Stabilising the Mind in God: The Twelfth Chapter of the Bhagavadgita: 1.Swami Krishnananda

Chinmaya International Foundation (CIF), research wing of Chinmaya Mission Worldwide.

Chinmaya International Foundation (CIF) is at Adi Sankara Nilayam: Kochi

Chinmaya International Foundation Shodha Sansthan (CIFSS) hosted the Sanskrit Festival – 2025 from 16 to 18 September 2025, turning the campus into a lively celebration of Sanskrit learning and culture.

Swami Sharadananda Sarasvati (CIF) delivered the benedictory address, Prof. Gauri Mahulikar (Chairperson, CIF Shodha Sansthan & Academic Director, CIF) shared an inspiring message on the timeless relevance of Sanskrit, Dr P. N. Sudarsanan (Director, CIFSS) welcomed the gathering and Sri Ananta Basudev Nanda (Programme Coordinator) proposed the vote of thanks.

More than 350 students from 21 schools across Kerala participated in competitions including Chanting of the Bhagavad Gita, Recitation of Sanskrit Verses, Storytelling, Elocution, Essay Writing, Quiz, Verse Completion, Recitation of Hymns, Group Singing and Sanskrit Drama.

After three days of enthusiastic contests, Chinmaya Vidyalaya, Tripunithura, was declared Overall Champions with 18 points, followed closely by Bhavan’s Vidya Bhavan, Eroor, as the Runner-up with 17 points.

The festival offered a vibrant platform for students to experience the joy of Sanskrit and inspired them to carry forward its legacy.

 #sanskrit #sanskritlanguage #sanskriti #schoolfest #sanskritfest

Saturday 04, October 2025, 20:25.

Stabilising the Mind in God: The Twelfth Chapter of the - Bhagavadgita: 1.
Swami Krishnananda
(Spoken on June 26, 1983)
Post-1.

BG: Chapter - 12.

Slogas: (8 to11).

mayy eva mana ādhatsva mayi buddhiṁ niveśaya,

nivasiṣyasi mayy eva ata ūrdhvaṁ na saṁśayaḥ.8

atha cittaṁ samādhātuṁ na śaknoṣi mayi sthiram,

abhyāsayogena tato mām ichāptuṁ dhanaṁjaya.9

abhyāsepy asamarthosi matkarmaparamo bhava,

madartham api karmāṇi kurvan siddhim avāpsyasi.10

athaitad apy aśaktosi kartuṁ madyogam āśritaḥ,

sarvakarmaphalatyāgaṁ tataḥ kuru yatātmavān 11

In these four slogass of the Twelfth Chapter of the Bhagavadgita we have the well-known fourfold method of stabilising consciousness expounded in the language of tradition. Finally, when all things are said and done, the mind is not going to rest unless it is stabilised in God. There is, in the end, no other solution. That is the supreme court of appeal to the mind of redress from sorrows.

Mayy eva mana ādhatsva. In this little assurance and mandate, or ordinance, the final solution to all problems is indicated. Mayy eva mana ādhatsva: Fix your attention on God. Mayi buddhiṁ niveśaya: Let your understanding be fixed on that Ultimate Being. Nivasiṣyasi mayy eva: Then you shall abide in God. Na saṁśayaḥ: There is no doubt about this. This is, again, a great consolation for the grieved human mind. Is there a doubt that this shall be achieved? Na saṁśayaḥ: There is no doubt.

So the first instruction is the highest of all instructions. The most potent antidote to human affliction is prescribed in this first verse: Root your attention in God Almighty. Here is the solution for every kind of ill. Whatever ill you can conceive of in your mind originating either from outside or from inside, knowingly or unknowingly, root your mind in God. “Think nothing else,” is something that follows automatically. When you root your mind in God, naturally you will think nothing else.

How would you do this? It is very satisfying indeed to hear that we shall attain abundance by this practice and we shall be freed from every kind of agony, anguish and sorrow in life; indeed this is a great joy even to hear, but how are we going to achieve it? How is this practicable for us? Mayy eva mana ādhatsva. How would we concentrate on God? What is the method?

The first sloka, therefore, pitching itself on the ultimate nature of God, which is supreme absoluteness and nonrelative omnipresence, requires us to practise what the Yoga Vasishtha calls brahma abhyasa. The Yoga Vasishtha has a particular name for this practice. It is called brahma abhyasa, and sometimes it is also called atma abhyasa. This verse that comes in the Yoga Vasishtha is repeated verbatim in the Panchadasi by Sage Vidyaranya. Tat chintanaṁ tat kathanaṁ anyonyaṁ tat prabodhanam, eta deka paratvaṁ ca brahmābhyāsaṁ vidur budhāḥ (Panchadasi 7.106). What is brahma abhyasa? The practice of the presence of God is called brahma abhyasa. Tat chintanaṁ: brooding over only that – that, and nothing else. Day in and day out, as long as you are conscious and awake, think only that, and nothing else.

Tat kathanaṁ: If you meet anybody, speak only on this topic, and speak nothing else. Do not speak on any other topic except this. Anyonyaṁ tat prabodhanam: Awaken yourselves mutually on this topic by discourse and conversation. Ask someone, “Oh, how do you do it, my dear friend?” And he will ask you, “How do you do it?” So you will mutually benefit by classroom consultation, as it were. This is anyonyaṁ tat prabodhanam.

Eta deka paratvaṁ ca: You are convinced that you have no other way. This is the only way, and every other way has failed. You have tried every method of saving yourself. Every other method has left you, and no hope is there from anything in this world. The whole world is cracking under your foot and there is nothing to support you. Your only saviour is this. This is my only support, this is my sustenance, this is my friend, this is my delight, this is my very breath. This conviction is eta deka paratvaṁ. This is called brahma abhyasa. Day in and day out chat, talk, discourse, think, meditate, cry aloud: only this, only this, and nothing but this. This is a state of what is called God-intoxication, the madness of being possessed by God. Such a thing is perhaps indicated in this original admonition to us: Root your mind only in God and think nothing else.

Hard is this prescription. So Bhagavan Sri Krishna, who is the spokesman of eternity speaking to all mankind, knows your difficulty. How is this puny, finite, located mind of man to contemplate the all-pervading Absolute, though this is the only solution and there is nothing else? Is this possible for me?

*****

Continues

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