Bhagavad Gītā Chapter 17, Verse 16: Krishna to Arjuna — Śraddhātraya-Vibhāga-Yoga

Bhāṣyakāra purports

• Śaṅkaraadvaita

  Mental tranquility (manas-prasada) is the mind's settled luminosity — not mere cheerfulness but the removal of agitation that clouds pure awareness. Silence (mauna) is not restraint of speech as such but restraint of the mind that drives speech; cause is named by its effect. Self-governance (atma-vinigraha) is the general arrest of mental movement in every direction, of which silence is only the particular case bearing on verbal objects — the two are not redundant but hierarchical. Purity of intention (bhava-samshuddhi) is freedom from deception in all transactions with others, the mind's cleanliness outward-facing. These five together constitute mental austerity (manasa tapas) as the direct preparation of the inner instrument for the arising of discriminative knowledge.

• Rāmānujaviśiṣṭādvaita

  Tranquility of mind (manas-prasada) is the absence of anger and its kin — the mind emptied of what obstructs orientation toward Bhagavan. Gentleness (saumyatva) is the mind's active inclination toward the welfare and flourishing of all beings, not passive tolerance but willed benevolence. Silence (mauna) is the mind's regulation of the very impulse to speak — inner governance of verbal tendency before a word arises. Fixing of mental activity on the object of meditation (atma-vinigraha) is placing the mind's movement precisely on the form of the Lord held in contemplation. Purity of disposition (bhava-samshuddhi) is freedom from every thought whose object is other than the Self — the clearing away of all consciousness not oriented to Bhagavan. This five-fold discipline is the mental austerity that purifies the aspirant for unbroken kainkarya.

• Madhvadvaita

  Gentleness (saumyatva) is non-cruelty — the precise negation of harshness — as the lexicon confirms: 'one who is not cruel is called saumya.' Silence (mauna) is the disposition of the meditator (manana-shilata), the mind turned inward on Hari, not mere absence of speech; the Brhadaranyaka Upanisad (3.5.1) commands: 'Having passed through both childishness and scholarship, one should become a muni' — the muni is constituted by mananashilata, inner turning. The Bhallaveya-sruti further confirms this: the muni is he by whom all this is known, thought through. Without this inward cognition-turned-toward-Hari, there is no mental austerity at all — external silence without inner orientation toward Bhagavan would be mere dumbness, not tapas.

• Vallabhaśuddhādvaita
• Śrīdharabhakti

  Mental austerity begins with the mind's own health (manas-prasada = svasthata, the mind resting in its own nature). Gentleness (saumyatva) is non-cruelty toward all. Silence (mauna) is the state of the muni — defined by Shridhara as manana (sustained inner reflection), not literal speechlessness. Withdrawal of the mind from sense-objects (atma-vinigraha = pratyahara) is the technical term from yoga: the turning-inward of mental energy. Purity of conduct (bhava-samshuddhi) is freedom from deception (maya-rahitya) in all dealings — the outer face of an unpolluted inner disposition. These five together constitute the mental austerity the verse announces.

• Madhusūdanaadvaita-bhakti

  Mental clarity (manas-prasada) is the mind's transparency — the absence of the agitation caused by brooding on sense-objects (visaya-cinta-vyakulatva-rahitya). Gentleness (saumyatva) carries a double load: wishing well to all the world (sarvaloka-hitaisitatva) AND refraining from thinking of what is prohibited — the outward and the inward faces of a settled mind. Silence (mauna) is the muni-state, one-pointed contemplation of the Self (ekagrataya atma-cintana), the nididhyasana named in the Upanisads — and citing Sankara's own bhāṣya, mental restraint is the cause of which verbal restraint is only the effect. Self-governance (atma-vinigraha) is the total arrest of all mental modifications (sarva-vrtti-nigraha), the state of asamprajnata samadhi. Purity of heart (bhava-samshuddhi) is the complete removal of the stains of desire, anger, and greed, confirmed in their permanent non-return — and in dealing with others, freedom from all pretense (maya-rahitya), citing Sankara's own gloss. All five together constitute mental austerity.