BG 6.34 — Dhyāna-Yoga — Sūtrakṛt-Gītā

Bhagavad Gītā 6.34Chapter 6 · Dhyāna-Yoga · Krishna → Arjuna · anuṣṭubh

चञ्चलं हि मनः कृष्ण प्रमाथि बलवद् दृढम् ।

तस्याहं निग्रहं मन्ये वायोरिव सुदुष्करम् ॥

cañcalaṃ hi manaḥ kṛṣṇa pramāthi balavad dṛḍham

tasyāhaṃ nigrahaṃ manye vāyor iva suduṣkaram

spokensingle-voice recital; rendered via IndicF5 conditioned on a Sanskrit reference clip

meaning

The mind is restless, turbulent, powerful, and stubborn, Krishna; I think restraining it is as difficult as restraining the wind.

ekras · bhāṣya

The mind, Krishna, is restless, an aggressor, powerful, and stubborn — restraining it I think as hard as restraining the wind. Four predicates of the manas; one simile of impossibility.

Shankara reads each predicate carefully. Chanchala — by nature unstable. Pramathin — not merely restless but actively aggressive, an adversary that seizes and subjugates body and senses. Balavat — potent, not restrainable by any ordinary means. Dridha — hard, like a thorn-rope, indivisible. Therefore Arjuna declares nigraha — absolute cessation — to be sudushkara, exceedingly difficult. The simile vayoh iva — like restraining the wind — is not hyperbole but the precise scale of the problem.

Madhusudana opens with the address itself as a signal. By calling the Lord Krishna — krish, the one who draws away the sins of devotees — Arjuna is implicitly appealing to the only power that can restrain the unrestrainable. The very name is a petition. He then glosses each predicate. Pramathin — that which makes body and senses helpless, vivasha-kara. Balavat — that which cannot be turned by deliberate reasoning. Dridha — bound fast by vishaya-vasana.

Shridhara enumerates the same four with precision and adds the impossibility-image: as one cannot stop wind from churning in the open sky into a jar, restraining the manas entirely is sarvatha ashakya, wholly impossible. The verse is the chapter's most honest concession; it does not pretend the work is easy.

Madhva grounds the complaint in Vyasa's own Yoga-shastra: yoga's sthiti cannot arise without abhyasa and vairagya; of that there is no doubt. The difficulty Arjuna names is doctrinally confirmed, not merely experiential.

Ramanuja's image is its own: restraining the mind toward an object contrary to its conditioning is like trying to stop a great wind with a fan — sudushkara because the manas's svabhava is misdirection.

Context

where

Chapter 6 · Dhyāna-Yoga · meter anuṣṭubh

who speaks

Krishna → Arjuna

preceded by — BG 6.33

Arjuna says: This yoga of equal-seeing you've described, Madhusūdana, I cannot see how it could hold steady, given the mind's restlessness.

What's going on

The mind is restless, turbulent, powerful, and stubborn, Krishna; I think restraining it is as difficult as restraining the wind.

Sūtras through this verse (63)

RamsukhdasclassicalA

What binds you (and how to let go)between

6.1True renouncing acts; drops the inner hook.───→here6.34───→7.30Hold the Lord through every layer of life.

RāmānujaclassicalB

The śāstra is one bracket (2.12 → 18.66)between

2.39Practice seam begins.───→here6.34───→6.46The yogi outranks every other path.

MadhvaclassicalT2

Soul depends on Lord — the gap that does not closebetween

6.9Souls differ by nature not by accident alone.───→here6.34───→13.23Soul and Lord coexist in the body, not as one.

show all 63

Madhusūdanaclassicalmadhusudan_bhagavad_arpana

Madhusudan Bhagavad Arpanabetween · other

6.1Renouncer and yogi together───→here6.34───→9.22Yogakshema as offering returned

MadhusūdanaclassicalB

Different students need different teachingsbetween

6.1The renouncer and yogi are one under two views.───→here6.34───→7.16Four kinds of devotee, ranked by ripeness.

MadhusūdanaclassicalC

Action purifies before knowing can landbetween

6.1Renouncing too lives by purity of mind.───→here6.34───→16.1The dispositions decide who can even begin.

MadhusūdanaclassicalD

Offer the act to the Lord and it stops bindingbetween

6.1The fruit-unattached one is yogi and renouncer.───→here6.34───→9.22The undivided ones the Lord himself sustains.

