Bhagavad Gita Chapter 6 Verse 34 भगवद् गीता अध्याय 6 श्लोक 34 चञ्चलं हि मनः कृष्ण प्रमाथि बलवद्दृढम्। तस्याहं निग्रहं मन्ये वायोरिव सुदुष्करम्।।6.34।। English Translation - Swami Gambirananda 6.34 For, O Krsna, the mind is unsteady, turbulent, strong and obstinate. I consider its control to be as greatly difficult as of the wind. English Translation - Swami Sivananda 6.34 The mind verily is restless, turbulent, strong and unyielding, O Krishna: I deem it as difficult to control it as to control the wind. English Translation - Dr. S. Sankaranarayan 6.34. O Krsna ! The mind is indeed unsteady, destructive, strong and obstinate; to control it, I believe, is very difficult, just as to control the wind. English Commentary - Swami Sivananda 6.34 चञ्चलम् restless? हि verily? मनः the mind? कृष्ण O Krishna? प्रमाथि turbulent? बलवत् strong? दृढम् unyielding? तस्य of it? अहम् I? निग्रहम् control? मन्ये think? वायोः of the wind? इव as? सुदुष्करम् difficult to do.Commentary The mind constantly changes its objects and so it is ever restless.Krishna is derived from Krish which means to scrape. He scrapes all the sins? evils? and the causes of evil from the hearts of His devotees. Therefore He is called Krishna.The mind is not only restless but also turbulent or impetuous? strong and obstinate. It produces violent agitation in the body and the senses. The mind is drawn by the objects in all directions. It works always in conjunction with the five senses. It is drawn by them to the five kinds of objects. Therefore it is ever restless. It enjoys the five kinds of sensobjects with the help of these senses and the body. Therefore it makes them subject to external influences. It is even more difficult to control it than to control the wind. The mind is born of Vayutanmatra (wind rootelement). That is the reason why it is as restless as the wind. English Translation of Sanskrit Commentary By Sri Shankaracharya's 6.34 Hi, for, O Krsna-the word krsna is derived from the root krs [Another derivative meaning may be-the capacity to draw towards Himself all glorious things of this and the other world.], in the sense of uprooting; He is Krsna because He uproots the defects such as sin etc. of devotees-; manah, the mind; is cancalam, unsteady. Not only is it very unsteady, it is also pramathi, turbulent. It torments, agitates, the body and the organs. It brings them under extraneous control. Besides, it is balavat, strong, not amenable ot anybodys restraint. Again, it is drdham, obstinate, hard as the (large shark called) Tantu-naga (also known as Varjuna-pasa). Aham, I; manye, consider; tasya, its-of the mind which is of this kind; nigrahah, control, restraint; to be (suduskaram, greatly difficult;) vayoh iva, as of the wind. Control of the wind is difficult. I consider the control of the mind to be even more difficult than that. This is the idea. This is just as you say. English Translation of Commentary - Dr. S. Sankaranarayan 6.33-34 Yo Yam etc. Cancalam etc. By this and which, the two words denoting [respectively] what is actually perceived and what is not perceived, the following is indicated : Thanks to the series of methods spoken just before by the Bhagavat, the Brahman is of course clear and has been no doubt shown as if by perception. Yet, It remains at agreat distance due to the unsteadiness and wickedness of the mind, and It behaves as if It is beyond perception. [Destructive] : The mind destroys both the visible and invisible [ends of mans action]. Strong : Powerful. Obstinate : impossible to ward off from evil acts. Now the answer - English Translation of Ramanuja's Sanskrit Commentary 6.34 For the mind, which is found to be fickle even in matters incessantly practised, cannot be firmly fixed by a person in one place. It agitates that person violently and flies away stubbornly elsewhere. Regarding such a mind, which by nature is fickle even in matters practised, I regard that its restraint and fixing in the self, which is of ite opposite nature, is as difficult as restraining a strong contrary gale with such things as a fragile fan etc. The meaning is that the means for the restraint of the mind should be explained. Commentary - Chakravarthi Ji In this verse, Arjuna speaks of the fickle mind. “But Arjuna, it is possible to control the mind by the discriminating intellect, according to the scriptures. The sruti says, atmanam rathinam viddhi sarlram ratham eva ca The soul is the passenger, and the body is the chariot.” Katha Upanisad 1.3.3 The smrti says: ahuh sarlram ratham indriyani hayan abhisun mana indriyesam vartmani matra dhisanam ca sutam Transcendentalists who are advanced in knowledge compare the body, which is made by the order of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, to a chariot. The senses are like the horses; the mind, the master of the senses, is like the reins; the objects of the senses are the destinations; intelligence is the chariot driver; and consciousness, which spreads throughout the body, is the cause of bondage in this material world.” SB 7.15.41 “But the mind very strongly agitates the intellect (pramathi).” “How can that happen?” “Just as a strong disease does not recognize the medicine which is supposed to cure it, the strong mind by its very nature ignores the discriminating intellect (balavat). Moreover, it is very firm, like iron, which is impossible to pierce by the fine needle of intellect (drdham). I consider