Bhagavad Gita, Chapter 6, Verse 26

यतो यतो निश्चरति मनश्चञ्चलमस्थिरम् । ततस्ततो नियम्यैतदात्मन्येव वशं नयेत्

yato yato niścarati manaścañcalamasthiram | tatastato niyamyaitadātmanyeva vaśaṃ nayet

Translation

By whatever cause the wavering and unsteady mind wanders away, from that let him restrain it and bring it back direct under the control of the Self.

— Alladi Mahadeva Sastri

Word meanings

yataḥ

whence

yataḥ

whence

niścarati

runs out

manaḥ

mind

cañcalam

unstable

asthiram

unsteady

tataḥ

thence

niyamya

having restrained

etat

this

ātmani

in the self

eva

even

vaśe

(in) to control

nayet

let (him) lead

Śaṅkarācārya's commentary

Sound and other objects are the causes which make the mind wander away. It is a natural weakness of the mind to be thus led away by sense-objects. By convincing oneself of the illusoriness of sense-objects through an investigation into their real nature, and by cultivating indifference to worldly objects, the mind can be restrained from sense-objects and brought back to the Self wherein to abide firmly.