6.26 Draw it back and settle it Krishna speaks
यतो यतो निश्चरति मनश्चञ्चलमस्थिरम्
ततस्ततो नियम्यैतदात्मन्येव वशं नयेत्
yato yato niśhcharati manaśh chañchalam asthiram
tatas tato niyamyaitad ātmanyeva vaśhaṁ nayet
Wherever the restless, unsteady mind wanders off, from there one should draw it back and settle it again in the self.
Explanation
The most practical sentence in the book about meditation.
Wherever the restless mind wanders off — from there draw it back, and settle it again in the self.
Not prevent it wandering. The wandering is assumed, repeatedly, and the instruction is only what to do afterwards. That is the whole method, and it accommodates failing at it indefinitely.
Going further
Word by word
- yataḥ yataḥ
- whenever and wherever
- niśhcharati
- wanders
- manaḥ
- the mind
- chañchalam
- restless
- asthiram
- unsteady
- tataḥ tataḥ
- from there
- niyamya
- having restrained
- etat
- this
- ātmani
- on God
- eva
- certainly
- vaśham
- control
- nayet
- should bring
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Wherever the mind wanders off, draw it back from there and settle it again.
The most practical sentence in the book about meditation, and the whole of the instruction. No technique, no count, no object. Just the acknowledgement that it will wander — yataḥ yataḥ, wherever and whenever — and that the practice is the returning, not the staying.