When the mind comes to rest in the Self alone, and craving for every object falls away, yoga has arrived.
It is tempting to measure yoga by how still you sit or how much action you have set down. This verse moves the test inward: a mind that no longer rises into outward things, and a wanting that has quietly gone, are the two marks that say you have crossed into yoga itself.
When the controlled mind rests in the Self alone, free from craving for every object of desire, then one is said to be absorbed in yoga.
After the chapters of preparation and discipline, Krishna names the dividing line itself, the moment when a practitioner can finally be called yukta, settled in yoga.
Where they agreethe convergence
Across schools and centuries the commentators come to the same ground. These are the points they share, and the voices that hold each one.
Krishna gives a plain test for when you may be called yukta, settled in yoga: the verse begins with "when" because it marks the very moment preparation turns into the steady state.
Across Advaita, Viśiṣṭādvaita, Bhakti, Kashmir Śaiva, and the modern voicesŚaṅkara · Rāmānuja · Vedānta Deśika · Śrīdhara · Viśvanātha · Baladeva · Tilak · Abhinavagupta · DhanapatiIn Śaṅkara, Rāmānuja, and 7 others’ words
This verse answers a single, practical question: when can the practitioner finally be called 'yukta', meaning yoked, joined, united, settled in yoga? Krishna gives the test in plain terms. When the restrained mind comes to rest in the Self alone and the person no longer longs for any object of desire, then and only then is he called yukta. Several commentators note that the verse begins with 'when' (yada) precisely because it sets the moment, the dividing line, at which preparation turns into the steady yoga-state itself.
The first mark is inward stillness: the mind, thoroughly restrained, stops chasing outward things, comes to rest in the Self alone, and there grows quiet and unmoving.
Across Advaita, Viśiṣṭādvaita, Bhakti, and the modern voicesŚaṅkara · Ānandagiri · Madhusūdana · Nīlakaṇṭha · Rāmānuja · Śrīdhara · Viśvanātha · Baladeva · Sivananda · RamsukhdasIn Śaṅkara, Ānandagiri, and 8 others’ words
The first half of the test is inward stillness. The Sanskrit 'viniyatam chittam' means the mind specially or thoroughly restrained, brought past ordinary control to one-pointedness and beyond, so that it stops chasing outward objects and stands motionless. The commentators unpack 'restrained' as more than mild self-discipline: the mind is drawn out of all object-wishes, made obedient, sunk into its source, and held unmoving. Coming 'to rest in the Self alone' (atmany eva avatishthate) means it abides in nothing but the Self, no longer rising into outward forms, and there it grows still.
The second mark is the drying up of desire: the longing for every object, near and far, here and hereafter, has departed, and this falling-away is the real interior sign that yoga has come.
Across Advaita, Viśiṣṭādvaita, Bhakti, Śuddhādvaita, Kashmir Śaiva, and the modern voicesŚaṅkara · Madhusūdana · Vedānta Deśika · Śrīdhara · Puruṣottama · Abhinavagupta · Tilak · Rāmānuja · DhanapatiIn Śaṅkara, Madhusūdana, and 7 others’ words
The second half of the test is the drying up of desire. 'Nihsprhah sarva-kamebhyah' means free of longing for all desires, with the craving for every object, seen and unseen, here and hereafter, fully departed. Many commentators stress that this is the interior mark, the real sign that yoga has arrived: not the mere cessation of outward action but the stilling of every wanting. Some add that this freedom comes about through actually perceiving the defects in objects, so the thirst for them simply falls away rather than being forcibly suppressed.
Both marks must hold together, two sides of one settled state; this verse opens the movement of teaching that the following verses, up to the lamp in a windless place, will describe.
Across Advaita, Bhakti, Viśiṣṭādvaita, and the modern voicesŚaṅkara · Śrīdhara · Vedānta Deśika · Nīlakaṇṭha · Viśvanātha · Baladeva · RamsukhdasIn Śaṅkara, Śrīdhara, and 5 others’ words
Both marks must hold together; the inward stillness and the absence of craving are two sides of one accomplished state. Only when the mind rests in the Self and the longing has gone is the person pronounced yukta. Several commentators read this verse as opening a whole movement of teaching: it sets the standard, and the verses that follow (through the famous lamp-in-a-windless-place image) will describe and illustrate this same settled yogin. The verse therefore functions as a doorway, marking the candidate's crossing from preparatory work into the steady abiding of yoga proper.
