Bhagavad Gita Chapter 2 - Samkhya Yoga - Sloka 41

The entire conmtent of this mail is from Swami Chidbhavananda's translation of  The Bhagavad Gita, published b Ramakrishna Mission.

Transform karma into karma yoga - 38-41

1 Gita Sloka every day - Chapter 2 - Samkhya Yoga - Sloka 41

Vyavasayatmika buddhih ekeha kuru nandana I

Bahusaka hy anantascha buddhayo vyavasayinam II sloka 41

व्यवसायात्मिका बुद्धिः एकेह कुरु नन्दन ।

बहुसक हि अनन्तस्च बुद्दयो व्यवसयिनं ।। श्लोक ४१

To the firm in mind, O joy of the Kurus, there is but one decision; many branching and endless are the decisions of the infirm in mind.

A number of students work at a problem in mathematics. Wrong answers they get are numberless and they are constantly shifting. But when the right answer is arrived at by a smart student, he no more deviates from it. Earthly hankerings are innumerable and people go on changing constantly from one to another. But to the seeker of the Divine the purpose is one and all endeavours are concentrated on it. 

Firmness in mind comes to the one who learns concentration, which is serviceable both to the sacred and the secular. When the divergent sunbeams are focussed with the aid of lens to one point, their powers of heat and light get intensified. Ignition of a combustible thing then becomes possible. Even so, the mind trained in concentration can both know  and do a thing to perfection. 

It was possible for Arjuna alone, among the disciples of Drona, to shoot his arrow successfully at a target within a groove. His success was entirely due to concentration.

When Swami Vivekananda was in America, he had an occasion to watch a few students practising shooting. Their target was 3-4 egg shells tethered to float and dance on a rustling brook. The failure of all of them in their attempts brought a smile on the lips of Swami. The provoked youths challenged the ability of this strange observer. Handling a gun fro the first time in his life, the swami shot and smashed the shell that he aimed at. "The secret of success lies in concentration," said he when the others wondered how he could achieve it at the very first attempt, as claimed by him.

Sir Jagdish Chandra Bose, the famous scientist, demonstrated to the world that all the feelings and sensations found in man are in the plants as well. When questioned as to how he could probe into that mystery, he replied, "To know all about plants I myself become a plant mentally." He meant to say that the unknown becomes known through concentration and attention.

Reaching Godhood, the hardest of all, is possible to none but the firm in mind. The one pointed devotion of Gopis Srimati Radha to Sri Krishna illustrates this fact. Her mind and sense organs function exclusively for the communion with Sri Krishna. All her mental sensations are directed to Him. Whatever her eyes see are all associated with Him. The ears ever bring to her messages pertaining to her darling. The food she eats comes from him. His grace is her life. Another extraordinary phenomenon presents itself through this milk maid. When the  mind gets fully concentrated, the sense organs assume new powers. They are able to function one for the other. The melody emanates from Sri Krishna's flute; it comes floating in the air until it contacts  Radha's ears. Instantaneously, her mind becomes the recieving as well as the broadcasting instrument of that sound. The within and without become one symphony. According to her experience as the all-pervading Nada-brahmam, Sri Krishna alone is contacted at all levels. There is nothing strange in her ears sensing the sound-reality; the olfactory sense experiences the fragrance in It; consistent with its capacity the sense of touch feels the presence of the sound reality the tongue tastes the sound-reality in its own way. All the five sense organs together pay homage in their respective ways to the sound-reality which is Sri Krishna. A concentrated mind opens realms of reality unknown to the ordinary. Through one-pointedness, realization of the reality and atonement with it is possible. This exalted state can be attained by means of Samkhya  and yoga merging into one. The one who is firm in mind is therefore the best among men. 

In whatever direction aship maybe sailing, the compass needle in it always points to the north. Even so amidst all eventualities in life the mind of the knowing man is always fixed on the Ideal.

Swami Ramakrishna Paramahamsa