Let go of every desire born of your own resolve, and draw the senses inward by the mind.
The wanting that troubles you is not forced on you from outside; it begins in the mind's quiet resolve that paints an object as desirable and decides, let this be mine. Go to that root, and the senses that ran after it can be gathered back in.
Letting go of all desires born of intention, completely and without exception, restraining the whole group of senses with the mind on every side;
Having described the seat and posture of meditation in the verses just before, Krishna now names its first inward work: the giving-up and sense-restraint here are the setup for the gradual coming-to-rest that follows in the next verse.
Where they agreethe convergence
Across schools and centuries the commentators come to the same ground. These are the points they share, and the voices that hold each one.
The first work of meditation is to give up every desire born of your resolve, and to do it without remainder, leaving no small or occasional wanting held back.
Across Advaita, Viśiṣṭādvaita, Dvaita, Śuddhādvaita, Bhakti, and the modern voicesŚaṅkara · Ānandagiri · Madhusūdana · Nīlakaṇṭha · Dhanapati · Rāmānuja · Vedānta Deśika · Madhva · Vallabha · Puruṣottama · Śrīdhara · Jñāneśvar · Sivananda · TilakIn Śaṅkara, Ānandagiri, and 12 others’ words
The verse names the first work of meditation: give up every desire that springs from sankalpa, and do it without remainder. Sankalpa is the mind's resolve or fancy that paints attractiveness onto an object, deciding 'let this be mine.' From that resolve, desires arise. So Krishna goes to the root. The desires here are of the form 'let this be mine, let that be mine,' and the verse says to drop all of them, leaving no trace. The word 'without remainder' is not loose emphasis; it insists that nothing be kept back, not even a small or occasional desire.
Because the wanting grows from the mind's resolve that paints an object as desirable, begin there: undo that false picture by discernment, and the desire it fed falls away with it.
Across Advaita, Bhakti, and the modern voicesMadhusūdana · Nīlakaṇṭha · Dhanapati · Śrīdhara · Sivananda · JñāneśvarIn Madhusūdana, Nīlakaṇṭha, and 4 others’ words
Because desire is the root and sense-activity grows from it, the cure begins with the resolve, not just with the senses. Several commentators put it sharply: destroy the imagination first and the desires die on their own. The mind's resolve superimposes beauty on an object by not seeing its real faults; cancel that false picture, by reflection or by discrimination, and the desire it fed falls away with it. So the practice is to undo the cause, sankalpa, and let the effect, desire, dissolve.
Then draw the whole host of the senses inward from every side by the mind alone, for even one sense left unguarded pulls you outward again.
Across Advaita, Viśiṣṭādvaita, Dvaita, Śuddhādvaita, Bhakti, and the modern voicesŚaṅkara · Ānandagiri · Madhusūdana · Nīlakaṇṭha · Dhanapati · Rāmānuja · Vedānta Deśika · Madhva · Vallabha · Puruṣottama · Śrīdhara · Sivananda · TilakIn Śaṅkara, Ānandagiri, and 11 others’ words
The second movement is restraining the whole host of senses, the eye, ear, and the rest, on every side, by the mind alone. 'On every side' means from all objects in all directions; even one unguarded sense pulls the mind back outward. The instrument of this restraint is the mind itself, specifically a mind trained to see the defect in objects, armed with discrimination and dispassion. The senses run outward toward objects by nature; here they are drawn back and gathered in.
Reach past the surface wish to the latent seed that would sprout it again, and keep nothing back, not the things before you nor even the unseen joys you might still long for.
Across Advaita, BhaktiMadhusūdana · Nīlakaṇṭha · Dhanapati · ŚrīdharaIn Madhusūdana, Nīlakaṇṭha, and 2 others’ words
Many commentators add that the abandonment must reach the vasanas, the latent impressions left by past desire, not only the surface wish. It is not enough to stop wanting; the residual seed-tendency that would sprout the wish again must be uprooted. Several stress that this purge has no ceiling: it extends not just to ordinary seen objects like garlands, sandal-paste, and the company of others, but even to the desire for unseen heavenly enjoyments, up to the world of Brahma. Nothing in the whole range of objects, earthly or celestial, is to be retained as something to be possessed.
This verse does not stand alone; the letting-go and gathering-in here prepare a rest that comes little by little, held steady by practice, never seized in one forced act.
