Bhagavad Gita 2.64

rāga-dveṣa-vimuktais tu

viṣayān indriyaiś caran

ātma-vaśyair vidheyātmā

prasādam adhigacchati

 

“One who moves with senses under regulation,

Controlled by neither attachment nor aversion,

With a controlled and composed mind,

A divine peace shall surely find.”

 

My dear Lord, please help me remember that the way to a peaceful mind from an agitated mind is actually the opposite of the way that is pointed to by the mind.

When the mind is agitated by desire, it prompts and prods, pushes and pulls me toward the object of its desire, making me believe that such indulgence will free me from agitation.

However, that freedom from agitation is deceptive because it is just a temporary and short-lived lull before the agitation returns—in an even more stormy and irresistible incarnation.

Thus, you declare that the way to a peaceful mind is not gratification, but regulation.

It is when I focus on you and your service as supremely desirable, putting aside my mind’s conceptions and conjectures of what is desirable, that my mind finds true peace. The resulting immersion of my mind in you makes it peaceful—and not just peaceful, but joyful. And not just peaceful and joyful, but ever increasingly peaceful and joyful.

Bless me, O Lord, to have faith that this sublime state of mind awaits me if I make my choices by putting my trust in you and the path you show—not in my mind and the path it shows.

***

02.64 But a person free from all attachment and aversion and able to control his senses through regulative principles of freedom can obtain the complete mercy of the Lord.

Peace comes by following your path not my mind’s path