Chapter 6, Verses 24-25
saṅkalpa prabhavān kāmān
tyaktvā sarvān-aśeṣataḥ
manasaivendriya-grāmaṁ
viniyamya samantataḥ
śanaiḥ śanairu-paramed
buddhyā dhṛti-gṛhītayā
ātma-saṁsthaṁ manaḥ kṛtvā
na kiñcid-api cintayet
Renouncing without reserve all desires born of the imagination, and completely restraining all the senses by the mind from all directions; very gradually, one should attain tranquillity, with the help of the intellect held by a firm resolution. Having focused the mind on the Self, one should think of nothing else.
Here Lord Krishna explains how to control the senses and the mind and fix the mind on God. The nature of the senses is to run after sense objects. However, the senses can only apprehend an object when they succeed in carrying the mind with them. When the mind is weak, the senses easily succeed in dragging the mind with them and the mind easily gets lost. But, when the mind attains single-pointedness with the help of the meditation of a purified and resolute intellect, “with the help of the intellect held by a firm resolution,” the senses are unable to run after the objects of enjoyment.
When the intellect is focused on the Divine, the mind is silent and still and in this state of stillness, the senses lose their capacity to control the mind. Therefore, one should sit daily in dhyaan, in meditation, withdrawing the senses from all external, gradually emptying the mind of all worldly thoughts with the help of the intellect’s discrimination and dispassion. Then one should turn one’s attention inwardly and strongly fix the mind on God.
“...with the help of the intellect held by a firm resolution.” When the intellect has a glimpse, an insight into the truth and the secret of God, through good association, it becomes focused and automatically there are no doubts nor attachments. Through the association with good company, engaged in the thought of God, the steady intellect, “held by a firm resolution,” leads the mind to become single-pointed and identify itself with God. In that state, the mind automatically stops indulging in thinking about worldly objects and dwells only on God.
Bhagavad Gita