Bhagavad Gita, Chapter 6, Verse 35

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

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

Translation

Doubtless, O mighty-armed, the mind is hard to restrain and restless; but by practice, O son of Kuntī, and by indifference it may be restrained.

— Alladi Mahadeva Sastri

Word meanings

asaṃśayam

doubtless

mahābāho

O great-armed

manaḥ

the mind

durnigraham

hard to grip

calam

moving

abhyāsena

by practice

tu

indeed

kaunteya

O Kaunteya

vairāgyeṇa

by dispassion

ca

and

gṛhyate

is held

Śaṅkarācārya's commentary

'Practice' consists in constantly repeating the same idea or thought regarding some one object of thought. 'Indifference' means freedom from desire for any pleasures seen or unseen, attained through a constant perception of evil in them. It is by practice and indifference that vikṣepa, the passage of thought in the direction of external objects, can be restrained.