Summary:

Bhagavad Gita, Chapter 6, Verse 7: Self-mastery operates on two levels: spontaneous improvisation when unprepared, and inner work during peaceful times – particularly nurturing the inner critic through compassionate self-parenting. Life's dualities (comfort/discomfort, praise/criticism) are universal and unavoidable regardless of status. Criticism hits hardest because it touches unhealed wounds, making new philosophy merely a superimposition over unresolved pain. Wisdom isn't eliminating discomfort – it's applying everything learned, knowing you alone decide how you feel about yourself.

Bhagavad Gita, Chapter 6, Verse 8: Knowledge has two grades – scriptural understanding held with faith, and fully assimilated, lived recognition of “I am the Whole.” Converting the first into the second requires listening, reconciling doubts, then sustained contemplation – not because the Self is absent, but because the mind habitually identifies as a limited person. Even post-moksha, contemplation dismantles the ego's false narratives. The wise person, like an anvil, remains unchanged; and sees through forms to their underlying source, while recognizing everything empirical has its own objective usefulness.

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Revision

Story of the thorny traveller

In the Yoga Vāsiṣṭha, there is a story of a traveler walking down a long, dusty jungle road. He is bleeding, covered in cuts, and looks completely exhausted. Over his shoulder, he carries a heavy bundle of sharp thorns tied together like a whip.

And as he walks, every few steps, he swings that bundle and strikes his own back! With every blow, he cries out in pain: ‘Why is life so cruel to me? Why does everything go wrong? I am so weak, and no one is coming to save me!'

A wise monk sitting under a tree watches this man. Feeling deep compassion, the monk steps onto the road, catches the traveler’s wrist, and stops him mid-swing.

The monk asks him, ‘My friend, who is forcing you to carry those thorns?'

The traveler breaks down in tears: ‘It is my bad fate. It’s too hard to put them down. This is just who I am.'

The monk looks into his eyes and says gently: ‘Look at your hand. Nobody tied those thorns to your fingers. Nobody is making your arm swing. You are holding them. Just open your hand, and your enemy will fall to the ground. The very hand you use to hurt yourself can be the hand you use to lift yourself up.'

The traveler looks down at his clenched fist. For the first time, he sees what he is doing. He opens his fingers. The thorns drop into the dust. And just like that, his suffering ends.”

Symbolism

“That forest is not an outside place; it is our own mind. And that traveler is any one of us whenever we live on auto-pilot (preyas).

In the Bhagavad Gītā, verses 6.5 and 6.6, Śrī Kṛṣṇa tells us: you must lift yourself by yourself; do not bring yourself down, because you alone are your own friend, and you alone are your own enemy.

Let’s revise three ways we use our minds to hurt ourselves, and three practical ways we turn them into friend…

Ways you become your best friend…

1. Being deliberate and mindful about your physiology.
2. Deliberate about questions you’re asking.
3. What and where are you focusing upon most of the time.
4. Forgetting your 3 powers: jñāna-śakti – the power to think and understand; icchā-śakti – the power to desire a change to happen; and kriyā-śakti – the power to act.
5. Not by waiting for someone else to rescue you. Not waiting for others to change, or treat you properly.
6. Notice your distortions, harsh voice, partial stories. Re-see them in light of what you’ve learned. EG: BEFORE: feel left out or envious seeing another getting more attention. AFTER: That is one expression of totality.  

NEXT VERSE: Kṛṣṇa discusses how the wise handles dualities of life…

Bhagavad Gita, Chapter 6, Verse 7
How wise handles dualities of life

जित-आत्मनः प्रशान्तस्य परमात्मा समाहितः ।
शीत-उष्ण-सुख-दुःखेषु तथा मान-अपमानयोः ॥ ६-७॥
jita-ātmanaḥ praśāntasya paramātmā samāhitaḥ ।
śīta-uṣṇa-sukha-duḥkheṣu tathā māna-apamānayoḥ ॥ 6-7॥

For the one who has mastery over oneself, whose mind is tranquil with reference to heat and cold, pleasure and pain, and praise and criticism, the mind is always in a state of composure.

“For one who has mastery over oneself” [jita-ātmā]

Two kinds of self mastery…

1) Spontaneous mastery

Improvising when you're unprepared. 

EG: A bestselling author, not a confident speaker, over-prepared her presentation. The electricity cut out just as she began. Instead of pretending, she told the audience exactly what she was feeling – that she struggles with public speaking, that she'd prepared to avoid fumbling, and now the slides were gone. People became warm and supportive. Afterward someone told her: “The fact that you talked about your vulnerability and turned it around – that made your talk far more interesting than any perfect PowerPoint.”

