FolioCorpusBhagavad-gītā

Bhagavad-gītā 2.61

తాని సర్వాణి సంయమ్య యుక్త ఆసీత మత్పరః । వశే హి యస్యేన్ద్రియాణి తస్య ప్రజ్ఞా ప్రతిష్ఠితా ॥ ౬౧ ॥
tāni sarvāṇi saṁyamya
[taani sarvaani samyamya]
yukta āsīta mat-paraḥ
[yukta aaseeta mat-parah]
vaśe hi yasyendriyāṇi
[vashe hi yasyendriyaani]
tasya prajñā pratiṣṭhitā
[tasya prajnaa pratishthitaa]
Word-for-word
tāni — those senses sarvāṇi — all saṁyamya — keeping under control yuktaḥ — engaged āsīta — should be situated mat - paraḥ — in relationship with Me vaśe — in full subjugation hi — certainly yasya — one whose indriyāṇi — senses tasya — his prajñā — consciousness pratiṣṭhitā — fixed .
Blended reading (Sanskrit + English inline)
tāni sarvāṇi saṁyamya
tāni
those senses
sarvāṇi
all
saṁyamya
keeping under control
yukta āsīta mat-paraḥ
yuktaḥ
engaged
āsīta
should be situated
mat - paraḥ
in relationship with Me
vaśe hi yasyendriyāṇi
vaśe
in full subjugation
hi
certainly
yasya
one whose
indriyāṇi
senses
tasya prajñā pratiṣṭhitā
tasya
his
prajñā
consciousness
pratiṣṭhitā
fixed .
Important Words
  • saṁyamya — having restrained
    Gerund of sam-√yam — to hold together, to restrain. The same root as saṁyamī. The senses are first *gathered in* and held — not destroyed.
  • yuktaḥ — yoked
    Past participle of √yuj. The practitioner is *yoked* — connected. The same word that names the yogi names the act of being connected to the Lord.
  • āsīta — should sit
    Optative of √ās — to sit, to abide. The verse names the right posture for the saṁyamī: *seated*, settled, not in flight. The sthita-prajña is, even in his outward posture, sthita.
  • mat - paraḥ — having Me as the supreme
    Compound — *whose param is Me*. The verse's hinge. Restraint alone is not enough (verse 60 showed); the senses must be redirected toward the Lord. Mat-paraḥ is the difference between dry sense-control and bhakti-yoga.
  • vaśe — under control
    Locative of vaśa — power, control. *In whose subjection* the senses are. The verse closes by characterizing the sthita-prajña: he is one whose senses *are in his vaśa* — and they are there because he is mat-paraḥ.
One who restrains his senses, keeping them under full control, and fixes his consciousness upon Me, is known as a man of steady intelligence.
Purport

That the highest conception of yoga perfection is Kṛṣṇa consciousness is clearly explained in this verse. And unless one is Kṛṣṇa conscious it is not at all possible to control the senses. As cited above, the great sage Durvāsā Muni picked a quarrel with Mahārāja Ambarīṣa, and Durvāsā Muni unnecessarily became angry out of pride and therefore could not check his senses. On the other hand, the king, although not as powerful a yogī as the sage, but a devotee of the Lord, silently tolerated all the sage’s injustices and thereby emerged victorious. The king was able to control his senses because of the following qualifications, as mentioned in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (9.4.18–20) : sa vai manaḥ kṛṣṇa-padāravindayor vacāṁsi vaikuṇṭha-guṇānuvarṇane karau harer mandira-mārjanādiṣu śrutiṁ cakārācyuta-sat-kathodaye mukunda-liṅgālaya-darśane dṛśau tad-bhṛtya-gātra-sparśe ’ṅga-saṅgamam ghrāṇaṁ ca tat-pāda-saroja-saurabhe śrīmat-tulasyā rasanāṁ tad-arpite pādau hareḥ kṣetra-padānusarpaṇe śiro hṛṣīkeśa-padābhivandane kāmaṁ ca dāsye na tu kāma-kāmyayā yathottama-śloka-janāśrayā ratiḥ “King Ambarīṣa fixed his mind on the lotus feet of Lord Kṛṣṇa, engaged his words in describing the abode of the Lord, his hands in cleansing the temple of the Lord, his ears in hearing the pastimes of the Lord, his eyes in seeing the form of the Lord, his body in touching the body of the devotee, his nostrils in smelling the flavor of the flowers offered to the lotus feet of the Lord, his tongue in tasting the tulasī leaves offered to Him, his legs in traveling to the holy place where His temple is situated, his head in offering obeisances unto the Lord, and his desires in fulfilling the desires of the Lord … and all these qualifications made him fit to become a mat-para devotee of the Lord.” The word mat-para is most significant in this connection. How one can become mat-para is described in the life of Mahārāja Ambarīṣa. Śrīla Baladeva Vidyābhūṣaṇa, a great scholar and ācārya in the line of the mat-para, remarks, mad-bhakti-prabhāvena sarvendriya-vijaya-pūrvikā svātma-dṛṣṭiḥ su-labheti bhāvaḥ. “The senses can be completely controlled only by the strength of devotional service to Kṛṣṇa.” Also, the example of fire is sometimes given: “As a blazing fire burns everything within a room, Lord Viṣṇu, situated in the heart of the yogī, burns up all kinds of impurities.” The Yoga-sūtra also prescribes meditation on Viṣṇu, and not meditation on the void. The so-called yogīs who meditate on something other than the Viṣṇu form simply waste their time in a vain search after some phantasmagoria. We have to be Kṛṣṇa conscious – devoted to the Personality of Godhead. This is the aim of the real yoga.

