Bhagavad Gita 12.9
अथ चित्तं समाधातुं न शक्नोषि मयि स्थिरम् | अभ्यासयोगेन ततो मामिच्छाप्तुं धनञ्जय ||
atha cittaṁ samādhātuṁ na śaknoṣi mayi sthiram | abhyāsa-yogena tato mām icchāptuṁ dhanañjaya ||
Translation
If you cannot fix your thought firmly on me, then through the yoga of practice seek to reach me, O Dhananjaya.
Reflection
When your mind wanders, where do you bring it back to, again and again?
Read this verse in its chapter: Chapter Twelve
The ladder begins. If you cannot, atha shaknoshi na. If you are unable to place the citta firmly in me, then go by abhyasa-yoga. Practice-yoga. The repetition is itself the means. The mind that will not stay placed is to be returned, again and again, to the place. The Yoga-sutras give the same instruction. The chapter does not assume the standard of 12.8 is reachable on the first day. It opens a path for the one who has not yet stabilized. The honest naming matters. Many sincere practitioners begin and fail to hold. Krishna does not tell them they have missed the path. He tells them where the path picks them up. The next verses will continue the ladder downward to where any sincere person stands.