July 21 Discipline of the Mind

You must have a pure mind if you want to realise the self. Unless the mind is free and it casts away all desires, cravings, worries, delusion, pride, lust, attachment, likes and dislikes, it cannot enter into the domain of supreme peace and unalloyed felicity, the immortal abode.

A glutton or a sensualist, a dullard or a lazy man, cannot practise meditation. He who has controlled the tongue and other organs, who has an acute acumen, who eats, drinks and sleeps in moderation, who has destroyed selfishness, lust, greed and anger, can practise meditation and attain success in samadhi (super-consciousness).

You cannot enjoy peace of mind, you cannot practise meditation if there is vikshepa in your mind. Vikshepa is tossing of mind. Vikshepa is rajas (passion); vikshepa and desires coexist in the mind. If you really want to destroy vikshepa, you must destroy all mundane cravings through dispassion and self-surrender to the Lord.

If you apply fire to green wood, it will not burn; if you apply fire to a piece of dried wood, it will at once catch fire and burn. Even so, those who have not purified their minds will not be able to start the fire of meditation. They will be sleeping or dreaming building castles in the air - when they sit for meditation.

But those who have removed the impurities of the mind by japa (repetition of God's name), service, charity, pranayama (yoga breathing), etc., will enter into deep meditation as soon as they sit for meditation. The pure ripe mind will at once burn with the fire of meditation.

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Clarify your idea again and again. Think clearly. Have deep concentration and right thinking. Introspect in solitude. Purify your thoughts. Still the thoughts. Silence the bubbling mind. Allow one thought wave only to rise from the mind and settle down calmly. Then allow another thought to enter. Drive off all extraneous thoughts that have nothing to do with the subject matter on hand. An efficient control over thoughts, through long practice, is a great help in meditation.

Watch every thought very carefully. Shut out all useless thoughts from the mind. Your life must tally with your meditation. You keep up your meditation during work also. Do not give new strength to evil thoughts by constantly thinking. Restrain them. Substitute sublime thoughts.

July 20 Cure for Mental Defects

There are three defects of the mind. They are: impurity, tossing of the mind, and the veil of ignorance. The mind is tossed about among objects of love and hatred like a light feather in a stormy wind. It whirls far and wide among sensual objects, far away from the association of the wise. It is like a strolling city dog. This baneful mind whirls at the sight of immense wealth and it follows its mate, desire, and ever preys upon ignorant worldlings as it would on a carcass.

The mind is characterised by excessive fluctuation. It is fluctuating and confused. It rejoices in vain. It is intoxicated with egoism. Through this fluctuation the mind becomes a prey to fear. Remove these three dosha (defects).

To do this you should study the mind. Analyse the mind. Purify the mind. Dissolve the mind in God, by constant and intense thinking about God. Practise the sadhana (endeavour) of destruction of the mind. Rise above deceptions of the mind. Rise above the temptations of the mind. This is your duty. You are born for this only. All other duties are self-imposed, self-created through ignorance.

Mind is made pure through true, pure and virtuous actions, by constant association with the wise. Mantra, repeated with the right feeling, produces a wonderful effect on the mind. Right thinking, noble emotions, prayers, regular and strenuous meditation are the means to improve the mind.

As a result of purification of the mind, the mind becomes more sensitive. It is easily disturbed by sound or shock. It feels any pressure acutely. The aspirant must be sensitive and yet have the body and nerves completely under his control. He must get over this sensitivity.

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O mind, you cannot be my friend now - I know your worth and nature. Till now I was deluded by your tricks. But now we move in diametrically opposite poles. You want fleeting sensual pleasure from objects. I want immortal bliss of the soul inside. You are ever restless and worried. I am peaceful and tranquil. You are full of passion, fear and attachment. I am dispassionate, fearless and unattached. You want woman, wealth, property. I am full of renunciation. We cannot agree at all. Therefore leave me quickly and quietly. Goodbye, friend.

July 19 Treacherous Mind

Mind is very treacherous. It will hurl you down into the abyss of ignorance. It will say: "Pitva pitva punar pitva punar janma na vidyate". (Drink, drink again, there is no rebirth). It will say: "Give up sadhana (spiritual practice), you will not gain anything. There is no bliss beyond the senses. The world is real, there is nothing like sensual pleasure, enjoy it to your heart's content."

Hear not this voice of the mind. Swim against the mind current. Mind is your bitter enemy. Disconnect your Self from the mind - stand as its silent witness. Do not become one with the mind and the senses. Practise introspection and self-analysis. Thus will the mind gradually be tamed. It will become your obedient servant.

