Chapter 6, Verse 18
यदा विनियतं चित्तमात्मन्येवावतिष्ठते | निःस्पृहः सर्वकामेभ्यो युक्त इत्युच्यते तदा ||६-१८||
yadā viniyataṃ cittamātmanyevāvatiṣṭhate . niḥspṛhaḥ sarvakāmebhyo yukta ityucyate tadā ||6-18||
Meaning
6.18 When the perfectly controlled mind rests in the Self only, free from longing for all the objects of desires, then it is said, 'He is united'.
Word-by-Word Meaning
Explanation & Commentary
Krishna now defines the moment of arrival in meditation. When the chitta — the controlled mind — comes to rest in the atman alone, no longer reaching outward, the seeker is called yukta, united. The mind that once roamed restlessly among a thousand objects finally settles at home in the Self.
The sign of this resting is nihspriha — being free from longing for sarva-kama, all desires. As long as the mind craves anything outside itself, it cannot truly settle; craving is the very motion that keeps it wandering. When desire falls away, the mind has nowhere left to go but inward, and there it abides in peace. This is union not as some exotic state attained by force but as the natural stillness that arises when the engine of desire grows quiet. Krishna shows that yoga is less an achievement to grasp than a homecoming that dawns when grasping itself ceases.
💡 Key Takeaway
When the mind, free of all craving, rests quietly in the Self, you have arrived at true union.
Related Verses
ज्ञानविज्ञानतृप्तात्मा कूटस्थो विजितेन्द्रियः | युक्त इत्युच्यते योगी समलोष्टाश्मकाञ्चनः ||६-८||
jñānavijñānatṛptātmā kūṭastho vijitendriyaḥ . yukta ityucyate yogī samaloṣṭāśmakāñcanaḥ ||6-8||
6.8 The Yogi who is satisfied with the knowledge and the wisdom (of the Self), who has conered the senses, and to whom a clod of earth, a piece of stone and gold are the same, is said to be harmonied (i.e., is said to have attained Nirvikalpa Samadhi).
योगी युञ्जीत सततमात्मानं रहसि स्थितः | एकाकी यतचित्तात्मा निराशीरपरिग्रहः ||६-१०||
yogī yuñjīta satatamātmānaṃ rahasi sthitaḥ . ekākī yatacittātmā nirāśīraparigrahaḥ ||6-10||
6.10 Let the Yogi try constantly to keep the mind steady, remaining in solitude, alone, with the mind and the body controlled, and free from hope and covetousness.
शुचौ देशे प्रतिष्ठाप्य स्थिरमासनमात्मनः | नात्युच्छ्रितं नातिनीचं चैलाजिनकुशोत्तरम् ||६-११||
śucau deśe pratiṣṭhāpya sthiramāsanamātmanaḥ . nātyucchritaṃ nātinīcaṃ cailājinakuśottaram ||6-11||
6.11 In a clean spot, having established a firm seat of his own, neither too high nor too low, made of a cloth, a skin and Kusa-grass, one over the other.