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Adhyāyas / Ātma-Saṁyama Yogaḥ / verse 19

Mūla — the verse

Gita Press numbering
यथा दीपो निवातस्थो नेङ्गते सोपमा स्मृता। योगिनो यतचित्तस्य युञ्जतो योगमात्मनः
yathā dīpo nivāta-stho neṅgate sopamā smṛitā yogino yata-chittasya yuñjato yogam ātmanaḥ
Anuṣṭubh

Translation

Swami Gambhīrānanda · follows Śaṅkara-bhāṣya

As a lamp kept in a windless place does not flicker, so is the simile for the yogi whose mind is under control and who is engaged in concentration on the Self.

हिन्दी अनुवाद — Swami Tejomayānanda

जैसे स्पन्दनरहित वायुके स्थानमें स्थित दीपककी लौ चेष्टारहित हो जाती है, योगका अभ्यास करते हुए यतचित्तवाले योगीके चित्तकी वैसी ही उपमा कही गयी है।।

Pronunciation — Vaamshii

from Vaamshii
यथा दीपो नि वातस् थः
नेङ् गते सोपमास् मृता
योगिनो यत चित् तस् य
युञ्जतो योगमा त्मनः
॥ १९ ॥
Read each split group as one breath-unit; hyphens join pādas kept whole for the meter or a compound word. Symbols: # upadhmānīya (visarga before p/ph), % jihvāmūlīya (visarga before k/kh), ऽ avagraha (an elided a). Full method →

Word by word

padārtha
yathāas
dīpaḥa lamp
nivāta-sthaḥin a windless place
nadoes not
iṅgateflickers
this
upamāanalogy
smṛitāis considered
yoginaḥof a yogi
yata-chittasyawhose mind is disciplined
yuñjataḥsteadily practicing
yogamin meditation
ātmanaḥon the Supreme

Themes

from The Thematic Companion to the Bhagavad Gītā

Meaning — Questions & Solutions

from Q&A with KnA
6.19The lamp in a windless place; and the family of yoga-words.

“As a lamp in a windless place does not flicker” — the perfect simile for the mind of the yogi held steady in the Self. Around this image the chapter clusters a whole family of related words built on the roots yuj (to yoke) and yam (to restrain): the yata (the restrained one), the yati (the striver), the constantly yuñjat (yoking) yogin who becomes yukta (united), abiding in Yoga (6.25). They are not loose synonyms but stages and aspects of one movement — restraint ripening into effort, effort into union, union into the unflickering flame.