In our last post, we discussed the importance of striving hard and persevering when striving for something. Very often, a person who is working hard on something gets distracted by various objects on account of his senses. In today’s post we discuss how to deal with these distractions..
संकल्पप्रभवान्कामांस्त्यक्त्वा सर्वानशेषतः ।
मनसैवेन्द्रियग्रामं विनियम्य समन्ततः ॥६- २४॥
saN^kalpaprabhavaankaamaa.nstyaktvaa sarvaanasheshhataH .
manasaivendriyagraamaM viniyamya samantataH .. 6.24..
Completely renouncing all desires arising from the thoughts of the world and fully restraining all the senses from all sides by the mind.
saN^kalpa prabhavaan.h – arising from the thoughts of the world : kaamaa.n - desires : sarvaan – all of them : asheshhataH – without any remnants : tyaktvaa – renouncing : manasaa – by mind : indriyagraamaM – the entire group of senses : samantataH – from all sides : viniyamya – fully restraining
This verse says that all desires are caused only due to the thoughts of the world. All the desires such as desire to possess objects, all hopes, lust and even a desire to live in this world arise only because of attachment to this world. The yogi’s mind should be totally free from such thoughts.
A young man told his friend. “I don’t know what to do?” Every time, I decide to marry a girl and take her home, my mother doesn’t like her.” “Oh, that’s easy,” his friend replied. “All you have to do is find someone who’s just like your mother.” “I already tried that,” the young man cried. “Immediately, my father rejected her!”
Our likes and dislikes, feelings and desires are all so deep rooted that however much we try to get rid of them, some traces always remain. When a box has camphor in it or sandalwood or masala in it, even when the box is empty, the smell will still persist. Similarly, even though there may be no desires left, some traces might persist. The yogi is asked to remove even these traces of desire, because they are sufficient to cause him to deviate from his path.
It is true that the senses run towards all the worldly objects. Sometimes, when we are trying to concentrate on a book, something catches our eye and immediately we are distracted, there is a slight sound and our ears lead us to be distracted, there is a whiff of perfume or the aroma of cooking and our nose leads us to distraction. So senses are always running after the worldly objects. But the senses can distract a person only when the mind is not powerful enough to control them. The yogi is asked to use his mind to totally cover all the senses from all sides and prevent them from causing distractions. The mind should be made one pointed by concentration and when the yogi has complete control over his mind then the senses will not distract him.
As we know, distraction is a frequent problem that encounters students as well. 
Many times, it is only when you sit with a textbook to study for an exam that everything else seems so interesting. Even news channels or a live relay of a Chess Match(!) start tempting the poor student who is trying to focus on his books while sitting in the room with the TV (the most ideal place many kids like to study in)! Quite obviously, over time, the student learns to develop focus and steer clear of distractions in order to achieve his goal – success in the exam! Initially, this is achieved by physically moving away from the source of distraction, but over time it may not be necessary to actually move away once the student has achieved sufficient mind control.
In the spiritual plane, the yogi, over time, is able to achieve the level of mind control that is required to conquer all such distractions in his path.
thank you for sharing