In the last few posts, we had been discussing the process of controlling and quietening the mind in great detail. Now, Arjuna who had been listening to all this from the Lord, suddenly had a major doubt. Arjuna was an intellectual student and so he attempts to shake the basic statement of the teacher. He says,
योऽयं योगस्त्वया प्रोक्तः साम्येन मधुसूदन ।
एतस्याहं न पश्यामि चञ्चलत्वात्स्थितिं स्थिराम् ॥६- ३३॥
yo.ayaM yogastvayaa proktaH saamyena madhusuudana .
etasyaahaM na pashyaami cha.nchalatvaatsthitim sthiraam.h .. 6.33..
Oh! Krishna, due to the restlessness of mind, I do not perceive the stability of this yoga in the form of equanimity which you have just spoken about.
madhusuudana – Oh Krishna – (the slayer of the demon Madhu) : yaH – which : ayaM – this : yogaH – yoga : tvayaa – by you : saamyena – in the form of equanimity : proktaH – has been spoken of : chanchalatvaat.h – due to restlessness of mind : ahaM – I : etasya - of this : sthiraaM sthitiM – stability : na pashyaami – do not perceive.
All along, the Lord had been talking about quietening the mind through yoga and Arjuna 
who had listened to everything now says, that he is not able to accept this because the mind is by nature so restless. How can the restless mind ever be made quiet? Equanimity means that the mind will not be affected by conflicting emotions and Arjuna wants to know how a restless mind which sways with desires can remain calm even when faced by conflicting emotions?
Once a surgeon, an engineer and a politician were discussing which of their professions was the oldest. The surgeon said, “You know that God created Eve from Adam’s rib. This is a surgical process and so a Surgeon’s profession is the oldest”. The engineer said, “But even before Adam was created, the whole world was created by bringing order from confusion. This is nothing but engineering. So an engineer’s profession is older”. The politician asked, “Who do you think created the confusion?”
When a student has a doubt, his mind is in confusion. Having heard all that was said, by the Lord, Arjuna was in great confusion. He also sums up the confusion that all of us feel when faced with something difficult. Rather than attempting to perform the task, our first response would be to say that it is something that is too difficult and nobody can do it. So to solve this doubt once and for all, the lord addresses this question also in the Gita. When a student asks a doubt, the teacher should not interrupt him in the middle. Lord Krishna is not just an ordinary teacher, he is also a psychiatrist who knows the mind of his student. He not only remains without interrupting, but also remains expressionless. When a person neither encourages nor discourages then the questioner feels that he has to elaborate further. Sometimes, people who have doubts elaborate so much that they forget the question itself. However, the Lord allows Arjuna to elaborate his point further and talk about the restlessness of his mind, which leads us on to our next post on this subject.
hi
the title given to this particular writing on Dhyan Yoga reminded me the phrase used sometimes “can there be a method in the madness?” meaning the same i.e. “can there be order in chaos?”
In modern management philosophy, there is what they call as “management by crisis” i.e. when a crisis is created, everyone is made to think alound and there is a great amout of “brain storming” to find a solution. Thus, we may say that creating “crisis” happens to be a requirement for finding a solution.
In the same way, if our mind was already at peace, there would be no need to make it peaceful. Thus the very fact that the nature of our mind is “chanchalam and asthiram ” i.e. very fickle and unstable, creates the need to make it peaceful.
This applies suprisingly to many of the national problems too. We often see that some events happen which catch the attention of all the public and then the political wizards start working to find a solution, as we normally see that the concern for security is more immediately after any untoward incident has taken place. In peace time one does not recognize the value of the “Armed Forces” but when there are clashes on the border , news papers find enough material to fill up the pages.
Thus, the fact that this world is running in an orderly manner is better understood when there is a “Tsunami” or “earthquake” , otherwise the humanity will take GOD for granted.
sort of liked this article
not all of it – there was a few points that i found a tad off however altogether it was a pleasant read, thanks for the post! 
Sincerely, Resa