MadhusūdanaclassicalG

Knowing and acting cannot run togetherbetween

6.1Calling a karma-yogi 'renouncer' is only a courtesy.───→here6.34───→18.1At the very end, the line still holds.

MadhusūdanaclassicalI

Liberation while alive — the body finishes its runbetween

3.1The architecture ends in living-liberation, then bodily.───→here6.34───→6.46The yogi with mind-stilled stands above mere knowing.

MadhusūdanaclassicalE

Devotion is how knowing actually arrivesapproach

───→here6.34───→7.1The chapter elaborates the prior bhajana-line.

MadhusūdanaclassicalF

Every middle chapter opens with a bow to the teacherapproach

───→here6.34───→7.1A bow to the bliss-cloud, Nanda's son, opens seven.

RamsukhdasclassicalB

This human birth — your one chance to actbetween

3.8Even keeping the body alive requires action.───→here6.34───→6.40A fallen seeker still keeps the human birth.

RamsukhdasclassicalC

Desire is the root — not actionbetween

6.24Renounce every desire born of will.───→here6.34───→18.49Free of longing everywhere — same goal.

RamsukhdasclassicalG

Equanimity in everythingbetween

6.32Sees others' pain and joy as his own.───→here6.34───→9.29I am equal to all; lovers live in Me.

RamsukhdasclassicalH

All paths arrive at the same roombetween

5.4Insight and practice are not two paths.───→here6.34───→6.46The lover outranks every other yogi.

RamsukhdasclassicalI

The Lord already inside the heartbetween

6.30See Me everywhere, I am never lost.───→here6.34───→8.22The highest Person, reached by the undivided.

RamsukhdasclassicalK

The body is not yoursbetween

6.3Body, senses, and mind: none of them yours.───→here6.34───→13.20Nature causes the act; you only experience.

Ramsukhdasclassical

Sādhaka Sañjīvanī commentary at this versebetween

───→here6.34───→

RāmānujaclassicalC

Three ṣaṭkas (1–6 / 7–12 / 13–18)between

6.1The renouncer and yogi are the same person.───→here6.34───→7.1Open the second ṣaṭka: mind clung to Me.

RāmānujaclassicalD

Karma-yoga as kainkarya (worship)between

6.1The renouncer is the one who acts for Me.───→here6.34───→9.27Whatever you do, do it as offering.

MadhvaclassicalT3

Ranking is real — and it never collapsesbetween

6.9Devas, asuras, mortals are three native kinds.───→here6.34───→14.27Brahman has gradations within its own form.

MadhvaclassicalT6

Citation is the spine — texts carry the loadbetween

6.6Maitrāyaṇī defines the stilled mind.───→here6.34───→7.5Doubled prakṛti named from a single śruti.

MadhvaclassicalT7

Action and knowledge — never rivalsbetween

6.1The renouncer and yogi are one person, two names.───→here6.34───→18.2The ritualists' śruti fixes the closing definition.

MadhvaclassicalT8

Direct vision — the only proximate causebetween

6.7The stilled mind sees the seated supreme self.───→here6.34───→6.46The five-rung ladder ends in love, not knowledge.

MadhvaclassicalT9

Devotion and grace — what knowledge cannot do alonebetween

6.30Devotion brings what the seeker cannot earn.───→here6.34───→7.16Four kinds approach; the devoted is best.

MadhvaclassicalT12

Closure by gloss — the small repertoirebetween

6.32'Self' as mind, not soul, when symmetry is needed.───→here6.34───→8.3'Imperishable' redirects to the supreme person.

VallabhaclassicalC

Drop the doer, not the deedbetween

6.1Real renouncing keeps the act alive.───→here6.34───→18.1The closing chapter reopens this question.

VallabhaclassicalD

Chapter-opening preludesbetween

6.1Prelude binds yoga to puṣṭi-bhakti.───→here6.34───→7.1Seven-verse prelude opens the bhakti-ṣaṭka.

VallabhaclassicalE

Three paths, one teaching orderbetween

6.1The two paths are one through fruit-renouncing act.───→here6.34───→6.46The lover outranks the wise and the disciplined.

VallabhaclassicalH

Stilling the mind — into the Lordbetween

2.48Yoga itself is just sameness of mind.───→here6.34───→6.46The yogi closing the ṣaṭka is a mind-stiller.