Across Advaita, Viśiṣṭādvaita, Bhakti, Kashmir ŚaivaDhanapati · Rāmānuja · Vedānta Deśika · Baladeva · AbhinavaguptaIn Dhanapati, Rāmānuja, and 3 others’ words
This verse connects forward and does not stand alone; the giving-up and sense-restraint here are the setup for the gradual coming-to-rest of 6.25. Several commentators read 6.24 and 6.25 together and note the rest is reached 'little by little,' by an understanding held steady and turned toward discernment, with the mind made to abide in the Self, until one thinks of nothing other than the Self. The training is gradual on purpose, because a mind dragged in by force will rebel; the rest is a steady habit, not one forced act.
This is the shared ground; it can be carried as it is. Below is where they differ.
Where they differthe divergence
Viśiṣṭādvaita, in their fuller words
These commentators draw a careful distinction the verse implies. Desires are of two kinds: those born of contact, like cold and heat, which arise from the body simply meeting the world and cannot be avoided; and those born of resolve, like sons, grandsons, and fields, which the mind generates. The verse's 'sankalpa-born desires' are this second kind, and these, by their very nature, can be given up by the mind alone, by dwelling on their non-connection with the Self. For the contact-born desires that cannot be escaped, the practice is not to abolish the sensation but to give up the gladness and agitation it stirs. On the goal-phrase 'think of nothing whatever,' these commentators are emphatic that this is not the blank, objectless mind of the void-doctrine. It is the not-thinking of anything else once the Self has been taken as the single object of attention; the mind drawn from many objects to one has not become objectless but single-objected.
Kashmir Śaiva, in their fuller words
This commentator stresses that the restraint of the senses is achieved by the mind alone, and explicitly not by a ceasing of activity; meditation is an inward poise, not an outward stillness or suppression of action. One takes up firmness and step by step thins out the pain of longing, and is to stop thinking even of the giving-up or taking-up of objects. Like the Vishishtadvaita reading, this commentator pointedly rejects the explanation 'let him think of nothing at all,' because taken literally it would entail the doctrine of the void, which this school does not accept.
Śuddhādvaita, in their fuller words
These commentators reframe the giving-up so that it is not forced asceticism but a natural turning. The mind, having found the bliss of the inward, having tasted the 'cit'-portion's own joy, no longer needs to be wrenched away from outward objects; it pulls in the senses of its own accord. The renunciation does not throw the senses away. It turns their relish inside out: the senses come to behold, by the mind, the beauties and relishes that are parts of Bhagavan, so that they become feeders of inner vision rather than of outer enjoyment. The same instruments that ran outward are now stationed under one's sway and pointed at the divine within.
Bhakti, in their fuller words
One commentator in this group dramatizes the inner death of egoic fancy: passion and wrath, the children of the ego's fancy, must first be crushed; then, hearing of its progeny's destruction and seeing the senses fully controlled, the fancy itself breaks its heart and ends, and only then can the Soul's vision dwell in the mansion of fortitude in great happiness. Another commentator in this group, reading toward the verses that follow, stresses that the final act is to make the mind abide in the Self, meditate on the Self, and come to rest in samadhi, thinking of nothing other than the Self, and that this is done gradually by a sequence of practice and never by force.
Dvaita, in their fuller words
These commentators read the verse's emphatic words closely. 'All' and 'without remainder' mean that not even a single desire, however slight or occasional, is to be entertained; the original reading they cite is 'desire is small, occasional too,' so the smallest residual craving is excluded. On the phrase 'the host of senses by the mind alone,' one might object that only the senses need restraining, not the mind itself; the answer is that the word 'alone' states the nature of the matter, namely that the senses can be governed only by the mind and by no other instrument.
A few questions to carry
These ask for understanding, not recall; each answer is settled by the commentary itself.
For a second sitting
Carry this with youwhat stays
Begin where the desire begins, not where it ends. Notice that the mind is diplomatic: it loudly gives up some desires while quietly keeping a few back for its own secret gratification. So the work is to abandon them without reservation, holding nothing in reserve. Go to the root, which is imagination, the sankalpa that paints an object as desirable; if you annihilate the imagination first, the desires wither on their own. Then watch the senses, all of them, from every side, because even one sense left turbulent in one direction will keep distracting you again and again. By steady practice of drawing the senses inward, they get absorbed in the mind, and the mind, no longer fed by objects, grows calm. The two tools that make this possible are discrimination, learning to tell the real from the unreal, and dispassion, a settled coolness toward sense-pleasure; cultivate both, and the whole ground of the senses can be quieted.
