8.12 Closing the gates Krishna speaks
सर्वद्वाराणि संयम्य मनो हृदि निरुध्य च
मूर्ध्न्याधायात्मनः प्राणमास्थितो योगधारणाम्
sarva-dvārāṇi sanyamya mano hṛidi nirudhya cha
mūrdhnyādhāyātmanaḥ prāṇam āsthito yoga-dhāraṇām
Holding all the gates closed, the mind confined in the heart, the breath established in the head, settled in the practice of yoga,
Explanation
The method, in four physical conditions.
- the gates of the senses held closed
- the mind gathered into the heart
- the breath established in the head
- settled in the practice of yoga
None of them are beliefs. This is a discipline described in bodily terms, which is worth registering in a chapter otherwise occupied with cosmic ages and the fate of the dead. The largest claims in the Gita tend to arrive attached to something a person could actually do.
Word by word
- sarva-dvārāṇi
- all gates
- sanyamya
- restraining
- manaḥ
- the mind
- hṛidi
- in the heart region
- nirudhya
- confining
- cha
- and
- mūrdhni
- in the head
- ādhāya
- establish
- ātmanaḥ
- of the self
- prāṇam
- the life breath
- āsthitaḥ
- situated (in)
- yoga-dhāraṇām
- the yogic concentration
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