Text 18]
The First Step in God Realization
31
Person of the Absolute Truth. But one who is unable to accommodate such personal features of the Absolute is disciplined in that impersonality to train the mind to make further progress.
TEXT 18
नियन्छेद्विषयेभ्योऽक्षान्मनसा बुद्धिसारथिः । मनः कर्मभिराक्षितं शुभार्थे धारयेद्विया ॥१८॥
niyacched viṣayebhyo 'kṣān manasā buddhi-sārathiḥ manaḥ karmabhir ākṣiptam śubhārthe dhārayed dhiyā
niyacchet—withdraw; viṣayebhyaḥ—from sense engagements; akṣān—the senses; manasā—by dint of the mind; buddhi—intelligence; sārathiḥ—driver; manaḥ—the mind; karmabhiḥ—by the fruitive work; ākṣiptam—being absorbed in; śubhārthe—for the sake of the Lord; dhārayet—hold up; dhiyā—in full consciousness.
TRANSLATION
Gradually, as the mind becomes progressively spiritualized, withdraw it from sense activities, and by intelligence the senses will be controlled. The mind, being too much absorbed in material activities, can be engaged in the service of the Personality of Godhead and become fixed in full transcendental consciousness.
PURPORT
The first process of spiritualizing the mind by mechanical chanting of the  praṇava omkāra  and controlling the breathing system is technically called the mystic or yogic process of  prāṇāyāma , or fully controlling the breathing air. The ultimate state of this  prāṇāyāma  system is to become fixed up in trance, technically called the stage of  samādhi . But experience has proven that even the  samādhi  stage also fails to control the materially-absorbed mind. For example, the great mystic Viśvāmitra Muni, even in the stage of  samādhi , became a victim of the senses and cohabited with