How can we control the unstable mind?

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Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
so the mind tends to be very unstable restless and from the Mahabharata we see that Arjuna also expressed a similar problem so how can we control the mind increase our concentration the mind is on a perpetual source for some sorry on a perpetual search for some source of pleasure so just like if there are small children they are restless something catches their fancy they start playing with the toy at that time if some other child comes and starts taking that toy they will throw a tantrum as if the whole world has come crashing down for them but now after 10 minutes they just leave that toy and go away same toy for which they were crying like anything a few minutes ago now they lost the fancy so what is that the mind is just physically restless when something catches the fancy the mind is like a child when something has caught the fancy child is not ready to give it up once the fancy is lost, child neglects it so the mind is like Krishna uses Arjuna uses the word chanchala chanchala is restless but chanchala is also a word used for children children are restless so the mind is restless so mind is like a like a child who is constantly searching for pleasure in new objects and this is a chronic search and ultimately our heart finds shelter in God when our consciousness is fixed on God we get the deepest satisfaction. In the Christian tradition there is a great saint, St. Augustine he said that oh God oh father thou have made us for you and our hearts never find rest unless they find rest in you and that is also what Krishna says aniketas tiramate if one’s consciousness is fixed on God, even if externally one has no shelter it doesn’t matter one will be sheltered internally so the mind is in a perpetual search for some source of pleasure but this search has itself become like a default habit for the mind that means the mind has experienced so many objects in its past search for pleasure and has not found them satisfactory that even when it comes to something that is satisfactory even when it comes to God the mind assumes this is not going to be satisfactory so a little bit like a child plays with a toy for some time and gives it up so like that the mind doesn’t even stay rested in God so at such a time, now if I say a child child is very restless and a child is sick child may want to eat one thing, second thing third thing, child doesn’t want to take anything regularly.
Now if the child is sick, the medicine has to be given and who gives the medicine? It is the doctor so the doctor prescribes the medicine but it is the mother’s responsibility to make sure the child takes the medicine so when they go to a doctor, when the mother and child go to a doctor the doctor may smile at the child, maybe give some chocolate but about the whole diagnosis and the prescription the doctor tells the mother and then later on it is the mother’s responsibility to make sure that the child takes the medicine similarly in our case we have a mind which is restless and we also have intelligence which is meant to be mature so the mind is like the child but our intelligence should be like the mother and the spiritual wisdom of the Bhagavad Gita and the spiritual master which the Bhagavad Gita recommends that we consult, so that’s spiritual source of wisdom that is like the doctor so when we go to a spiritual guide when we get our questions answered when we get our doubts clarified then we understand that God is the ultimate shelter for us bhuvanam janmanam ante jnanavan mam prapadyate vasudevah sarvam iti samatmasu durlabha in 7.19 the Bhagavad Gita Krishna says that the wise person may take many lifetimes to go through spiritual evolution but the culmination of that spiritual evolution is the realization that vasudevah sarvam iti that God is the be all and end all of everything so now when this is understood so this is what we learn from a spiritual guide but this is to be understood with our intelligence and then just as it is the mother’s responsibility to make sure the child takes the medicine similarly it is our intelligence responsibility to calm the mind and fix it on God so on a regular basis if we study scripture if we chant the names of God if we pray even if the mind is restless at that time also but still whatever we are able to focus to that extent the mind will be cured of its restlessness now by consistent practice of yoga the easiest yoga to practice is bhakti yoga especially for gaining control of the mind so the result of this Krishna says is prashanta manasam yenam yoginam sukham uttamam upaiti shant rajasam brahma bhutama kalmasham so Krishna says in 6.27 that prashanta manasam yenam the mind will become peaceful yoginam sukham uttamam we will experience the supreme happiness upaiti shant rajasam the rajas, the agitation of the mind will go down it will become pacified this will happen by consistent practice just like the child who is sick will become cured if the medicine is taken regularly so similarly by regular connection with God we will find that the mind will become calm and even if it appears that when we are trying to connect with God the mind is being restless it’s going here and trying to chant but the mind is going here and there, I am trying to pray but the mind is going here and there but still whatever connection we are able to establish during that time that will calm the mind and further it’s the effect of connection with God is not just during that time if we understand, when we meditate that calms down the mind in terms of decreasing the hyperactive nature of the mind curbing it, but along with that if we understand the philosophy of the Bhagavad Gita then we will understand that actually there are so many things which go up and down in life but after it all, life goes on life goes on so there is no need to get too excited about things there is no need to get too dejected about things yes, there are problems there are successes, there are failures but life goes on after that so one of the if we one of the themes which Krishna talks about repeatedly in the Bhagavad Gita is that don’t get too worked up by the dualities yes, you get success that is good, but success is temporary you get failure, failure is also temporary so if we get too hyper excited by success there is a tennis match sometimes you see at the end of a match, one side the person is jumping up in ecstasy, the other side the person is just drooping in rejection our mind is like that, sometimes it’s on the winner’s side, it’s jumping up up and down, up and down other side it thinks, oh everything is just a waste, everything is a loss so what happens is the mind goes through this hyper activity but if we have a spiritual long term understanding of life then we understand, yes there is no need to get too excited about success there is no need to get too dejected about failure these will come, these will go but my life will go on and that itself further calms the mind down and this does not mean that we become unemotional, rather it means that we focus on long term things on more meaningful things so, if say there is a beggar who has nothing and say somebody gives that beggar one dollar oh, I got one dollar and that one dollar falls off the pocket he will get agitated, I lost my dollar but if that person is not a beggar but is a billionaire and then one dollar, give to someone or you lose one dollar or get one dollar it really doesn’t matter so much it’s not that it is utterly unimportant but it is not something to get elated or dejected about so like that, same way when we have a spiritual connection with God, we understand that there is an inner treasure within us there is an inner reservoir of strength within us there is an inner enriching source of fulfillment within us, through our connection with God so that is like a treasure of a million or a billion dollars and ups and downs of life they are like one dollar loss or one dollar gain so when we have that broader perception of life which comes by our spiritual connection with God then one of the main reasons why the mind gets agitated that is taking pleasures too seriously and taking pains too seriously taking success too seriously and taking failure too seriously that goes down so controlling the mind is a gradual process and we may not see any change immediately yes, if you start connecting with God, we will see change but it is gradual the process is itself evolutionary but if you keep practicing the process the result is revolutionary the result you will find, you will become a significantly different person with a far greater level of self-mastery and a far greater capacity for self-fulfillment for actualizing whatever we want to do does it address your question? just one more question