Mind Control- manovrutti nirodha

Mind (manas) dictated by bloated ego (durahankara) and perverted intelligence (vikshipta buddhi) makes or mars a man’s life unless is properly guided by the enlightened buddhi. The first thing that the jnyanis aimed at was to control the Mind by means of Meditation. Meditation is the key to success and happiness in life.

    Each Mind is a world by itself. There are as many worlds as there are thinking minds. It is this thinking mind that makes a man a thinking animal. Thoughts are really disturbances. A tranquil mind is a powerful tool in evolution and the humans may reach the highest level of existence at sat-cit-anand level by subjugating the Mind to the Will of the Supreme. In other words, there is a higher Mind, a ‘Supramental’ state, and a brahmn state, where the Mind is in its pure and pristine state. It is the highest state of existence, consciousness, and bliss (sat-cit-anand).

    Sri Aurobindo has given a detailed description of the stages of evolution of mankind and the different aspects of functioning of Mind at each state. Accordingly, there are: 1. the Physical, 2. the vital or the ethereal, 3. the mental or the psychic and 4. the spiritual. At each one of these state there are again all the four levels, such as the 1. Physical- physical-physical; physical-ethereal; physical-mental; and the physical-spiritual, Ethereal- Ethereal-physical; ethereal-ethereal, ethereal-mental; and the ethereal-spiritual; and so on it continues till it reaches the Spiritual- spiritual-spiritual, the ultimate. This supramental state of Consciousness is not known as yet! (See Appendix I).

  At present, man has reached only the Mental- mental (psychic)-ethereal or pranic state where he is worried about some skills, fulfillment of basic needs, and security; some may have reached the Mental-mental-mental stage  and shine in some faculty and get nominated for a Nobel Prize, but very few have reached the Mental- mental-spiritual level of the stature of a Swami Ramakrishna and swami Vivekananda, or Swami Yogananda or Swami Shivananda; so far none has reached the state of either Saint Aurobindo, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi- both intellectual and highly spiritual, and it may be difficult to reach the state of Sri Ramana Maharshi, an embodiment of Consciousness. Almost all saints and swamis struggle at Mental- mental-mental state of attainment and may or may not reach the mental-spiritual level. Realization of the Self, ‘Atma sakshatkar’, let alone divine visioning and the highest Spiritual level of Brahmn is not forthcoming for want of clarity, deep meditation (Samprajnya samadhi). However, Nature helps all the human beings to attain to higher and higher levels of evolution in due course of time and thereby enables them, particularly the earnest Seekers (sadhakas), to reach higher levels of ‘Sage-Knowledge’ quickly in this process.

     The only aim of all saints and sadhus of India is to have the divine visioning and attain to some sort of ananda, joy. They are ready to undergo any sort of hardship such as Hatha yoga or Kundalini yoga to attain this. The goal of life for an Indian is to experience supreme bliss, mahat-anand that liberates him from punarjanma, repeated births and deaths. It is the inner clamor of the soul, the embodied soul. The all-knowing Atman drives the jiva to take to means such as yoga that enables it to reach this goal. This supreme Bliss is one of immense happiness and joy and needs no external support. All happiness and joy of the mundane world are exhaustive, repetitive, and end up in frustration, disillusionment. But, this one is ever-satisfying and the jiva is laid to eternal rest after this goal is reached, even while it exists in the physical body. This is exactly what we mean by Rest in Peace (RIP), mukti or moksha gati; but that is not forthcoming easily without the knowledge of the Self.

    It is important to focus our attention on the Mind since it is the most important accessory of our life. It is absolutely essential to keep it stable, without aberrations, and use it diligently for a noble purpose. It is a good friend as well as a very bad enemy depending on our elation with it. To be a good friend and help us we must tutor it and tame it. Its rough edges such as anger, attachment, selfishness, miserliness, jealous, ego, etc. should be smoothed out and rounded off. Mind is our best friend provided it looks to its inner source of wealth of experiences, and uses buddhi well for its guidance. There are many treatises on Mind that can guide us in the matter. Understanding the Mind is as difficult as realizing the Brahmn.