This is the shared ground; it can be carried as it is. Below is where they differ.
Where they differthe divergence
Advaita Vedānta, in their fuller words
These commentators read 'rests in the Self alone' as the mind dissolving into its own true substrate, which is pure consciousness. One notes that the very reality of the imagined mind is the Self alone, so the mind, warded off from everything else, simply sinks into what it always was, and 'alone' here carries the sense of non-duality. The state is described in the technical language of the deepest meditation: the mind, naturally able to take the form of any object, has its movements wholly restrained and stands subdued and motionless, with the conscious power alone now predominating; this is named the absorption-without-cognition, beyond even one-pointed concentration, and is called the seedless or thought-free condition in which the yogin attains all-Self-ness and so has nothing left to yearn for.
Dvaita, in their fuller words
These commentators take a deliberate precaution against reading 'rests in the Self alone' as the soul resting in its own isolated self. The phrase must mean the mind comes to rest in the Self in the higher sense, for otherwise the verse would clash with the Gita's own later words about knowing and reaching the Lord. The brief gloss thus guards the distinction between the individual and the supreme: the resting is not a collapse into one's private selfhood but an abiding oriented beyond it.
Śuddhādvaita, in their fuller words
These commentators read the verse as the description of the truly accomplished or perfected yogin, the 'siddha-yogin' settled in the seedless, supreme absorption. Their distinctive emphasis is on what 'free of all desires' must include: the longing that has to fall away is not only worldly craving but the pull of the eightfold yogic perfections and lordly powers themselves. Only when even these prizes of yoga have lost their attraction is the seedless state pronounced. One adds that giving up even these powers is precisely what clears the room for the Lord to be received as the sole object, with no rival aim drawing any portion of the mind aside; the Self in which the mind rests is read as the divine 'bhava'-form, and the stilled wanting is specifically every desire that did not have its source in Him.
Bhakti, in their fuller words
These commentators frame the verse as the answer to a natural question: when does a person's yoga become perfected or accomplished? They read the two marks plainly and together, the unmoving inward stillness and the drying up of craving for all enjoyments here and hereafter. One emphasizes that the resting is in one's very own self, becoming simply still. One devotional commentator adds an experiential note: when outward actions are regulated by measured means, inner happiness expands of itself and the path of yoga opens easily, almost like good fortune walking to one's door, so that the person of regulated activity comes to adorn the seat of liberation.
A modern reading, in their fuller words
These commentators state the test directly and draw out its fruit. When all desire for objects of pleasure, seen or unseen, dies, the mind grows very peaceful and rests steadily in the Supreme Self within; the harmonised yogin, having attained oneness with the Self, is no longer disturbed by sense phenomena or bodily affections and is conscious of his immortal, imperishable nature. One explains 'yukta' itself as meaning united with the Self, harmonised, balanced, since without that union neither harmony nor balance nor deep absorption is possible. One non-sectarian devotional voice describes the Self the mind settles into as that which simply is: what was before all came to be, what will remain after all dissolves, what even now is just as it is; and he adds that the bliss native to this own true nature is a joy the mind has never tasted anywhere else, so that the moment it tastes it, the mind becomes wholly absorbed in it.
A few questions to carry
These ask for understanding, not recall; each answer is settled by the commentary itself.
For a second sitting
Carry this with youwhat stays
Let the test be a comfort, not a burden. The verse asks for two things together: a mind that has stopped chasing the world and come to rest in your own true nature, and the quiet falling-away of every craving. But notice what your true nature is said to be. It is that which already was before anything came to be, that which will remain when everything dissolves, and that which even now simply is, just as it is. You are not asked to manufacture it; you are asked to settle into it. And the reason desire can fall away is not grim self-denial. The bliss that lives in your own true nature is a joy the mind has never once tasted anywhere else, in any object, at any time. So the moment that joy is actually tasted, the mind does not have to be forced still; it becomes wholly absorbed in it of its own accord. Practice, then, less as a clenching and more as a coming-home to the rest that was always there.
