6.19 A lamp in a windless place Krishna speaks
यथा दीपो निवातस्थो नेङ्गते सोपमा स्मृता
योगिनो यतचित्तस्य युञ्जतो योगमात्मनः
yathā dīpo nivāta-stho neṅgate sopamā smṛitā
yogino yata-chittasya yuñjato yogam ātmanaḥ
As a lamp in a windless place does not flicker — that is the image held for one whose mind is disciplined, practising yoga of the self.
Explanation
A lamp in a windless place does not flicker.
This is the verse the chapter is named for, and the image is worth looking at closely.
The flame is not made stronger and it is not held still by force. Nothing is done to the lamp at all — the wind is what changed, and the steadiness follows from that.
Going further
Word by word
- yathā
- as
- dīpaḥ
- a lamp
- nivāta-sthaḥ
- in a windless place
- na
- does not
- iṅgate
- flickers
- sā
- this
- upamā
- analogy
- smṛitā
- is considered
- yoginaḥ
- of a yogi
- yata-chittasya
- whose mind is disciplined
- yuñjataḥ
- steadily practicing
- yogam
- in meditation
- ātmanaḥ
- on the Supreme
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A lamp in a windless place does not flicker. This is the verse the chapter is named for, and the image the art was made from.
Notice what carries the meaning: not the flame's brightness but the absence of wind. The lamp is doing nothing special. The condition has changed around it, and the stillness follows from that rather than from effort. Everything in the preceding eighteen verses is about arranging the windlessness.