Can the Mind be really controlled

[Guest guest]

For whom it May concern: A quick look in to Bhagavad Gita is neccessary:

 

"Arjuna said: O Madhusudana(accent on the u), the system of yoga which You have summarized appears impractical and unendurable to me, for the mind is restless and unsteady."

 

" For the mind is restless, turbulent, obstinate and very strong, O Kṛṣṇa, and to subdue it, I think, is more difficult than controlling the wind."

 

"Lord Sri Krishna said: O mighty-armed son of Kunti, it is undoubtedly very difficult to curb the restless mind, but it is possible by suitable practice and by detachment."

 

"For one whose mind is unbridled, self-realization is difficult work. But he whose mind is controlled and who strives by appropriate means is assured of success. That is My opinion."

 

Jai prabhupada!

 

[Govindaram]

 

I deleted the thread I made before, thought it was inappropriate, I should have looked in the Gita first, great verses this one in particular..

 

 

"For one whose mind is unbridled, self-realization is difficult work. But he whose mind is controlled and who strives by appropriate means is <font color="red">assured of success. </font color> That is My opinion."

 

 

[Guest guest]

to control the mind but with no success. Every time I control my thoughts, more thoughts come in. And if I try to stand back and observe, it works for a while but before I know it, I get identified with it and go off on a long train of thought! It is a vicious circle, trying to control the mind. Are there any special techniques mentioned in the gita/vedas?

[Guest guest]

Read Gita from the start or listen to it from any Hare krishna website, this way you will get the understanding by which you can control your mind.

 

-M&M

 

[armisael108]

To control the mind it is similar as controlling a car, but on the subtle level. What is seen as mind control is always occuring, but what you control your mind to think is probably not what is prefered... therefore we think our mind is out of control.

 

In one Bhagavad-Gita's purport the mind is is explained as the reins... the mind is always under control... but who controls the mind? The charioteer or the 5 horses (the senses)

 

So what one really needs to do is to tame those senses. I remember reading not long ago about how Prabhupada gave the analogy of taming a tiger.

 

"First you capture the tiger and cage him. Don't feed it for 1 week, then go in the cage with a whip and some food." In time the tiger understand that this person can bring him death or life, that person has control.

 

We have to do the same with our senses, follow prescribed activities, avoid unwanted activities according to the spiritual master's instructions. In this way the senses will be easy to control... the mind will follow.

 

The only problem is the society we live in, it is simply based on trying to satisfy the senses... which is very dangerous for someone trying to develop a spiritual life. Association is the key, that's why Srila Prabhupada created temple communities, to give a chance for everyone to get association with Krishna's pastimes.

[Guest guest]

This is a new approach. All this time, I thought mind control means mind control, nothing to do with senses. But sense control seems even more difficult because we cannot close our eyes or plug our ears, you know. That's where the problem lies.

[armisael108]

We can't close our eyes, or plug our ears, or stop smelling, stop tasting, or feeling with the skin... that is natural.

 

It all boils down to intelligence, our material society's current intelligence is simple: sense gratification. We see it ion TV, magazines, highway ads, Web ads, etc etc etc... the same message all over: "You want to have this or that"

 

Like my previous post I mentioned the association, it brings the intelligence we need to properly utilise our given senses. They are nice gifts by our beloved Father, Sri Krishna. If we associate with spiritually inclined people, we start using our senses for Krishna's pleasure, the senses will start yearning for anything related to Krishna.

 

I personally never liked any negative approach to solving a problem (ie close my eyes), I always prefered using a positive approach (ie looking at Krishna's beauty), from what I experienced, the more ones gets positively active in Krishna conscious activities, the less the senses desire to stray.

 

Even the wildest horses can be tamed... patience and enthousiasm is the key.

[Guest guest]

I understand. In effect, you are saying that instead of trying to get rid of sense attachment (which is impossible anyway), use it to satisfy Krishna. Am I right? But how does it work when greed for money suddenly comes from nowhere, or if I see a beautiful woman and it stimulates desire? Do I simply suppress or try to see Krishna in that also?

[armisael108]

Desires will come, there is a verse in Bhagavad-Gita saying (2.70): "A person who is not disturbed by the incessant flow of desires—that enter like rivers into the ocean which is ever being filled but is always still—can alone achieve peace, and not the man who strives to satisfy such desires."

 

Puport:

 

Although the vast ocean is always filled with water, it is always, especially during the rainy season, being filled with much more water. But the ocean remains the same—steady; it is not agitated, nor does it cross beyond the limit of its brink. That is also true of a person fixed in Kåñëa consciousness. As long as one has the material body, the demands of the body for sense gratification will continue. The devotee, however, is not disturbed by such desires because of his fullness. A Krsna conscious man is not in need of anything because the Lord fulfills all his material necessities. Therefore he is like the ocean—always full in himself. Desires may come to him like the waters of the rivers that flow into the ocean, but he is steady in his activities, and he is not even slightly disturbed by desires for sense gratification. That is the proof of a Kåñëa conscious man—one who has lost all inclinations for material sense gratification, although the desires are present. Because he remains satisfied in the transcendental loving service of the Lord, he can remain steady, like the ocean, and therefore enjoy full peace. Others, however, who fulfill desires even up to the limit of liberation, what to speak of material success, never attain peace. The fruitive workers, the salvationists, and also the yogis who are after mystic powers, are all unhappy because of unfulfilled desires. But the person in Krsna consciousness is happy in the service of the Lord, and he has no desires to be fulfilled. In fact, he does not even desire liberation from the so-called material bondage. The devotees of Krsna have no material desires, and therefore they are in perfect peace.

*****

 

From what I've seen, is that to the point you realize your desire, but act properly, the senses are under your control. I will react when seeing a beautiful woman, yes desire may come, depending on the situation and presentation. The practice is to simply be undisturbed by this desire... I say to myself, "eh a desire to enjoy, I need to improve myself." and move on, start chating Hare Krishna. What I need to improve is to see that in every body, there is a soul and the Supersoul situated in it.

 

Hare Krishna

[Govindaram]

 

"What I need to improve is to see that in every body, there is a soul and the Supersoul situated in it."

 

When I see a beautiful women I think of the bile and puke story, the one where she collects all her stool and stores it in a jar (seperated beauty) and the man realises her actual beauty, also the above I try to do, and the funny thing is I do know for a fact Krishna is within my heart as 4 handed form Lord Vishnu but still I refuce to surrender to His intructions.

[gHari]

The mind can only operate on data from the senses, impressions of this world. When we focus on the transcendence, Sri Krsna, our mind has no food for folly. Indeed Krsna says He gives us buddhi-yogam (BG 10.10), pure divine understanding to replace the chatter of the monkey mind.

 

If we look at the painting on the cover of the Bhagavad-gita we will see Krsna's perfect life analogy of the horse senses drawing the body of the chariot as directed by the reins. And who holds the reins in Arjuna's chariot?

 

It is not exactly that we don't think; the difference is that we have thoughts. We receive buddhi-yogam from the transcendence, instead of churning the worldly sense impressions of time immemorial to produce ideas. So thinking becomes more a passive activity instead of a directed pursuit.

 

As far as controlling the senses and mind, consider that you are eating some nice ice cream on a hot day. Someone offers you a cup of sand. Certainly you are not attracted to changing from ice cream to sand. Such is the choice between Krsna and the impressions of this world. Eventually our hearts will not need to look away from Krsna, and we will no longer be forced by our envious hearts to accept sand instead of ice cream.