चञ्चलं हि मनः कृष्ण प्रमाथि बलवद् दृढम् ।
तस्याऽहं निग्रहं मन्ये वायोरिव सुदुष्करम् ॥ ३४ ॥
तस्याऽहं निग्रहं मन्ये वायोरिव सुदुष्करम् ॥ ३४ ॥
cañcalaṃ hi manaḥ kṛṣṇa pramāthi balavad dṛḍham .
tasyā’haṃ nigrahaṃ manye vāyoriva suduṣkaram .. 34 ..
The mind verily, is, O Kṛṣṇa, restless, turbulent, strong and obstinate. Thereof the restraint I deem quite as difficult as that of the wind.
Read the commentary
‘Kṛṣṇa’ is derived from ‘krish’ to scrape. Kṛṣṇa is so called because He scrapes or draws away all sins and other causes of evil from his devotees.—Not only is the mind restless, but also turbulent: it agitates the body and the senses and makes them subject to foreign influences. It is not possible to restrain it by any means, as it is quite irrepressible. It is as impossible to cut it as to cut the tantunaga, the Varuṇa-pasa, a kind of shark. To restrain the mind of such a nature is even more difficult than to restrain the wind:
The Lord says :—So it is, as you say :