You are not asked to manufacture your own nature, only to settle into the rest that was always there, and to let desire fall away not by grim denial but because something better has at last been found.
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Convergence
his verse answers a single, practical question: when can the practitioner finally be called 'yukta', meaning yoked, joined, united, settled in yoga? Krishna gives the test in plain terms. When the restrained mind comes to rest in the Self alone and the person no longer longs for any object of desire, then and only then is he called yukta. Several commentators note that the verse begins with 'when' (yada) precisely because it sets the moment, the dividing line, at which preparation turns into the steady yoga-state itself.
Braided from 9 commentators
Śaṅkarācārya · Rāmānujācārya · Vedānta Deśika · Śrīdhara Svāmī · Śrīla Viśvanātha · Śrīla Baladeva · Lokmanya Tilak · Ācārya Abhinavagupta · Dhanapati Sūri
The first half of the test is inward stillness. The Sanskrit 'viniyatam chittam' means the mind specially or thoroughly restrained, brought past ordinary control to one-pointedness and beyond, so that it stops chasing outward objects and stands motionless. The commentators unpack 'restrained' as more than mild self-discipline: the mind is drawn out of all object-wishes, made obedient, sunk into its source, and held unmoving. Coming 'to rest in the Self alone' (atmany eva avatishthate) means it abides in nothing but the Self, no longer rising into outward forms, and there it grows still.
Braided from 10 commentators
Śaṅkarācārya · Śrī Ānandagiri · Madhusūdana Sarasvatī · Śrī Nīlakaṇṭha · Rāmānujācārya · Śrīdhara Svāmī · Śrīla Viśvanātha · Śrīla Baladeva · Swami Sivananda · Swami Ramsukhdas
The second half of the test is the drying up of desire. 'Nihsprhah sarva-kamebhyah' means free of longing for all desires, with the craving for every object, seen and unseen, here and hereafter, fully departed. Many commentators stress that this is the interior mark, the real sign that yoga has arrived: not the mere cessation of outward action but the stilling of every wanting. Some add that this freedom comes about through actually perceiving the defects in objects, so the thirst for them simply falls away rather than being forcibly suppressed.
Braided from 9 commentators
Śaṅkarācārya · Madhusūdana Sarasvatī · Vedānta Deśika · Śrīdhara Svāmī · Śrī Puruṣottama · Ācārya Abhinavagupta · Lokmanya Tilak · Rāmānujācārya · Dhanapati Sūri
Both marks must hold together; the inward stillness and the absence of craving are two sides of one accomplished state. Only when the mind rests in the Self and the longing has gone is the person pronounced yukta. Several commentators read this verse as opening a whole movement of teaching: it sets the standard, and the verses that follow (through the famous lamp-in-a-windless-place image) will describe and illustrate this same settled yogin. The verse therefore functions as a doorway, marking the candidate's crossing from preparatory work into the steady abiding of yoga proper.
Braided from 7 commentators
Śaṅkarācārya · Śrīdhara Svāmī · Vedānta Deśika · Śrī Nīlakaṇṭha · Śrīla Viśvanātha · Śrīla Baladeva · Swami Ramsukhdas
Divergence
Advaita Vedānta
These commentators read 'rests in the Self alone' as the mind dissolving into its own true substrate, which is pure consciousness. One notes that the very reality of the imagined mind is the Self alone, so the mind, warded off from everything else, simply sinks into what it always was, and 'alone' here carries the sense of non-duality. The state is described in the technical language of the deepest meditation: the mind, naturally able to take the form of any object, has its movements wholly restrained and stands subdued and motionless, with the conscious power alone now predominating; this is named the absorption-without-cognition, beyond even one-pointed concentration, and is called the seedless or thought-free condition in which the yogin attains all-Self-ness and so has nothing left to yearn for.
Śaṅkarācārya · Śrī Ānandagiri · Madhusūdana Sarasvatī · Śrī Nīlakaṇṭha
Dvaita
These commentators take a deliberate precaution against reading 'rests in the Self alone' as the soul resting in its own isolated self. The phrase must mean the mind comes to rest in the Self in the higher sense, for otherwise the verse would clash with the Gita's own later words about knowing and reaching the Lord. The brief gloss thus guards the distinction between the individual and the supreme: the resting is not a collapse into one's private selfhood but an abiding oriented beyond it.
