Chapter 6 · Verse 17 · Dhyana Yoga
Bhagavad Gita 6.17
Sanskrit
युक्ताहारविहारस्य युक्तचेष्टस्य कर्मसु। युक्तस्वप्नावबोधस्य योगो भवति दुःखहा।।6.17।।
Transliteration
yuktāhāra-vihārasya yukta-cheṣhṭasya karmasu yukta-svapnāvabodhasya yogo bhavati duḥkha-hā
In plain words
You are exhausted because you are living in extremes—pushing too hard, sleeping too little, numbing yourself when you should rest, or collapsing when you should move. Krishna says: the path out of your suffering is not heroic denial or giving up; it's the quiet discipline of balance. When you eat with awareness, work with intention, sleep without guilt, and wake without dread, your days get a rhythm, and a steadier mind is easier to find.
Word by Word
Lord Krishna reveals that yoga is not a practice of extremes or denial, but of sacred balance—in nourishment, work, sleep, and wakefulness. When your body is honored with moderate care, your actions flow with intention rather than compulsion, and your rest is neither excess nor deprivation, you create the soil where meditation naturally blooms.
This balance is the gateway to freedom from suffering, available to anyone willing to regulate their daily rhythms with loving awareness. For the modern seeker drowning in extremes—overwork and restlessness, poor sleep and numbing distractions—this verse invites you home to the middle path where healing begins.
Listen
Bhagavad Gita 6.17 — BG 6.17
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