   Prof. J. Krishnamurthy is an authority on Mind. He goes on talking about the vibration of mind and the thoughts, ideas, and illusions created by it. He remained so entangled in the web of mind till the end and never conquered it to become a Sri Ramana Maharishi, an embodiment of pure Consciousness, or the Buddha who attained to nirvana, a mind-less state.

   Here, the difference between Mind and Consciousness is noteworthy. In its pure state, Mind bereft of all its blemishes such attachment, desires, ego, etc is as good as Consciousness; both are one and same in pure state. Mind, like Akash, has immense space and capacity to create and hold thoughts, ideas, images, dreams, and desires. As the Mind is filled with these pollutants, it becomes impure and stands apart from pure unblemished undifferentiated Consciousness, called Brahmn. While pure consciousness is addressed as Bhagavan Shree Krishna, the blemished mind, confused with moha, is called ‘Arjuna’ in the Mahabharata. The Mind (of Arjuna) is filled with attachment (moha) and, as such, it is not willing to act (fight his kith and kin, teacher, and the Grand Sire Bhishma), whereas, pure consciousness (Sri Krishna) stands apart as the ‘Witnessing Self’. The state of pure consciousness where there is awareness of ‘self’, as well as, an other in an undifferentiated state, is called the Sakshin (witnessing self). A yogi reaches this state by constant practice of tapas. A wise person (viveki) will not fall for the worldy attractions and avoids indulgences in the sensuous activities and thereby attains the sakshi bhava.

Contemplate on the following:

Mind becomes whatever it contemplates, focuses its attention on and shifts its position from moment to moment varying according to its moods! It is Akasha in its true state and accommodates everything within its fold. It can expand, as well as, contract without limit. Nobody can predict its action and it has no support or stability. It is pure, pristine, unblemished when it is undifferentiated brahmn, the satte of pure Consciousness.

Mind has tremendous power of creation. It creates illusory objects and believes them as true. Mind has no support and seeks support and rests on whatever it can hold on. It sticks on to whatever it catches- such as fear, anger, attachment, etc.Mind is a powerful agent of the Ego, the sustaining power, or destroyer. It makes or mars life of its master. Ego sits on the throne of Mind and uses the intellect and senses to fulfill its desires.

Mind cannot be conquered; it can be tutored and tamed to serve the Atman. Mind cannot be used to annihilate the mind as stated in Laya-yoga. It only means to set it aside.

Mind is a good servant as well as a bad task Master.

Mind is restless and always on the run shifting its desire from object to object. Its desires are insatiable and as such always disillusioned.

Ultimately, the Mind in order to serve the Lord should drop all its wandering and rest with its Master like a falcon that comes to rest on the branch of a tree after day-long flight; or sit like Anjaneya (symbol of turbid Mind) at the feet of Sri Ram with folded hands, or Arjuna, for that matter, sitting similarly at the feet of Sri Krishna (pure Consciousness) looking for guidance. When higher mind takes over, rest of the things will be taken care of.    

   Normally, the Mind, Body, and Soul should work in unison, but will not. Similarly, Mind should work under the guidance of Intellect (buddhi), Consciousness (chit), but will not. 

  The Bhagavad-Gita is a dialogue between pure Consciousness (Krishna) and the deluded Mind (Arjuna). It helps to establish oneself in his true Self (svastha).

    One who conquers his Mind conquers the world, Bhavasagara, Samsara. This mind full of desires, attachment, worldly knowledge and interest in the sensual enjoyment is a dust bin. It has to be cleansed.  The polluted Mind is cleansed by japa, chant name of the Lord, Ishta devata nama smarane, such as Vishnu Sahasranama, Lalita Sahasranama, Soundaryalahari, or the Shree Sharada Chatushati. These are the sure and certain sources of our happiness as well as ultimate release from bondage, Liberation- bhuktimuktiprada.

