Bhagavad-Gita: 06 - The Yoga of Contemplation

= 06.26 =

yato yato niścarati manaś cañcalam asthiram | tatas tato niyamyaitad ātmany eva vaśaṁ nayet ||26||
Where-so-ever you are mislead by the fickle and unsteady mind, from there bring it under control, subject to the guidance of the self.
Notes: The mind is not intrinsically unsteady. Its essence is neutral and malliable. Restlessness of the mind stems from a habit of sporadic absorption in the field of objects, like an untamed animal left without discipline or enclosure — driven by instincts and urges, unbound by structure or coherent grounding. It wanders into memories of the past and dreams of the future, leaping into endless cascades of intermingled sensory and mental stimuli. It must be reeled back, time and again from its countless misadventures, into an operative framework determined by the sovereign self — the witness and governor of the mind. Weaned from its habits and the broken programming, this saboteur meets a higher inclination and turns into a collaborator for unification.