A core teaching · reflective in mood · easy to enter
“Practice can lead the mind where stillness cannot yet go.”
If you cannot steadily fix your mind on me, then, Dhananjaya, seek me through practice yoga.
The verse in reading order — each Sanskrit word with its meaning beneath. Hover a word to focus on it.
Read literallythen · mind · to fix steadily · not · you are able · in me · steadily · through practice yoga · then · me · seek/desire · to attain · Dhananjaya
If steady devotion feels too hard, begin with practice. Keep returning to the divine again and again until the mind learns to stay.
Krishna speaks this verse, on the battlefield of Kurukshetra, in the chapter titled "Bhakti Yoga" (The Yoga of Devotion).
Verse 9 sits in Chapter 12 of the Bhagavad Gita — Bhakti Yoga, "The Yoga of Devotion". The chapter has 20 verses in total.
You sit down to pray, meditate, or simply stay with one hard truth, and your mind runs off in ten directions. Start again without drama. Repetition can carry you where force cannot.
Did you like this verse?
It shifts devotion from a single perfect act to a trainable habit of returning.
What this verse means
If steady devotion feels too hard, begin with practice. Keep returning to the divine again and again until the mind learns to stay.
Context & commentary
On Kurukshetra, Arjuna still stands frozen, and Krishna keeps meeting his wavering mind step by step. After asking him to hold his mind on the divine, Krishna gives a gentler next rung: if that is too hard, use repeated practice to move toward the same love.
Why this verse still matters
You sit down to pray, meditate, or simply stay with one hard truth, and your mind runs off in ten directions. Start again without drama. Repetition can carry you where force cannot.
“You do not need perfect concentration first. Repeated return is enough to begin.”
Explore related themes: manas (49 verses), shraddha (34 verses)