Bhagavad Gita Chapter 6, Verse 35

Chapter 6 – Dhyana Yoga · Speaker: Krishna

Sanskrit verse

श्रीभगवानुवाच ।
असंशयं महाबाहो मनो दुर्निग्रहं चलम् ।
अभ्यासेन तु कौन्तेय वैराग्येण च गृह्यते ॥

Transliteration

śrībhagavānuvāca .
asaṃśayaṃ mahābāho mano durnigrahaṃ calam .
abhyāsena tu kaunteya vairāgyeṇa ca gṛhyate ॥

Meaning

The Blessed Lord said: Undoubtedly, O mighty-armed one, the mind is restless and hard to control; but, O son of Kunti, it is brought under control by practice and by dispassion.

Word meanings

असंशयम् – undoubtedly
महाबाहो – O mighty-armed one (Arjuna)
मनः – the mind
दुर्निग्रहम् – difficult to control
चलम् – restless
अभ्यासेन – by practice
तु – but
कौन्तेय – O son of Kunti
वैराग्येण – by dispassion
च – and
गृह्यते – is controlled, is grasped

Anvaya (word order)

श्रीभगवान् उवाच — महाबाहो, असंशयं मनः दुर्निग्रहं चलम् (अस्ति); तु कौन्तेय, अभ्यासेन च वैराग्येण (तत्) गृह्यते ।

Explanation

This is one of the most practical and famous verses of the Gita. Arjuna had described the mind as uncontrollable as the wind. Krishna's answer is perfectly balanced — he neither denies Arjuna's observation nor accepts his despair.

First Krishna agrees: asamshayam — undoubtedly, you are right; the mind is restless and hard to restrain. This acknowledgement matters; a good teacher does not belittle the student's difficulty. Mahabaho — O mighty-armed — reminds Arjuna of his strength: you have conquered great warriors; you can conquer the mind too.

Then comes tu — but. With it come two remedies: abhyasa and vairagya. Abhyasa, practice, is the continuous effort to bring the mind back again and again to a single goal — exactly what was taught in 6.26. Shankara defines it as the repeated recurrence of one and the same thought in the field of the mind. Vairagya, dispassion, is the weakening of craving for pleasures seen and heard of, through seeing their defects. Patanjali's Yoga Sutra (1.12) names the same two means: the mind is restrained by practice and dispassion.

The two are complementary. Consider a boat: dispassion is untying the rope that binds the boat to the shore of sense objects, and practice is rowing the boat toward the goal. Rowing a tied boat gets nowhere, and untying it without rowing leaves it drifting aimlessly. Dispassion stops the mind from going out; practice steadies it within.

Note also that dispassion does not mean hatred of life, but the understanding that outer things cannot give lasting fulfilment. And practice does not mean a single day's resolution, but patient, regular effort over years. Patanjali says practice becomes firm when it is pursued for a long time, without interruption, and with devotion and respect. The verse is thus a message of hope for everyone struggling with the mind: the mind is difficult, but not impossible.

Context

In 6.33–34 Arjuna said yoga seems impossible because of the restless mind. This verse is Krishna's answer. In the next verse (6.36) Krishna adds that yoga is hard for the undisciplined, but one who is self-controlled and strives by the right means can attain it.

Life lesson

There is no magic formula for mastering the mind; there are only two means — daily practice and gradual distance from needless attractions. Choose one small regular practice, such as ten minutes of meditation or japa each day, and at the same time notice the habits that keep pulling the mind outward. Be patient; the mind will surely come under control.

Key terms

Abhyasa: practice — repeatedly bringing the mind back to its goal
Vairagya: dispassion — the fading of craving through seeing the defects of objects
Durnigraha: hard to control
Mahabahu: mighty-armed — a reminder of Arjuna's valour