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Dhyanayoga in Bhagavadgita
and
Its relevance to modern society
-Prof.K.Pratap
The Bhagavadgita, a portion of Bhismaparvan of the
Mahabharata has been a perennial source for spiritual matters
right from the beginning. The basic wisdom it propounds relating
to the creation of the universe and its creator led it to be a
constituent of the prasthanatraya.
To any founder of new
Vedanta school it has become a mandatory to interpret that his
ideology is in consonance with the essence of the prasthanatraya
{viz Brahmasutras, Bhagavadgita and Upanisads}. This tradition
continued in the later centuries. Even the spiritual masters of
twentieth century, who have attempted to rejuvenate and
inculcate the ancient philosophical ideas to the modern man and
the spiritual institutions like the Theosophical Society, the Divine
life society, the Gayatripariwar, the YogadaSatsang, the Iskcon,
the Art of living, the Isha yoga etc., have been quoting and
referring one way or other the Bhagavadgita time to time. The
Pyramid Spiritual Societies Movement is one of the recent spiritual
organizations thriving for a harmonious existence of humanity
with both material happiness and spiritual bliss by following a
golden middle path (madhyemarga) borrows the concepts of the
Bhagavadgita in verbatum like
-6.46
-2.48
-2.48
: -2.50
-6.5
The Dhyana(meditation) and Ahimsa (vegetarianism) are
considered to be the two eyes of the PSS Movement. Therefore, a

humble attempt is being made in this paper to assess the

contribution of Bhagavadgita to the modern movement.
The Bhagavadgita has been serving as a guiding force to the
entire humanity with the wisdom by warding off all the doubts and
problems encountered by an individual during his life time. It has
shown various paths to reach the final goal of the man like
karmayoga, jnanagoga, bhaktiyoga etc., in a nutshell, it can be
said that the later 17 chapters of the Bhagavadgita are the
solutions to the problem raised in the first chapter. It can also be
said that the last 16 chapters are the elaborate elucidations of the
means pointed out in the second chapter.
The dhyanayoga is one of the various yogas referred to in
the Bhagavadgita. The sixth chapter of the Bhagavadgita is
named as atmasamyamanayoga by few commentators and a few
others call it dhyanayoga.
Sankaracharya, who calls it
dhyanayoga, asserts in his introduction that the sixth chapter is
nothing but an elucidation to the last three verses of the fifth
chapter. The basic characteristics of meditation are referred to in
the verses from 10 to 17 of the sixth chapter. It describes the
characteristic features of meditation.
The PSSM, founded by Brahmarshi Patriji in the year 1990,
thrives to obtain complete Health, Happiness and Harmony
through meditation for the entire humanity. According to PSSM,
anapanasati meditation is the only perfect and powerful
technique among various meditational techniques referred to by
various masters at different times. In this process the meditation
is neither a prayer nor chanting a mantra nor mere
contemplation. Meditation is the freedom from thoughts, a state
of no mind. During the meditation attention of the mind should
constantly be kept on the ones normal breathing process. It is a
joyful oneness with the breath. When one is with the breath
energy, the mind becomes rather empty. Then, there will be a
tremendous inflow of cosmic energy into the physical body

through brahmarandhra.
This cosmic
nadimandala and activates the third eye.

energy

cleanses

This meditation heals all kinds of diseases. It frees from

psychological disturbances like stress, tension, fear and anxiety.
It raises ability to discern right and wrong and enhances efficiency
to get things done in all fields.
Human relations and
understanding of life will be strengthened. Mind always stays in a
peaceful and joyful state.
Though the anapanasati is drawn from the Lord Buddha, it
reminds one the following verses of Bhagavadgita



In the following verses of sixth adhyaya, the place and
procedures of meditation and the conditions prescribed for a
meditator are clearly stated









Brahmarshi Patriji has translated Bhagavadgita in the name
of Srikrishnaamrutam, wherein he chooses a few selective

verses and interprets them as to suit to the philosophy of PSS

Movement.
While
agreeing
with
almost
all
these
prescriptions/conditions for meditation, Brahmarshi Patriji
supplants certain modification to suit the requirements and
convenience of the men of computer age. They are
1. When Gita suggests a secret or inhabitant place and
loneliness as convenient place for meditation, Patriji
suggests group meditations, full-moon day meditations
and mass meditations which are more powerful than the
individual meditation.
2. With reference to meditative posture [asana] and seating
arrangement he recommends sukhasthiraasana and that
facilitates the meditator to sit for longer durations and is
allowed to sit either on a chair or sofa or to take the
support of a wall etc.,
3. According to Patriji, the verse 13 is not intended to speak
the erectness of the body, neck and head but speaks of
the unity among the deed [kaya], word [griva] and
thought [sirah]. He explains that the gaze in the closed
eyes is to be set not on the tip of the nose but on the
starting point of the nose that is between the two eyebrows.
4. He advises to meticulouslyadhere to the conditions
prescribed for meditators that they should be on
moderate diet, sleep and all other activities of life to reap
the maximum benefits of meditation. Overeating and
complete fasting, too much sleeping and over awareness
are strictly forbidden. For a comprehensive understanding
and the uniqueness of this meditation as envisaged by
Brahmarshi Patriji, it is suggested to refer the book The
Art and Science of Meditation by Dr.Newton Kondaviti,
published by Life University, Hyderabad.

Thus the contribution of Bhagavadgita to a movement that

came into existence in the twenty first century is remarkable and
speaks of its eternality by meeting the needs of the changing
times.