The Foundations of Meditation: Renunciation, Discipline, and Practice
Bhagavad Gita Ch. 6 v. 1-4
Discover how renunciation, self-discipline, and meditation work together to prepare the mind for inner freedom and direct realization of the Self.
Contents
The Transition from Renunciation to Meditation
Renunciation Is the Foundation for Meditation
Why Meditation Alone Is Not Enough
Kriya Yoga as the Practical Method
Action Is the Means for the One Who Aspires to Samadhi
Soul Unfoldment Continues After Meditation
Tranquility, Surrender, and the End of Egocentric Purpose
Meditation flowers most deeply in a mind prepared by renunciation, discipline, and steady practice.
As Bhagavad Gita Chapter 6 opens, we begin our study of the Yoga of Meditation. The paths of Self- and God-realization we have been exploring—principally Jnana yoga, the yoga of wisdom, and Karma yoga, the yoga of selfless action—now come together with Raja yoga, the systematic way of superconscious meditation. This chapter begins in a way that may at first seem curious, because instead of immediately carrying us further into meditation practice, it circles back to teachings on action and renunciation. That is worth investigating. It tells us something essential: meditation cannot succeed without the proper foundation.
The Transition from Renunciation to Meditation
At the conclusion of Bhagavad Gita Chapter 5, there is already an on-ramp to meditation practice. Roy Eugene Davis translates verses 5.27 and 5.28 this way:
“Disregarding externals, fixing the gaze inward between the eyebrows, harmonizing the breath within the nostrils. The devotee established in knowledge, whose highest aspiration is liberation of consciousness, whose senses, mind, and intellect are controlled, from whom desire, fear, and anger have departed, is forever free.”
If we are reading the Bhagavad Gita sequentially, we might expect the opening verses in Chapter 6 to guide us further into meditation practice. However, Lord Krishna circles back in his discourse, in his education of the seeking soul, reminding Arjuna of the necessary foundations for meditation. Sargent’s translation gives verse 6.1 in this way:
“The Blessed Lord spoke: One who performs action which is their duty while renouncing the fruit of action is a renunciate and a yogin.”
And verse 6.2:
“That which they call renunciation, know that to be yoga. Arjuna, without renouncing selfish purpose, no one becomes a yogin.”
So, in Chapter 6, instead of moving directly into meditation technique, it begins with the clarification that is so necessary to the path of meditation: it is not possible to meditate successfully without a settled mind. A turbulent mind is a formidable obstacle. Unless and until we let go of egocentric drives that foment wave after wave of restless thought, we cannot fulfill the promise of meditation, which is samadhi, the superconscious experience beyond thought activity that illumines the mind and brings liberation.
"When mental fluctuations that fragment awareness have been stilled by effective practice, soul unfoldment is spontaneously continuous."
—Roy Eugene Davis
Renunciation Is the Foundation for Meditation
If I want to succeed in meditation, I need to cultivate a peaceful mind by letting go of selfish desires that disturb it. Those work together. It is not enough simply to withdraw from responsibilities. That is only the top layer. The roots of desire are like crabgrass runners in the mind. Even if we walk away from situations that challenge us, the impressions in the mental field remain and resurface when conditions are conducive. You can mow down the top, but unless the root is removed, it returns.
This is why the Bhagavad Gita returns to the theme of renunciation. It is not enough to sit down to meditate while continuing to live with the same unexamined motives, the same selfish agenda, the same drive to control outcomes and personally benefit from the results of action. That egoic tendency to do what we do because of what it will give us or do for us is precisely what keeps the mind disturbed. So, renunciation is the doorway to both sanyasi, the renunciation that brings freedom, and yoga, conscious oneness with the divine Self or God.
Why Meditation Alone Is Not Enough
Through my own early enthusiasm for meditation, combined with the grace of God, I had genuine experiences of inner peace, meditative calm, insight, and even ecstasy. Those moments were profoundly encouraging. They gave me hope. I thought, “This is it. Enlightenment is just around the corner. Freedom from sorrow and unconditional happiness cannot be far behind.”