Begin where the desire begins, not where it ends; let go without holding a little back, and draw the senses gently inward, and by patient practice the mind, no longer fed by objects, grows calm.
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Convergence
he verse names the first work of meditation: give up every desire that springs from sankalpa, and do it without remainder. Sankalpa is the mind's resolve or fancy that paints attractiveness onto an object, deciding 'let this be mine.' From that resolve, desires arise. So Krishna goes to the root. The desires here are of the form 'let this be mine, let that be mine,' and the verse says to drop all of them, leaving no trace. The word 'without remainder' is not loose emphasis; it insists that nothing be kept back, not even a small or occasional desire.
Braided from 14 commentators
Śaṅkarācārya · Śrī Ānandagiri · Madhusūdana Sarasvatī · Śrī Nīlakaṇṭha · Dhanapati Sūri · Rāmānujācārya · Vedānta Deśika · Madhvācārya · Vallabhācārya · Śrī Puruṣottama · Śrīdhara Svāmī · Sant Jñāneśvar · Swami Sivananda · Lokmanya Tilak
Because desire is the root and sense-activity grows from it, the cure begins with the resolve, not just with the senses. Several commentators put it sharply: destroy the imagination first and the desires die on their own. The mind's resolve superimposes beauty on an object by not seeing its real faults; cancel that false picture, by reflection or by discrimination, and the desire it fed falls away with it. So the practice is to undo the cause, sankalpa, and let the effect, desire, dissolve.
Braided from 6 commentators
Madhusūdana Sarasvatī · Śrī Nīlakaṇṭha · Dhanapati Sūri · Śrīdhara Svāmī · Swami Sivananda · Sant Jñāneśvar
The second movement is restraining the whole host of senses, the eye, ear, and the rest, on every side, by the mind alone. 'On every side' means from all objects in all directions; even one unguarded sense pulls the mind back outward. The instrument of this restraint is the mind itself, specifically a mind trained to see the defect in objects, armed with discrimination and dispassion. The senses run outward toward objects by nature; here they are drawn back and gathered in.
Braided from 13 commentators
Śaṅkarācārya · Śrī Ānandagiri · Madhusūdana Sarasvatī · Śrī Nīlakaṇṭha · Dhanapati Sūri · Rāmānujācārya · Vedānta Deśika · Madhvācārya · Vallabhācārya · Śrī Puruṣottama · Śrīdhara Svāmī · Swami Sivananda · Lokmanya Tilak
Many commentators add that the abandonment must reach the vasanas, the latent impressions left by past desire, not only the surface wish. It is not enough to stop wanting; the residual seed-tendency that would sprout the wish again must be uprooted. Several stress that this purge has no ceiling: it extends not just to ordinary seen objects like garlands, sandal-paste, and the company of others, but even to the desire for unseen heavenly enjoyments, up to the world of Brahma. Nothing in the whole range of objects, earthly or celestial, is to be retained as something to be possessed.
Madhusūdana Sarasvatī · Śrī Nīlakaṇṭha · Dhanapati Sūri · Śrīdhara Svāmī
This verse connects forward and does not stand alone; the giving-up and sense-restraint here are the setup for the gradual coming-to-rest of 6.25. Several commentators read 6.24 and 6.25 together and note the rest is reached 'little by little,' by an understanding held steady and turned toward discernment, with the mind made to abide in the Self, until one thinks of nothing other than the Self. The training is gradual on purpose, because a mind dragged in by force will rebel; the rest is a steady habit, not one forced act.
Dhanapati Sūri · Rāmānujācārya · Vedānta Deśika · Śrīla Baladeva · Ācārya Abhinavagupta
Divergence
Viśiṣṭādvaita
These commentators draw a careful distinction the verse implies. Desires are of two kinds: those born of contact, like cold and heat, which arise from the body simply meeting the world and cannot be avoided; and those born of resolve, like sons, grandsons, and fields, which the mind generates. The verse's 'sankalpa-born desires' are this second kind, and these, by their very nature, can be given up by the mind alone, by dwelling on their non-connection with the Self. For the contact-born desires that cannot be escaped, the practice is not to abolish the sensation but to give up the gladness and agitation it stirs. On the goal-phrase 'think of nothing whatever,' these commentators are emphatic that this is not the blank, objectless mind of the void-doctrine. It is the not-thinking of anything else once the Self has been taken as the single object of attention; the mind drawn from many objects to one has not become objectless but single-objected.
