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The world is celebrating International Yoga Day today, 21st June 2024. Yoga is a traditional Indian physical, mental, and spiritual discipline. The Sanskrit term for "yoga" means "to join" or "to unite," signifying the integration of the body and the mind. The Hindu sacred texts have also enumerated about the benefits of Yoga and Meditation. 

The Bhagavad Gita Gita's Chapter 6, "Dhyana Yoga/Yoga of Meditation," is filled with insightful advice on how to improve the ideas and emotions that our minds constantly assault us with.

Prince Arjuna eventually bemoans the state of the mind, which he describes as restless, tumultuous, forceful, and stubborn. It is therefore as impossible to control as it is to control the wind (Dhyana Yoga, verse 34). In Dhyana Yoga, verse 35, Lord Krishna provides him with guidance on practising meditation yoga. In other words, useful guidance on mindfulness, self-control, composure, and dispassion (vairagya).

Let us check out the 10 best shlokas from the Shrimad Bhagavad Gita on Yoga and Meditation to control the mind. 

10 Best Quotes From Shrimad Bhagavad Gita On Yoga 

1. Yam sannyaasamiti praahuryogam tam viddhi paandava; Na hyasannyastasankalpo yogee bhavati kashchana 

Meaning: Do thou, O Arjuna, know  Yoga to be that which they call renunciation; no one verily becomes a Yogi who has not renounced thoughts!

2. Sri Bhagavaan Uvaacha: Anaashritah karmaphalam kaaryam karma karoti yah; Sa sannyaasi cha yogee cha na niragnirna chaakriyah 

Meaning: The Blessed Lord said: He who performs his bounden duty without depending on the fruits of his actions—he is a Sannyasin and a Yogi, not he who is without fire and without action.

3. Yogee yunjeeta satatamaatmaanam rahasi sthitah; Ekaakee yatachittaatmaa niraasheeraparigrahah.

Meaning: Let the Yogi try constantly to keep the mind steady, remaining in solitude, alone, with the mind and the body controlled, and free from hope and greed.

4. Shuchau deshe pratishthaapya sthiramaasanamaatmanah; Naatyucchritam naatineecham chailaajinakushottaram.

Meaning: In a clean spot, having established a firm seat of his own, neither too high nor too low, made of a cloth, a skin and kusha grass, one over the other,

5. Tatraikaagram manah kritwaa yatachittendriyakriyah; Upavishyaasane yunjyaadyogamaatmavishuddhaye.

Meaning: There, having made the mind one-pointed, with the actions of the mind and the senses controlled, let him, seated on the seat, practise  Yoga for the purification of the self.

6. Samam kaayashirogreevam dhaarayannachalam sthirah; Samprekshya naasikaagram swam dishashchaanavalokayan.

Meaning: Let him firmly hold his body, head and neck erect and perfectly still, gazing at the tip of his nose, without looking around.

By transforming the mind into a fantastic ally, yoga and meditation may bring about inner calm, peak performance, and independence from negative inclinations. (Image Source: Canva)

7. Sparsaan kritwaa bahir baahyaamschakshus chaivaantare bhruvoh; Praanaapaanau samau kritwaa naasaabhyantara chaarinau.

Meaning: Shutting out (all) external contacts and fixing the gaze between the eyebrows, equalising the outgoing and incoming breaths moving within the nostrils. 

8. Yathaa deepo nivaatastho nengate sopamaa smritaa; Yogino yatachittasya yunjato yogamaatmanah.

Meaning: As a lamp placed in a windless spot does not flicker—to such is compared the Yogi of controlled mind, practising Yoga in the Self (or absorbed in the Yoga of the Self).

9. Shanaih shanairuparamed buddhyaa dhritigriheetayaa; Aatmasamstham manah kritwaa na kinchidapi chintayet.

Meaning: Little by little let him attain to quietude by the intellect held firmly; having made the mind establish itself in the Self, let him not think of anything.

ALSO READ: Why Adiyogi Lord Shiva Is Known As The Source Of Yoga? Know History And Significance

10. Yadaa hi nendriyaartheshu na karmaswanushajjate; Sarvasankalpasannyaasee yogaaroodhas tadochyate.

Meaning: When a man is not attached to the sense-objects or to actions, having renounced all thoughts, then he is said to have attained to Yoga.