This mistaken sense of being one with God is the final trap of material energy, which keeps the incarnate being imprisoned in the chains of forgetfulness and places them entirely under the influence of the false ego.

The best way to free oneself from the grip of the false ego is to abandon one's speculative habits regarding God and to approach an authentic spiritual master, a true servant of the Lord, who will reveal the whole truth.

Indeed, the mind is the cause of man's imprisonment in matter, but also of his liberation. Absorbed in sense objects, it imprisons the being, and detached from sense objects, it liberates him.

Concentrating the mind on Krishna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, brings supreme liberation.

The mind is the cause of man's imprisonment in matter.

The mind can be a friend to the conditioned soul, as it can be its enemy. Man must use it to elevate himself, not to degrade himself.

The word atma will refer, depending on the context, to the body, the mind, or the soul. Yoga places particular emphasis on the latter two aspects, the mind and the soul. Since the mind is the focus of the practice of yoga, the term atma can here only refer to the mind. The goal of yoga is to dominate the mind, to prevent it from becoming attached to sense objects. Moreover, as our verse emphasizes, the effect of yoga must be to educate the mind so that it can free the conditioned soul from the ignorance in which it is held. In material existence, everyone is a slave to the mind and the senses. In fact, this mind, which gives us a false conception of ourselves and breeds within us the desire to dominate material nature, is the cause of the soul's imprisonment in the material universe. If the mind, therefore, is directed so as not to be fascinated by the shimmering of matter, the soul will escape its conditioning. Under no circumstances should we indulge in sense objects, for, through a process of degradation, they sink us ever deeper into material existence. The best way to free ourselves from this entanglement will be to never offer our thoughts more than a single object, Krishna. The term hi in this verse emphasizes the idea that one “must” act in this way.

Other texts confirm this verse. “The mind is the cause of man's imprisonment in matter, but also of his liberation. Absorbed in sense objects, it imprisons the being; detached from sense objects, it liberates him.”

Concentrating the mind on Krishna therefore brings supreme liberation.