Sensual pleasures are nectar in the beginning but they are venom in the end. Here is a way to thin out the mind, a way to control it. If the mind says, "Eat eggs and meat", eat only spinach, fruits and milk. If the mind says, "Read novels and newspapers", read only the Gita, the Upanishads and practise karma yoga. If the mind says, "Gamble", practise vigil and do kirtan the whole night.

O truant mind: O mischievous imp: I am tired of giving you admonitions. You are like the shameless son-in law who sits idly in the house of his father in law, eating and drinking, and bearing all the rebukes and broom beatings. It is difficult to control the mind without the grace of the Lord. The prompter of thoughts alone can subjugate this wild mind. My prostrations and adorations to the prompter.

Listen, O mind, to this piece of advice. Sink not in the mire of samsara (worldly life), in the perilous ocean of births and deaths. Mix thou not in mundane affairs. Eat not the fruits of pain and sorrow. Take not birth again and again. Wither not thyself in wicked deeds. Is not eternal bliss thy quest? Commune with the Lord of bliss now. Forget the body and its connections and rest peacefully in blissful joy. Abide in thy supreme abode. Now there will be an end of birth.

Desire not name, fame, prestige, position, title, honour, rank. Care not, O mind, for earthly affection, love and kind words, respect, nice clothes and dainty dishes, the company of damsels and their talk. Remain steadfast. Gaze on the Lord dwelling in the cave of thy heart - He who is thy refuge, thy solace, source and centre, the witness and the abode, the Lord and dissolution.

July 18 Fasting of the Heart

Form the habit of deep introspection. Good aspirants who enter into deep meditation also march forward in sleep. Taking food immoderately or at the wrong time will affect your system and render meditation difficult. Lead a life of self-restraint and back it up with meditation, japa (repetition of God's name), pranayama (yoga breathing) and asanas (postures). Fasting is beneficial. You can meditate well and seriously while fasting. The most significant fast is the fast of the heart - that is, renunciation of desires.

The mind may fall into a state of inactivity and the aspirant thinks he has reached the goal. This is a sad mistake. Divest yourself of anger, greed and attachment to sensual objects and their enjoyments. Be free from 'love' and 'hate' of others. Divest yourself from all affinities for objects. Follow proper diet, easy posture, purity of mind and body.

If the steps are not steady on the path, do more japa, intensify your vairagya (dispassion), sit in one place and meditate. Serve. Have unshakeable faith in the Lord. Cling to the Lord's divine name. Surrender to the divine Lord. Pray to him sincerely. The mind will be powerless. Hand over charge of your body to the Lord and cease to think of it. The Lord is everywhere. He controls everything. He will protect you from all danger.

Rely on the Lord alone. If you put into practise one hundredth of what I say to you, you will surely attain God-realisation now and here.

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A great emperor purchased a horse for ten thousand rupees. The horse was restless and no one was able to ride it. Then his son Sikandar said, "Beloved father, I can ride this horse." He sat on the horse and rode it in the direction of the sun. The horse galloped. The emperor was quite astonished. He said, "O Sikandar: How did you manage to ride this horse?" Sikandar replied, "The horse was afraid of his own shadow so I made him run towards the sun." Such is the restless horse mind also. If you turn it towards Atman (self) it will be peaceful. If you turn it towards maya (delusion) it will jump and dance.

July 17 True Renunciation

The mind is the all in all. Its mastery leads to the renunciation of all. True renunciation is in the abnegation of the mind. It consists in renouncing all desires and egoism, not world existence. Through such mental abnegation you will be able to free yourself from pain. Then will come immortality in life - the enjoyment of the infinite delight of existence free from ego, founded on the oneness of all in Brahman.

Sanyasa (renunciation) is a mental state only. It is gerua (or colouring) of the heart and not of the cloth alone. He is a sanyasi who is free from passion and egoism, who possesses all the satvic qualities, even though he lives with the family and in the world. If you have a stainless mind you are a sanyasi (a renunciate), whether you live in a forest or in a city, whether you wear white cloth or an orange coloured robe, whether you shave your head or keep a long tuft of hair.

Shave the mind. This consists of getting rid of all attachment, passion, egoism, infatuation, lust, greed, anger, etc.  Vedanta does not want you to renounce the world; it wants you to change your mental attitude. It wants you to give up this illusory feeling of 'I ness' and 'mine ness'.

