Krishna begins by repeating that real renunciation is not walking away from your work. Whoever does the right work without chasing gain is both a renouncer and a yogi, and the man who lights no fire and lifts no hand is neither. Let each person raise the self by the soul and not trample it down, because the soul can be the self's friend or its enemy.
The self-governed person takes pleasure and pain, heat and cold, glory and shame in the same way. Clod, rock, and gold look alike to him, and he treats friends, strangers, lovers, and enemies with equal grace. Krishna then describes the practice: sit alone in a still place on a cloth, a deerskin, and kusa-grass, hold the body and head steady, restrain the heart and senses, and rest the mind on Him. But there is a warning against too much fasting or feasting, too much sleep or too many vigils. The mind of such a yogi is like a lamp sheltered from the wind.
Arjuna objects that the heart is as wild as the wind, and no one could hold it. Krishna agrees it is hard, but says habit and steady self-command can tame it. Arjuna asks about the person who has faith and still fails, drifting like a cloud torn apart by lightning. Krishna says he is not lost. He is reborn, often in a good home, and picks up where he stopped. Such a yogi ranks above ascetics, scholars, and men of great deeds, and the truest of them, Krishna says, is the one who worships Him with his whole soul.
Coming Up in Chapter 7
Krishna begins a new teaching with a promise: if Arjuna keeps his soul fixed on Him and takes Him as refuge, he will know Him whole. Then Krishna names the parts of His lower nature, earth, water, flame, air, ether, life, and mind, and says a higher nature lies behind them.
