Without doubt, O mighty-armed one, the mind is restless and difficult to control. But it is mastered through constant practice and detachment, son of Kuntī.

Arjuna had expressed a doubt that every practitioner shares: the mind is like the wind, impossible to capture (6.34). Kṛṣṇa doesn’t minimize the difficulty — asaṃśayam (without doubt), the mind is restless (calam) and difficult to subdue (durnigraham).

But he offers the solution: abhyāsa (practice) and vairāgya (detachment). This pair appears in the Yoga Sūtras (1.12) as the fundamental method. The Gītā and Patañjali agree.

Abhyāsa is repeated effort, sustained discipline, the accumulation of small acts of attention. Vairāgya is letting go, not clinging to results or experiences.

Both are necessary: practice alone without detachment generates obsession; detachment alone without practice generates passivity.

This verse comforts and challenges: it comforts because it acknowledges the difficulty; it challenges because the solution requires constancy. There are no shortcuts, but the path exists.

Kṛṣṇa validates the frustrated practitioner’s experience and offers concrete tools.