When the mind is full of this turmoil, how can it be brought under control, to concentrate, asks the Gita. Meditation presupposes a mind that is free from the clutches of materialistic thoughts, at least temporarily.
If, for Yogis, it means a complete cessation from worldly engagements, for other lesser mortals, it means conditioning the mind to gradually move away from desires, wants, greed and the ensuing loop of fulfilment, more wants and so on.
This is real solitude, says the Gita, in which state the mind can integrate itself with higher virtues. Poet William Wordsworth evocatively calls this ‘the bliss of solitude”.
These two terms were a favourite of Mahatma Gandhi who marked them out in his personal copy of the Gita which can even today be seen in the Gandhi Sangrahalaya in New Delhi.