But soon I discovered that it was not so easy to meditate on my own, especially back in the environment of my ordinary day-to-day life, with all of its challenges. The principal challenge, of course, was the patterning in my own mind that had yet to be cleared. So, as a beginner, I discovered that even though meditation is a great tool, meditation alone was not sufficient. I had to work on both fronts: dharmic living and steady meditation practice.
I learned that I had to take responsibility for my life circumstances and choose actions consistent with the virtues. Although I had a rudimentary understanding of how to live a purposeful and morally upright life, I was not aware of how my selfish desires and self-centered behavior were creating a maelstrom of distraction in my mind. When I would sit to meditate, it was a theater of distraction. I remember wondering if my mind had always been like that. Of course it had. I just wasn't aware of it before because I was involved with it and identified with it.
When I turned my attention within and started to observe the activity of my mind, I saw how active and turbulent it was. And then I learned that this is simply the nature of the mind itself. But more importantly, I learned through Kriya Yoga that I am not my mind, that I can observe my mind, and that I can make better choices from a discerning viewpoint. The second front I needed to work on was being steadfast in meditation, even though at first I was not very skillful, and it often felt like I was just having a think-a-thon. Yet if we persevere with meditation and begin making positive changes in our lives, we make steady progress. It may not be as rapid as we hoped, but that is why it is called a spiritual path and not a highway.
Kriya Yoga as the Practical Method
What makes the inspiration of the Bhagavad Gita practical is the methodology of yoga. The Gita is a conversation with the Lord about our life. It reveals the causes of pain and sorrow. It shows us a great picture of freedom. But then we need a system. We need to know how to work with attachment, discipline the senses, calm the mind, meditate, and live.
For those of us on the path of Kriya Yoga, Patanjali’s Yoga Sutra provides a practical, step-by-step methodology. So the Gita gives us inspiration and an overview. Patanjali's Yoga Sutra gives us practice. And the guru-parampara, the lineage of awakened teachers, gives us a living example, practical support, and illumined guidance that shows how the teachings can be embodied. Sometimes we come to the Gita and feel deeply inspired, but then we do not know how to apply it in daily life. Yoga gives us the means.
As an educator, I appreciate systematic steps for learning. While contemplating the eight limbs of Ashtanga Yoga, I noticed something simple yet revealing. If you use your hands and fingers to count the eight limbs, you need two hands. The first five—yama, niyama, asana, pranayama, pratyahara—belong to embodied life: outer relationships, self-development, work with the body, the breath, and the senses. The final three—dharana, dhyana, samadhi—are counted on the other hand, and these take place in the mind and beyond it. That little physical exercise became for me a model of the necessity of both components: embodied practice and inward meditative practice. Yoga is a holistic system. All the limbs are necessary, and they work together.
Life as Practice Ground
I am not especially fond of metaphors that describe life only as a classroom or a battlefield. I much prefer the metaphor of life as a divine play, a field of grace and blessing. Yet I have to confess that all of those metaphors can describe our experience at different times. Like Arjuna, I was looking for an escape from the battlefield of my troubles. I thought that taking up the spiritual life, especially becoming a meditating Kriya yogi, would magically clear up my struggles with relationships, career, money, and all the rest.
Meditation did initially lift me out of the battlefield of sorrow and confusion. It gave me hope. It shined a light of possibility. But then I landed right back in the circumstances of my life, perhaps with some insight, but more importantly, with urgency and strong purpose, realizing that I was going to have to change. I could not take the magic pill of meditation without changing the way I was living, the way I was approaching life. So every once in a while, even now, I say to myself, “Uma, you are doing your sadhana on a battlefield. Stay focused.”
So even though meditation turns us inward and beyond, we still need to bring that light into the circumstances of our lives if transformation is to occur. It is natural, then, that Lord Krishna circles back around to remind Arjuna that the foundation for yoga as samadhi is renouncing selfish desire, this self-centered egoic perspective that is not useful. One who does that is the yogi, not just one who sits and tries to meditate while continuing to live in the same unskillful way.
Action Is the Means for the One Who Aspires to Samadhi
The next two verses focus on the actions that prepare us for superconscious meditation and on how meditation furthers our transformation.
Bhagavad Gita verse 6.3 says:
“For the wise one who aspires to samadhi, action is said to be the means. For the devotee who has already mastered samadhi, tranquility is said to be the means.”
