Bhagavad Gītā Chapter VI — Self-Restraint (Atmasanyamayog)

N=1 distillation. Source: Arnold, The Song Celestial (1885), Gutenberg #2388. Quotes pending Phase 7. Tags: ../00-methodology.md. Citation Gītā 6.

Chapter role

The Gītā's manual of meditation (dhyāna-yoga). It teaches that one's self can be one's own best friend or worst enemy; prescribes moderation (the "middle way" of eating, sleeping, working); gives the famous image of the steady mind as "a lamp… sheltered from the wind"; and reassures Arjuna that no sincere spiritual effort is ever wasted — the one who fails is reborn into favourable conditions to continue.

Atomic statements

G6-C1: Let a man raise himself by his own self; the self is the self's friend when mastered, its enemy when not. (FOUNDATIONAL / EQUANIMITY+YOGA-PATHS)

• Gītā 6: "Let each man raise / The Self by Soul, not trample down his Self, / Since Soul that is Self's friend may grow Self's foe. / Soul is Self's friend when Self doth rule o'er Self…"
• Stance: assert · Importance: core

G6-C2: The yogi sits in a still, solitary place with controlled thought, equal-eyed to clod, rock, and gold, befriending and bearing equal heart toward all — friend, foe, stranger, kin. (OPERATIONAL / EQUANIMITY+YOGA-PATHS)

• Gītā 6: "Being of equal grace to comrades, friends, / Chance-comers, strangers, lovers, enemies, / Aliens and kinsmen; loving all alike, / Evil or good." / "Sequestered should he sit, / Steadfastly meditating, solitary…"
• Stance: assert · Importance: core

G6-C3: Yoga is for the moderate, not the extreme: not for one who fasts or feasts too much, sleeps or wakes too much; "moderate in eating and in resting." (OPERATIONAL / YOGA-PATHS)

• Gītā 6: "Religion is not his who too much fasts / Or too much feasts… call / That the true piety which most removes / Earth-aches and ills, where one is moderate / In eating and in resting, and in sport…"
• Stance: assert · Importance: supporting

G6-C4: The disciplined mind is "a lamp… sheltered from the wind"; the restless mind, hard as the wind to hold, is nonetheless tamed by practice and dispassion. (OPERATIONAL / YOGA-PATHS+DESIRE)

• Gītā 6: "Steadfast a lamp burns sheltered from the wind; / Such is the likeness of the Yogi's mind…" / "Man's heart is to restrain, and wavering; / Yet may it grow restrained by habit… / By wont of self-command."
• Stance: assert · Importance: core

G6-C5: No striver after good ever perishes; one who fails in yoga is reborn into a pure or yogic home and resumes the path. (FOUNDATIONAL / KARMA-SAMSARA+MOKSHA)

• Gītā 6: "He is not lost, thou Son of Pritha! No!… / Because no heart that holds one right desire / Treadeth the road of loss!" / "born anew, / Beginneth life again in some fair home… / he strives anew / To perfectness, with better hope…"
• Stance: assert · Importance: core

Step 4 — Clusters

Cluster	Atomic statements	Intent
Self-mastery	C1	The self is its own friend or foe
The meditative discipline	C2, C3, C4	Solitude, equanimity, moderation, the steady mind
Reassurance	C5	No sincere effort is wasted across lives

Step 5 — Internal tensions

None genuine.

Step 6 — Synthesized chapter principles

G6-P1: One is one's own friend or enemy — raise the self by the self

Self-mastery is the hinge: the disciplined self is one's greatest ally; the undisciplined, one's worst foe.

• Tier: FOUNDATIONAL · Domain: EQUANIMITY+YOGA-PATHS · Covers: C1 · Evidence: Gītā 6

G6-P2: Meditation requires moderation and an even mind

The path of dhyāna is walked through solitude, equanimity toward all beings, and the "middle way" of moderation in food, sleep, and work — making the mind a steady lamp.

• Tier: OPERATIONAL · Domain: YOGA-PATHS+EQUANIMITY · Covers: C2, C3, C4 · Evidence: Gītā 6 · Untranslatable: dhyāna

G6-P3: The restless mind is tamed by practice

Though the mind is as hard to hold as the wind, steady practice (abhyāsa) and dispassion bring it under control.

• Tier: OPERATIONAL · Domain: YOGA-PATHS+DESIRE · Covers: C4 · Evidence: Gītā 6

G6-P4: No spiritual effort is ever lost

One who strives toward the good never perishes; even the one who fails is reborn into favourable conditions and resumes the journey.

• Tier: FOUNDATIONAL · Domain: KARMA-SAMSARA+MOKSHA · Covers: C5 · Evidence: Gītā 6

Step 7 — Traceability

Principle	Atomic statements	Citation
G6-P1	C1	Gītā 6
G6-P2	C2, C3, C4	Gītā 6
G6-P3	C4	Gītā 6
G6-P4	C5	Gītā 6

Step 8 — Quality

• Coverage: high. Orphaned: <10%. Principles: 4. Traceability: 100%.

Step 9 — Validation

• Claim-vs-warrant: G6-P1 (self-mastery), G6-P2 (moderation; the even mind), and G6-P3 (practice tames the mind) read as universal contemplative/ethical claims and converge widely (cf. the Buddhist "primacy and cultivation of mind," and ascetic-moderation traditions across faiths). G6-P4 carries a frame-specific warrant: the claim (no genuine spiritual effort is wasted) is consoling and portable, but its warrant — continuation across rebirths into favourable wombs — presupposes saṃsāra and diverges from single-life traditions.