RāmānujaclassicalA

World as the Lord's body (antaryāmin)approach

───→here6.34───→7.4Two natures of the Lord: matter and selves.

RāmānujaclassicalE

Bhakti as continuous recollectionapproach

───→here6.34───→7.17I am dearest to him.

RāmānujaclassicalF

Two prakṛtis · jīva as eternal aṃśaapproach

───→here6.34───→7.4Lower nature: matter.

RāmānujaclassicalJ

Śeṣa-śeṣī · pati-vrata simileapproach

───→here6.34───→7.18He is My self; I cannot hold without him.

VallabhaclassicalB

Grace alone — the technical markapproach

───→here6.34───→7.18The wise one is Myself, by grace alone.

VallabhaclassicalK

Aphorism, gloss, full commentaryapproach

───→here6.34───→6.47Six chapters of aphorism close at this verse.

Gauravmodernchaplaincy_kit_of_tools

Chaplaincy Kit Of Toolsbetween

6.11Mudra and posture. 'Shuchau deshe pratishthapya sthiram asanam atmanah.' Establi───→here6.34───→9.26Puja and havan. 'Patram pushpam phalam toyam yo me bhaktya prayachchhati.' Whoev

Gauravmoderncivilizational_air_conditioning

Civilizational Air Conditioningbetween

6.5'Uddhared atmanatmanam natmanam avasadayet.' Lift yourself by yourself, do not l───→here6.34───→16.21'Tri-vidham narakasyedam dvaram nashanam atmanah, kamah krodhas tatha lobhah.' T

Gauravmodernheart_leadership

Heart Leadershipbetween

6.7'Jitatmanah prashantasya paramatma samahitah.' For the self-conquered, in-peace,───→here6.34───→6.35'Asamshayam maha-baho mano durnigraham chalam, abhyasena tu Kaunteya vairagyena

Gauravmodernthree_yogas_braid

Three Yogas Braidbetween

5.5'Yat sankhyaih prapyate sthanam tad yogair api gamyate.' The place reached by sa───→here6.34───→6.46'Tapasvibhyo'dhiko yogi jnanibhyo'pi mato'dhikah, karmibhyash chadhiko yogi tasm

Gauravmodernwitness_self_neti_neti

Witness Self Neti Netibetween

6.29'Sarva-bhuta-stham atmanam sarva-bhutani cha'tmani, ikshate yoga-yuktatma sarvat───→here6.34───→13.32'Anaditvan nirgunatvat paramatma'yam avyayah, sharira-stho'pi Kaunteya na karoti

ĀnandagiriclassicalB

Three hexads = tat tvam asibetween

2.1First hexad opens, tvam-pada implicit.───→here6.34───→6.46Inner-self hexad closes; pivot prepared.

ĀnandagiriclassicalC

Adhikāra: seeker vs. fulfilledbetween

5.1Two saṃnyāsas: fruit and means.───→here6.34───→6.46Yogin vs. jñānin: not synonyms.

ĀnandagiriclassicalK

Upasaṃhāra — recap as instrumentbetween

2.39Wisdom section wound up here.───→here6.34───→6.46Dhyāna section sealed: yogin is supreme.

ĀnandagiriclassicalI

Bhakti carries jñāna, never parallelapproach

───→here6.34───→7.1Upāsya and tat-pada in apposition. Anchor.

ĀnandagiriclassicalJ

Prakṛti is never autonomousapproach

───→here6.34───→7.4Two-fold prakṛti is the Lord's own power.

Śaṅkaraclassicalshankara_jnana_nishtha

Shankara Jnana Nishthabetween · other

6.1Soft sense of renouncer───→here6.34───→18.49Naishkarmya-siddhi by sannyāsa

ŚaṅkaraclassicalB

Knowledge alone, with all action laid downbetween

6.1The fire-keeper is renouncer only in a soft sense.───→here6.34───→18.49Action-freedom comes from full renunciation.

VedāntadeśikaclassicalF

Saṅgati — anticipation-and-resolutionbetween

3.1Arjuna's question resolves 2.49's hint.───→here6.34───→6.47Top-yogin clause — the chapter-7 hinge.

VedāntadeśikaclassicalG

Three yogas — three angles on one configurationbetween

6.1The renouncer and yogi are one figure.───→here6.34───→6.46The yogi outranks tapasvi, jñāni, karmin.

