What the scriptures say about letting go

1. A restless mind
2. practice
3. Letting go
4. Steadiness
5. Peace
6. highest happiness

The mind is restless, strong, and stubborn, as hard to hold as the wind. Krishna agrees that by practice and letting go it is held. Little by little, with understanding held firm, the mind is brought back each time it wanders. To the one whose mind is calm, the highest happiness comes.

• Arjuna

  अर्जुन उवाच योऽयं योगस्त्वया प्रोक्तः साम्येन मधुसूदन । एतस्याहं न पश्यामि चञ्चलत्वात् स्थितिं स्थिराम् ॥

  arjuna uvāca yo’yaṃ yogastvayā proktaḥ sāmyena madhusūdana | etasyāhaṃ na paśyāmi cañcalatvāt sthitiṃ sthirām ||

  Arjuna said: This yoga of evenness that you have taught, Madhusudana, I do not see how it can last, because of restlessness.

  Bhagavad Gita 6.33

• Arjuna

  चञ्चलं हि मनः कृष्ण प्रमाथि बलवद्दृढम् । तस्याहं निग्रहं मन्ये वायोरिव सुदुष्करम् ॥

  cañcalaṃ hi manaḥ kṛṣṇa pramāthi balavaddṛḍham | tasyāhaṃ nigrahaṃ manye vāyoriva suduṣkaram ||

  For the mind is restless, Krishna, turbulent, powerful and stubborn. I think it is as hard to hold as the wind.

  Bhagavad Gita 6.34

• Krishna

  श्री भगवानुवाच असंशयं महाबाहो मनो दुर्निग्रहं चलं । अभ्यासेन तु कौन्तेय वैराग्येण च गृह्यते ॥

  śrī bhagavānuvāca asaṃśayaṃ mahābāho mano durnigrahaṃ calaṃ | abhyāsena tu kaunteya vairāgyeṇa ca gṛhyate ||

  The Blessed Lord said: Undoubtedly, mighty-armed one, the mind is restless and hard to control. But it is held by practice and by detachment, Kaunteya.

  Bhagavad Gita 6.35

1. sensory contact
2. misery
3. Letting go
4. Joy

Pleasures born of contact are wombs of sorrow. They begin and end. The wise do not delight in them. Unhooked from outer contacts one finds the joy that is in the self. Whoever can withstand the surge of desire and anger here is happy.

• Krishna

  बाह्यस्पर्शेष्वसक्तात्मा विन्दत्यात्मनि यत्सुखम् । स ब्रह्मयोगयुक्तात्मा सुखमक्षयमश्नुते ॥

  bāhyasparśeṣvasaktātmā vindatyātmani yatsukham | sa brahmayogayuktātmā sukhamakṣayamaśnute ||

  One whose self is unattached to outer contacts finds the happiness that is in the self. Joined to Brahman by yoga, he enjoys undying happiness.

  Bhagavad Gita 5.21

• Krishna

  ये हि संस्पर्शजा भोगा दुःखयोनय एव ते । आद्यन्तवन्तः कौन्तेय न तेषु रमते बुधः ॥

  ye hi saṃsparśajā bhogā duḥkhayonaya eva te | ādyantavantaḥ kaunteya na teṣu ramate budhaḥ ||

  The enjoyments born of contact are wombs of sorrow; they have a beginning and an end, Kaunteya. The wise do not delight in them.

  Bhagavad Gita 5.22

• Krishna

  शक्नोतीहैव यः सोढुं प्राक्शरीरविमोक्षणात् । कामक्रोधोद्भवं वेगं स युक्तः स सुखी नरः ॥

  śaknotīhaiva yaḥ soḍhuṃ prākśarīravimokṣaṇāt | kāmakrodhodbhavaṃ vegaṃ sa yuktaḥ sa sukhī naraḥ ||

  One who is able, here in this life, before leaving the body, to withstand the surge born of desire and anger, is disciplined; he is a happy person.

  Bhagavad Gita 5.23

1. Expectations
2. misery
3. Letting go
4. Peace

Hope is the greatest sorrow and giving up hope is the greatest ease. Pingala slept in peace after she gave up her expectation. Whatever one calls mine becomes a source of pain when it is lost.

• A brahmin (retold by Bhishma)

  किंचिदेव ममत्वेन यदा भवति कल्पितम् / तदेव परितापाय नाशे संपद्यते तदा

  kiṃcideva mamatvena yadā bhavati kalpitam / tadeva paritāpāya nāśe saṃpadyate tadā

  Whatever a person begins to think of as 'mine', that very thing becomes a source of anguish when it is lost.

  Mahabharata · Shanti Parva · Bhishma, Mokshadharma

• A brahmin (retold by Bhishma)

  यच्च कामसुखं लोके यच्च दिव्यं महत्सुखम् / तृष्णाक्षयसुखस्यैते नार्हतः षोडशीं कलाम्

  yacca kāmasukhaṃ loke yacca divyaṃ mahatsukham / tṛṣṇākṣayasukhasyaite nārhataḥ ṣoḍaśīṃ kalām

  Whatever pleasure desire brings in this world, and whatever great happiness there is in heaven, neither is worth a sixteenth part of the happiness that comes when craving ends.

  Mahabharata · Shanti Parva · Bhishma, Mokshadharma

1. Expectations
2. world cycle
3. Burnout
4. Emptiness
5. Letting go
6. Peace

Wherever there is craving, the round of the world is there. The list of things done and not done has never ended for anyone. Everyone suffers from straining, and no one sees it.

• Ashtavakra

  आयासात्सकलो दुःखी नैनं जानाति कश्चन । अनेनैवोपदेशेन धन्यः प्राप्नोति निर्वृतिम् ॥

  āyāsātsakalo duḥkhī nainaṃ jānāti kaścana | anenaivopadeśena dhanyaḥ prāpnoti nirvṛtim ||

  Everyone is miserable from straining after things, and no one realises it. By this single teaching the fortunate one finds peace.

  Ashtavakra Gita 16.3