Complete learning edition. The Sanskrit source remains separate from attributed word meanings, translation, explanation and commentary witnesses. Diagrams and memory aids are study tools, not replacements for the source text.
अथ चित्तं समाधातुं न शक्नोषि मयि स्थिरम्।अभ्यासयोगेन ततो मामिच्छाप्तुं धनञ्जय।।12.9।।
atha chittaṁ samādhātuṁ na śhaknoṣhi mayi sthiram abhyāsa-yogena tato mām ichchhāptuṁ dhanañjaya
But if you cannot fix your mind firmly on Me, then, my beloved friend, try to do so through constant practice.
English rendering by Shri Purohit Swami. Each source voice remains named.
Build the sentence from its parts
Read across once, then cover the meanings and recover them from the Sanskrit forms.
| Sanskrit form | Meaning here |
|---|---|
| atha | if |
| chittam | mind |
| samādhātum | to fix |
| na śhaknoṣhi | (you) are unable |
| mayi | on me |
| sthiram | steadily |
| abhyāsa-yogena | by uniting with God through repeated practice |
| tataḥ | then |
| mām | me |
| ichchhā | desire |
| āptum | to attain |
| dhanañjaya | Arjun, the conqueror of wealth |
Abhyasa Yoga Abhyasa is constant practice to steady the mind and fix it on one point the practice of repeatedly withdrawing the mind from all sorts of sensual objects and fixing it again and again on one particular object or the Self. The constant effort to separate or detach oneself from the illusory five sheaths and identify oneself with the Atman is also Abhyasa.
Attributed explanatory witness: Swami Sivananda. Chapter lens: Compare approaches to worship and study the concrete qualities of a devotee across the chapter’s compact sequence.
Three named reading witnesses
Śaṅkara edition witness
Swami GambiranandaIf, however, you are unable to establish the mind steadily on Me, then, O Dhananjaya, seek to attain Me through the yoga of practice.
Rāmānuja edition witness
Swami AdidevanandaIf now you are unable to focus your mind on Me, then seek to reach Me, O Arjuna, through the practice of repetition.
Sivananda commentary witness
Swami SivanandaAbhyasa Yoga Abhyasa is constant practice to steady the mind and fix it on one point the practice of repeatedly withdrawing the mind from all sorts of sensual objects and fixing it again and again on one particular object or the Self. The constant effort to separate or detach oneself from the illusory five sheaths and identify oneself with the Atman is also Abhyasa.
These are concise, attributed reading witnesses from identified editions. They are presented for comparison and are not merged into one anonymous interpretation.
Meaning map
Follow the thought
- 1
But if you cannot fix your mind firmly on Me, then, my beloved friend, try to do so through constant practice
- 2
atha: if
- 3
abhyāsa-yogena: by uniting with God through repeated practice
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