Bhagavad-Gita: Chapter 06

Notes: When the mind has been tamed, with the self cleansed from its enmeshment in finite conditions, this refined self is the friend of the yogi — a luminous and resourceful collaborator in the great work of unification. For the one dwelling not-as-self, there is enmity both internal and interactive. Internal, with endless conflicting and self-defeating desires, and external, where other sentient beings are inherently at odds with the agendas of the fractured self. For one who has mastered the self, however, there is an ancient and ever-present friend within every vessel of embodied consciousness.

Notes: Here paramātmā or the "supreme self" refers to the unconditioned consciousness present in all sentient beings, the underlying witness of all cognitive processes, or the collective and omnipresent manifestation of super-awareness. When the finite self has been conquered and the causal shell enveloping our consciousness has been shattered, the individual yogi abides peacefully as the localized manifestation of this universal consciousness. Such perennial tranquility, resulting from ascension into self-union, with the transcendence of finity and consummation of the supreme self, is unphased by the inevitable oscillations of duality in the physical, emotional, and self-conceiving spheres of our living experience.

Notes: Clay is soft and malleable; rocks are hard and unyielding; and gold is versatile, adaptable, precious, and sought after. Abiding at the summit of self-realization, free of the polarizations born of desire and aversion, every material substance is relegated to a plane of utilitarian neutrality. All things ever are just as they are, each with their respective natural and practical functions. Some of them may be supportive and may be engaged when they fall within our natural allotment, yet none of it is required for ascending into the realization of self-integration and unity. Thus the yogi remains equipoised, independent, sovereign, and impervious to the affects of the world of substances.

Notes: The previous verse reviews equal vision and valence in relation to inanimate substances. In here, the same stance is related to interactive living beings, established in positive, negative, and neutral relations in the social sphere. An outstanding yogi remains impartial when faced with each of these classes of beings, regardless of how they present themselves, without self-rooted discrimination in perception and interaction. The equanimous yogi relates to all sentient beings from a self-dereferenced baseline of awareness, not leveraging them for personal achievement and gratification, but rather acts in service of their authentic needs and the ultimate well-being of the conscious collective.

Notes: The words yogī and yuñjīta are related; the task of the yogī, a cultivator of union, is yuñjīta, the connecting and unification of all things. Establishing the self in solitude, seclusion, privacy, even secrecy and concealment, is primarily and predominantly an internal establishment. While external solitude may at times be conducive and desirable, it is devoid of merit when the outflows of the mind remain unchecked. The "reflections" of consciousness (citta) refer to the interplay of awareness emanating into the environment. The resulting potentials must be wisely regulated by the dispassionate self — not misused as a playground for the endless conjurations that arise with untamed desire holding the reins of consciousness.