Upanishads · Kaṭha 6.11
॥
Devanāgarī
तां योगम् इति मन्यन्ते स्थिराम् इन्द्रियधारणाम् ।
अप्रमत्तस् तदा भवति योगो हि प्रभवाप्ययौ
Transliteration (IAST)
tāṃ yogam iti manyante sthirām indriyadhāraṇām /
apramattas tadā bhavati yogo hi prabhavāpyayau
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
ताम्tāmthis; it
योगम्yogamas yoga; as the union
इतिitithus; how
मन्यन्तेmanyantethey consider; they understand [it to be]
स्थिराम्sthirāmfirm (sthira); steady; unwavering
इन्द्रियधारणाम्indriyadhāraṇāmthe holding of the senses (indriya-dhāraṇā); the holding of the instruments of perception; the collectedness of the senses
अप्रमत्तःapramattaḥundistracted (a-pramatta); vigilant; without wandering
तदाtadāthen; at the moment when
भवतिbhavatibecomes; is
योगःyogaḥyoga; junction
हिhiindeed; for
प्रभवprabhavathe arising (prabhava); the coming; birth
अप्ययौapyayauand the passing away (apyaya); and the going; and the waning
Translation
This — the firm holding of the senses — men deem to be yoga. Then [a man] becomes undistracted: for yoga is a coming and a going.
Version
29dd47b050b1 · published Jul 26, 2026, 9:13:03 PM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
tāṁ yogam iti manyante sthirām indriya-dhāraṇām — "this firm holding of the senses men deem to be yoga": here is the definition of yoga in its native house, in an Upaniṣad: not gymnastics and not trance but sthirā dhāraṇā — the steady holding of the whole team (horses, reins, charioteer — the entire image of the third vallī) in collectedness before the Highest.
apramattas tadā bhavati — "then he becomes undistracted": apramatta — free of pramāda, of heedlessness — that very quality whose absence (verse 35) gives a man over to the power of death. And the ground for vigilance: yogo hi prabhavāpyayau — "for yoga is an arising and a passing away": it comes and it goes; collectedness is not acquired for ever like a diploma — it is alive, like a flame in the wind, and needs the shelter of one's palms every day.
This is one of the most honest places in all the literature of spiritual practice: even at the threshold of perfection the state is not guaranteed. Hence not despondency but a sober tenderness toward one's own path: a lapse of collectedness is no catastrophe but its nature; the practitioner's business is not to "attain once and for all" but to return faster than he strays. The constancy of a path is made of thousands of returns.