Bhagavad Gita 3.42
इन्द्रियाणि पराण्याहुरिन्द्रियेभ्यः परं मनः । मनसस्तु परा बुद्धिर्यो बुद्धेः परतस्तु सः ॥
indriyāṇi parāṇy āhur indriyebhyaḥ paraṃ manaḥ | manasas tu parā buddhir yo buddheḥ paratas tu saḥ ||
Translation
The senses, they say, are great; greater than the senses is the mind; greater than the mind is the intellect; what is greater than the intellect is that.
Reflection
What level have you been fighting at when the work needed to be done one floor up?
Read this verse in its chapter: Chapter Three
The famous ascending hierarchy. Senses below mind. Mind below intellect. Above intellect: saḥ, that one. The verse refuses to name the highest with a noun and uses a pronoun, leaving the student to recognize what is pointed to. Shankara: the saḥ is the self, ātman. The verse hands the student the ladder of the work. Each level rules the one below. To shift desire's seat, you do not fight at the level of the seat; you climb to the level above and govern from there. The next verse closes the chapter on this geometry.