Unsteady

Expressions researched:
"unsteadily" |"unsteadiness" |"unsteady"

BG Preface and Introduction

BG Introduction:

When Lord Kṛṣṇa delineates the yoga system to Arjuna, Arjuna says that the practice of this system is not possible for him.

arjuna uvāca

yo 'yaṁ yogas tvayā proktaḥ

sāmyena madhusūdana

etasyāhaṁ na paśyāmi

cañcalatvāt sthitiṁ sthirām

"Arjuna said: O Madhusūdana, the system of yoga which You have summarized appears impractical and unendurable to me, for the mind is restless and unsteady." (BG 6.33)

BG Chapters 1 - 6

BG 6.26, Translation and Purport:

From wherever the mind wanders due to its flickering and unsteady nature, one must certainly withdraw it and bring it back under the control of the self.

The nature of the mind is flickering and unsteady. But a self-realized yogī has to control the mind; the mind should not control him. One who controls the mind (and therefore the senses as well) is called gosvāmī, or svāmī, and one who is controlled by the mind is called go-dāsa, or the servant of the senses. A gosvāmī knows the standard of sense happiness. In transcendental sense happiness, the senses are engaged in the service of Hṛṣīkeśa, or the supreme owner of the senses—Kṛṣṇa. Serving Kṛṣṇa with purified senses is called Kṛṣṇa consciousness. That is the way of bringing the senses under full control. What is more, that is the highest perfection of yoga practice.

BG 6.33, Translation:

Arjuna said: O Madhusūdana, the system of yoga which You have summarized appears impractical and unendurable to me, for the mind is restless and unsteady.

BG Chapters 7 - 12

BG 10.34, Purport:

If after studying one can remember a subject matter, he is gifted with a good memory, or smṛti. And the ability not only to read many books on different subject matters but to understand them and apply them when necessary is intelligence (medhā), another opulence. The ability to overcome unsteadiness is called firmness or steadfastness (dhṛti). And when one is fully qualified yet is humble and gentle, and when one is able to keep his balance both in sorrow and in the ecstasy of joy, he has the opulence called patience (kṣamā).

SB Canto 3

SB 3.15.21, Purport:

Rāvaṇa took away Lakṣmī, Sītājī, to his kingdom, and instead of being happy by the grace of Lakṣmī, his family and his kingdom were vanquished. Thus Lakṣmī in the house of Rāvaṇa is Cañcalā, or unsteady. Men of Rāvaṇa's class want Lakṣmī only, without her husband, Nārāyaṇa; therefore they become unsteady due to Lakṣmījī.