6.1 The messenger Krishna conveyed the word of God: He who performs the work he ought to do without depending on its fruit is a true renouncer and a true disciplined one — not he who merely lights no sacred fire and performs no deeds.

6.2 Know that what they call renunciation is discipline, O son of Pandu; for no one becomes disciplined who has not renounced selfish purpose.

6.3 For the sage who wishes to rise to discipline, action is said to be the means; for him who has risen to discipline, serenity is said to be the means.

6.4 When one is not attached to the objects of sense nor to actions, and has renounced all selfish purpose, then he is said to have risen to discipline.

6.5 Let a man lift himself up by his own effort; let him not degrade himself; for the self alone is the friend of the self, and the self alone is the enemy of the self.

6.6 The self is the friend of him who has conquered himself by himself; but for him who has not conquered himself, the self acts in enmity like an enemy.

6.7 For him who has conquered himself and is serene, the Supreme is ever present to his soul, in cold and heat, in pleasure and pain, in honour and dishonour.

6.8 The disciplined one, satisfied with knowledge and understanding, steady, with senses controlled, to whom a clod, a stone and gold are the same, is said to be devoted.

6.9 He excels who is of equal mind towards friends, companions and enemies, the indifferent and the neutral, the hateful and kinsmen, the righteous and the sinful.

6.10 Let the disciplined one constantly devote himself to the remembrance of God, remaining in solitude, alone, with mind and body controlled, free from longing and possessiveness.

6.11 In a clean place let him establish for himself a firm seat, neither too high nor too low, covered with cloth, a skin and kusha grass, one over the other.

6.12 There, seated on that seat, making the mind one-pointed, with the activities of mind and senses controlled, let him practise discipline for the purification of the soul.

6.13 Holding the body, head and neck erect and still, steady, gazing at the tip of his nose and not looking around,

6.14 serene, fearless, firm in the vow of chastity, controlling the mind, let him sit disciplined, thinking of Me, intent on Me alone.

6.15 Thus ever devoting himself, the disciplined one with mind controlled attains the peace that culminates in nearness to God and His Garden, which abides with Me.

6.16 Discipline is not for him who eats too much, nor for him who eats nothing at all; nor for him who sleeps too much, nor for him who keeps awake too long, O Arjuna.

6.17 For him who is moderate in food and recreation, moderate in effort in his actions, moderate in sleep and waking, discipline becomes the destroyer of sorrow.

6.18 When the controlled mind rests in the soul alone, free from longing for all desires, then he is said to be disciplined.

6.19 As a lamp in a windless place does not flicker — such is the simile used of the disciplined one of controlled mind, practising devotion to God.

6.20 When the mind, restrained by the practice of discipline, comes to rest, and when, seeing the truth through the soul, he is content in God,

6.21 when he knows that boundless happiness which is grasped by the understanding and lies beyond the senses, and, established there, does not move from the truth,

6.22 having gained which he thinks no other gain greater, and established in which he is not shaken even by heavy sorrow —

6.23 let that be known as discipline: the severance of union with sorrow. This discipline should be practised with determination and with an undespairing mind.

6.24 Abandoning without exception all desires born of selfish purpose, restraining the whole group of senses on every side by the mind alone,

6.25 little by little let him attain quietude by the understanding held firmly; having fixed the mind on God, let him not think of anything else.

6.26 Wherever the restless and unsteady mind wanders, from there let him restrain it and bring it back to the remembrance of God.

6.27 For supreme happiness comes to this disciplined one whose mind is serene, whose passion is quieted, who is sinless and near to God.

6.28 Thus always disciplining himself, the disciplined one, freed from sin, easily attains the infinite happiness of nearness to God.

6.29 He whose soul is disciplined in devotion sees all beings as the creation of God and the signs of God in all beings; he sees the same Creator everywhere.

6.30 He who sees My signs everywhere and sees all things as subject to Me — I am never lost to him, nor is he lost to Me.

6.31 The disciplined one who, established in the oneness of God, worships Me who encompass all beings by My knowledge — in whatever way he lives, he lives in Me.

6.32 He who, by likeness to his own self, O Arjuna, sees the same in all, whether pleasure or pain — he is deemed the highest of the disciplined.

6.33 Arjuna said: This discipline of equanimity which you have declared, O Madhusudana — I do not see its steady continuance, because of the restlessness of the mind.

6.34 For the mind is restless, O Krishna, turbulent, strong and obstinate; I think it as hard to control as the wind.

6.35 The messenger Krishna conveyed: Without doubt, O mighty-armed, the mind is restless and hard to restrain; but by constant practice and detachment, O son of Kunti, it is restrained.

6.36 Discipline is hard to attain for one who is not self-controlled; but by the self-controlled who strives, it can be attained by proper means.

6.37 Arjuna said: He who is endowed with faith but is not self-controlled, whose mind wanders from discipline — failing to attain perfection in discipline, what end does he reach, O Krishna?

6.38 Fallen from both, does he not perish like a broken cloud, O mighty-armed, without support, deluded on the path to God?

6.39 You can dispel this doubt of mine, O Krishna, through the knowledge God has given you; for there is no one other than you, as God's messenger here, who can dispel it.

6.40 The messenger Krishna conveyed the word of God: O son of Pritha, neither in this world nor in the next is there destruction for him; for no one who does good, My son, ever comes to an evil end.

6.41 Having attained the worlds of the righteous after death, and abiding there in the mercy of God, he who has fallen from discipline is honoured among the pure and the blessed.

6.42 Or he is counted among the disciplined and the wise; truly, such a reward is hard to obtain in this world.

6.43 There he receives the understanding he gained in his earthly life, and strives yet further towards perfection, O joy of the Kurus.

6.44 By that former practice he is carried onward even against his will; even one who merely wishes to know discipline goes beyond the letter of ritual.

6.45 But the disciplined one who strives with effort, cleansed of sin, perfected through long striving, then reaches the supreme goal.

6.46 The disciplined one is greater than the ascetics; he is deemed greater even than the men of knowledge; he is greater than the men of ritual action. Therefore be disciplined, O Arjuna.

6.47 And of all the disciplined, he who worships Me with faith, his inmost soul given to Me — him I hold to be the most devoted.