ŚrīdharaclassicalL

Chapter prefaces as the bhāṣya's spinebetween

6.1Pure mind is not yet release: now meditate.───→here6.34───→8.1Now, the questions of Brahman and self.

ŚaṅkaraclassicalI

The lover and the knower are one personapproach

───→here6.34───→7.16Of the four devotees, the knower is dearest.

VedāntadeśikaclassicalB

Prapatti — bhakti's access for those the long path defeatsapproach

───→here6.34───→7.14Those who take refuge cross the māyā.

VedāntadeśikaclassicalI

9.24 — the standing citation for ārādhyaapproach

───→here6.34───→7.21Deity-worship: His self-arrangement of grace.

ŚrīdharaclassicalC

Devotion is both the way and the homeapproach

───→here6.34───→6.47Be a devotee: that is the meaning.

ŚrīdharaclassicalH

The grammar of single-pointednessapproach

───→here6.34───→7.14Undivided love crosses the great mist.

ŚrīdharaclassicalK

Death-memory as the test of daily habitapproach

───→here6.34───→8.5Whoever remembers Me at the last reaches Me.

ŚaṅkaraclassicalG

After knowing, act only to hold the worldexit

5.8I do nothing at all, says the knower.───→here6.34───→

Ekrasmodernmeditation

Meditation — the dhyāna tourbetween · v2

6.29Self in all beings───→here6.34───→8.12Om at the close

Ekrasmodernvairagya

Vairāgya — dispassion as instrumentbetween · v2

6.4Renounced in resolve───→here6.34───→6.35Practice and dispassion

Ekrasmodernbhakti

Bhakti — devotion pathapproach · v2

───→here6.34───→7.16Four kinds of bhakta

JayatīrthaclassicalC

Refuting Śaṅkara-style readings, named or unnamedbetween

6.1Householder is not figurative saṁnyāsin.───→here6.34───→7.13Why this declaration? The gloss must answer.

JayatīrthaclassicalD

Saṅgati declared at the head of every adhyāyabetween

6.1Karma-yoga is outer; samādhi-yoga inner.───→here6.34───→7.1First ṣaṭka closed; new pratijñā opens.

Śabda · lemmas (15 unique · 15 occurrences)

प्रमाथि pramāthin — agitating, churning (from pra- + √math + -in) · nominative neuter singular noun
तस्य tad — that (distal demonstrative); also 3rd-person pronoun · genitive neuter singular noun
मन्ये √man — to think, regard, consider (verbal root) · present indicative 1st person singular verb
कृष्ण kṛṣṇa — Kṛṣṇa; black, dark · vocative masculine singular noun · also at 1.1, 1.28, 1.29, 1.30, 1.32, 1.41 +10
दृढम् dṛḍha — firm, fixed (past participle of √dṛṃh) · nominative neuter singular noun

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चञ्चलम् cañcala — unsteady, fickle, restless · nominative neuter singular noun
हि hi — for, indeed, because (particle)
मनः manas — mind (lower mind), the inner organ of perception · nominative neuter singular noun
बलवत् balavat — (bala + -vat: strength) · nominative neuter singular noun
अहम् mad — I, me (1st person pronoun stem); also: to rejoice (verbal root) · nominative singular noun
निग्रहम् nigraha — restraint, suppression (ni- + √grah) · accusative masculine singular noun
वायोः vāyu — wind; the wind-god Vāyu · genitive masculine singular noun
इव iva — like, as if
सु su — good, well; auspicious prefix
दुष्करम् duṣkara — hard to do (dus- + kara) · accusative neuter singular noun

Praśna · so what (7)

01If even a post-jñāna sādhu cannot fully restrain the mind while prārabdha persists (Madhusūdana's position), what is the honest goal of meditation practice — cessation or skilled navigation of restlessness?
02Śaṅkara says the mind is 'not restrainable by anyone' (na kenacit niyantuṃ śakyam); Rāmānuja says it fails even in long-practiced objects — does the difficulty lie in the mind's nature or in the practitioner's method?

