Bhaktivedanta VedaBase: Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 2.1.18

niyacched viṣayebhyo 'kṣān

manasā buddhi-sārathiḥ

manaḥ karmabhir ākṣiptaḿ

śubhārthe dhārayed dhiyā

SYNONYMS

niyacchet — withdraw; viṣayebhyaḥ — from sense engagements; akṣān — the senses; manasā — by dint of the mind; buddhi — intelligence; sārathiḥ — driver; manaḥ — the mind; karmabhiḥ — by the fruitive work; ākṣiptam — being absorbed in; śubha-arthe — for the sake of the Lord; dhārayet — hold up; dhiyā — in full consciousness.

TRANSLATION

Gradually, as the mind becomes progressively spiritualized, withdraw it from sense activities, and by intelligence the senses will be controlled. The mind too absorbed in material activities can be engaged in the service of the Personality of Godhead and become fixed in full transcendental consciousness.

PURPORT

The first process of spiritualizing the mind by mechanical chanting of the praṇava (oḿkāra) and by control of the breathing system is technically called the mystic or yogic process of prāṇāyāma, or fully controlling the breathing air. The ultimate state of this prāṇāyāma system is to be fixed in trance, technically called samādhi. But experience has proven that even the samādhi stage also fails to control the materially absorbed mind. For example, the great mystic Viśvāmitra Muni, even in the stage of samadhi, became a victim of the senses and cohabited with Menakā. History has already recorded this. The mind, although ceasing to think of sensual activities at present, remembers past sensual activities from the subconscious status and thus disturbs one from cent percent engagement in self-realization. Therefore, Śukadeva Gosvāmī recommends the next step of assured policy, namely to fix one's mind in the service of the Personality of Godhead. Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, also recommends this direct process in the Bhagavad-gītā (6.47). Thus, the mind being spiritually cleansed, one should at once engage himself in the transcendental loving service of the Lord by the different devotional activities of hearing, chanting, etc. If performed under proper guidance, that is the surest path of progress, even for the disturbed mind.

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His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda, Founder Ācārya of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness