The Blessed Lord said :
असंशयं महाबाहो मनो दुर्निग्रहं चलम् ।
अभ्यासेन तु कौन्तेय वैराग्येण च गृह्यते ॥ ३५ ॥
asaṃśayaṃ mahābāho mano durnigrahaṃ calam .
abhyāsena tu kaunteya vairāgyeṇa ca gṛhyate .. 35 ..
Doubtless, O mighty-armed, the mind is hard to restrain and restless; but by practice, O son of Kuntī, and by indifference it may be restrained.
Read the commentary
‘Practice’ consists in constantly repeating the same idea or thought regarding some one object of thought. ‘Indifference’ means freedom from desire for any pleasures seen or unseen, attained through a constant perception of evil in them. It is by practice and indifference that vikshepa, the passage of thought in the direction of external objects, can be restrained.—It is thus that the mind is restrained.
But as regards him who is not self-controlled :