A core teaching · reflective in mood · easy to enter
“Outer restraint means nothing if the mind still feeds desire.”
One who restrains the organs of action but keeps thinking of sense objects in the mind is deluded and called a hypocrite.
The verse in reading order — each Sanskrit word with its meaning beneath. Hover a word to focus on it.
Read literallyorgans of action · having restrained · who · sits · with the mind · remembering, thinking of · sense objects · deluded one · false actor, hypocrite · he · is called
Holding back your actions while the mind still chases desire is self-deception. Outer restraint means little without inner discipline.
Krishna speaks this verse, on the battlefield of Kurukshetra, in the chapter titled "Karma Yoga" (The Yoga of Action).
Verse 6 sits in Chapter 3 of the Bhagavad Gita — Karma Yoga, "The Yoga of Action". The chapter has 43 verses in total.
You delete the app, but keep checking the craving in your head. You cancel the habit, yet rehearse it all day. The form changed; the attachment did not.
Did you like this verse?
It shifts attention from outward control to inner honesty. The real task is to align thought and action together.
What this verse means
Holding back your actions while the mind still chases desire is self-deception. Outer restraint means little without inner discipline.
Context & commentary
On Kurukshetra, Arjuna is frozen between duty and grief. Krishna sharpens the teaching: merely stopping the body while the mind clings to desire is not true renunciation. This verse exposes false restraint before showing the right way forward.
Why this verse still matters
You delete the app, but keep checking the craving in your head. You cancel the habit, yet rehearse it all day. The form changed; the attachment did not.
“It removes the comfort of pretending. Real restraint must include the mind, not just visible behavior.”
Explore related themes: karma yoga (55 verses), manas (49 verses), indriya nigraha (14 verses)