Bhagavad Gita · 6.34 · Path of Meditation·34 of 47
चञ्चलं हि मनः कृष्ण प्रमाथि बलवद्दृढम्।तस्याहं निग्रहं मन्ये वायोरिव सुदुष्करम् ॥
chañchalaṁ hi manaḥ kṛiṣhṇa pramāthi balavad
dṛiḍham tasyāhaṁ nigrahaṁ manye vāyor iva su-duṣhkaram
Sanskrit recitation
When the mind will not stay · 6.33–6.47 · Teaching
Translation
The mind is indeed restless, turbulent, strong, and unyielding, O Krishna; I consider it as difficult to control as controlling the wind.
Meaning
The mind constantly changes its objects and so it is ever restless.Krishna is derived from Krish which means to scrape. He scrapes all the sins, evils, and the causes of evil from the hearts of His devotees. Therefore He is called Krishna.The mind is not only restless but also turbulent or impetuous, strong and obstinate. It produces violent agitation in the body and the senses. The mind is drawn by the objects in all directions. It works always in conjunction with the five senses. It is drawn by them to the five kinds of objects. Therefore it is ever restless. It enjoys the five kinds of sensobjects with the help of these senses and the body. Therefore it makes them subject to external influences. It is even more difficult to control it than to control the wind. The mind is born of Vayutanmatra (wind rootelement). That is the reason why it is as restless as the wind.
After Swami Sivananda
When the mind will not stay· 6.33–6.47→
Teachers usually read this idea across several verses together, one shared reflection covers the whole unit.
- 6.33Arjuna said, "O Krishna, I do not see how this Yoga of equanimity, which you have taught me, can be maintained steadily, due to the restlessness of the mind."
6.34The mind is indeed restless, turbulent, strong, and unyielding, O Krishna; I consider it as difficult to control as controlling the wind.
- 6.35The Blessed Lord said, "Undoubtedly, O mighty-armed Arjuna, the mind is difficult to control and restless; but with practice and dispassion, it can be restrained."
- 6.36I think Yoga is hard to be attained by one with an uncontrolled self, but the self-controlled and striving one can attain it by the appropriate means.
- 6.37Arjuna said, "He who is unable to control himself, even though he has faith, and whose mind wanders away from Yoga, what end does he meet, having failed to attain perfection in Yoga, O Krishna?"
- 6.38Fallen from both, does he not perish like a rent cloud, supportless, O mighty-armed one, deluded on the path of Brahman?
- 6.39O Krishna, please completely dispel this doubt of mine, for it is not possible for anyone but You to do so.
- 6.40The Blessed Lord said, "O Arjuna, neither in this world nor in the next will there be destruction for him; none, indeed, who does good, O my son, ever comes to grief."
- 6.41Having attained to the worlds of the righteous and having dwelt there for everlasting years, he who fell from Yoga is born in a house of the pure and wealthy.
- 6.42Or he is born in a family of even the wisest of yogis; verily, such a birth is very difficult to obtain in this world.
- 6.43Then he comes into contact with the knowledge acquired in his former body and strives even more for perfection, O Arjuna.
- 6.44By that same former practice, he is borne on in spite of himself. Even he who merely wishes to know Yoga goes beyond the Brahmanic word.
- 6.45But the Yogi who strives assiduously, purified of sins and perfected gradually over many births, reaches the highest goal.
- 6.46The yogi is thought to be superior to the ascetics, even superior to those who have knowledge obtained through the study of scriptures; he is also superior to men of action; therefore, be thou a yogi, O Arjuna.
- 6.47And among all the Yogis, he who, full of faith and with his inner self merged in Me, worships Me is deemed by Me to be the most devoted.
Word-by-word→
- chañchalam
- restless
- hi
- certainly
- manaḥ
- mind
- kṛiṣhṇa
- Shree Krishna
- pramāthi
- turbulent
- bala-vat
- strong
- dṛiḍham
- obstinate
- tasya
- its
- aham
- I
- nigraham
- control
- manye
- think
- vāyoḥ
- of the wind
- iva
- like
- su-duṣhkaram
- difficult to perform
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