Bhagavad Gita



ಇಂದ್ರಿಯಾಣಾಂ ಹಿ ಚರತಾಂ ಯನ್ಮನೋSನುವಿಧೀಯತೇ ।
ತದಸ್ಯ ಹರತಿ ಪ್ರಜ್ಞಾಂ ವಾಯುರ್ನಾವಮಿವಾಂಭಸಿ ॥೬೭॥
iṃdriyāṇāṃ hi caratāṃ yanmanoSnuvidhīyate |
tadasya harati prajñāṃ vāyurnāvamivāṃbhasi ||67||

Gist of the sloka:
If the mind is being swayed by the senses and follows it, the seekers will be led astray, similar to the mighty wind which leads the boats away from the shores.
Explanation:
One wonders why the mind does not naturally turn inwards. Lord Krishna tells it’s the natural behavior of the mind. The mind refuses that which is new and what it is unfamiliar with. Rather it prefers that which it is familiar with and knows well.
The inner world of the soul is unfamiliar to the mind and hence it refuses to withdraw inside naturally. If he commands the mind to see internally it will do it, but we have never told it.
Depending on what we have trained our mind since childhood, the mind follows it. For example, if since child hood we have trained to eat only vegetarian food, the child once he grows up continues it and probably hates all other forms of food. If the child has grown up in the family of butchers, the meat will not cause him any discomfort. It all depends upon how the child [and its mind] has been trained all along.
This is how the mind has been created by Lord. It easily accepts what it is familiar with and trained as. If one is unfamiliar with the mechanism of mind, its becomes dangerous.
This example is very appropriate. If we are travelling in a sail boat, our mind is like sail. Unless we know the art of how to navigate with the sails force the wind takes it away from our objective.
If we fail to learn the art of controlling the senses, life would become disastrous situation, subject to hurricanes all the times.