Overwhelmed

Limbs failing, mouth dry, trembling, hair standing up, the bow slipping from the hand. A clinical description of a panic response, written down two thousand years ago, in the mouth of the greatest archer alive.

सीदन्ति मम गात्राणि मुखं च परिशुष्यति
वेपथुश्च शरीरे मे रोमहर्षश्च जायते

My body trembles, my hair stands on end,

Lift yourself by yourself — and the same self is named as both your ally and your enemy. Uncomfortable, and more accurate than either half alone.

उद्धरेदात्मनाऽऽत्मानं नात्मानमवसादयेत्
आत्मैव ह्यात्मनो बन्धुरात्मैव रिपुरात्मनः

Lift yourself by yourself; do not let yourself sink. For the self alone is the self's friend, and the self alone is the self's enemy.

Rivers pour into the ocean and it does not rise. Not someone who stopped wanting things: someone in whom their arrival no longer causes a flood.

आपूर्यमाणमचलप्रतिष्ठं समुद्रमापः प्रविशन्ति यद्वत्
तद्वत्कामा यं प्रविशन्ति सर्वे स शान्तिमाप्नोति न कामकामी

As rivers enter the ocean, which is filled and yet unmoved at its foundation, so all desires enter the one who is at peace.

Yoga is not for one who eats too much or too little, sleeps too much or too little. The most practical verse in the book, and the least quoted. Sometimes the answer is sleep.

नात्यश्नतस्तु योगोऽस्ति न चैकान्तमनश्नतः
न चातिस्वप्नशीलस्य जाग्रतो नैव चार्जुन

Yoga is not for one who eats too much, nor for one who does not eat at all; not for one who sleeps too much, nor for one who stays awake.