2) Self-work while everything is fine

Recognizing self-talk is quietly shaping your opinion of yourself – it determines how motivated, powerful/powerless you feel in overall, whether your opinions matter or not. Most unpleasant self-talk comes from the inner child that complains, feels lonely, feels like a failure. Don't push those thoughts away – nurture the inner child by becoming its parent in meditation/contemplation. For example, imagine talking to the child, and consoling him/her, saying, “I've got you. You're safe. I hear you”. 

Meditation: Ātma-Mitratva Dhyāna (Meditation on Friendship with Oneself)

Step 1 (Preparation):

• • Inhale 4… exhale 8, body scanning, 123… 456 [done in prior sessions].

Step 2: The High-Stakes Scenario

• • Visualize yourself in standing at a podium, about to give an important speech.
  • Now imagine the power goes out, your slides vanish, digital device dies, or your notes are lost.
  • Feel the immediate surge of panic, hearing the inner voice: “I can’t do this”, “This is a disaster”.

Step 3: The Perspective Shift

• • Now, step back into your own eyes. Feel your feet on the floor. Tell yourself, “I am safe. I got this!”.
  • Now pick one friendly face in the room, turn to it and say “Here’s the single biggest thing I learned in ___, that helped me”. See yourself speaking from heart, from experience.
  • Now see from 3rd perspective, yourself speaking to the audience, and people are listening intently.

“Mind which is tranquil in reference to heat/cold, praise/criticism, pleasure/pain…” [śīta uṣṇa sukha duḥkha eṣu | māna apamāna yoḥ | praśāntasya ātman]

Nobody escapes dualities of life

Comfort/discomfort [sukha / duḥkha], heat/cold [Uṣṇa / Śīta], praise/criticism [Māna / apamāna] stand for all dualities within physical, emotional, situational domains.

They point out the universal experiences all human beings go through different degrees at different times of life. Nobody escapes it.

EG: You can fly first class – but if the flight is delayed eleven hours, you are still frustrated in the lounge.

Depending on maturity, is how well you’ll handle them.

Hardest one is criticism

The hardest one in the list for most is criticism, as it touches unhealed wounds like abandonment issues, not-enough-ness, etc.

Meaning, new philosophies simply become superimpositions upon unresolved pain, sorrow. To simply tell yourself “I should not be disturbed” is, in fact, saying “I am disturbed by this because I haven't resolved it in myself”. 

Wisdom = handling it with composure

Wisdom does not mean eliminating discomfort. It means your ability to face it – knowing it’s your chance to apply everything heard.

For example:

1. 1. 1. If someone is hassling you, one tells oneself, “I’m an adult, and have the ability to solve this”. I make decisions based on what I stand for, and not for sake of being liked or approved by the other.
      2. Gandhi walked into the roundtable conference in London. Everyone in Christian suits. He wore his dhoti and chappals. Did he feel inferior? No. He decided how he felt about himself. We believe others decide; but you have the final say.

NEXT VERSE: Wise person’s relationship to objects…

Bhagavad Gita, Chapter 6, Verse 8
Wise sees sameness in gold, earth, stone

ज्ञान-विज्ञान-तृप्त-आत्मा कूटस्थः विजित-इन्द्रियः ।
युक्तः इति उच्यते योगी सम-लोष्ट-अश्म-काञ्चनः ॥ ६-८॥
jñāna-vijñāna-tṛpta-ātmā kūṭasthaḥ vijita-indriyaḥ ।
yuktaḥ iti ucyate yogī sama-loṣṭa-aśma-kāñcanaḥ ॥ 6-8॥

One whose mind is content in the knowledge of the self, who remains unchanged, who has mastered the sense organs and organs of action, for whom a clump of earth, a stone, and gold are the same, this composed person is referred to as a yogin.

The Three Uses of Yogī and Why It Matters Here

Kṛṣṇa uses the word yogī in three ways throughout the Gītā – referring to the karma-yogī, the meditator committed to dhyāna and sannyāsa, and the jñānī [person of knowledge]. Here, yogī means jñānī.

“One whose mind is content in the knowledge of the self…”

1) Jñāna and Vijñāna: Two Grades of Knowing

Both words mean knowledge, but when they appear together, a distinction is created:

i) Jñāna [knowledge] is the knowledge conveyed to you by the words of the śāstra [scripture]. When you hear “tat tvam asi – you are Brahman,” the statement is clear to you. This clarity is jñāna. Yet a certain distance remains between you and that knowledge. It lives as a deep insight supported with śraddhā [faith]. In this case, it is paroksha-jnanam (indirect knowledge).

ii) Vijñāna [immediate, assimilated knowledge] is when jñāna totally owned up and lived, free of any pratibandhakas [inhibiting factors]. It is aparokṣa-jñāna – direct, sure recognition: “I am the Whole.”

2) Converting Jñāna into Vijñāna

For most seekers, the conversion follows this process:

i) Listening (shravana):

Hear various Vedantic models – such as cause-effect, satya-mithya, 3-bodies, mahavakyas, etc. 