   The best way to control mind is to observe where the thoughts originate and stop it by mere observation. Meditation is the means of observation of the Mind. It kills the thoughts and desires and releases the inherent energy required for enlightenment.

     The Mind and its behaviour constitute the crux of the problem. All the problems of man have their root here in the unending desires and the quixotic behaviour of mind, and conduct towards fulfilment of the desires, or attainment. The moment desires cease the worldly interests wane and wear out. Everything happens at the appropriate time when knowledge becomes wisdom and turns the jiva towards renunciation (vairagya). This renunciation comes to the jiva only when is tired of its worldly life. It is also said, ‘only a very few blessed ones can take to jnyan-vijnyan yoga’ as stated in the Bhagavad-Gita. People may take to devotion; but devotion without jnyan (knowledge) will not lead to wisdom and renunciation. That is why Lord Krishna says that:

nahi jnyanena sadrusham |

  There is nothing that is equal or similar to Knowledge, Here knowledge means, ‘Knowledge of brahmn’. Not the knowledge of material science

There is nothing superior to brahm-jnyan, the knowledge of ‘ultimate reality of existence’.

The Mind

   Mind is the enigma, a fuzzy thing. Mind is the most mysterious thing that ever comes into our grasp and control. It is the problem as well as the solution. So far, this mind has eluded and deluded mankind and, it is the earnest effort of all the yogis to get a mastery, control it, and still this mind in order to go beyond it, and they have succeeded!

    In fact, mind is a terrific force, like the Sea waves that cannot be controlled by any means. It is the product of ego (ahankar) and the intellect (buddhi) that are subjected to the control of pure Consciousness. It is interesting to know that Mind can work with or without the Light, Knowledge, chit, and get into trouble; when it works under the light of the consciousness (‘chit’) and gets the reflected light of the intellect (buddhi) it does fantastic work and make the jiva shine in the glory of the Lord. Mind does not have buddhi, jnyan of its own. It depends on others and holds on to whatever it can! It stops functioning when it sees anything larger than itself, comprehend or cannot grasp. There are a number of techniques by which the yogins have harnessed the power of the mind. Breathing technique (pranayama) and mantra japa are capable of controlling the volatile behavior of the mind. Hence, chants of name of the supreme Lord, divya nama smarane, helps us controlling the fickle, vikshipta, udvighna, enraged Mind.

   The Mind that is akin to Space, Akasha, is a zing thing. It is amazing! It is within and without and operates either way. Like a balloon it bloats with ego and shrinks, too. It has the ability to expand and contract, create, dissect, divide, and destroy. It is strong, arrogant, adamant, and incorrigible. At the same time, it is weak and holds on to anything it catches- like greed, anger, fear, emotion, gambling, etc. It makes or mars one’s life, unless it is tamed and made to subserve the higher goal of life- purushartha, moksha- liberation of the embodied soul.

  Let’s briefly touch on the vast field of Mind that will never come within the understanding of the jiva as a result of which it suffers through out its existence. Although very subtle and invisible, Mind is said to be Matter in its gross form. In its vibrant state it is spending its energy and in its cool state, it is a source of enormous power. Here the gross state osf Mind is its heaviness or lightness as felt by a person. One may feel his mind is heavy. This heaviness is caused by its gross state (manas). In its happy mode, it light. But, in its state of equilibrium it is as good as pure Consciousness. It is ‘chit-shakti’.

    The Mind is the main invisible component that runs the life of a jiva. It is the first to emanate from Brahmn as Akash, pure Consciousness. It is Kham Brahmn. It is all-pervasive and, as such, found every where. It is the most intriguing part that is beyond reach of any ordinary being to decipher. It is a vibrant form of Energy, ‘chitta-vrutii’ (Samsk.), as well as, an inert Matter in its most sublime invisible state. It is very difficult to know what this Mind is, where is it, how it functions, and where does it get all the energy (chaitanya) to vibrate at different intensity, frequency, wave-lengths, and create a hell of a problem to the jiva. The jiva fails to understand its true nature and does not know how to control it. Actually, it is meant to serve the jiva. But it becomes the Master with the help of Ego. But for this vibrant Mind and the Ego where is Life?

