The practice of meditation

Abandoning completely, without exception, all desires born of willful intention, and restraining the whole array of senses from every side by the mind alone,

with the intellect held steady by resolve, let him gradually come to rest, having fixed the mind on the self; let him not think of anything at all.

Wherever the restless, unsteady mind wanders off, from there let him rein it in and bring it back under the control of the self alone.

Supreme happiness comes to this yogi whose mind is deeply at peace, whose passion is stilled, who has become Brahman, free of stain.

The yogi free of stain, constantly joining the self like this, easily attains the boundless happiness of contact with Brahman.

With the self disciplined by yoga, seeing with an eye of equality everywhere, he sees the self abiding in all beings and all beings in the self.

One who sees me everywhere, and sees everything in me—I am never lost to him, nor is he ever lost to me.

The one who, established in oneness, worships me as dwelling in all beings—that yogi abides in me, whatever way of life he follows.

The one who sees everywhere the same, through comparison with himself, whether it be pleasure or pain—that yogi, Arjuna, is held to be the highest.

This yoga you have taught, marked by even-mindedness, slayer of Madhu—I do not see how it can last steadily, because the mind is so restless.

The mind is truly restless, Krishna, turbulent, strong, and stubborn. I think controlling it is as hard as controlling the wind.

Without doubt, mighty-armed one, the mind is restless and hard to control. But through practice and dispassion, son of Kunti, it can be grasped.

Yoga is hard to attain for one whose self is uncontrolled—this is my view. But for one whose self is controlled, striving through the right means, it can be reached.

For the one who has faith but lacks discipline, whose mind wanders away from yoga and who fails to reach perfection in yoga, what path does he meet, Krishna?

Fallen from both, does he not perish without support, like a scattered cloud, mighty-armed one, lost on the path to Brahman?

This doubt of mine, Krishna, you must dispel completely, for there is no one but you fit to dispel this doubt.

Son of Pṛthā, there is no destruction for him, neither in this world nor the next. No one who does good, my son, ever comes to a bad end.

Having reached the worlds of the righteous and dwelt there for endless years, one fallen from yoga is born again in the house of the pure and prosperous.

Or else he is born into a family of yogis endowed with wisdom. Indeed, a birth like this is very hard to obtain in this world.

There he regains the understanding that belonged to his former body, and strives again from there, further, toward perfection, joy of the Kurus.

Through that earlier practice alone, one is carried forward even without willing it. Even someone who merely seeks to know yoga goes beyond śabda-brahman, the authority of the Veda's word.

But the yogi who strives with full effort, cleansed of stain, made perfect over many births, then reaches the highest goal.

The yogi stands above those who practice austerity, and is held to stand above even those of learning. He stands above those who perform ritual action too. Therefore, Arjuna, be a yogi.

And of all yogis, the one who with inner self absorbed in me worships me with faith—him I consider the most fully joined of all.