2.61 Having restrained them all he should sit steadfast, intent on Me; his wisdom is steady whose senses are under control.

2.61 Tani etc. He, who restrains his sense-organs in this manner by means of his mind, but not by inactivity-he alone is a man-of-stabilized-intellect. He would remain viewing Me alone as his goal i.e., he would concentrate his attention on nothing but Me, the Supreme Lord, the Consciousness-Self.

2.61. The karma-yogi practitioner, having subdued all those senses and being devoted to Me, should sit steadfast; for one whose senses are under control, his intellect becomes firmly established. Commentary: "Having restrained all those, the disciplined one should sit steadfast, devoted to Me" – Subdue all those senses which forcibly steal away the mind, meaning, by remaining vigilant, never allowing them to become agitated towards sense objects, and oneself becoming solely devoted to Me. The implication is that when a practitioner subdues the senses, there remains in him the pride of his own strength, thinking, "I have brought the senses under my control." This pride does not allow the practitioner to progress and turns him away from God. Therefore, the practitioner should never take pride in his own strength while restraining the senses; he should not consider his own effort as the cause, but rather regard only divine grace as the cause – that whatever success I have attained in subduing the senses is solely due to God's grace. In this way, by being devoted only to God, his practice becomes successful. Here, saying "devoted to Me" means that obtaining a human body, having interest in spiritual practice, engaging in practice, and the success of practice – all these depend solely on God's grace. However, due to pride, man's attention towards this diminishes. Among karma-yogis, the emphasis remains on performing action, and in that, he continues to regard it as his own endeavor. Therefore, out of special grace, God is stating even for the karma-yogi practitioner the necessity of being devoted to Him. Being devoted to God means – having the conviction of importance only in God, that God alone is mine and I am God's; the world is not mine and I am not of the world. The reason is that God alone remains with me at all times; the world does not stay with me at all. Thus, the practitioner's sense of "I-ness" should remain attached only to God. Since this is the section on karma-yoga, here God should have stated the means according to karma-yoga. However, from studying the Gita, it appears that in the success of spiritual practice, devotion to God alone is the cause. Therefore, in the Gita, great glory has been sung of devotion to God; for example – "Among all yogis, he who, with faith and love, is devoted to Me and worships Me, is considered by Me to be the highest" (6.47), and so on. "For one whose senses are under control, his wisdom becomes steady" – Earlier, in the fifty-ninth verse, God said that even after the disconnection of the senses from their objects, steadfast wisdom is not attained; and in this verse, He says that one whose senses are under control is steadfast in wisdom. The meaning is that there (in 2.59), even after the disconnection of the senses from objects, the inclination for taste remains within; hence, the senses are not under control. But here, the steadfast-wise person's senses are under control and his inclination for taste has ceased. Therefore, it is not a rule that upon disconnection of the senses from objects, one will certainly become steadfast in wisdom; because the inclination for taste may still remain. However, it is a rule that upon becoming steadfast in wisdom, the senses will certainly come under control. Connection – By being devoted to God, the senses will certainly come under control and the inclination for taste will cease; but what happens by not being devoted to God is explained in the next two verses.