Desires born of daydreams

saṅkalpaprabhavānkāmāṃstyaktvā sarvānaśeṣataḥmanasaivendriyagrāmaṃ viniyamya samantataḥ

Letting go entirely of all desires born of imagining, and gathering the senses in from every side by the mind itself,

What it means

Krishna points to where desire is born. Sankalpa, the mind's imagining. A thought appears, we picture it, and suddenly we want it. In meditation he asks us to let go of these at the root, and to gather the scattered senses back by the mind's own gentle strength.

The story

The epic tells of King Yayati, who borrowed his son's youth to enjoy a thousand more years of pleasure. In the end he admitted that desire is never satisfied by feeding it. It only grows, like fire fed with butter.

In your life

Mia spends evenings scrolling house listings she cannot afford, then feels poor. Tonight she notices the moment the daydream starts. She closes the app and steps out onto her small balcony instead.