Shloka
सर्वद्वाराणि संयम्य मनो हृदि निरुध्य च |
मूध्न्यार्धायात्मनः प्राणमास्थितो योगधारणाम् ||८-१२||Transliteration
sarvadvārāṇi saṃyamya mano hṛdi nirudhya ca .
mūdhnyā^^rdhāyātmanaḥ prāṇamāsthito yogadhāraṇām ||8-12||Translations
Dr.S.Sankaranarayan
8.12. Properly controlling all the gates [in the body]; well restraining the mind in the heat; fixing one’s own prana in the head; taking resort to the firmness of the Yoga;
Shri Purohit Swami
8.12 Closing the gates of the body, drawing the forces of his mind into the heart and by the power of meditation concentrating his vital energy in the brain;
Sri Abhinav Gupta
8.12 See Comment under 8.14
Sri Ramanuja
8.12 - 8.13 Subduing all the senses like ear etc., which constitute the ‘doorways’ for sense impressions, i.e., withdrawing them from their natural functions; holding the mind in Me, the imperishable ‘seated within the lotus of the heart’; practising ‘steady abstraction of mind (Dharana) which is called concentration or Yoga,’ i.e., abiding in Me alone in a steady manner; uttering the sacred ‘syllable Om,’ the brahman which connotes Me; remembering Me, who am expressed by the syllable Om; and fixing his ’life-breath within the head’ - whosoever abandons the body and departs in this way reaches the highest state. He reaches the pure self freed from Prakrti, which is akin to My form. From that state there is no return. Such is the meaning. Later on Sri Krsna will elucidate: ‘They describe that as the highest goal of the Atman, which is not destroyed when all things are destroyed, which is unmanifest and imperishable’ (8.2021).
Thus, the modes of contemplation on the Lord by the aspirants after prosperity and Kaivalya (Atmann-consciousness) have been taught according to the goal they lead to. Now, Sri Krsna teaches the way of meditation on the Lord by the Jnanin and the mode of attainment by him.
Sri Shankaracharya
8.12 Samyamya, having controlled; sarva-dvarani, all the passages, the doors of perception; niruddhya, having confined; the manah, mind; hrdi, in the heart-not allowing it to spread out; and after that, with the help of the mind controlled therein, rising up through the nerve running upward from the heart, adhaya, having fixed; atmanah, his own; pranam, vital force; murdhni, in the lead; (and then) asthitah, continuing in; yogadharanam, the firmness in yoga-in order to make it steady-. And while fixing it there itself,
Swami Adidevananda
8.12 Having controlled all the passages, having confined the mind in the heart, and having fixed his own vital force in the head, (and then) continuing in the firmness in yoga;
8.12 Having closed all the gates, confined the mind in the heart and fixed the life-breath in the head, engaged in the practice of concentration.
8.12 Samyamya, having controlled; sarva-dvarani, all the passages, the doors of perception; niruddhya, having confined; the manah, mind; hrdi, in the heart-not allowing it to spread out; and after that, with the help of the mind controlled therein, rising up through the nerve running upward from the heart, adhaya, having fixed; atmanah, his own; pranam, vital force; murdhni, in the lead; (and then) asthitah, continuing in; yogadharanam, the firmness in yoga-in order to make it steady-. And while fixing it there itself,
Swami Gambirananda
8.12 Having controlled all the passages, having confined the mind in the heart, and having fixed his own vital force in the head, (and then) continuing in the firmness in yoga;
Swami Sivananda
8.12 Having closed all the gates, confined the mind in the heart and fixed the life-breath in the head, engaged in the practice of concentration.
Commentaries
Swami Sivananda
8.12 सर्वद्वाराणि all gates? संयम्य having controlled? मनः mind? हृदि in the heart? निरुध्य having confined? ट and? मूर्ध्नि in the head? आधाय having placed? आत्मनः of the self? प्राणम् breath? आस्थितः established (in)? योगधारणाम् practice of concentration.Commentary The gates are the senses of knowledge. Closing the gates means control of all senses by the practice of Pratyahara or withdrawal of the consciousness from them. Even if the senses are controlled? the mind will be dwelling on the sensual objects. Therefore the mind is confined or fixed in the lotus of the heart and thery all the thoughts or mental modifications are also controlled. The whole lifreath is now taken up and fixed at the crown of the head (Brahmarandhra or the hole of Brahman).