Word meanings
- yataḥ yataḥ
- whenever and wherever
- niścarati
- wanders
- manaḥ
- the mind
- cañcalam
- restless
- asthiram
- unsteady
- tataḥ tataḥ
- from there
- niyamya
- having restrained
- etat
- this
- ātmani
- on God
- eva
- certainly
- vaśam
- control
- nayet
- should bring
Translations
From whatever cause the restless and unsteady mind wanders away, let him restrain it from that and bring it under the control of the Self alone.
When the volatile and wavering mind wanders, let him restrain it and bring it back to its allegiance to the Self.
The yogi should bring this mind under the subjugation of the Self itself, restraining it from all those causes that cause the restless, unsteady mind to wander away.
यह अस्थिर और चञ्चल मन जहाँ-जहाँ विचरण करता है, वहाँ-वहाँसे हटाकर इसको एक परमात्मामें ही लगाये।Commentary
In this verse the Lord gives the method to control the mind. Just as you drag the bull again and again to your house when it runs out, so also you will have to drag the mind to your point or centre or Lakshya again and again when it runs towards the external objects. If you give good cotton seed extract, sugar, plantains, etc., to the bull, it will not turn away but will remain in your house. Even so if you make the mind taste the eternal bliss of the Self within little by little by the practice of concentration, it will gradually abide in the Self only and will not run towards the external objects of the senses.
Sound and the other objects only make the mind restless and unsteady. By knowing the defects of the objects of sensual pleasure, by understanding their illusory nature, by the cultivation of discrimination between the Real and the unreal and also dispassion, and by making the mind understand the glory and the splendour of the Self you can wean the mind entirely away from sensual objects and fix it firmly on the Self.