Mind – The Restless Monkey
The mind, the control center of your body & senses. It is the most powerful and also the most fragile part of the body. It can control and it can be controlled. It can be your best friend or your worst enemy. The mind gives the shape of the existence of this world. All senses are under its control and the sense are also the controller of the mind once the desire of the senses prevail the mind stop discriminating and lose focus, the whole mind comes under the control of the senses & its objects suppose you have a sweet tooth and once you saw your favorite sweet then your senses bend your mind by the deep craving to eat that sweet and now you mind only think about the sweet, the senses object and the senses are now dominating the mind as mind is can be easily controlled by the desires. It is so fragile that it can lose focus easily and roam here and there like an uncontrolled monkey. Once the mind is unfocused and uncontrolled, it is weak and crippled.
The mind like monkey jump from one branch to another in an adrift once it loses focus and patience. But if you know how to control this monkey you can be the king of your life. As your mind becomes more controlled and focuses you will analyze the substantial positive transforming changes in your life.
Mind – The Master Tool of the Body.
“For a wise man, a mind is a tool, which he can use it accordingly. “
First, is to understand the mind and its nature, its working & its process. The mind which gives the sense of our existence in this world and drives our life till the end, everything that happened, happening and will happen is the projection of the mind. Mind the powerful physical entity that controls us at the conscious & the subconscious level. The physical world is just a projection of the mind. What we see, hear touch, smell & taste merely a representation of the mind. Senses control the mind or the mind control the senses is a meaningless expression unless we understand the inner architecture of the creation by our creator. In Srimad Bhagavad Gita a sacred text of Hinduism where Lord Krishna, explain the organization of Human being as:
The senses are said to be greater than the body, but greater than the senses
is the mind. Greater than the mind is the intellect, and what is greater than the
intellect is He (the Self). (3.42)
At gross level body is under the control of senses, senses are under the regime of mind, above mind, there is intellect which governs it with the wisdom and ultimately the supreme reality that witness the external & inner world.
The mind stuff which is a composition of three-part Manas(mind), Ahamkar(ego) and Buddhi( determinative faculty ) These three essentials elements develope a Chitta or the mind-stuff through which the external world is perceived. So, the mind is a great tool for us if we conquer it.
Meditation – The Art of Befriending with the Mind.
The nature of mind is restless, unsteady, turbulent and difficult to control. The mind stuff (Chitta) is not easy to control and manage. Arjuna in Mahabharata asks the same question about the condition of the mind.
cancalam hi manah Krsna pramathi balavad drdham
tasyaham nigraham manye vayor iva su-duskaram (6.34)
” O Krsna, For the mind, is truly unsteady, turbulent, strong and difficult to
control, I consider it as hard to hold as the wind.” (6.34)
The unfocused mind is always working under the control of senses and its related senses object. It easily deviates from its path and seeking sensual pleasures. Seeking pleasures in not wrong but when the mind dwells itself in the pleasures only then the problem arises.
Then how to control this restless mind? No, don’t try to control it as you try harder you will find it more difficult to control it So, make it friend. How to make it a friend?
There is a beautiful story which explains the solution once there is a kingdom where the king is fond of horses and horse riding he has thousands of horses of best breeds from all over the world, once he saw a beautiful, strong white horse he asked the horse seller what is the price of the horse? I like this horse I will give you the whatever price you want. But the horse trader said this horse is not for sale as this is a wild horse and uncontrollable by any I am thinking to send this horse back to the jungle as it hurts many trainers already. by listening this king got sad as he wants this horse at any cost so he makes an announcement in his kingdom that anyone who trains this horse will be rewarded with a huge sum of money and wealth many people come but no one takes the responsibility because of the fierceness of the horse Now the king becomes sadder after some time a sage comes to the king’s court and ask the horse to train, by listening to this king start laughing on him and said How can you train this horse when many good trainers cannot the sage said I can but there is one condition king asked what condition ? I need this horse with me for one year at least, after one year you will get the horse. king accept his condition. One yr time has been spent but the sage didn’t come back with the horse. So the king went to the ashram of sage and get astonished to see that horse was eating grass from the hand of the sage he asked to sage How he did it? Then sage reply I never try to control it I try to befriend it and gives time and patience for this relationship.
This is the secret of the win over the mind is to have patience, faith and time. This is what Sri Krishna said in Gita.
asamsayam maha-baho mano durnigraham calam
abhyasena tu Kaunteya vairagyena ca grhyate (6.35)
“Bhagavån said: The mind is restless no doubt, and difficult to curb, Arjuna;
but it can be brought under control by repeated practice (of meditation) and by
the exercise of dispassion,” (6.35)
Meditation is the start to create a relationship with your mind as a friend to control the mind first you need to understand it completely then by practicing over a period of with strong faith you can make your mind your best friend and excel in your life.