Madhvācārya · Śrī Jayatīrtha
Śuddhādvaita
These commentators read the verse as the description of the truly accomplished or perfected yogin, the 'siddha-yogin' settled in the seedless, supreme absorption. Their distinctive emphasis is on what 'free of all desires' must include: the longing that has to fall away is not only worldly craving but the pull of the eightfold yogic perfections and lordly powers themselves. Only when even these prizes of yoga have lost their attraction is the seedless state pronounced. One adds that giving up even these powers is precisely what clears the room for the Lord to be received as the sole object, with no rival aim drawing any portion of the mind aside; the Self in which the mind rests is read as the divine 'bhava'-form, and the stilled wanting is specifically every desire that did not have its source in Him.
Vallabhācārya · Śrī Puruṣottama
Bhakti
These commentators frame the verse as the answer to a natural question: when does a person's yoga become perfected or accomplished? They read the two marks plainly and together, the unmoving inward stillness and the drying up of craving for all enjoyments here and hereafter. One emphasizes that the resting is in one's very own self, becoming simply still. One devotional commentator adds an experiential note: when outward actions are regulated by measured means, inner happiness expands of itself and the path of yoga opens easily, almost like good fortune walking to one's door, so that the person of regulated activity comes to adorn the seat of liberation.
Śrīdhara Svāmī · Śrīla Viśvanātha · Śrīla Baladeva · Sant Jñāneśvar
Modern
These commentators state the test directly and draw out its fruit. When all desire for objects of pleasure, seen or unseen, dies, the mind grows very peaceful and rests steadily in the Supreme Self within; the harmonised yogin, having attained oneness with the Self, is no longer disturbed by sense phenomena or bodily affections and is conscious of his immortal, imperishable nature. One explains 'yukta' itself as meaning united with the Self, harmonised, balanced, since without that union neither harmony nor balance nor deep absorption is possible. One non-sectarian devotional voice describes the Self the mind settles into as that which simply is: what was before all came to be, what will remain after all dissolves, what even now is just as it is; and he adds that the bliss native to this own true nature is a joy the mind has never tasted anywhere else, so that the moment it tastes it, the mind becomes wholly absorbed in it.
Swami Sivananda · Lokmanya Tilak · Swami Ramsukhdas
A Seeker Asks
Is becoming desireless and resting the mind in the Self a cold emptying-out, or does it open into something the mind actually wants more than the desires it gives up?
It is not a cold emptying-out. The dropping of desire is described as the natural result of the mind finding a deeper rest, not a forced suppression: when all desire for objects of pleasure seen or unseen dies, the mind becomes very peaceful and rests steadily in the Supreme Self within, and the yogin, no longer disturbed by sense phenomena, becomes conscious of his immortal, imperishable nature.
Swami Sivananda · Śaṅkarācārya
What the mind gains is positively more attractive than what it gives up. One commentator says plainly that the bliss native to one's own true nature is a joy the mind has never tasted in any object at any time, so that the instant it is tasted the mind becomes wholly absorbed in it; the wanting falls away because something better has finally been found.
Swami Ramsukhdas
Even the freedom from desire itself is read as making room rather than leaving a void: when craving falls away, even for the powers and prizes of yoga, the space it leaves is filled by the Self, or by the Lord received as the sole object, with no rival aim drawing the mind aside.
Śrī Puruṣottama · Vallabhācārya
Contemplation
Let the test be a comfort, not a burden. The verse asks for two things together: a mind that has stopped chasing the world and come to rest in your own true nature, and the quiet falling-away of every craving. But notice what your true nature is said to be. It is that which already was before anything came to be, that which will remain when everything dissolves, and that which even now simply is, just as it is. You are not asked to manufacture it; you are asked to settle into it. And the reason desire can fall away is not grim self-denial. The bliss that lives in your own true nature is a joy the mind has never once tasted anywhere else, in any object, at any time. So the moment that joy is actually tasted, the mind does not have to be forced still; it becomes wholly absorbed in it of its own accord. Practice, then, less as a clenching and more as a coming-home to the rest that was always there.
Sit with this · Swami Ramsukhdas
All the translations and commentary
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