BG 6.26
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Devanagari
यतो यतो निश्चलति मनश्चञ्चलमस्थिरम् ।
ततस्ततो नियम्यैतदात्मन्येव वशं नयेत् ॥ २६ ॥
Verse text
yato yato niścalati
manaś caṣcalam asthiram
tatas tato niyamyaitad
ātmany eva vaśaṁ nayet
Synonyms
yataḥ yataḥ
—
wherever
;
niścalati
—
becomes verily agitated
;
manaḥ
—
the mind
;
caṣcalam
—
flickering
;
asthiram
—
unsteady
;
tataḥ tataḥ
—
from there
;
niyamya
—
regulating
;
etat
—
this
;
ātmani
—
in the Self
;
eva
—
certainly
;
vaśam
—
control
;
nayet
—
must bring under.
Translation
From wherever the mind wanders due to its flickering and unsteady nature, one must certainly withdraw it and bring it back under the control of the Self.
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
26. Restraining the fickle, unsteady mind from wherever it wanders, the yogī should keep it under control, fixing it on the self.
Translation (Baladeva Vidyabhusana)
26. Restraining the fickle, unsteady mind from wherever it wanders, the yogī, keeping it under control, makes it obedient to the self.
Purport
The nature of the mind is flickering and unsteady. But a self-realized yogī has to control the mind; the mind should not control him. One who controls the mind (and therefore the senses as well) is called gosvāmī, or svāmī, and one who is controlled by the mind is called go-dāsa, or the servant of the senses. A gosvāmī knows the standard of sense happiness. In transcendental sense happiness, the senses are engaged in the service of Hṛṣīkeśa, or the supreme owner of the senses – Kṛṣṇa. Serving Kṛṣṇa with purified senses is called Kṛṣṇa consciousness. That is the way of bringing the senses under full control. What is more, that is the highest perfection of yoga practice.
Purport (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
If the mind, contacting the mode of passion, happens to become unsteady due to the appearance of previous attachments, one should again practice yoga.
Purport (Baladeva Vidyabhusana)
If sometimes the mind becomes disturbed by subtle sinful tendencies of previous lives, he should withdraw the mind from those thoughts. Withdrawing the mind (niyamya—pratyāhāra) from whichever object the mind approaches, the yogī should make it obedient to the ātmā alone (ātmani vaśam nayet), by reflecting on the intense happiness of realizing ātmā.
Surrender Unto Me
The qualities of the mind:
‑ 'Niscalati' ‑ very agitated; 'Cancalam' ‑ flickering, always jumping from one thing to another; 'Asthiram' ‑ unsteady.
Now Krsna describes increasing the yoga practice towards perfection and when one controls his mind he goes beyond 'passion', beyond 'ignorance'. His mind becomes peaceful, he becomes happy and then he realizes his qualitative identity with Brahman. And the yogi who is a Brahmavadi is satisfied with that stage. But the devotee, because he is not interested in own happiness, he is interested in pleasing Krsna, he goes beyond that.
[ 5 . By fixing his mind upon Krsna, the yogi attains his qualitative identity with the Supreme and engages in Krsna's service. He sees Krsna everywhere. Krsna is never lost to him nor is he ever lost to Krsna. Such a yogi, knowing that the Supersoul and Krsna are one, sees the true equality of all beings. (27‑32) ]