Chapter 6: Dhyāna Yoga – Yoga through Meditation and Contemplation: Verse 34
चञ्चलं हि मन: कृष्ण प्रमाथि बलवद्दृढम् ।
तस्याहं निग्रहं मन्ये वायोरिव सुदुष्करम् ॥
cañcalaṃ hi mana: kṛṣṇa pramāthi balavad-dṛḍham
tasyāhaṃ nigrahaṃ manye vāyor-iva suduṣkaram – 6.34
The mind, O Krishna, is given to swinging and swerving. It is turbulent, very powerful too. To bring it under control or moderation is like restraining the wind.
Chapter 6: Dhyāna Yoga – Yoga through Meditation and Contemplation - Verse 34
Ma Gurupriya
Arjuna explains his difficulty further, as he feels dealing with the mind is by no means easy. Desultoriness is characteristic of the mind. As one grows in age, desultoriness becomes stronger. Given to turbulence as it is, the mind is always difficult indeed to deal with.
External things are gross and we can visibly deal with them. With attention, training and practice, any extent of control or regulation is possible in their case. But the mind is within the body. It is not physical, hence invisible and inaccessible too.
How to think of such a presence and deal with it? It is this factor that makes the process difficult. To regulate the wind is not possible. We can hardly do anything about cyclones, tsunami, etc.
Mind and its vagaries are even more abstruse and hard to deal with. Arjuna thus wants Krishna to tell him something tangible in the matter.