   The vibrant Mind is Chitta where as the tranquil Mind is Consciousness, the witnessing self. As a storehouse of energy, Mind is always working as chitta and this has to be quietened by yoga to make it a witnessing self and save it from maya, getting entangled in mundane insatiable desires of worldly life.

    Mind (manas) and moods (manobhava) of a person and, his whims and fancies (iccha), make him what he is and shape his life! Left to itself, the person will go astray. The Mind is said to be vast, deep, and so expansive that it is as good as sky- beyond human ability to grasp, comprehend, and understand. It is called ‘akash’, space, ether- an elemental body (bhutatmika). It is through which everything is born, exist and operate, move and finally disappear. It has enormous capacity to create. Mind is said to be Matter as well as Energy depending on its intensity of vi bration- its intensity, frequency, amplitude, and wave-length. Energy is at the root of all that exist. Energy only becomes Matter and matter can revert to its pure state of Energy. Unlike Energy that cannot be created or destroyed, the Mind can be killed, rather stilled. The Mind, a focussed one, at times, operates as heat energy, too, under high intensity and frequency of vibration, vibrant energy as anger, or fire. At the zero low level of vibration, entropy, Mind is in a state of equilibrium, its vibration ceases, and its wave-length becomes a long wave, a straight line. It is the state of yogic trance or ‘samadhi’ according to yoga. Time, Space, and Causality cease to exist at this level of existence. This is the state of brahmn.

    “When one regards himself as an individual soul, he is, indeed, the individual soul; if, on the other hand, he looks upon himself as brahmn, he is brahmn. The mind alone is the cause of bondage; giving it up is emancipation. When the mind is dissolved, and the false ascription of individual is removed, it is emancipation (mukti); it is also known as brahmn. Being devoid of mental processes, and being bereft of will, is called the dissolution of mind which is the transcendental state.” When the mind is active, thinking, question and answers, imagination, etc. go on endlessly. The mind is indeed the cause, that create the seed of rebirth; when the mind is destroyed by discrimination, dissolved in pure Consciousness (laya yoga), the jiva is relieved of its eternal bondage. When the mind is stilled, becomes blank, everything becomes still, blank; the vibration stops and the world ceases to exist for that yogin. When the mind is dissolved, what remains is pure consciousness, shuddha vidhya.

  “Know therefore that all is Brahmn and remain quiet. It is in quietude that brahmn will doubtlessly be achieved. Brahmn is what was there in the beginning and Brahaman is what that will remain till the end.  Nothing can come in between these and, whatever crops up in the middle is maya, delusion. Consciousness, pure and isolated, is brahman, ‘daivi shakti’, Goddess, and when is mixed up with mind the illusory world emerges. The realm of maya is prakruti.” (See SRK: The Tantric Practices in Sri-vidya- Sri Sharada chatusshati).

    Thus, mind is an important tool in the hands of man, antahkarana. The mind is often associated with intelligence (buddhi) and ego (ahankar). These three are considered the internal tools (antahkarana) of the jiva’s conduct in daily life. These three inne instruments (antahkarana) are assisted by the Ten Senses- five of Knowledge (jnyanendriya) and five of action (karmendriya). Together, these Ten and the above three (indriya-manobuddhi-ahankara) with chittavrutti make the jiva function in a whimsical manner and, often work detrimental to it’s own existence, unless properly guided by the pure intellect, pure consciousness.

    The jiva needs proper guidance to live a sane and sensible living lest it go astray. This is the reason why most of the people lose track of their goal and live aimlessly. The real goal of life is to search for the true meaning of life and live a more purposeful life, to the satisfaction of the soul. This search is an eternal one and it ends with true knowledge, ‘atmajnyan’- the ‘Knowledge of the Self’. A person who has attained to this goal will not be bothered any more of the wares and tears, joys and sorrows, the whims and fancies, the success and failures, and, not even the heat or cold, or day and night. Such a person who is beyond all dualities is called a ‘sthita-prajnya’- one of stable mind, equanimous, calm, unperturbed mind, established in the Self (Bhagavad-Gita).

