Krishna speaks2.44

भोगैश्वर्यप्रसक्तानां तयापहृतचेतसाम्।व्यवसायात्मिका बुद्धिः समाधौ न विधीयते॥

bhogaiśwvarya-prasaktānāṃ tayāpahṛta-cetasāmvyavasāyātmikā buddhiḥ samādhau na vidhīyate

Word by word
bhoga: gratificationaiśwarya: luxuryprasaktānām: whose minds are deeply attachedtayā: by thatapahṛta-cetasām: bewildered in intellectvyavasāya-ātmikā: resolutebuddhiḥ: intellectsamādhau: fulfilmentna: nevervidhīyate: occurs

The verse says

For people held fast by pleasure and power, whose minds have been carried off by all that, no settled mind is possible.

In plain words

The conclusion, and it is blunt.

If you are held by enjoyment and status, the settled mind of verse 41 is simply not available to you.

Not harder. Not available. Krishna is describing a mechanism, not handing out a punishment.

Where you've felt this · with money

Your company is reorganising and some jobs are going. Your manager stands up to explain how the new teams will work, and you cannot take in a single word, because you are waiting to hear whether your name is on the list. The information is right in front of you. The waiting is using the part of you that would have heard it.

Going deeper

Apahṛta-cetasām - those whose minds have been carried off, stolen away. The image is of theft, and it is doing careful work.

These people have not chosen to be distracted. Something has taken the equipment. That is why Krishna states this as an impossibility rather than a failing - you cannot resolve to be resolute with a mind that is currently elsewhere.

The word samādhau in the last line is disputed among commentators and worth flagging. It can mean the settled absorption of deep meditation, which would make the verse about spiritual attainment. It can also mean, more plainly, fixedness - the state of being settled.

Both readings hold, and the second is more useful for an ordinary reader. You do not need a meditative context for this to bite. Anyone who has tried to think clearly about a decision while badly wanting one of the outcomes knows the mechanism.

And notice that this is a diagnosis of Arjuna, delivered without naming him. He is a man whose mind has been carried off.