Bhagavad Gita · Akshara Brahma YogaChapter 8, Shloka 12 (8.12)
Original Sanskrit · श्रीभगवान्
सर्वद्वाराणि संयम्य मनो हृदि निरुध्य च
मूर्ध्न्याधायाऽऽत्मनः प्राणमास्थितो योगधारणाम्
॥ 8.12 ॥
sarvadvārāṇi saṃyamya mano hṛdi nirudhya ca
mūrdhnyādhāyā''tmanaḥ prāṇamāsthito yogadhāraṇām
Translation
"Restraining all the gates (of the senses), confining the mind in the heart, placing one's prana at the murdha (the crown of the head), established in the concentration of yoga — (continued in 8.13)"
Interpretation
Shankaracharya. Sarva-dvārāṇi … upalabdhau tāni sarvāṇi saṃyamya — all the gates of perception (knowing) closed; manaḥ hṛdi hṛdaya-puṇḍarīke nirudhya … niṣpracāram āpādya — confining the mind in the lotus of the heart and making it still; hṛdayāt ūrdhva-gāminyā nāḍyā ūrdhvam āruhya mūrdhni ādhāya ātmanaḥ prāṇam — rising by the channel that goes upward from the heart, placing the prana at the crown of the head.
Acharya Ramanuja (8.12–8.13 combined). Sarvāṇi śrotrādīni indriyāṇi jñāna-dvāra-bhūtāni saṃyamya sva-vyāpārebhyo vinivartya — turning the senses, which are the gates of knowledge, back from their activities; hṛdaya-kamala-niviṣṭe mayi akṣare mano nirudhya — fixing the mind on me, the imperishable, dwelling in the lotus of the heart; yogākhyāṃ dhāraṇām āsthitaḥ mayi eva niścalāṃ sthitim — steady abiding in me alone.
The difference: Ramanuja stresses fixing the mind on the Lord (the imperishable) in the heart; Shankara, on the method of the channel (nadi).
AI-assisted draft translation — under review.