इन्द्रियाणां हि चरतां यन्मनोऽनुविधीयते ।तदस्य हरति प्रज्ञां वायुर्नावमिवाम्भसि ॥
indriyāṇāṃ hi caratāṃ yanmano’nuvidhīyatetadasya harati prajñāṃ vāyurnāvamivāmbhasi
Such of the roving senses as the mind follows, that carries away the understanding, just as the winds carry away a ship on the sea.
Gītā 2·67For evidently there are two possibilities of the action of the intelligent will. It may take its downward and outward orientation towards a discursive action of the perceptions and the will in the triple play of Prakriti, or it may take its upward and inward orientation towards a settled peace and equality in the calm and immutable purity of the conscious silent soul no longer subject to the distractions of Nature. In the former alternative the subjective being is at the mercy of the objects of sense, it lives in the outward contact of things. That life is the life of desire. For the senses excited by their objects create a restless or often violent disturbance, a strong or even headlong outward movement towards the seizure of these objects and their enjoyment, and they carry away the sense-mind, “as the winds carry away a ship upon the sea”; the mind subjected to the emotions, passions, longings, impulsions awakened by this outward movement of the senses carries away similarly the intelligent will, which loses therefore its power of calm discrimination and mastery.
