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चञ्चलं हि मनः कृष्ण प्रमाथि बलवद्दृढम्। तस्याहं निग्रहं मन्ये वायोरिव सुदुष्करम्।।6.34।।

chañchalaṁ hi manaḥ kṛiṣhṇa pramāthi balavad dṛiḍham tasyāhaṁ nigrahaṁ manye vāyor iva su-duṣhkaram

Sanskrit Chant Recitation
Chapter 6, Verse 34
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Scripture Translation Room

Sanskrit to English Translation

Translator:
The mind is indeed restless, turbulent, strong, and unyielding, O Krishna; I consider it as difficult to control as controlling the wind.

A Reading - Rantideb

Why: Arjuna says the mind is restless, turbulent, powerful, and obstinate, and he considers it as difficult to control as the wind, offering one of the most relatable descriptions of an untrained mind in the whole text.

In life: this description of the mind, restless, powerful, obstinate, hard to pin down like wind, still matches most people's actual experience of trying to focus or calm down.

Teaching: take some comfort in how old and universal this specific complaint is, your struggle with a restless mind isn't a personal failing, it's the expected starting condition everyone begins from.

chañchalamrestless
hicertainly
manaḥmind
kṛiṣhṇaShree Krishna
pramāthiturbulent
bala-vatstrong
dṛiḍhamobstinate
tasyaits
ahamI
nigrahamcontrol
manyethink
vāyoḥof the wind
ivalike
su-duṣhkaramdifficult to perform

Deep Classical Commentary (Bhashya)

Author:
6.34 चञ्चलम् restless? हि verily? मनः the mind? कृष्ण O Krishna? प्रमाथि turbulent? बलवत् strong? दृढम् unyielding? तस्य of it? अहम् I? निग्रहम् control? मन्ये think? वायोः of the wind? इव as? सुदुष्करम् difficult to do.Commentary 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.