मय्येव मन आधत्स्व मयि बुद्धिं निवेशय |
निवसिष्यसि मय्येव अत ऊर्ध्वं न संशय: || 8||
mayy eva mana ādhatsva mayi buddhiṁ niveśhaya
nivasiṣhyasi mayy eva ata ūrdhvaṁ na sanśhayaḥ
mayi—on Me; eva—alone; manaḥ—mind; ādhatsva—fix; mayi—on Me; buddhim—intellect; niveśhaya—surrender; nivasiṣhyasi—you shall always live; mayi—in Me; eva—alone; ataḥ ūrdhvam—thereafter; na—not; sanśhayaḥ—doubt
Translation:
Fix the mind firmly in Me only; place the intellect in Me, thereafter you shall live in Me only; there is no doubt about this.
Commentary:
The Lord is now teaching various practices to reach Him, one after another. The Lord is clear and simple in the teaching, like an able teacher when he is instructing a young boy. The first lesson is fixing the mind firmly in Him. It is not enough to fix the mind only, the intellect also should be placed in Him. Why? The intellect is the deciding power, and without its direction, the mind wavers and wanders away from the goal. The mind thinks and reason decides. It is reason (‘buddhi’) which takes the final decision that the Lord alone is real and all else is like water in a mirage. By the very power of this decision, the mind becomes one-pointed and is then established in God. If the mind wavers, it is because the intellect has not decided right. So the Lord here says that the intellect should be placed in Him. Then meditation becomes deep and firm. Man then lives in God. Like salt dissolving in water, the mind becomes that which it contemplates. Thinking of the Lord, by giving up all the evil qualities arising from ignorance and past samskaras is Moksha. This is what is meant by living in God. The Lord adds-there is no doubt about this. “Follow this practice, and you shall live in Me”, declares the Lord to all mankind and assuredly confirms his declaration. The devotee’s duty is stated here, and his future is taken over by the Lord.
na samsayah: There is no doubt about it. What should be the faith of the devotee, when the Lord gives such an assurance!
mayi eva: “In Me only” – the mind should not move away from the Lord towards any other object.
Swami Vivekananda Says —
Shri Krishna was God, incarnated to save mankind. Gopi-Lila (his disport with cowherd maids) is the acme of the religion of love in which individuality vanishes and there is communion. It is in this Lila that Shri Krishna shows what he preaches in the Gita: “Give up every other tie for me.”[Source]
Sri Ramakrishna Says —
MASTER (to Ishan): “Tell me if you have any more doubts.”
ISHAN: “You said everything when you spoke of faith.”
MASTER: “God can be realised by true faith alone. And the realisation is hastened if you believe everything about God. The cow that picks and chooses its food gives milk only in dribblets, but if she eats all kinds of plants, then her milk flows in torrents.
“Once I heard a story. A man heard the command of God that he should see his Ideal Deity in a ram. He at once believed it. It is God who exists in all beings.
“A guru said to his disciple, ‘It is Rama alone who resides in all bodies.’ The disciple was a man of great faith. One day a dog snatched a piece of bread from him and started to run away. He ran after the dog, with a jar of butter in his hand, and cried again and again: ‘O Rama, stand still a minute. That bread hasn’t been buttered.’
“What tremendous faith Krishnakishore had! He used to say, ‘By chanting “Om Krishna, Om Rama”, one gets the result of a million sandhyas.’ Once he said to me secretly, ‘I don’t like the sandhya and other devotions any more; but don’t tell anyone.’
“Sometimes I too feel that way. The Mother reveals to me that She Herself has become everything. One day I was coming from the pine-grove toward the Panchavati. A dog followed me. I stood still for a while near the Panchavati. The thought came to my mind that the Mother might say something to me through that dog.
“You were absolutely right when you said that through faith alone one achieves all.” (Source: Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna)
Question: Where should the mind and reason be fixed?
Answer: In the Lord only.
Question: What is the result?
Answer: Man lives in God. There is no doubt about this.
Bhagavad Gita: Chapter 12 
(20 Verses)
