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.