Bhagavad Gita 17.16

manaḥ-prasādaḥ saumyatvaṁ

maunam ātma-vinigrahaḥ

bhāva-saṁśuddhir ity etat

tapo mānasam ucyate

 

Calmness of mind and gentle grace,

Silence and self-restraint in place;

Purity of purpose, steady and still—

Austerities that shape the mind’s will.

 

My dear Lord, lead me to acknowledge the reality and gravity of my mind’s role in my life. Help me see the mind as a substantial reality, distinct from me—as tangible as my body, even if it is not physically visible.

O Lord, who are the supreme trainer, when I train my body to do specific things, such as learning a martial art or a dance form, or even a specific skill such as carpentry, I understand that I need to devote concrete time, attention, and energy to ensure that my body moves in particular ways. Please educate me to see that training my mind also requires similarly clear, specific, and tangible ways in which I need to direct my thoughts—and thereafter my emotions and aspirations, and even my perceptions and conceptions.

O Lord, who are the supreme teacher, help me see and seek the elements of mental discipline that you have outlined not merely as virtues to cultivate, but as pathways along which I need to direct my thoughts so that they become healthier and make me wiser.

O omnipotent Lord, whenever I find that my mind’s power seems too strong for me to control or contain, let me seek shelter in your remembrance. May that supreme mental discipline of directing my thoughts toward you empower me to better implement all other subordinate mental disciplines more easily, efficaciously, and effectively.

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17.16 And satisfaction, simplicity, gravity, self-control and purification of one’s existence are the austerities of the mind.