Mind is a mass of objectified desires. Desire in the mind to eat has manifested as the tongue, the teeth and the stomach. Desire in the mind to walk has manifested as legs and feet. Control the mind and you control the desires. Eyes can only see. Ears can only hear. Tongue can only taste. Nose can only smell. Skin can only touch. The five senses are blended in the mind and the mind directly sees, hears, smells, tastes and feels. It does this quite independent of the senses.

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Understand clearly the aim of your life. Chalk out the line of work that is congenial to your aim. Then you should work hard to realise that ideal. Have your ideal ever before you and try, every second, to live up to it.

Develop a strong desire to remove carelessness and forgetfulness from your character. Have confidence in your own powers and faculties. Keep your mental poise in the world, without consideration of failure, without consideration of gain or loss, pleasure or pain.

Have the mind always rooted in God, amidst all the activities of life.

July 16 Nirodha

Mind and breath are like milk and water. Raja yoga is control of the mind. He who wants to become a perfect yogi and wants to experience wonderful samadhi (super-conscious state), must control mind and breath. He must continuously practise yoga and observe the rules. He must thoroughly overcome the five tatvas (elements).

Restraint of the mind (nirodha) leads to jnana. Nirodha is the culmination of yoga and sankhya (two paths to liberation). It is nirodha which underlies all sadhana (spiritual practice). Restraint of the mind is the essence of all worship. This is jnana (wisdom) and dhyana (meditation). The highest is attained by the restraint of the mind. The mind should be completely restrained from objects until it attains dissolution in the heart.

Atman or Brahman is your immortal self. It is the only blazing reality. Only if you know this Atman can you attain perfection. Perfection can be yours in this very life. Atman is to be recognised as your innermost being, through samadhi.

If you know the Atman, which is the ultimate reality, which is perfection, then only your life becomes useful and a real existence. The knower of the Atman, the inner perfection, crosses all sorrows and becomes free. If you do not know this Atman then there is great loss for you.

Samadhi is not a mere emotional enthusiasm or an exhilaration of feeling, it is the direct, unique, intuitive experience of truth or absolute consciousness or the ultimate reality. It is beyond all feeling, throbbing and thrill. The aspirant rests in his centre now - the goal of his search - and realises the absolute freedom, independence and perfection.

The aspirant should have a burning desire to free himself from the fire of samsara (worldly life). Then only he will be able to enter into deep meditation and samadhi. The mind becomes that very Brahman when it is purified and brought into the samadhi state. In samadhi there is no perception of duality, the cause of fear. Avidya (ignorance) is entirely absent in this state.

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To attain supreme bliss, you must have patience, perseverance, diligence, serenity, purity, one pointed mind and burning aspiration. He who does not strive for realisation lives in vain - though he is a man in appearance, he is in fact a beast.

July 15 Guide to Sadhakas

The first thing a spiritual aspirant has to acquire is mastery over the mind. Like a blind man - look at the objects. Like a deaf man - hear sounds. Do not allow the sense experiences to penetrate within. The mind gets fattened on account of its being fed by sense objects. Restrain the senses by the process of pratyahara (abstraction).

Why should you struggle to curb the mind? Its power is far greater than any other power, but it will become your slave if you surrender to the Lord and allow his divine power to work through you. The control of prana (life force) should be the natural and unfailing duty of all spiritually-minded persons. It is the control of prana which paves the way for the non-cogitation of all the externals and the conquest of death.

Firmness of practice in the stainless non-dual principle, control of prana and the subjugation of the mind - these three are the paths to realise the meaning of moksha. Out of these three, one should be mastered thoroughly. Then the effects of all three will be obtained as all three are inseparably related to one another.

If the mind and prana cease to exist, then thoughts will cease to arise - both of these are one only, like the flower and its fragrance, or a seed and the oil in it. Prana and mind stand to one another in the relationship of supporter and supported. If either of them is slain then the other also will cease to exist. The destruction of both will confer moksha.

Spiritual life begins with repentance. Spiritual life begins with aspiration. Genuine aspiration is the precondition of success in leading a spiritual life. Aspiration is indeed the fruit of good actions of the past. Guard your spiritual aspirations very carefully. Increase them through viveka (wisdom), sadvichara (pure enquiry) and satsanga (holy company).

Devotion to God and guru, practice of discipline, regular meditation - these will quickly lead to Self-realisation. Selfless work is for the purification of the mind. Self-realisation is brought about by discrimination, dispassion, determination and meditation. He who is faithful to truth and who diligently practises meditation, turning inwards in meditation, is put upon the ultimate path which leads to Self-realisation.