Srimad Bhagavad Gita -Ramanujacharya 218

Srimad Bhagavad Gita -Ramanujacharya

Chapter-6 Dhyāna Yogaḥ

arjuna uvāca ayatiḥ śraddhayopeto yogāc-calita-mānasaḥ | aprāpya yoga-saṃsiddhiṃ kāṃ gatiṃ kṛṣṇa gacchati || 37 || Arjuna said: 37. What becomes of that person, O Krishna, who has conviction, but due to the wandering of the mind and the lack of diligent effort, fails to attain perfection in [meditation] Yoga? kaccin-nobhaya-vibhraṣṭaś-chinnābhram iva naśyati | apratiṣṭho mahābāho vimūḍho brahmaṇaḥ pathi || 38 || 38. Having no support, confused in the path leading to Brahman, and thus fallen from both, does one not perish, O mighty armed, like a broken cloud? etan-me saṃśayaṃ kṛṣṇa chettum arhasy-aśeṣataḥ | tvad-anyaḥ saṃśayasyāsya chettā na hy-upapadyate || 39 || 39. This doubt of mine, O Krishna, you should remove completely for there is no other than you who can dispel it. Commentary What happens to one who has undertaken to practice meditation with sincerity, but does not have the ability to sustain diligent exertion in practice, nor actually succeeds in the practice, and whose mind constantly wanders? Does such a person perish like a small piece of cloud torn from a large mass of cloud — annihilated without reaching another large mass of cloud? Now, does one fall on both accounts? One is without support and is confused about the path leading to Self-realisation. He is without support in the sense that Karma or rituals which constitute the means for attaining heaven etc., do not provide support to a person who has rejected their rewards. He is also confused about the path leading to the Brahman [Self-realisation] on which he has just begun his [spiritual] journey— he has lost his way. Does he then become destroyed by failing on both accounts the attainment of heaven through Ritualism on the one hand and liberation through Meditation on the other.