Rāmānujācārya · Vedānta Deśika
Kashmir Shaivism
This commentator stresses that the restraint of the senses is achieved by the mind alone, and explicitly not by a ceasing of activity; meditation is an inward poise, not an outward stillness or suppression of action. One takes up firmness and step by step thins out the pain of longing, and is to stop thinking even of the giving-up or taking-up of objects. Like the Vishishtadvaita reading, this commentator pointedly rejects the explanation 'let him think of nothing at all,' because taken literally it would entail the doctrine of the void, which this school does not accept.
Ācārya Abhinavagupta
Śuddhādvaita
These commentators reframe the giving-up so that it is not forced asceticism but a natural turning. The mind, having found the bliss of the inward, having tasted the 'cit'-portion's own joy, no longer needs to be wrenched away from outward objects; it pulls in the senses of its own accord. The renunciation does not throw the senses away. It turns their relish inside out: the senses come to behold, by the mind, the beauties and relishes that are parts of Bhagavan, so that they become feeders of inner vision rather than of outer enjoyment. The same instruments that ran outward are now stationed under one's sway and pointed at the divine within.
Vallabhācārya · Śrī Puruṣottama
Bhakti
One commentator in this group dramatizes the inner death of egoic fancy: passion and wrath, the children of the ego's fancy, must first be crushed; then, hearing of its progeny's destruction and seeing the senses fully controlled, the fancy itself breaks its heart and ends, and only then can the Soul's vision dwell in the mansion of fortitude in great happiness. Another commentator in this group, reading toward the verses that follow, stresses that the final act is to make the mind abide in the Self, meditate on the Self, and come to rest in samadhi, thinking of nothing other than the Self, and that this is done gradually by a sequence of practice and never by force.
Sant Jñāneśvar · Śrīla Baladeva
Dvaita
These commentators read the verse's emphatic words closely. 'All' and 'without remainder' mean that not even a single desire, however slight or occasional, is to be entertained; the original reading they cite is 'desire is small, occasional too,' so the smallest residual craving is excluded. On the phrase 'the host of senses by the mind alone,' one might object that only the senses need restraining, not the mind itself; the answer is that the word 'alone' states the nature of the matter, namely that the senses can be governed only by the mind and by no other instrument.
Madhvācārya · Śrī Jayatīrtha
A Seeker Asks
Is this verse asking me to become cold and lifeless, or can craving be dropped without killing the capacity to feel and act?
What the verse asks you to drop is precise: the desires born of sankalpa, the mind's own resolve that decides 'let this be mine.' It is the manufactured wanting, not your capacity to feel, that is the target. Several commentators even distinguish the unavoidable contact-born sensations, like cold and heat, from the resolve-born desires; for the unavoidable ones the practice is not to abolish the feeling but to give up the gladness and agitation it stirs.
Rāmānujācārya · Vedānta Deśika
And the giving-up is not a violent self-suppression. Done rightly it is a natural turning: when the mind tastes the inward bliss, it no longer has to be wrenched from outward objects but pulls the senses in of its own accord, even turning their relish toward the divine within rather than throwing the senses away. Other commentators add that the rest is reached gradually and never by force, precisely because a mind dragged in by force will rebel.
Vallabhācārya · Śrī Puruṣottama · Śrīla Baladeva · Ācārya Abhinavagupta
Far from lifeless, the aim is a mind grown calm and single-pointed: not the blank, objectless mind of the void, but a mind drawn from many objects to one, abiding in the Self and thinking of nothing other than it. The result is not numbness but a steady, happy resting that the scattered, craving mind could never reach.
Vedānta Deśika · Rāmānujācārya · Swami Sivananda · Sant Jñāneśvar
Contemplation
Begin where the desire begins, not where it ends. Notice that the mind is diplomatic: it loudly gives up some desires while quietly keeping a few back for its own secret gratification. So the work is to abandon them without reservation, holding nothing in reserve. Go to the root, which is imagination, the sankalpa that paints an object as desirable; if you annihilate the imagination first, the desires wither on their own. Then watch the senses, all of them, from every side, because even one sense left turbulent in one direction will keep distracting you again and again. By steady practice of drawing the senses inward, they get absorbed in the mind, and the mind, no longer fed by objects, grows calm. The two tools that make this possible are discrimination, learning to tell the real from the unreal, and dispassion, a settled coolness toward sense-pleasure; cultivate both, and the whole ground of the senses can be quieted.
Sit with this · Swami Sivananda
All the translations and commentary
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