Bhagavad Gita 6.11
शुचौ देशे प्रतिष्ठाप्य स्थिरमासनमात्मनः | नात्युच्छ्रितं नातिनीचं चैलाजिनकुशोत्तरम् ||
śucau deśe pratiṣṭhāpya sthiram āsanam ātmanaḥ | nāty-ucchritaṁ nāti-nīcaṁ cailājina-kuśottaram ||
Translation
In a pure spot, having fixed for himself a seat neither too high nor too low, and covered over with cloth, a deerskin, and blades of kuśa grass,
Reflection
What small physical excuse does your mind use in the first quarter hour to get up from the seat?
Read this verse in its chapter: Chapter Six
The teaching turns suddenly practical. The seat is to be steady, not perched, not pressed to the floor. Three layers go down on it, soft over hide over grass. Krishna is not romanticising the cushion. He is removing the small physical excuses the mind likes to invent in the first quarter hour of sitting. Too high and the back tires. Too low and the legs sleep. Wrong covering and the spot turns cold or itchy. He is saying that even before any inner work begins, the body has to be set up so that it does not become the loudest voice in the room. Practical care, then practice.