    Here again, yoga helps us to reach this point of absolute Bliss, mahat-ananda. Almost all the ancient scriptures give instructions, guidance, and help in our search for this supreme happiness. Happiness lies not in acquiring material wealth, not even sensual gratifications since these are endless, and once obtained will leave us in sheer boredom and craving for more. For all practical purposes, the untamed Mind (vikshipta manah, chanchala chitta) is the culprit in our life. Only an illumined Mind will take us on the right path- the path of righteousness, morals, ethics, and selflessness. Prajnya (consciousness) helps the manas (Mind) to be aware of its thoughts, ideas, and actions and their consequences. In the absence of this Light, the Mind works in darkness. Most of the time, we act unmindful of consequences despite our knowledge. How buddhi (knowledge) fails at times is a mystery; knowing full well we act to our own detriment, such as untruthfulness, selfish to the core unmindful of the harm it does to others, cheating, bribing to get things done, overtaking despite knowledge of consequences, egotism and putting others down, etc. this list of our behaviour is so long that it is essential to be aware of it and cut it down to nothingness. That is the way one can conquer the Mind. It is the ego that comes in the way of our mastery over Mind since ego sits on the throne of the Mind. Mind does go round on errands to satisfy the ego, use the senses, too, for this purpose. This ego is the master and controls all thoughts and actions of the jiva. So far it is found impossible to conquer the ego even by the great Rishis like Vishva Mitra, Durvasa, and Indra. There are good examples for this ego among the Gods.

   Both Sri Krishna (Bhagavad-Gita) and Sage Patanjali and Shandilya (Yoga Sutras) lay stress on this aspect of ‘Mind Control’. Sri Krishna says, “Yoga is all about doing the ordained duty in an intelligent way without attachment, in a selfless manner (‘yogasu karma koushalah’)”. Sage Patanjali puts it as, “stillness of mind’- “yogasu cittavritti nirodhah.” A person who is in full control of his mind (sthita dhih) is a sthitaprajnya (muni). It is said, ‘a man of equanimous mind’ is a Sage- sthitidheeh munir ucyate |

   Swami Shivananda of Advaita Ashrama, Hrishikesh (Uttara Khand) is an authority on Mind. He gives a beautiful account of all the different facets of Mind and its behaviour. He advises, “Mind should be made to serve the soul, and seek guidance from prajnya that gets Light from it. Mind (manas) that is guided by enlightened Intelligence (buddhi) from prajnya will help subdue ego (ahankar) and help jiva to reach its destination. The egotistic and whimsical behaviour of Mind deserves contempt and neglect since it neither helps the jiva nor the society. Since the Mind has not got its own independence and stability it holds on to anything it catches on. This becomes a phobia, a mental disease. Some get trapped in fear or anger, pride or jealousy, ego, brooding and depression, or run after sensual gratifications, mad pursuits of exciting things, power and wealth, or become drug addicts and get ruined in the end. Some get so disillusioned in life that attempt suicide instead they become yogi if they realize the same ‘futility of this worldly existence’ and turn to ancient scriptures and yoga.

     Hence, it is advisable to give the fickle but obstinate Mind something larger, greater than its capacity to grasp, or behold, say, the name of the supreme Lord to chant and visualize Him, or take to study of the Veda and Upanishads. It stops its wandering, holding on to that great (‘mahat’) principle of ‘Personal God’ (ishta devata). Chanting the divine name (divya nama smarane or Sri Hari nama smarane) or ‘Hare Rama’ is supposed to be the best panacea for unsettled minds since it helps to stop all wandering thoughts. Once the turbid Mind is settled the rest will happen as per ‘divine will’ and there will be no regrets thereafter, whatsoever.