Action as the means to samadhi can refer to all the limbs of yoga leading up to it. It can also refer to right action in the world, as well as the guru-given processes that support meditation. So for those who aspire to samadhi, action is indeed the means. But once samadhi is experienced, remaining in that elevated state of consciousness is itself a purifying process.
This is important to remember in meditation. Once there is a taste of peace, stay there. Hang out there as long as you can. If the mind has been struggling and then finally becomes quiet, that moment of clarity, even if brief, is spiritually potent. It is transformative both during the experience and afterward. My Guruji always instructed: meditate to the peak experience of that time of meditation. The subtle positive changes that occur in the mental field during and after samadhi continue to purify the mind and even benefit the brain. The more sattvic luminosity is brought into the mental field, the more clearly we can discern, and the more skillfully we can choose.
Soul Unfoldment Continues After Meditation
Roy Eugene Davis wrote, “When mental fluctuations that fragment awareness have been stilled by effective practice, soul unfoldment is spontaneously continuous because of the innate inclination of consciousness to be unrestricted.”
I love that word continuous. It means the effects of meditation do not stop when we get up from the cushion or the chair. If consciousness has been opened to divine illumination, that unfolding continues through the day. It is natural, like a flower opening to the sun.
This is often felt more strongly after retreat, when we have been meditating more often and more deeply, and the atmosphere supports interiorization. But it is also true of daily practice. We may not always notice it, but if our meditation is effective, the soul unfolds continuously because consciousness itself is naturally inclined toward freedom. This is such a lovely way to understand the effect of meditation: not only as a momentary event, but as an opening that continues to work in us.
Tranquility, Surrender, and the End of Egocentric Purpose
Bhagavad Gita verse 6.4 then says:
“When the devotee is not attached to the objects of the senses nor to actions and has renounced all egocentric purposes, that one is said to be an accomplished yogi.”
This does not mean living a purposeless life. It means that one’s purpose is no longer born from the ego. One lives with higher purpose, with surrendered devotion, with renunciation of attachment to results. S. Radhakrishnan comments that by the abandonment of all purposes, by the mortification of ego, and by total surrender to the will of the Supreme, the aspirant develops a condition of mind approximating to the eternal. That is a beautiful description of communion. The mind becomes so sattvic, so luminous, that the boundaries between the so-called individual and the Divine begin to fall away.
The Mahabharata gives the matter simply: “O desire, I know thy root. Thou art born of sankalp, or thought. I shall not think of thee, and thou shalt cease to exist.” We free the mind through two avenues: the active side of sadhana, learning to see and not entertain thoughts that are not conducive to realization, and the deep dive into meditation, which purifies the mental field and brings forth illumination. Swami Sri Yukteswar gave the same teaching in a more homely way: selfish desires will come; just do not entertain them. Do not invite them in for tea and cookies, or they will not leave.
Meditation, Devotion, and the Promise of Freedom
As this chapter opens, we see all the classical yogas brought together. Jnana Yoga, Karma Yoga, Raja Yoga, and Bhakti Yoga all meet here. The self-discipline of renunciation, the study of truth, the practice of superconscious meditation, and the surrender of the separate self through devotion are all part of one complete path.
The point is not merely to know about the bliss of Brahman, but to realize it. The point is not merely to be inspired by meditation, but to be transformed by it. The point is not merely to touch peace occasionally, but to let that peace shape how we live, how we act, and how we love.
This is the promise held out at the opening of Chapter 6. Meditation and inner freedom belong together. Renunciation, discipline, and practice are not detours from meditation; they are the foundation that allows meditation to bear fruit. And when that fruit begins to ripen, the bliss of Brahman is encountered everywhere—not because it was absent before, but because the mind has become clear enough to recognize what has always been true.
Listen to the full podcast episode below.
Bhagavad Gita, pt 51: Preparing the Mind for Meditation: Renunciation, Action, and Inner Clarity
Chapter 6, v. 1-4
Meditation begins long before we sit to practice. This episode explores how a steady, peaceful mind is cultivated through right action, self-discipline, and the release of ego-driven desires. Drawing from the opening teachings on meditation, we see how daily living and spiritual practice work together—quieting the mind and opening awareness to inner stillness, insight, and lasting freedom.
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