Gita 06.05 – The responsibility for controlling the mind rests on us

Bhagavad-gita 6.5 this and the next words are among the most quoted verses in the bhagavad-gita about the mind of course there is 6.26 also chanchalamimana krishna so now this verse is stating with the mind deliver the soul so the first atmana refers to the instrument and the second atmanam is the receiver of the action the object so with the mind deliver the soul so the first atmana refers to the mind second refers to the soul so with the mind deliver the soul na atmanam avasadayet avasadayet means to degrade don't degrade the soul so again the instrument or the subject is implied here the subject is the mind so this so so the mind is the friend of the soul atmaiva ripuraatmanaha and the mind is also the enemy of the soul so here what krishna is essentially stating is that we are not just helpless victims of the mind and that we don't have to give in to everything that the mind happens mind suggests we have so krishna is actually in one sense instructing us and conveying in the within the instruction that we have the power to direct the mind so deliver now all of us know perceive that there is some force within us some voice which keeps speaking to us do this don't do this now this voice can work in both ways sometimes it can be the voice of the conscience which tells us this is the right thing this is what you should do that is the wrong thing that is what you should not do and that way it enables us to move onwards in the right direction but sometimes from inside there is a voice that prompts us to do wrong things also come on that opportunity to enjoy is there why don't you enjoy just go there and get that just enjoy that that will be so nice so in this way when the mind tempts us so the important thing to recognize in such situations is that all the voices inside are not the same and the mind itself often we stereotype the mind as the enemy but the mind can be our friend also because ultimately the mind is the instrument that we use for thinking and for guiding the body for acting so that instrument has to be used so unlike an enemy say if some enemy is attacking us if say there's a war between india and pakistan and pakistan attacks india then indians can treat pakistan as enemy and try to keep pakistan out of the indian territory but the mind is not that kind of enemy whom we can keep out of ourselves because the mind is inside us and not only is it inside us sometimes there may be a enemy inside us who can just be arrested and kept in a jail but the mind is also not like that because the mind is what we have to use the mind is the interface between the gross body and the soul so for us to act in this world we do need to use the mind and so we cannot wish away the mind oh we cannot get rid of the mind we cannot push away the mind then what can we do we need to restrain and redirect the mind we need to purify the mind now how do we go about this purification it is by steady observation and determination so that means here krishna is placing the initiative on us and he's saying observe the mind and elevate yourself with the mind so if someone says that okay lift yourself up with that so we wonder what and don't degrade yourself with that so we wonder what is something with which i can either lift myself or i can degrade myself we could say maybe it can refer to a some something which is like a rope you know if i that rope if i hold on to it i can climb up or maybe if i don't hold properly to it i will slip and fall down further or i can consider a staircase i have an intermediate floor i can go up on the staircase or i can go down there are simple examples in nature where somebody will say okay use the staircase to go up don't use the staircase to go down so like that krishna is saying elevate yourself with the mind don't degrade yourself so that just as i say that means the staircase is basically a tool for motion the staircase can go upward the staircase can go downwards or the staircase has a pathway which goes up staircase doesn't go anywhere rather the staircase has a pathway which goes upward the staircase the pathway which goes downwards so now it is up to us to choose which pathway we take so now this is the first part so to understand conceptually we can keep this vision this concept and example in the mind but either we elevate ourselves or we degrade ourselves now the third part the third and fourth say something that that the mind is the friend of the soul and the mind is also the enemy of the soul now what exactly does this imply i actually herein the important point to recognize is that rather than thinking of the mind simply as a staircase which just leaves things up to us whether you want to go up or whether you want to go down we can expand that example and consider it to be like a elevator with a suction pull so it will just pull us inside so the elevator can pull us inside and take us down or it can pull us inside and take us up so if there are ropes on the staircase or if there are ropes in the elevator which pull us in and we are dragged down so something like that if we visualize then we can understand what krishna is saying is that the mind can be your friend and mine can be your enemy that means if thus if i get caught in the downward pull and i i say down there is a dungeon where i'll be imprisoned and above there is a free ground there is a open air that sun where i'll be rescued so then what is important is that the same staircase if it if if there are forces which drag me down from there then that's inimical the same staircase if on it there are forces which pull me up then i will be liberated so now what makes the mind friendly or hostile that will be discussed in the next verse but suffice it to say here krishna in this particular verse places the responsibility for controlling the mind squarely on us he says that it is for us to recognize the nature of the mind the dual role that it can play the dual role is different from a double role double role in a movie is the same person playing two things the dual role means yes it can act so that in a double role normally the both the persons are there and sometimes they meet also but here the mind can be friend or it can be the enemy depending on as the next verse will tell us whether we control it or we don't control it so in this verse krishna places the onus of responsibility on us squarely and asks us to use the mind elevate ourselves and not to degrade ourselves thank you.