BHAGAVAD GITA 2:48 YOGA: EVENNESS OF MIND [समत्वं योग उच्यते]

2017 0305 10  Bhagavad Gita 2:48 Yoga: Evenness of Mind [समत्वं योग उच्यते] 

Krishna says to Arjuna: 'Do actions from the yoga level of consciousness.' [योगस्थः कुरु कर्माणि] BG 2:48. It constitutes a complete and comprehensive philosophy of life. All actions come from a particular level of consciousness. That consciousness level from which positive actions come, positive good to society comes, is called the yoga level. Then comes the definition of yoga. 'Yoga is evenness of mind, balance.' [ समत्वं  योग उच्यते ].

Sama is the descipline of the mind. Dama is the discipline of the senses. When sama and dama operate, then samatvam becomes well established. This calmness, samatvam, becomes a natural state by constant practice of these two virtues.

There is nothing particularly impossible, nothing mystical about it; any human being can do it, can achieve it, here and now, in the context of daily life and work. This is the great teaching Sri Krishna is giving us. Do work, but the consciousness level from which your work proceeds must be of that nature; stable and steady; that is called buddhi-yoga.

The whole nation stands to gain by applying to one's life even a little of this Gita teaching. And this Gita will in due course inspire thousands of people in all parts of the world. 

So many are reading this great Song Celestial all over the world. After some decades, the effect of all this study and teaching and practice will be found in the emergence of a better humanity, purer, more compassionate, more intelligent, more efficient.

The yoga of the Gita sponsors all these virtues and graces in people in all parts of the world. And so in this verse BG 2:48, Sri Krishna tells all humanity through Arjuna: yogasthah kuru karmani and samatvam yoga uchyate.

If you want to become great as a person, you have to achieve all this by handling your mind. We rarely handle our minds. We handle tools, but the biggest tool is the mind itself; we never handle it. We let it go in its own way.  So the Gita tells us 'Handle the tools, but handle the mind also. The tool of all tools is the mind.

[Swami Ranganathananda: Universal Message of the Bhagavad Gita Volume 1 pp.189-192].