श्रीभगवानुवाच | असंशयं महाबाहो मनो दुर्निग्रहं चलम् | अभ्यासेन तु कौन्तेय वैराग्येण च गृह्यते ||३५||
śrī bhagavān uvāca | asaṃśayaṃ mahābāho mano durnigrahaṃ calam | abhyāsena tu kaunteya vairāgyeṇa ca gṛhyate || 35 ||
Yes, the mind is restless and hard to restrain — but through abhyāsa and vairāgya, it is governed.
Word by word (3)
- asaṃśayaṃ mahābāho mano durnigrahaṃ calam
- — Without doubt, O mighty-armed, the mind is difficult to restrain and restless · asaṃśayaṃ = without doubt, certainly (a-saṃśaya). mahābāho = O mighty-armed (mahā = great, bāhu = arm — Arjuna's warrior epithet, used here with warm acknowledgement: Krishna takes Arjuna's concern seriously). manaḥ = the mind. durnigraham = difficult to restrain (dur- = hard/difficult, nigraha = restraint). calam = moving, restless (same root as cañcala). Krishna begins by validating V34 completely: 'Without doubt — I agree with you, O strong one.' This is not dismissal; it is full acknowledgement before giving the path.
- abhyāsena tu kaunteya vairāgyeṇa ca gṛhyate
- — but through practice (abhyāsa) and through dispassion (vairāgya), it is restrained · abhyāsena = by practice, through repeated practice (abhyāsa = continuous repetition, regular effort, from abhi + √as, to practise repeatedly). tu = but (the turn from acknowledgement to remedy). kaunteya = O son of Kunti (Arjuna's matronymic — warm, personal). vairāgyeṇa = by dispassion, non-attachment (vairāgya = the state of vairāgin, one who is without rāga = passion/colour/attachment; vi = without, rāga = passion). ca = and. gṛhyate = it is restrained, it is grasped (passive of √grah, to grasp). Two instruments: abhyāsa (repeated practice) + vairāgya (non-attachment to results). Neither alone is sufficient; together they address both aspects of the mind's restlessness — its habit of wandering (addressed by abhyāsa) and its investment in wandering (addressed by vairāgya).
- abhyāsa / vairāgya (the paired remedy)
- — Practice + Dispassion — the two pillars of the entire path · This pair appears in other contexts in Indian philosophy (notably Yoga Sūtra 1.12-16 of Patañjali: 'abhyāsa-vairāgyābhyāṃ tannirodhah' — the cessation (of mind's fluctuations) through practice and dispassion). V35 is the Gita's version of this foundational teaching. Abhyāsa addresses the mind's habit of wandering: consistent practice builds new neural pathways (modern) / saṃskāras (traditional) that make returning to awareness easier. Vairāgya addresses the mind's attachment to its wandering: when we are deeply interested in our thoughts, we follow them; vairāgya makes the thoughts less 'interesting' (literally: less coloured/rāga) — they lose their pull. Together, abhyāsa builds the capacity to return AND vairāgya reduces the frequency and grip of wandering.
Krishna responds: Yes, O mighty-armed — without doubt, the mind is restless and difficult to control. I agree completely with your diagnosis. But — it IS controlled, through abhyāsa (repeated, consistent practice) and vairāgya (non-attachment, dispassion). These two together are the method.
A modern analogy
A river that has carved a deep channel over centuries doesn't change course overnight. But consistent gentle redirection (abhyāsa) combined with not reinforcing the old channel (vairāgya — non-attachment to the old paths) will, over years, shift the river's course. The mind's habitual wandering is like the river's channel: it took years to form; it changes through consistent, patient redirection.
What it does NOT mean
V35 does NOT promise that the mind will become permanently quiet quickly. Abhyāsa and vairāgya are gradual paths — the same 'śanaiḥ śanaiḥ' (gradually, gradually) of V25. V35 gives the direction and the instruments; the timeline requires patience.
Take with you
- Abhyāsa (practice) in concrete terms: daily, regular, consistent sitting practice — even 15-20 minutes — builds the capacity for V26's returning over time. Without abhyāsa, vairāgya is merely an idea. Without vairāgya, abhyāsa becomes effortful striving that exhausts rather than builds.
- Vairāgya (dispassion) is not indifference — it is not being 'hooked' by the mind's content. When a thought arises, vairāgya is the quality of not following it, not because it's bad but because you're not invested in its pull. This reduces rāga — the mind's colouring/attraction-repulsion investment in its own content.