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03The four qualities (cañcala / pramāthin / balaval / dṛḍha) describe four different kinds of difficulty — each calls for a different remedy. Which modern interventions (attention training, somatic work, vāsanā-deconditioning) map to which quality?
04Madhva grounds the answer in Vyāsa-śāstra: abhyāsa and vairāgya are the only prescribed tools. What does it mean that the Gītā's problem-statement is already answered by prior śruti/smṛti — is Arjuna asking a question to which the tradition already has the answer?
05Vallabha's spatial simile (wind in the sky vs. wind in a pot) implies scale mismatch as the fundamental problem. Is the mind un-restrainable because it operates at a scale no bounded technique can contain?
06Kṛṣṇa will reply 'asaṃśayaṃ mahābāho mano durnigrahaṃ calam' — he agrees. What does divine agreement with the disciple's complaint mean pedagogically, and what does it reveal about the Gītā's teaching method?
07Each school locates the solution differently: jñāna (Advaita), bhakti-assisted yoga (Rāmānuja), Hari-grace (Madhva), prasāda (Vallabha), Lord-invocation through the name (Madhusūdana). Is this genuine doctrinal divergence or convergence on the same ground named differently?

Vyavahāra · try it in your life

Advaita

When you notice the mind skipping between browser tabs, arguments replayed in memory, and tomorrow's anxieties — do not fight it as an enemy. Śaṅkara's pramāthin is not weakness; it is the mind's structural mode. Practice: observe the mind's aggression without becoming the aggressor. Nigraha here means the witness-stance (sākṣin), not the policeman.

Viśiṣṭādvaita

Rāmānuja's mahāvāta-fan simile is a practical test: if you are trying to redirect a long-practiced habit toward a new object, note how much force the old grooves resist. The application is not willpower but design — change the environment, the association-structure, the community of practice. The mind follows what it has rehearsed; re-rehearse in Bhagavān's direction incrementally.

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Dvaita

Madhva's citation of Vyāsayoga gives a two-lever prescription directly applicable to daily sādhana: abhyāsa (repetition — return to the object without self-reproach when distracted) and vairāgya (non-investment in outcome — practice the return, not the result). These are not platitudes but the śāstra's own diagnosis of what makes nigraha possible where self-effort alone fails.

Śuddhādvaita

Vallabha's insight is that attempting to bottle the wind is the wrong paradigm. In daily life: stop trying to achieve stillness by brute restraint. Instead, offer the restless mind's activity to Kṛṣṇa as it is — in seva, in kīrtana, in play. When the mind is engaged in His līlā, the churning does not cease but it ceases to be a problem. Prasāda-mārga means the solution arrives from outside the system you are trying to fix.

Bhakti

Śrīdhara's fourfold map is a diagnostic: (1) Is the restlessness structural cañcalatā — use rhythm and routine; (2) Is it pramāthiṃ — sense-organ agitation — use pratyāhāra and diet; (3) Is it balaval — intellectual arguments keeping you stuck — use deliberate inquiry rather than suppression; (4) Is it dṛḍha — vāsanā-reinforced — only long-term re-conditioning (not one retreat) will shift it. Diagnose before prescribing.

Advaita-Bhakti

Madhusūdana's key move: Arjuna addresses Kṛṣṇa by name mid-complaint. In daily practice, when you reach the edge of what self-effort can achieve — which is usually sooner than expected — name what is beyond you. Not as defeat but as honest petition. The name Kṛṣṇa (kṛṣ, to draw toward) is itself the practice: invoke the one capable of drawing the mind past what method alone cannot reach.

Adhiṣṭhāna · substrate signature

substratev2.6-frozen

parserByT5-Sanskrit-multitask (Nehrdich/Hellwig/Keutzer EMNLP 2024)

mūlaBelvalkar critical edition (BORI 1947), via Ambuda multi-witness

show all metadata

weightsa=1 · b=0.01 · e_v=0.005 · z=0.2 · h=0 · th=0.01

anchorfit on Ramsukhdas's Sādhak Sañjīvanī (1980), frozen across the eight-commentator panel; cross-validated R@4 = 71.6% on Śaṅkara

extracted2026-04-21

methodPaper 1, Section II.B

↓ view raw per-verse object (JSON)↗ per-verse-object schema ↗ substrate code (MIT) + data (CC-BY 4.0)

The schema generalizes to any bounded-polysemy corpus with discrete primary text units, attested witness traditions, identifiable schools, and formal substrate. Port the per-verse object; refit weights on a domain-appropriate Layer-3 anchor; ship.

Bhagavad Gītā Chapter 6, Verse 34: Krishna to Arjuna — Dhyāna-Yoga