Bhagavad Gita, Chapter 6, Verse 13

समं कायशिरोग्रीवं धारयन्नचलं स्थिरः । सम्प्रेक्ष्य नासिकाग्रं स्वं दिशश्चानवलोकयन्

samaṃ kāyaśirogrīvaṃ dhārayannacalaṃ sthiraḥ | samprekṣya nāsikāgraṃ svaṃ diśaścānavalokayan

Translation

Holding erect and still the body, head, and neck, firm, gazing on the tip of his nose, without looking around;

— Alladi Mahadeva Sastri

Word meanings

samam

straight

kāyaśirogrīvam

body, and, head, and, neck, and

dhārayan

holding

acalam

immovable

sthiraḥ

steady

saṃprekṣya

looking at

nāsikāgram

of the nose, forepart

svam

(his) own

diśaḥ

the quarters

ca

and

anavalokayan

not seeing

Śaṅkarācārya's commentary

An erect body may be in motion; hence the qualification 'still.' He is to gaze as it were on the tip of his nose. Here we have to understand the words 'as it were'; for the Lord means to prescribe, not the very act of 'gazing on the tip of his nose,' but the fixing of the eye-sight within (by withdrawing it from external objects); and this, of course, depends on the steadiness of mind.