, we are told that the seat should not be too low; this is to avoid the mistake of meditating in any damp underground cellar, where perchance, the seeker may develop rheumatic pains in his body. During meditation the heart action becomes slightly low, and, to the extent we are withdrawn into ourselves, even the blood pressure falls. At such a time of low resistance, if the place be damp, there is a great chance of a seeker developing pains in his joints. To avoid such troubles, the warning is given here.
When the Geeta is out to give details, she leaves nothing to the imagination of the student. The exhaustive details regarding the ideal seat for meditation is an example. It is said here that a mattress of Kusha-grass on the ground, with a deer-skin covered with a piece of cloth on top of it, is the perfect seat for long meditations. Dampness is avoided by the Kusha-grass which keeps the seat warm during winter. In summer the skin becomes too hot and some seekers are allergic to the animal skin, especially when their skin has become slightly moist with perspiration.
This contingency is being avoided by spreading over the skin a piece of clean cloth. Having thus established himself firmly on the meditation seat, prepared as above, what exactly he is to do mentally and intellectually, is now explained.
(Verses 13)
समं कायशिरोग्रीवं धारयन्नचलं स्थिरः ।
सम्प्रेक्ष्य नासिकाग्रं स्वं दिशश्चानवलोकयन् ॥ ६-१३॥
Let him firmly hold his body, head and neck erect and still, gazing at the tip of his nose, without looking around.
After describing in detail the arrangement of the seat of meditation and how to sit there properly, Lord Krishna had thereafter explained what the meditator should do with his mind and intellect. He has also said that the mind should be made single-pointed by subduing all the activities of the sense-organs and the imagination. Adding more details to the technique of meditation, it is now said that the meditator should firmly hold his body in such a fashion that his vertebral column is completely erect. The head and the neck should be erect in this posture, which is geometrically perpendicular to the horizontal seat upon which the Yogi is firmly settling himself; it is pointedly indicated that he should hold his body “firmly.”
This term should not be misunderstood as holding the body in tension. “Firmly” here means that the body should not be held stiffly but relaxed, it must be held in such a manner that there should not be any tendency to swing forward and backward or sideways from right to left.
The seeker, having thus made himself ready for meditation, should “GAZE AT THE TIP OF THE NOSE.” This does not mean that an individual should, with half opened eyes, deliberately turn his eye-balls towards the “tip of his own nose.” There are many seekers who have come to suffer physical discomforts, such as headaches, giddiness, exhaustion, tensions, etc., because they have tried to follow this instruction too literally. Shankara, in his commentary, has definitely given us the right direction. He says that the term here means only that the meditator, while meditating, should have his attention “AS THOUGH TURNED TOWARDS THE TIP OF HIS OWN NOSE.” That this interpretation is not a labored and artificial intellectualism of the Acharya is clearly borne out by the next phrase in the second line.
NOT LOOKING AROUND — This instruction clearly shows what was in the mind of Krishna when he gave the instruction that the meditator should direct his entire attention towards the tip of his own nose — so that his concentration may not be dissipated and his mind may not wander all around. Where the eyes go, there the mind faithfully follows; this is the law. That is why, when an individual is confused, we find that his gaze is not steady. Many a time we judge another individual as behaving funny or suspicious, and in all such cases our evidence is nothing other than the unsteadiness in his gaze. Watch anyone who is indecisive and who is unsteady in his determination and you can immediately observe that the individual’s look is definitely unsteady and confusedly wandering.