Bhagavad Gita 6.15
Spoken by Krishna ☆ Key verse · Verse 15 of 47
युञ्जन्नेवं सदात्मानं योगी नियतमानसः | शान्तिं निर्वाणपरमां मत्संस्थामधिगच्छति ||१५||
yuñjann evaṃ sadātmānaṃ yogī niyatamānasaḥ | śāntiṃ nirvāṇaparamāṃ matsaṃsthām adhigacchati || 15 ||
Practising thus always, with a controlled mind — the yogi reaches the supreme peace of nirvāṇa, abiding in the Supreme.
Word by word (4)
- yuñjann evaṃ sadā ātmānaṃ
- — practising thus always, yoked to the self · yuñjan = practising (present participle, continuous — the ongoing action). evaṃ = thus (as described in V10-14). sadā = always, continuously. The practice is daily, sustained, not intermittent. This is the 'satatam' (constantly) of V10 now restated at the end of the instruction sequence — beginning and ending with the same call to consistency.
- niyata-mānasaḥ
- — with a controlled/regulated mind · niyata = regulated, restrained, disciplined (from ni + √yam). mānasa = of the mind. The phrase echoes the entire V10-14 sequence: the controlled mind is the result of all the prior conditions — solitude, one-pointedness, posture, fearlessness, supreme reference. By V15, the mind has been gathered.
- śāntiṃ nirvāṇa-paramāṃ
- — the peace that is the highest nirvāṇa · śānti = peace. nirvāṇa = the extinguishing (nir = out, vāna = blowing — the blowing out of the flame of craving, ego, and suffering). paramaṃ = supreme, the highest. The compound: the peace that IS the highest nirvāṇa — not peace followed by nirvāṇa, but peace AS nirvāṇa. This is the Gita's one use of the Buddhist term nirvāṇa — deliberately: the highest peace of any tradition is the same.
- mat-saṃsthām adhigacchati
- — abiding in Me, the yogi reaches (it) · mat (Me/Mine) + saṃsthā (foundation, abode, established in). adhigacchati = reaches, arrives at. The peace described is not impersonal void but Brahman-grounded — 'abiding in Me.' The same devotional note as V14's 'mac-cittaḥ': the fruit of practice is not emptiness but presence — the presence of the Supreme, in which the ego has dissolved and the ātman abides without distortion.
Steadying the mind this way at all times, the yogi of disciplined mind attains the peace that rests in Me — the peace that is supreme release.
A modern analogy
Imagine a room that has been dusty and cluttered for years, with the windows painted over. Then one day: the clutter is cleared, the windows opened, the dust settles. The light that floods in was never absent — it was always there, outside. The cleaning didn't create the light; it removed what blocked it. This verse's nirvāṇa-peace is that light — the ātman's own nature, revealed when the ego-clutter is cleared by consistent practice.
What it does NOT mean
This verse's nirvāṇa is NOT the Buddhist concept of non-existence or void. The Gita's nirvāṇa is mat-saṃsthā — 'abiding in Me (Brahman/Krishna).' The extinguishing is of craving and ego, not of consciousness. What remains is the pure, blissful awareness that the ātman has always been — now recognised without the overlay of ego-distortion.
Take with you
- The fruit (peace/nirvāṇa) comes after the practice — the whole sequence of solitary discipline, posture, breath, and mind-steadying that the preceding verses describe. You cannot shortcut to the peace without that groundwork. The sequence is intentional and necessary.
- Mat-saṃsthā (abiding in Me) tells you what to aim for in practice — not emptiness or blankness, but a quality of resting in something vast and unchanging. That resting IS nirvāṇa-peace.
- The word 'always' (sadā here, satatam in the earlier call to constant practice) is the practical key. The peace comes not from a single breakthrough session but from the cumulative effect of consistent practice over months and years.
Public-domain translations (6) compare all →
The yogi, always thus practising the self with controlled mind, attains to peace — the supreme nirvāṇa — abiding in Me. [1]
The Yogi, having always thus controlled the mind, attains to peace, the highest Nirvana, which has Me for its essence. [4]
Thus, the Yogi always balancing the self, with controlled mind, reaches the peace of Nirvana, the supreme peace, abiding in Me. [5]
Thus, the self-restrained man, always directing his spirit thus, attains to the peace of Nirvana, the supreme, which rests in Me. [6]
Thus serving, with self subdued, the yogi endeth in Brahm, in peace supreme — Brahm's own peace everlasting. [7]
The Yogi, always (thus) regulating his self, and with mind restrained, obtains the tranquillity culminating in final emancipation and resting in Me. [9]
This verse speaks to
Where this thread continues
Peaceful, fearless, vowed to brahmacharya, mind on Krishna — yoked in practice, with the Supreme as the final goal.
Joy within, delight within, light within — that yogi, become Brahman, attains brahma-nirvāṇa.
Move through the world free from longing, free from 'mine,' free from ego — that is how peace is reached.
Quickly he becomes righteous and attains eternal peace — declare it, O Kuntī's son: My devotee is never destroyed.
Supreme bliss comes naturally to the yogi whose mind is fully at peace, passion quieted, stainless — Brahman-become.
The yogi abandons fruit and attains lasting peace. The non-yogi, bound to fruit by desire, is fettered.
Verse 15 of 47 · back to Chapter 6