- The two-part structure of V35 maps to two different types of meditation difficulty: (1) 'I forget to practise' → abhyāsa (build the habit); (2) 'I practise but get pulled into thoughts' → vairāgya (reduce the investment in thought content). Know which is your primary obstacle and apply the corresponding remedy.
V35 is one of the most important verses in the Gita for practical meditators. It gives the two-part remedy for V34's four-part diagnosis: the restless (cañcala), turbulent (pramāthin), powerful (balavat), stubborn (dṛḍha) mind is addressed by abhyāsa (practice/repetition) and vairāgya (dispassion/non-attachment). The pairing abhyāsa-vairāgya appears in the Yoga Sūtra (1.12) as the foundational method for citta-vṛtti-nirodha (the cessation of the mind's fluctuations). The convergence of the Gita and Patañjali on this pair suggests a common understanding in the tradition: the mind's fluctuations require both positive building (abhyāsa) and negative release (vairāgya). Krishna begins with 'asaṃśayam' (without doubt) — fully agreeing with Arjuna's V34 characterisation. This validation before giving the remedy is itself pedagogically important: the student who is heard is more receptive to the teaching. V35 models the teacher's approach.
Advaita lens
Shankaracharya: abhyāsa builds the saṃskāras (impressions) of returning to the ātman, which gradually overwrite the saṃskāras of wandering. Vairāgya releases the attachment to the objects of wandering — the rāga (passion, colouring) that makes mental objects compelling. As rāga diminishes (vairāgya) and the returning-habit strengthens (abhyāsa), the mind's natural restlessness loses energy and the V27 condition (śānta-rajas) becomes possible.
Bhakti lens
In bhakti, abhyāsa is consistent devotional practice (daily pūjā, prayer, reading, kirtan); vairāgya is the progressive detachment from all that is not the Beloved. The two together build the bhakta's mind toward V31's ekatva (unity).
Karma-Yoga lens
In Tilak's reading, abhyāsa for the karma yogi is the consistent practice of action without personal interest (nishkama karma); vairāgya is the specific release of result-attachment (phala-vairāgya). V35's pair translates directly: consistent unattached action (abhyāsa) + release of result-investment (vairāgya) = the karma yoga version of mind-control.
Modern parallels
Neuroscience confirms V35's two-part model: (1) Abhyāsa builds prefrontal cortex capacity and default mode network (DMN) regulation through consistent practice — each session of returning attention strengthens the circuits for attentional control. (2) Vairāgya corresponds to 'cognitive defusion' (ACT therapy) and 'equanimity training' — reducing the mind's reactivity to its own content, so thoughts lose their automatic pull. These are distinct processes that address different aspects of mind-wandering, exactly as V35's two-part remedy specifies.
Practice
V35 as the complete practice framework: (1) abhyāsa — sit every day, same time, same place; return whenever you notice wandering (V26). (2) vairāgya — when a thought arises, neither grasp it nor push it away; simply note it and return. After 30 days of this two-part practice, review: has the frequency of wandering changed? Has the quality of returning changed? This is V35 as a self-experiment.
Public-domain translations (6) compare all →
The Blessed Lord said: Without doubt, O mighty-armed, the mind is difficult to restrain and restless — but it is restrained through practice and through dispassion, O son of Kunti. [1]
Without doubt, O mighty-armed, the mind is restless, and difficult to control; but through practice and renunciation, O son of Kunti, it may be governed. [4]
The Blessed Lord said: Without doubt, O mighty-armed, the mind is hard to curb and restless; but it may be curbed by constant practice and by dispassion. [5]
The Blessed Lord replied: O mighty-armed, without doubt the mind is restless and hard to restrain; but it may be controlled through practice and dispassion. [6]
O Arjuna! The mind is wayward, fickle, and hard of guidance: yet may it be governed, O prince, by vigorous practice and by right passionlessness. [7]
The Blessed Lord said: O prince of mighty arm! undoubtedly the mind is fickle and difficult to restrain. But, O son of Kunti! it is controlled by practice and renunciation of desires. [9]
This verse speaks to
Where this thread continues
Restless, turbulent, strong, unyielding — O Krishna, restraining the mind is as hard as restraining the wind.
Yoga is hard for the uncontrolled self — but for the self-controlled one striving by right means, it is attainable.
If you can't fix the mind steadily in Me — through abhyāsa-yoga (repeated practice), aspire to reach Me!
Your own mind is your best friend when mastered; your worst enemy when not.
Satisfied by knowledge and realisation, senses mastered, gold and mud equally seen — this is the true steadfast yogi.
The yogi practises constantly in solitude — alone, mind and body subdued, free from craving and possessiveness.