Verse 6.34

Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration, Word-for-word and English translation of verse 6.34:

चञ्चलं हि मनः कृष्ण प्रमाथि बलवद् दृढम् ।
तस्याहं निग्रहं मन्ये वायोर् इव सुदुष्करम् ॥ ३४ ॥

cañcalaṃ hi manaḥ kṛṣṇa pramāthi balavad dṛḍham |
tasyāhaṃ nigrahaṃ manye vāyor iva suduṣkaram || 34 ||

cañcalam–restless; hi–because; manaḥ–the mind; kṛṣṇa–O Kṛṣṇa; pramāthi–agitating (the intelligence, body and senses); balavat–powerful; dṛḍham–obstinate; tasya–of it; aham–I; nigraham–subjugation; manye–think; vāyoḥ–of the wind; iva–like; suduṣkaram–very hard to do.

O Kṛṣṇa, because the mind is by nature restless, powerful, obstinate and capable of completely overpowering the intelligence, body and senses, it seems as difficult to control as the wind.

Commentary: Sārārtha-Varṣiṇī Ṭīkā

(By Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura; the innermost intention of the commentary named ‘the shower of essential meanings’)

In the Kaṭha Upaniṣad (1.3.3), it is said, “ātmānaṃ rathinaṃ viddhi śarīraṃ ratham eva ca–know the soul to be the passenger and the body to be the chariot.”

It is said in the Śrutis that learned persons compare the body to a chariot, the senses to furious horses, the mind to the controller of the senses (the reins), the sense objects (sound, form, taste, touch and smell) to the pathways, and the intelligence to the driver. It is understood from this statement that the intelligence controls the mind, but Arjuna refutes this by saying that the powerful mind can even overpower the intelligence. One may question how that can be. He replies, “Just as a powerful disease may not be affected by the medicine that has the potency to cure it, similarly the mind, which is very powerful by nature, does not always accept intelligence endowed with discrimination.” Moreover, he says that the mind is very obstinate. Just as a small needle cannot possibly pierce iron, similarly, it is not possible for even subtle intelligence to pierce the mind. The mind is like the wind. Just as it is difficult to control the mighty wind blowing in the sky, it is difficult to control the mind by the process of aṣṭāṅga-yoga, through breath restraint.

Commentary: Sārārtha-Varṣiṇī Prakāśikā-vṛtti

(By Śrīla Bhaktivedānta Nārāyaṇa Gosvāmī Mahārāja; the explanation that illuminates the commentary named Sārārtha-varṣiṇī)

A story from the Eleventh Canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam illustrates how the process of serving Bhagavān can simply and naturally control the most powerful and flickering mind.

Once there was a wealthy brāhmaṇa who lived with his son and family members in the land of Avanti. Although he was rich, he was extremely miserly, and he would not spend even a penny for the pleasure of his family or community; rather, he was always engaged in accumulating wealth. When his children grew up, they became very perturbed by his behaviour, and his neighbours, family members and others in the community also became opposed to him. Because he did not pay his taxes, even the royal servants opposed him. One day, due to ill fortune, his house burned down, and his family and community members rejected him.

However, due to some good impressions from previous births and the influence of the association of saintly persons, he accepted the dress of one in the renounced order, a tridaṇḍi-sannyāsī. On the instruction of his bona fide spiritual master, he engaged in devotion to the Supreme Lord and began to see with equal vision friends and enemies, happiness and misery, good and bad, and himself and others. He remained satisfied even when the people from his own village mistreated him while he was begging. They would call him an impostor and a cheater, and they would throw stool and urine into his begging bowl instead of foodstuffs. Yet with an undisturbed mind, he always meditated on Bhagavān, and finally he attained eternal service to Bhagavān Mukunda.