— A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda
Gauḍīya Ācāryas
Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura Gauḍīya
Translation
61. The yogī who is devoted to Me, after restraining all the senses, will remain seated, unresponsive to sense objects. He whose senses have thus been brought under control is sthita-prajṣa.
Commentary

Mat-paraḥ means My devotee. Without devotion to Me, one cannot conquer the senses. This will be seen everywhere in later verses of the Gītā. Uddhava has also said: prāyaśaḥ puṇḍarīkākṣa yuṣjanto yogino manaḥ viṣīdanty asamādhānān mano-nigraha-karśitāḥ athāta ānanda-dughaṁ padāmbujaṁ haṁsāḥ śrayeran O lotus-eyed Lord, generally those yogīs who try to steady the mind experience frustration because of their inability to perfect the state of trance. Thus they weary in their attempt to bring the mind under control. Therefore, O lotus-eyed Lord of the universe, swanlike men happily take shelter of Your lotus feet, the source of all transcendental ecstasy. SB 11.29.2-3 The person whose senses have been brought under control (vase hi) is the sthita-prajṣa. This distinguishes him from the sādhaka, the person attempting to do so.

Baladeva Vidyābhūṣaṇa Gauḍīya
Translation
61. The yogi who is devoted to Me, after restraining all the senses, will remain seated, realizing ātmā. He whose senses have thus been brought under control is sthita prajṣa.
Commentary

“Even for those who have conquered the senses, realization of ātmā is not known. What is the method for realizing the ātmā?” Having completely controlled all the senses, fixed in devotion to Me (mat paraḥ), he will remain situated (āsīta) with full samādhi directed to ātmā (yuktaḥ). In other words, by the power of devotion to Me, while maintaining control of the senses, the person will very easily attain a vision of his ātmā. Thus the smṛti says: yathāgnir uddhata-śikhaḥ kakṣaṁ dahati sānilaḥ tathā citta-sthito viṣṇur yogināṁ sarva-kilbiṣam Just as fire with upraised flames, assisted by the wind, burns dry wood, Viṣṇu situated in the heart, burns up all the sins of the yogīs. Viṣnu Purāṇa 6.7.74 The last line of the verse clarifies. This is the situation of the sthita prajṣa with control of the senses. This answers the question “How does the sthita prajṣa remain situated with sense control (kim āsīta)?”

Bhūrijana Dāsa Gauḍīya
Commentary

All the senses has to be engaged in Krsna's service and that is Bhakti. This is far superior to the path of negation or jnana. This verse has two parts: 1) the first part of half of the verse is about a sadhaka, one who is practicing and 2) the second half is about someone who is in perfection ‑ a siddha. The first part says how one has to control the senses by engaging them in relationship with Krsna and the second part explains when the senses are in full subjugation his consciousness is fixed. The question could be asked: "What happens if a sadhaka, one who is practicing does not fix his consciousness fully on Krsna but by chance or by mistake fixes his senses on the objects of the senses? What happens to such a person?

Study Notes — Gauranga Priya Dāsa
Gauranga Priya Dāsa Study Key verse
Bhakti-śāstrī Notes, ISKCON Chowpatty (2009)
Theme

This verse provides contrast between process of dry renunciation and devotional service

“Steady Intelligence” defined
One who restrains his senses, keeping them under full control
And fixes his consciousness upon ‘Me’
Focus of Learning

(a) Practical Application: ‘Man of discrimination’ refers to a jnani, who endeavors to curb his senses

simply on the strength of his own philosophical understanding and mental conviction

(b) Example of power of senses – Visvamrita Muni and many other learned sages, philosophers and

transcendentalists fall victim due to their agitated mind

(c) Only way to control senses – Higher taste of Krishna consciousness – e.g. Yamunacarya

(d) Krishna consciousness is on the transcendental platform

Automatically material enjoyment becomes distasteful
Analogy: Krishna consciousness is like a hungry man satisfied by sufficient nutritious eatables
e.g. Ambarisa Maharaja conquered Durvasa Muni because of Krishna consciousness

(c) Restraining is difficult, because taste of sense objects still remain (2.59)

This is the cause of falldown for Impersonalists or those in Astanga-yoga
Analogy: Restriction of diseased patient from some food item – patient still has taste for it

(d) Restrictions are only good in neophyte stage, because: (2.59)