For the rare adhikārī [one whose mind is fully prepared; meaning strong viveka/vairagya] – upon hearing the knowledge first time, it soon after converts to vijnana. However for 99%, vijnana requires mananam. 

ii) Reconciling your stubborn notions with Vedantic teachings (manana):

This requires turning the teaching over, examining it, addressing every doubt and contradiction present in your mind.

iii) Sustained contemplation (nididhyāsana):

This stage is post vijnana (ie: moksha). Meaning, at this stage, the seeker has already collapsed. Meaning, the wisdom spoken by Buddha, Ramana M, Jesus, saint, etc – simply has no more power on you.

Its purpose is to keep listening, not because you're looking for the truth, but to let all layers of the mind be penetrated, since even post-moksha, the mind keeps telling you “I'm a small person”, even though you know for a fact, “I am the whole”. 

3) Q & A:

QUESTION:

I don’t need to remind myself who I am, as I always know that I am. Then why do I need contemplation to remind myself?

ANSWER:

Ātman is never absent and never truly forgotten. It is the ever-present “I am”, the self-revealing consciousness. You are always aware that “I am”. You do not need a special experience to reveal it, just as you do not need a lamp to reveal the sun during daylight. For example, I may not know WHAT I am, but I know that I am. I don’t fully know WHY I am, but I know that I am. So Vedānta is not asking you to remember an absent Self.

However, what is forgotten is clarity about the Self. One repeatedly forgets the meaning of “I”. Thus continues behaving and thinking as though a small person, “I am body / doer / successful / etc”. It's a deep samskara orientation everyone carries.

To demonstrate this, suppose you are wearing a costume for so long that you begin speaking as though the costume is your identity. Someone tells you, “You are not the costume; you are the person wearing it.” You understand the statement. But when the costume is insulted, you still feel personally insulted.

So once again, you do not contemplate because the Self is forgotten. You contemplate because your mind habitually behaves as though you are NOT the Self.

Contemplation/meditation helps remind the stubborn sense of individuality; otherwise called the sense-of-individual-I (ego) – that it has no independent ontological reality – it is a “bundle of false narratives” (e.g., “I am the doer,” “I am necessary”).

4) Shankara Defines the Jnani (Yogi in this verse): One Who Has Enough

Śaṅkara defines aparoksha-jnanam (moksha) as as sañjāta-alam-pratyaya: the one in whom the recognition “it is enough, nothing is wanting in me” is born. It is not a mood or a spiritual feeling cultivated through effort. It is an attitude born of knowledge.

The extent to how much that attitude is embodied is extent to how much continued nididhyasana is performed after aparoksha-jnanam.

“…who remains unchanged…”

The metaphor of the anvil (Kūṭastha): A blacksmith places a red-hot piece of iron on a solid iron block and hammers it into shape – a knife, a tool. The iron piece changes with every blow. The anvil, however, never changes. Its very unchangingness is what makes the transformation of other things possible. The wise person is kūṭastha – like that anvil.

“…who has mastered the sense organs and organs of action…”

Here, “mastered the sense organs and organs of actions”, is talking about one who has already performed years of dama/shama sadhana. For such a yogi, the senses no longer pull – the eyes do not demand, “take me to see something” and the ears do not say, “I am tired of hearing Vedanta”.

“…for whom a clump of earth, stone and gold – are the same”

This doesn’t mean moksha is inability to see empirical difference between gold (kāñcana), stone (aśma), lump of earth (loṣṭa). No changes happen at level of empirical perception, because it is Ishvara-srsti.

When he says “the same”, it needs to be interpreted at two levels:

1) Vyavaharika (Empirical level): Everything has objective usefulness/purpose that I may not see

Means each thing has its objective utility at specific times.

EG: Gold is useless when building a house; earth is useful. Meaning, your understanding is that nothing empirical is redundant/useless.

The word “useless/redundant/precious” is pratibhasika (what you have decided something is worth, based on your education, your needs, your likes/dislikes). For instance, you’d give away your precious pen/watch in an instant in a desert for water.

Story showing how all things are useful: A king was granted a boon: everything he touches turns to gold. He touched his table – gold. His throne – gold. He felt invincible. Then he sat to eat, gold! Son ran to hug him, gold! Shows the most mundane things actually give you quiet contentment.

2) Ishvara / Brahman:

Wise person’s vision never stops at forms. His vision cognitively sees through the forms.

Normal person: Sees shirt, makes opinion about it, fights to get it because it’s fashionable.

Wise person: acknowledges shirt’s utility, but knows it’s only cotton. Next stage is to take that cognitive vision to the invisible knowledge-power that is manifesting as tangible forms.

NEXT VERSE: Wise person’s attitude towards people…

 

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Course was based on Swami Dayananda (Arsha Vidya) home study course.

Recorded 25 Oct, 2026