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यतो यतो निश्चरति मनश्चञ्चलमस्थिरम्। ततस्ततो नियम्यैतदात्मन्येव वशं नयेत्।।6.26।।

yato yato niśhcharati manaśh chañchalam asthiram tatas tato niyamyaitad ātmanyeva vaśhaṁ nayet

Sanskrit Chant Recitation
Chapter 6, Verse 26
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Scripture Translation Room

Sanskrit to English Translation

Translator:
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.

A Reading - Rantideb

Why: wherever the restless, unsteady mind wanders, one should draw it back and bring it under the control of the Self alone, giving the single most practical instruction in the whole chapter for actual meditation practice.

In life: the mind wandering during any attempt at focus isn't a sign you're doing it wrong, it's simply what minds do, the actual practice is the returning, repeated many times.

Teaching: the next time your mind wanders during any focused task, don't treat it as failure, just gently return attention, exactly as this verse describes, that returning is the whole practice.

yataḥ yataḥwhenever and wherever
niśhcharatiwanders
manaḥthe mind
chañchalamrestless
asthiramunsteady
tataḥ tataḥfrom there
niyamyahaving restrained
etatthis
ātmanion God
evacertainly
vaśhamcontrol
nayetshould bring

Deep Classical Commentary (Bhashya)

Author:
6.26 यतःयतः from whatever cause? निश्चरति wanders away? मनः mind? चञ्चलम् restless? अस्थिरम् unsteady? ततःततः from that? नियम्य having restrained? एतत् this? आत्मनि in the Self? एव alone? वशम् (under) control? नयेत् let (him) bring.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.