On advanced platform one develops a higher taste and it becomes easier to restrain the senses, one automatically loses taste for pale things
What kind of higher taste recommended
One who has tasted the Lord’s beauty in the course of his advancement such a person loses all taste of dead material things
Classical Ācāryas
Śrī Śaṅkarācārya Classical
Translation
2.61 Samyamya, controlling, having subdued; sarvani, all; tani, of them; asita, one should remain; yuktah, concentrated; mat-parah, on Me as the supreme he to whom I, Vasudeva, the inmost Self of all, am the supreme (parah) is mat-parah. The idea is, he should remain (concentrated) thinking, 'I am not different from Him.' Hi, for; the prajna, wisdom; tasya, of one, of the sannyasin remaining thus concentrated; yasya, whose; indriyani, organs; are vase, under control, by dint of practice; [The organs come under control either by constantly thinking of oneself as non-different from the Self, or by constantly being mindful of the evils that result from objects.] pratisthita, becomes steadfast. Now, then, is being stated this [This:what is described in the following two verses, and is also a matter of common experience.] root, cause of all the evils that beset one who is the verge of being overwhelmed:
Śrī Rāmānujācārya Classical
Translation
2.61 With a desire to overcome this mutual dependence between the subduing of the senses and vision of the self, one has to coner the senses which are difficult to subdue on account of their attachment to sense-objects. So, focussing the mind on Me who am the only auspicious object for meditation, let him remain steadfast. When the mind is focussed on Me as its object, then such a mind, purified by the burning away of all impurities and devoid of attachment to the senses, is able to control the senses. Then the mind with the senses under control will be able to experience the self. As said in Visnu Purana, 'As the leaping fire fanned by the wind burns away a forest of dry trees, so Visnu, who is in the hearts of all the Yogins, destroys all the sins.' Sri Krsna teaches the same here: 'He whose senses are under control, his knowledge is firmly set.' Sri Krsna says: 'One who endeavours to subdue the senses, depending on one's own exertions, and does not focus the mind on Me in this way, becomes lost.'
Śrī Abhinavagupta Classical
Translation
2.61 Tani etc. He, who restrains his sense-organs in this manner by means of his mind, but not by inactivity-he alone is a man-of-stabilized-intellect. He would remain viewing Me alone as his goal i.e., he would concentrate his attention on nothing but Me, the Supreme Lord, the Consciousness-Self.
Swami Sivananda Classical
Translation
2.61 Having restrained them all he should sit steadfast, intent on Me; his wisdom is steady whose senses are under control.
Commentary

2.61 तानि them? सर्वाणि all? संयम्य having restrained? युक्तः joined? आसीत should sit? मत्परः intent on Me? वशे under control? हि indeed? यस्य whose? इन्द्रियाणि senses? तस्य his? प्रज्ञा wisdom? प्रतिष्ठिता is settled.Commentary He should control the senses and sit focussed on Me as the Supreme? with a calm mind. The wisdom of the Yogi who thus seated has brought all his senses under subjugation is doubtless ite steady. He is established in the Self. Sri Sankaracharya explains Asita Matparah as He should sit contemplating I am no other than He. (Cf.II.64).

Swami Gambhīrānanda Classical
Translation
2.61 Controlling all of them, one should remain concentrated on Me as the supreme. For, the wisdom of one whose organs are under control becomes steadfast.
Shri Purohit Swami Classical
Translation
2.61 Restraining them all, let him meditate steadfastly on Me; for who thus conquers his senses achieves perfection.
Related values & verses
Related values
Tyaga (Renunciation / Letting Go)Karuna (Kindness / Compassion)Tapas (Austerity / Discipline)Guru Bhakti (Reverence for Teacher)Atma Nigraha (Self-control)Daksya (Resourcefulness / Skill)Maitri (Friendship / Goodwill)Abhaya (Fearlessness)
Related verses
BG 6.10 BG 9.34 BG 18.65 SB 3.28.34 SB 11.14.27 SB 11.20.21 CC Ādi 8.69 CC Madhya 22.137 CC Madhya 24.169 Kaṭha Upaniṣad 2.3.10BRS 1.2.180
Related lectures
Personal Guidance
Restraining all the senses, one should sit fixed on Me — the senses are conquered only by the consciousness fixed on the Lord.
Practical Applications
  • Replace 'try harder against my senses' with 'fix my mind on Krishna' — the indirect approach succeeds where the direct fails.
  • When a sense pull arises, do not engage it in argument; redirect attention to Krishna's name or form.
  • Make 'mat-paraḥ' (centered on Me) your operating frequency, not just your goal.
Reflection Questions
  • Where am I fighting senses head-on instead of fixing on Krishna?
  • What does mat-paraḥ feel like in my body when I genuinely enter it?
Analogy

A horseman who has both bridled the horses and fixed his eyes on the city ahead is safe; bridled-and-aimless still loses the road. The yukta yogī mat-paraḥ has both subdued (saṁyamya) and aimed (mat-paraḥ). The verse names the only configuration that holds.

📝 My note

Source: vedabase.io

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