Chapter XII
Master the wayward mind through meditation
Hence, one should first
grasp clearly the habits and mannerisms of one’s mind and its tendencies and
attitudes. Then only can one control it, gain mastery over it, and purify and
develop memory, will, and imagination.
Waywardness is the
natural characteristic of the mind. It is like the wind. That is why Arjuna
described it to Krishna thus:
Oh Krishna, the mind is
very wayward.
It moves very fast.
It is very powerful.
It is very difficult to
bring it under control.
Chanchalam hi manah Krishna Pramaathi balavath dhridham
Thasyaaham nigraham manye Vaayoriva sudhushkaram.
Krishna replied,
“Arjuna, no doubt what you said is correct. But by uninterrupted attention and
discipline, and by the practice of renunciation, it is possible to control it.
Hence, practise meditation as a first step.”
Introspection
A Question answer session with Swami Krishnananda
ji answering to questions related to “renunciation” is worth going through.
Visitor: What place does renunciation
have in the holy life – in this meditation that you have been speaking about?
Swamiji: What is your question?
Visitor: What place does renunciation
have in the meditative process of realising one's true Self?
Swamiji: Can you tell me what your idea
of renunciation is? What does it mean, actually?
Visitor: To be more interested in
realising what is true, and one's true Self, than anything else in life.
Swamiji: No. If you are interested in
realising your Self, you are saying that you are going to renounce something.
Isn't it?
Visitor: I think that is the result of
being more interested in it.
Swamiji: What are you going to renounce?
What are the things that you would like to renounce for this purpose?
Visitor: It might be old ways of being,
old ways of thinking, old ways of interacting with people, old ways of
understanding things.
Swamiji: That is all right. But, actually,
renunciation means renunciation of all the desires that are connected with the
world of perception. Have you desires connected with this world? If they can be
renounced, you have attained perfection. Old ways of thinking, and other things
you mentioned to me just now – actually, the old way of thinking is the way of
desiring things in the world.
Visitor: Yes.
Swamiji: And, if that can be overcome,
and if you desire the Self only, and desire nothing external to the Self, you
have renounced, really. Renunciation is not abandoning objects of the world,
persons and things – but the longing for them. Now, many people are seated
here.
Can you say, "I have renounced
them"? The question does not arise, because you have no connection with
them at all. Therefore, the question of renunciation, also, does not arise.
Like that, if you have no concern with anything in the world, then the question
of renunciation, also, will not arise.
Visitor: Yes.
Swamiji: If you have got concern with
something, then the idea of renunciation, or not renunciation, arises. You are
concerned with the Self, as you understand it correctly. And if there is
nothing else that can interest you, then you have renounced perfectly, and you
have done the best thing in the world. That is my answer.
Visitor: Thank you.
Visitor: I have another question,
Swamiji, about transformation – how does transformation take place in time?
Swamiji: What kind of transformation?
Visitor: Of the personality, of the old
way of being, the old way of seeing things, and understanding things to the new
way of being more interested in the Self.
Swamiji: Transformation is actually a
state of consciousness. When you are aware of something, consciousness envelops
that thing, and it takes the shape of that particular thing, whether it is a
human being, or any particular object of the world. And, you are transformed at
that time into the form of the object which you are thinking in your
mind.
But, if the object does not exist for
you, as you have concluded just now – they are not matters of concern for you –
you have nothing to do with anything in the world, and then the consciousness
transforms itself into its own true nature.
If you are not concerned with anything –
you are seeing so many people here, but your mind is not transformed into the
shape of these people, because the mind has no concern with them – it is a
blank looking and seeing, without any emotional connection.
If that emotional connection with things
is withdrawn, and your concern is centralised in the Pure Self, you undergo a
metaphysical transformation, as they call it – a transcendental transformation
– transformation into a form of God Himself,
I should say. Instead of your
consciousness taking the shape of a thing that it cognises outside, in the form
of objects, etc., the centralised consciousness, with no concern external in
space and time, gets modified into the form of the Transcendent Being, which is
God-consciousness.
(In short, losing the body consciousness
in meditation is the real renunciation, where, the one who is striving to
renounce, is renounced. Renounce the renouncer!!!)
Swami continues,
Impulses and desires
have to be suppressed in order to get mastery over the mind. Desires excite the
mind and make it rush toward the senses, as a dog runs behind its master. The
individual (jiva), poor
thing, falls into the meshes of illusion (maya)
produced by the illusion-creating senses and the pleasure-pursuing mind!
To escape all this
agony, one should have recourse to meditation, freed from the clutches of
desires and slavery to the senses. Do repetition of the name and meditation.
Then you can also cultivate and develop your will, memory, and imagination
along proper lines.
Without meditation, it
is not possible to control and master the mind. All other methods are as
useless as the attempt to bind a wild elephant in rut by means of a thin and
tiny thread! Meditation is essential to immerse the mind in the Atma.
Love.
