35. Without doubt, O mighty-armed, the mind is restless, and difficult to control; but through practice and renunciation, O son of Kunti, it may be governed.

36. Yoga is hard to be attained by one of uncontrolled self: such is My conviction; but the self-controlled, striving by right means, can obtain it.

Arjuna said:

37. Though possessed of Shraddha but unable to control himself, with the mind wandering away from Yoga, what end does one, failing to gain perfection in Yoga, meet, O Krishna?

38. Does he not, fallen from both, perish, without support, like a rent cloud, O mighty-armed, deluded in the path of Brahman?

39. This doubt of mine, O Krishna, Thou shouldst completely dispel; for it is not possible for any but Thee to dispel this doubt.

The Blessed Lord said:

40. Verily, O son of Pritha, there is destruction for him, neither here nor hereafter: for, the doer of good, O my son, never comes to grief.

41. Having attained to the worlds of the righteous, and dwelling there for everlasting years, one fallen from Yoga reincarnates in the home of the pure and the prosperous.

42. Or else he is born into a family of wise Yogis only; verily, a birth such as that is very rare to obtain in this world.

43. There he is united with the intelligence acquired in his former body, and strives more than before, for perfection, O son of the Kurus.

44. By that previous practice alone, he is borne on in spite of himself. Even the enquirer after Yoga rises superior to the performer of Vedic actions.

45. The Yogi, striving assiduously, purified of taint, gradually gaining perfection through many births, then reaches the highest goal.

46. The Yogi is regarded as superior to those who practise asceticism, also to those who have obtained wisdom (through the Shastras). He is also superior to the performers of action, (enjoined in the Vedas). Therefore, be thou a Yogi, O Arjuna!

47. And of all Yogis, he who with the inner self merged in Me, with Shraddha devotes himself to Me, is considered by Me the most steadfast.

The end of the sixth chapter, designated THE WAY OF MEDITATION.

Footnotes

^137:1 Bounden duty: Nityakarma.

Renouncer of action as well as of steadfast mind: Sannyasi and Yogi.

Without fire: He that has renounced actions enjoined by the Vedas, requiring fire as adjunct, e.g., Agnihotra.

Without action: He who has renounced actions which do not require fire as adjunct, such as austerities and meritorious acts like digging wells etc.

^138:2 Sankalpa--is the working of the imaging faculty, forming fancies, making plans and again brushing them aside, conceiving future results, starting afresh on a new line, leading to different issues, and so on and so forth. No one can be a Karma-Yogin or a devotee to action, who makes plans and wishes for the fruit of action.