यत्रोपरमते चित्तं निरुद्धं योगसेवया | यत्र चैवात्मनात्मानं पश्यन्नात्मनि तुष्यति ||२०||
yatroparamate cittaṃ niruddhaṃ yogasevayā | yatra caivātmanātmānaṃ paśyann ātmani tuṣyati || 20 ||
Where the mind ceases, stilled by yoga — where the Self sees itself and rests content in itself: this is samādhi.
Word by word (3)
- yatra uparamate cittaṃ niruddhaṃ yoga-sevayā
- — where the mind ceases (its activity), restrained by the practice of yoga · yatra = where (the state in which). uparamate = comes to rest, ceases (upa + √ram, to stop, to be still — also implies delight in the stopping). cittaṃ = mind-stuff. niruddha = fully restrained, held back (from ni + √rudh — the same root as Patañjali's 'nirodha' in Yoga Sūtra 1.2). yoga-sevayā = by the practice/service of yoga (sevā = dedicated practice, service).
- yatra ca eva ātmanā ātmānaṃ paśyan
- — and where, seeing the Self by the Self · ātmanā = by the Self (instrumental case). ātmānaṃ = the Self (accusative). paśyan = seeing (present participle). The profound phrase: the Self is seen BY the Self. Not by any external instrument — not the senses, not the intellect functioning as a separate observer — but by the Self directly knowing itself. This is the Advaita svarūpa-darśana: consciousness becoming transparent to itself, subject and object collapsing.
- ātmani tuṣyati
- — is content/satisfied in the Self · tuṣyati = is satisfied, is content (from √tuṣ, to be satisfied). ātmani = in the Self. The culminating phrase: in the state of the Self seeing the Self, there is contentment — not ecstasy, not dramatic experience, but a deep, stable satisfaction that needs nothing added. This is the Gita's clearest description of ātmānanda (the bliss of the Self) — and it is described as contentment, not excitement.
The state of samādhi (the deepest meditative absorption): the mind — brought to cessation through sustained yoga practice — comes completely to rest. In that rest, the Self knows itself BY itself (not through any external instrument), and is content — finding complete satisfaction in its own nature.
A modern analogy
Imagine spending your whole life searching for home — moving from city to city, relationship to relationship, achievement to achievement, never quite feeling at home. Then one day you stop moving. And in that stopping, you recognise: home is what you are carrying with you everywhere. The Self is home. V20's contentment is that recognition. The searching was always looking in the wrong direction.
What it does NOT mean
V20's contentment is NOT the contentment of pleasure-satisfaction (where you got what you wanted). It is the contentment of the mirror fully reflecting itself — where there is nothing to long for because you have discovered that you ARE what you were longing for.
Take with you
- V20 describes the state AFTER the practices of V10-19 have done their work. You cannot rush here. But knowing what the destination looks like (contentment, not ecstasy; ceasing, not achievement) prevents misidentifying lesser states.
- The phrase 'ātmanā ātmānaṃ paśyan' (Self seeing Self) is the key marker. In ordinary states, there is always a seer and a seen. In V20, this duality collapses. When in meditation you notice that the watcher and the watched have become one field — that is the approach to V20.
- Tuṣyati (contentment in the Self) is the practical test: after a genuinely deep practice session, there is a quality of completion — nothing to add, nothing to seek. That quality, however brief, is V20 touching your experience.
V20 begins the most technically dense section of Ch.6 (V20-23): the direct description of samādhi and its characteristics. The verse has two main components: (1) the condition (niruddha citta — the mind in nirodha, cessation) and (2) the experience (ātmanā ātmānaṃ paśyann ātmani tuṣyati — Self seeing Self, content in Self). The compound 'ātmanā ātmānaṃ' (Self by Self) is philosophically crucial. In ordinary cognition, knowing requires: (a) a knower, (b) a known object, (c) an instrument of knowing. In V20's state, all three collapse into one: the ātman knows itself without requiring an external instrument or an object separate from itself. This is what Advaita calls 'svarūpa-pratyabhijñā' — the ātman's direct recognition of its own nature.
Advaita lens
Shankaracharya's commentary on V20 is one of his most precise: 'ātmanā ātmānaṃ' means the pure consciousness (cit) knowing itself as pure consciousness — not through the mediation of the mind (which would interpose a subject-object division), but directly, by being what it knows. This is the state of 'ahaṃ brahmāsmi' not as a verbal statement but as a lived, experienced reality. The satisfaction (tuṣyati) is the natural state of the ātman recognised — ānanda (bliss) is the nature of Brahman, and when the ātman knows itself AS Brahman, that ānanda is the natural experiential quality.
Bhakti lens
The bhakta reads 'ātmanā ātmānaṃ paśyati' as: the individual soul sees the Supreme Soul (Krishna) by the grace of the Supreme Soul itself — the devotee is transparent to the Divine, and the Divine reveals itself through the devotee's own purified consciousness. The 'Self by Self' is the Divine knowing itself through the devotee's heart.
Karma-Yoga lens
For the karma yogi, V20 is the inner ground from which all action flows without ego-contamination. When the Self has seen itself (even once, even briefly), action from that ground is inherently selfless — not because you are trying to be selfless, but because the illusion of a separate self that needs to be served has been temporarily dissolved.
Modern parallels
The state V20 describes has been documented in contemplative neuroscience: deep meditators in certain states show the dissolution of the 'self-referential' network (default mode network, associated with the sense of a separate self), with simultaneous heightening of undifferentiated awareness. This is V20's niruddha citta (cessation of mind-activity) paired with tuṣyati (contentment in the remaining awareness).
Practice
At the point in your practice where the technique has settled and the mind is relatively quiet, try this: drop all technique. Let the awareness rest without any object. Then ask (very gently, without effort): 'What is aware right now?' Don't answer with words — look. The looking itself, when the mind is sufficiently settled, can become 'ātmanā ātmānaṃ paśyati' — awareness becoming transparent to itself. Rest in whatever quality arises.
Public-domain translations (6) compare all →
Where the mind, restrained by yoga-practice, comes to cessation — where seeing the Self by the Self, one is satisfied in the Self. [1]
Where the mind, restrained by the practice of Yoga, attains quietude — where seeing the Self by the Self, one is satisfied in the Self. [4]
Where the mind, restrained by the practice of Yoga, finds rest; where, seeing the Self by the Self, one is content in the Self. [5]
Where the mind quitted from the practice of Yoga finds rest, and where contemplating the Self, by the Self, one is satisfied in the Self. [6]
When mind broods placid, soothed with holy wont — when Self contemplates self, and in itself hath comfort. [7]
When the mind, checked by the practice of concentration, becomes quiescent; when, seeing the Self by the Self, one is satisfied in one's own Self. [9]
This verse speaks to
Where this thread continues
As a lamp in a windless place does not flicker — so is the mind of the yogi who practises the yoga of the Self.
Boundless joy beyond the senses, grasped by the purified intellect — once known, one never moves from the Reality.
Steady wisdom begins here: when all desires fall away and the Self finds fullness in itself alone.
Your own mind is your best friend when mastered; your worst enemy when not.
The self-conquered yogi finds the Supreme Self equally present through cold, heat, joy, pain, honour and dishonour.
Satisfied by knowledge and realisation, senses mastered, gold and mud equally seen — this is the true steadfast yogi.