मनःप्रसादः सौम्यत्वं मौनमात्मविनिग्रहः ।
भावसंशुद्धिरित्येतत्तपो मानसमुच्यते ॥ १७.१६ ॥

mana:prasāda: saumyatvam maunamātmavinigraha: |
bhāvasamśuddhirityetattapo mānasamucyate || 17.16 ||

Cheerful disposition, gentleness, practice of silence, self-control, and purity of attitude and emotions – these are the limbs of mental austerity.

Inner austerity consists first of cheerfulness, which alone renders the mind a cherished possession. To be morose, irritable or crestfallen is wrong. Spirituality denounces it outright. Constant effort should be made to keep the mind composed. For cherishing and possessing a cheerful mind, no external glory or splendour is needed. Softness in general, safeguarding against all kinds of extremes and exuberance – these form another constituent of mental austerity. To be given to the practice of silence is also equally necessary. Self-control and moderation also contribute to inner austerity. This means the senses, mouth, mind and intelligence should all be sufficiently restrained, nay sublimated, to work with integration, so as to reveal the best spiritual qualities.

Purity in attitude and aim is equally indispensable. There will be many instances and occasions in which the inner attunement and intention will alone be decisive. The seeker should not lack or fail to ensure this part every time. After all, ultimately it is the mind and its stand that always counts.

Manaḥ kṛtam kṛtam kāryam, na tu deha-kṛtam kṛtam

– is a great dictum. It says that whatever is done at the mind level alone is verily done, and not what is getting done bodily.

The entire Bhagavad Gita gospel seeks to take away from Arjuna’s mind the wrong notion of sin and harm about the impending war and install in him the higher vision of non-doership and world-benefactorhood (sarva-bhūta-hite-rataḥ). It is thus an inner wholesome voyage in the mind, by the mind and of the mind, as will be seen later, especially in the concluding verses of the Text.

All these elements, it is obvious, are not exclusively religious. At the same time, true religion insists upon these. Characteral and behavioural goodness, amiability, refinement and the like can at any time stand independently. This is where spiritual life and sādhanā shine with distinction. While religious practices are always directed to an external God, spiritual disciplines and refinement are always self-based, self-subsisting. This difference should be carefully grasped.

By providing this kind of three-fold classification and explaining austerity as bodily, oral and mental, Krishna has made it possible for the committed seeker to analyze and identify his own inner deficiencies and strive to redress them.

The exposition is not aimed so much at analyzing others around as ascertaining one’s own inner constitution and striving to improve it. At the same time, no seeker need be repelled by seeing anything or anyone unpleasant around. True spiritual wisdom is meant to equip, enrich and empower the mind with ample resilience so as to assimilate any kind of worldly trait or input.

Krishna’s analysis of human life and pursuit based on the three guṇas is a distinct contribution to the subject of spiritual wisdom and its interactional display. While this chapter is fully devoted to it, in the next, the concluding one also Krishna makes a variety of additions. He states that Knowledge, Knower, activity, Will (dhṛti) and the like are also governed by the three-fold (guṇa-traya) constitution of Nature. Seekers will do well to pay special attention to the subject, so that they will be able to evaluate themselves as well as understand the surrounding complexity.