it is difficult to overcome the mind by astanga yoga. That is like trying to control the violent wind in the sky by stopping the breath with kumbaka.” Rudra Vaishnava Sampradaya - Commentary The previous verse is being elucidated further. The mind is by nature restless and fickle. Also it is tempestuous, capable of agitating the body and the senses and very hard to control. From what the mind has become accustomed to be attached to like sense objects it is very difficult to remove it. Therefore just as it is impossible to confine within a pot the wind blowing hither and thither in the air in the same way it is almost impossible to control and restrain the turbulent mind. Lord Krishna answers this doubt in the next verse. Brahma Vaishnava Sampradaya - Commentary There is no commentary for this verse. Shri Vaishnava Sampradaya - Commentary Revealing his heart to Lord Krishna some questions are asked by Arjuna to be clarified as he does not fully comprehend this yoga or the science of the individual consciousness attaining communion with the ultimate consciousness as done in dhyana or meditation which allows equanimity in reality and which enables one to perceive the atma or soul in all beings and envision the Brahman or spiritual substratum pervading all existence in all situations. Specifically it could be understood regarding the sameness of the atma in all living entities and that the atma is residing equally within all living entities as well as the reality of the liberated beings possessing a portion of the qualities of the Supreme. But to maintain such lofty conceptions in the midst of the demanding, periodically changing interactions of daily life seems to be in direct conflict with our vision of the phenomenal world we live in seeing external differences everywhere we look. As well there are an unlimited variety of differences in the nature of beings as represented by the divine nature, the human nature, the demoniac nature and various combinations of all three. Not being to understand how the results of such yoga can be sustained a predicament arises and Arjuna surmises that the fault must be due to the constraints of the mind being unable to fully manifest them. This is true as it can be experienced that in even normal mundane matters of ordinary activities the naturally restless mind eludes all attempts to focus it on a specific idea for too long. The mind exerting itself powerfully will twist and turn itself loose without delay and irresistibly fly off in whatever direction it fancies. So if such is the case in ordinary activities what is to be assumed in regard to the difficulty of focusing the mind exclusively on the atma. Arjuna was thinking that to control the mind is as difficult and daunting as trying to thwart the winds of a hurricane with a hand fan. So in conclusion Arjuna is requesting Lord Krishna to instruct him how to control the tempestuous mind. Kumara Vaishnava Sampradaya - Commentary Revealing his heart to Lord Krishna some questions are asked by Arjuna to be clarified as he does not fully comprehend this yoga or the science of the individual consciousness attaining communion with the ultimate consciousness as done in dhyana or meditation which allows equanimity in reality and which enables one to perceive the atma or soul in all beings and envision the Brahman or spiritual substratum pervading all existence in all situations. Specifically it could be understood regarding the sameness of the atma in all living entities and that the atma is residing equally within all living entities as well as the reality of the liberated beings possessing a portion of the qualities of the Supreme. But to maintain such lofty conceptions in the midst of the demanding, periodically changing interactions of daily life seems to be in direct conflict with our vision of the phenomenal world we live in seeing external differences everywhere we look. As well there are an unlimited variety of differences in the nature of beings as represented by the divine nature, the human nature, the demoniac nature and various combinations of all three. Not being to understand how the results of such yoga can be sustained a predicament arises and Arjuna surmises that the fault must be due to the constraints of the mind being unable to fully manifest them. This is true as it can be experienced that in even normal mundane matters of ordinary activities the naturally restless mind eludes all attempts to focus it on a specific idea for too long. The mind exerting itself powerfully will twist and turn itself loose without delay and irresistibly fly off in whatever direction it fancies. So if such is the case in ordinary activities what is to be assumed in regard to the difficulty of focusing the mind exclusively on the atma. Arjuna was thinking that to control the mind is as difficult and daunting as trying to thwart the winds of a hurricane with a hand fan. So in conclusion Arjuna is requesting Lord Krishna to instruct him how to control the tempestuous mind. Transliteration Bhagavad Gita 6.34Chanchalam hi manah krishna pramaathi balavad dridham; Tasyaaham nigraham manye vaayoriva sudushkaram. Word Meanings Bhagavad Gita 6.34chañchalam—restless; hi—certainly; manaḥ—mind; kṛiṣhṇa—Shree Krishna; pramāthi—turbulent; bala-vat—strong; dṛiḍham—obstinate; tasya—its; aham—I; nigraham—control; manye—think; vāyoḥ—of the wind; iva—like; su-duṣhkaram—difficult to perform