Patanjali defines yoga as the stilling of the fluctuations (vrittis) of the mind-field (chitta), cultivated through practice and dispassion and the eight limbs, culminating in absorption (samadhi).
A question
How do I control my mind?
Editorial overview
Quick answer
Editorial overview
Indian traditions broadly agree that the mind can be trained, and that force alone rarely works. The Gita and Patanjali's Yoga name two complementary supports — steady practice (abhyasa) and dispassion (vairagya) — while Buddhist meditation emphasises mindful observation of mental states as they arise and pass. Traditions differ on the goal: stilling the mind to reveal a witnessing consciousness, seeing that thoughts have no owning self, or offering the mind to God so that it is naturally absorbed.
Concepts involved
Philosophical perspectives
Different answers, each in its own terms. None is ranked.
Buddhist traditions stress that the mind leads experience; training involves attention, ethical restraint and meditation that sees thoughts and feelings as impermanent events rather than a self to be fought.
Vedantic teachers generally treat the mind as an instrument that can be purified and quietened, so that discernment (viveka) recognises the Self as the witness of the mind rather than the mind itself.
Bhakti traditions often redirect rather than suppress: the mind is turned toward God through remembrance, chanting and love, and becomes steady as its attachments shift.
Many Tantric and Hatha lineages work through the body, breath (prana) and subtle energy, holding that steadying the breath steadies the mind.
Start here
6.35
By practice and dispassion the mind is held
अभ्यास और वैराग्यसे मन वशमें होता है
असंशयं महाबाहो मनो दुर्निग्रहं चलम्।
Yes, the mind is restless and hard to control — but it is held by practice and by dispassion.
नि:सन्देह मन चंचल है और इसका निग्रह कठिन है; परन्तु अभ्यास और वैराग्यके द्वारा इसका निग्रह होता है।
Krishna concedes the mind is restless and hard to hold, then names the two means: practice and dispassion.
Go deeper
- 1 · Gita verseBhagavad Gita 6.34Arjuna's honest complaint that the mind is like the wind.
- 2 · Gita verseBhagavad Gita 6.26Bringing the wandering mind back again and again — the core of practice.
- 3 · Textयोगसूत्रYoga Sutras of PatanjaliThe systematic map of the mind and its disciplines.
- 4 · Conceptचित्तChitta — mind-fieldHow Yoga models the mind-field and its fluctuations.
- 5 · Traditionबौद्ध दर्शनBuddhist philosophyA contrasting, observation-based approach to mental training.
Primary sources
References to the texts behind each perspective.
The Gita’s answer
Grounded in Sadhak Sanjivani.
- What does Krishna say about desire?When Arjuna asks why people do wrong even against their will, Krishna names desire (kama) as the enemy; when blocked, it turns into anger (3.37). Swamiji defines it as wanting happiness from things, people and actions, and says this one fault holds endless faults (3.37). It is never satisfied — like fire fed with ghee, getting a hundred makes you hungry for a thousand (3.39). Dwelling on objects breeds attachment, attachment breeds desire, and the chain ends in the loss of discernment (2.62–63). The one who drops all desires and lives free of longing, 'mine' and 'I' finds peace (2.71).
- Why do I get so angry?The Gita traces anger back to desire: dwelling on objects creates attachment, attachment creates desire, and when someone blocks that desire, anger arises against them (2.62). Krishna says desire and anger are really one — desire itself turns into anger when obstructed (3.37). Swamiji puts it plainly: enjoying is kama, hoarding is greed, and anger comes against whoever gets in the way of enjoyment and hoarding (16.21). Anger then clouds judgement, memory and discernment, and leads to one's fall (2.63). So the Gita's remedy is to deal with the root — the desire — rather than only the anger.
- My mind is always restless. Can it really be controlled?Krishna does not deny the difficulty: He agrees the mind is restless and hard to control, but says it is held through practice and dispassion (6.35). Swamiji defines practice as bringing the mind back to its aim again and again, regularly and without gaps (6.35). Wherever the mind wanders, for whatever reason, bring it back from there to God (6.26); a very good way, he adds, is to see God in whatever the mind goes to (6.26). Do not lose heart when it takes time — keep the same patience in failure as in success (6.25).
- Is yoga in the Gita just exercise or meditation?No. The Gita defines yoga as equanimity — 'samatvaṃ yoga ucyate' (2.48). Swamiji notes that Patanjali's system calls the restraint of mental activity 'yoga', but the Gita calls the natural state of evenness yoga, and every seeker of God is eligible for it (2.48). The Gita also calls yoga the separation from our contact with sorrow: our connection with the world is only assumed, and our union with God was never broken (6.23). 'Yoga is skill in action' means yoga makes actions that normally bind into actions that free (2.50). Meditation (Dhyana Yoga) is one path in the Gita, alongside Karma, Jnana and Bhakti Yoga (6.10).
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