Control of Mind

Mind or Anthakarana is our inner organ of coordination. It is made up of thoughts. The thoughts can be divided into four categories, based on the their nature or function.  They are Manas, of the nature of doubt; Buddhi, of the nature of decision; Ahamkara, of the nature of ego; and Chitta, of the nature of memory. The mind receives the stimuli from sense organs and interprets the information, which is conveyed to the brain and transmits the brain’s commands for action to the sense organs.  Thus it is the most important part of one’s personality along with the body as one’s action, reaction and understanding depends upon its function.  As all the joys and sorrows, successes, failures and relationships exist as thoughts only it is said “Mind can make hell of a heaven and a heaven of hell”.  

The following four faculties of the mind and brain distinguish the human from the animals

1)    Faculty of reasoning and understanding

2)    Faculty of emotions and sentiments, of sharing and caring, interacting emotionally

3)    Faculty known as ingenuity that enables one to be inventive or resourceful

4)    Indomitable will

To make good use of these faculties for conquering one’s animal nature one should have control over mind. Control over mind means that one has the ability to determine the nature and direction of thoughts all the time.  The control is so complete that the mind must be ready to do one’s bidding at all times.   If this control is an asset in workplace for ordinary person, it is an indispensable requirement for a spiritual seeker for achieving the goal of Liberation.  As Amrita bindhu Upanishad states:

Mana eva manushyanaṃ karanam bandha-mokshayoh I

Bandhaya vishayasaktam muktham nirvishayam smrtam II2II

Mind alone is the cause for people's bondage and liberation.  When attached to objects, it leads to bondage. When free from objects, it leads to liberation.

So it is all the more necessary for a spiritual seeker to be a master of the mind to take the extrovert mind away from the glamour and glitter of the outside world and turn it inward, and harness its powers of reason, emotionality, ingenuity and indomitable will to achieve the goal of Liberation.

But control of mind is a tough job as Arjuna observes in Gita (6-35):

Chanchalam hi manah krishna pramaathi balavad dridham;

Tasyaaham nigraham manye vaayoriva sudushkaram.

The mind verily is restless, turbulent, strong and unyielding, O Krishna! I consider its control as difficult as control of the wind.

Sri Krishna agrees with Arjuna that it is not an easy job to control the mind and also suggests the way to achieve it in sloka, 6-36:

Asamsayam mahaabaaho mano durnigraham chalam;

Abhyaasena tu kaunteya vairaagyena cha grihyate.

O mighty-armed one, undoubtedly the mind is difficult to control and restless; but, it can be brought under control by practice and by dispassion.

So the key to mastery of mind is abhyasa, practice and vairagya, dispassion. We shall see them in a little more detail.

Abhyasa – In Patanjali Yoga sutras (1-14) abhyasa is defined as “sa tu dirghakalanairanntaryasatkarasevito drdhabhumih (It becomes finally grounded by being continued for a long time with reverence, without interruption)". This implies three things.  The practice must be with complete faith and dedication; the practice must be pursued without break; and the practice must go on for a long time.  One cannot set a deadline and get impatient after certain time nor do it by fits and starts depending upon the mood.  One should get so attached to abhyasa that one should feel disturbed if he misses daily practice even for a day.   Satsang and constant self-analysis are great help in keeping the mind on the path of abhyasa

Vairagya – In the Prakarana grantha,Tattva Bodha, vairagya is described as, "Iha svargabhogesu iccharahityam (The absence of desire or addiction for the enjoyment of sense pleasures of this world as well as of the other world)". This dispassion arises not out of frustration or failure to achieve but is born of wisdom that the peace and happiness sought through worldly experiences, possessions and relationships are only temporary and transitory in nature and suffer from the three defects of Dukha misritatvam, mixed with pain, Atrpti karathvam, not giving total satisfaction, and Bandhakatvam, creating dependence. In acquiring, in preserving and in the inevitable losing one suffers pain and even after acquiring one does not get lasting satisfaction and finally the material objects, that give temporary pleasure and satisfaction, create a sense of dependence over a period of time. Dispassion does not mean one hates worldly objects, experiences and relationships or runs away from them but only does not crave for them in their absence or gets attached to them in their presence. Dispassion arises out of the wisdom that dependence on them for one’s happiness and peace is like leaning on a cardboard chair.  A cardboard chair can be treasured in the showcase, admired as an ornamental piece but cannot be leaned upon. One has only disinterested detachment towards all the pleasures and objects of the world and is not averse to enjoy them as long as one’s punya allows. Nachiketas in Kathopanishad exhibits this vairagya when tempted by Yama with wealth and longevity, as much as he desires, including overlordship over earth and celestial pleasures and sticks to his request concerning Athma as the third boon saying they are all ephemeral and wealth does not satisfy a person (Ch. 1 Valli 1, Mantras 20 to 29)

Until the wisdom of the transitory nature of peace and happiness that comes of worldly pleasures, objects and relationships take unshakable roots in the mind, one should exercise vigilance to see mind does not slip back to old ways of dependence on worldly objects and relationships for peace and happiness. For this purpose one should adopt karma yoga way of life conducting all his transactions with the outside world with Iswararpana buddhi and accepting the results of his actions with prasada buddhi. With a strong devotion to Iswara, he acts with the thought of Iswara always in his mind and accepts all results without like or dislike as he would accept prasada.  He continues carrying out his duties without raga and dwesha colouring his attitude. In short he changes his way of life to God- centric one from world –centric one. Secondly he should be careful of the company he keeps as Satsangha fortifies his will in his efforts and Dussangha weakens his resolve. So association with spiritually-minded people, exposure to spiritual literature and daily religious routine with Shraddha helps one to make the spirit of vairagya rock-solid.

One passes through three stages as one tries to wean the mind away consciously from attachment to worldly desires and experiences.  In the first stage all the likes and dislikes towards objects of the world are active in the mind and is characterized by struggle to control the natural tendencies of hate, violence etc.  In the second stage where one has partial success in overcoming the effects of raga and dwesha, he should persist with the above precautions.  In the third stage the conscious aspect of raga and dwesha is exterminated although the roots may be there in the subconscious as latent vasanas. This also is completely extinguished and vairagya  becomes one’s second nature when one is established in Self-knowledge.

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