Sanskrit
यदा संहरते चायं कूर्मोऽङ्गानीव सर्वशः । इन्द्रियाणीन्द्रियार्थेभ्यस्तस्य प्रज्ञा प्रतिष्ठिता ॥
yadā saṃharate cāyaṃ kūrmo'ṅgānīva sarvaśaḥ indriyāṇīndriyārthebhyas tasya prajñā pratiṣṭhitā
Translation
When, again, as a tortoise draws in on all sides its limbs, he withdraws his senses from the objects of sense, then is his understanding well poised.
Annie Besant · The Bhagavad-Gita, translated by Annie Besant (4th ed., 1922) — Wikisource · Public Domain
Explanation
The most famous image in this portrait: a tortoise drawing its limbs fully inward. It’s a useful corrective to a common misreading of non-attachment as passivity — the withdrawal described here is active and deliberate, something the person does, not a state they merely happen to be in.
Concepts