Bhagavad Gita 6.34

cañcalaṁ hi manaḥ kṛṣṇa

pramāthi balavad dṛḍham

tasyāhaṁ nigrahaṁ manye

vāyor iva suduṣkaram

 

“O Krishna, the mind is restless,

Reasonless, ruthless, and relentless.

To curb it is so daunting,

As if a stormy wind, I were grasping.”

 

My dear Lord, the mind is, by its very nature, restless. When I try to focus on something, it wanders off to something else. How much of my life have I lost to distraction!. My Lord, please reveal your supreme attractiveness and bring my restless mind to rest in you.

The mind is also, at times, reasonless or unreasonable. It irrationally holds on to things even when I know they are bad for me and try to reason with it. Please, O Lord, your capacity for reason is far greater than mine. Help my unreasonable mind to see reason and let go of harmful attachments. 

Beyond that, my Lord, the mind can be ruthless. When I get caught in its clutches, it goads me mercilessly, making me pander to it till I am left with no money, no energy, and no dignity. Even then, it remains a tyrannical taskmaster—always demanding more and more from me. O merciful Lord, only you can release me from my mind’s mercilessness.

And then, my Lord, the mind can be relentless. Even if I say no to its propositions again and again, they keep coming—like waves in the ocean—never-ending, never-ceasing. 

My ability to resist temptation, my Lord, is finite. But the mind’s power to present temptations seems infinite. Please, O Lord, I need your infinite grace. Only you can get  my relentless mind to finally relent.

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06.34 The mind is restless, turbulent, obstinate and very strong, O Kṛṣṇa, and to subdue it, I think, is more difficult than controlling the wind.