By certain actions, dispositions, and habits of thought we make our task of controlling the mind almost impossible. It will be helpful to know what these are, so that we may avoid them.

If we have strong likes or dislikes, attachments and aversions, we shall not be able to control our minds.

If we live an immoral life we shall not be able to control our minds.

If we have the habit of deliberately harming others we shall not be able to control our minds.

If we indulge in intoxicants, live unbalanced and chaotic lives, e.g. eat, drink, talk, work, or sleep too little or too much, we shall not be able to control our minds.

If we habitually indulge in vain controversy, are inordinately inquisitive about others’ affairs, or are too anxious to find others’ faults, we shall not be able to control our minds.

If we torture our bodies unnecessarily, spend our energies in futile pursuits, force rigid silence upon silence upon ourselves, or become too egocentric, we shall not easily control our minds.

If we are over-ambitious irrespective of our capacities, if we are jealous of others’ prosperity, or if we are self-righteous, we shall not easily control our minds.

If we have a feeling of guilt, we shall not be able to control our minds. Therefore we must erase all guilt from within us. To repent for sins committed and ask God’s help for strength of will so that they may not be repeated, that is all is needed to be free from guilt.

To succeed in controlling the mind one must have, in addition to a strong will, faith in oneself. Sri Krishna says in the Gita that one must oneself subdue one’s weakness and raise oneself by oneself. This teaching must be practiced by one who intends to control his mind.
The mind will have to be controlled by the mind itself. The difficulties which we experience in controlling the mind are created by our own mind. Mind cannot be controlled by artificial means foe any length of time. Deliberate, patient, intelligent, systematic hard work according to tested and suitable disciplines is needed.

A Clear Grasp of the Task on Hand Needed

It must be clearly understood and fully accepted that there is no gimmick by which the mind can be controlled. Those who are in a hurry and looking for clever devices may well be warned that the mind, a delicate instrument, should be handled very carefully. The entire work of controlling the mind will have to be done by ourselves. No one else can do it for us. We cannot get it done by someone else for a fee. It is our personal task. We must do it ourselves. And we shall need great patience to do it. Swami Vivekananda teaches:

“The mind has to be gradually and systematically brought under control. The will has to be strengthened by slow, continuous, and persevering drill. This is no child’s play, no fad to be tried one day and discarded the next. It is a life’s work; and the end to be attained is well worth all that it can cost us to reach it; being nothing less than the realization of our absolute oneness with the Divine. Surely, with this end in view, and with the knowledge that we can certainly succeed, no price can be too great to pay.”

A Favourable Inner Climate Needs To Be Created

To be able to practise the disciplines leading to the control of the mind we need to create a favourable inner climate by consciously accepting certain inevitables of life. Though they are inevitable, often enough we do not accept them as such with the result that unnecessary problems, for there are quite enough of necessary and unavoidable ones. We shall all do well to practise these teachings of the Buddha in the Anguttara Nikaya:
Bhikkus, these five things must be contemplated by all men and women, householders as well as bhikkus.

1. Old age will come upon me some day and I cannot avoid it.
2. Disease can come upon me some day and I cannot avoid it.
3. Death will come upon me some day and I cannot avoid it.
4. All things that I hold dear are subject to change and decay and separation, and I cannot avoid it.
5. I am the outcome of my own deeds and whatever be my deeds, good or bad, I shall be heir to them.

Bhikkus, by contemplating old age the pride of youth can be curbed, or at least reduced; by contemplating disease the pride of health can be curbed, or at least reduced; by contemplating the change and separation of all things dear, the passionate desire by possession is curbed, or at least reduced; and by contemplating that one is the result of one’s own deeds, the evil propensities of thought, word and deed are curbed, or at least reduced.

One who contemplates these five things can curb, or at least reduce his pride and passion and thus be able to tread the path of Nirvana.

The practice of these teachings of the Buddha will indirectly help purification of the mind.

Two Sets of Inner Disciplines

To control the mind we have to develop for ourselves two sets of inner disciplines:

a) One set is for permanent basic operation.
b) The other set is for providing high-power emergency brakes.

The first set will give a general healthy direction to the mind. The second will save us in emergencies.

If the first set is not practiced, we cannot make use of the second set at all, for the simple reason that the power-supply for the second system comes from the first set of disciplines when these are effectively practiced.

In the first set several basic disciplines are included:

1. Life must be held in a proper frame of constructive thinking there should be a routine fro daily life and certain basic principles by which a sense of direction is given to whatever we do. There should also be certain moral commitments by which conduct should be guided. Those who have no moral and other principles, and no regularity of life, will find it almost impossible to control the mind. We have to bring rhythm into our life in order to control the mind.
2. To control the mind we must check its proverbial restlessness. In Raja-Yoga Swami Vivekananda describes the restlessness of the mind:

“How hard it is to control the mind! Well has it been compared to the maddened monkey. There was a monkey, restless by his own nature, as all monkeys are. As if that were not enough someone made him drink freely of wine, so that he became still more restless. Then a scorpion stung him. When a man is stung by a scorpion he jumps about for a whole day; so the poor monkey found his condition worse than ever. To complete his misery a demon entered into him. What language can describe the uncontrollable restlessness of that monkey? The human mind is like that monkey, incessantly active by its own nature; then it becomes drunk with the wine of desire, thus increasing its turbulence. After desire takes possession comes the sting of the scorpion of jealousy of the success of others, and last of all the demon of pride enters the mind, making it think itself of all importance. How hard to control such a mind!”

To check its restlessness we must know the causes. What are these causes? The causes of restlessness are the impurities of the mind.

The Purer the Mind the Easier To Control

Swami Vivekananda teaches:

“The purer the mind, the easier it is to control. Purity of the mind must be insisted upon if you would control it….Perfect morality is the all in all of complete control over the mind. The man who is perfectly moral has nothing more to do; he is free.”

The control of the mind depends on its purity. We are unable to control our mind because at present it is impure. If we live in a way which makes the mind more impure, and at the same time make assiduous efforts to control the mind, this will be futile. Again, if without doing anything regarding purification of the mind, we just go ahead to control our mind, we are not likely to succeed, except in the rare case when we start with a highly pure mind. What we need is a system of discipline for controlling the mind which will also obliterate its impurities.

What are these impurities of the mind? They are the urges, impulses and emotions like envy, hatred, anger, fear, jealousy, lust, greed, conceit, temptation etc. born of the two lower gunas, rajas and tamas. These impurities cause disturbance in the mind by creating attachment and aversion, and thus rob it of tranquility.

How do we remove these impurities?

Wait until I finish writing it.

By:  Meera Sharma

© 2007 Meera Sharma

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