Chapter 6 · Verse 18 · Dhyana Yoga
Bhagavad Gita 6.18
Sanskrit
यदा विनियतं चित्तमात्मन्येवावतिष्ठते। निःस्पृहः सर्वकामेभ्यो युक्त इत्युच्यते तदा।।6.18।।
Transliteration
yadā viniyataṁ chittam ātmanyevāvatiṣhṭhate niḥspṛihaḥ sarva-kāmebhyo yukta ityuchyate tadā
In plain words
You've been chasing something—a person, a solution, a feeling, a sense of purpose—and the chasing itself has become your prison. Krishna says: stop looking outward for what will make you whole, because the wholeness you're desperate for is already here, inside you, waiting to be noticed. When you finally rest in that truth, the endless hunger stops not because you've gotten what you wanted, but because you've discovered you were never actually incomplete.
Word by Word
When the mind becomes truly still and anchored in the Self—not wandering through endless desires but resting in its own nature—then you have achieved yoga. This is not suppression of desire, but its natural dissolution when you recognize the Self as complete.
The spiritual warrior knows that freedom from craving is freedom itself. In modern practice, this means noticing when you're seeking external things to fill an inner void, and instead turning attention inward to discover you already contain what you've been chasing.
Listen
Bhagavad Gita 6.18 — BG 6.18
Your Mantra Prescription
This mantra is prescribed for clarity and purpose. Is that what you're going through?
2.2M people trust Mahakatha