In our previous post, we talked about how a resolute Yogi remains firm in his conviction & to such a Yogi, Nothing else matters. In general, our comprehension of the world is totally reliant on our senses. We touch, taste, smell, see objects and understand about them. But divine happiness cannot be reached by any of the senses. It cannot be experienced using the senses, cannot be analyzed using our intelligence, but will be understood in our mind.
Even If I am in a dark room, where I cannot see anything, I do not need any light to know that I am standing there. I do not need to see, touch or feel myself to know that I am there. It is something that is evident to me. This happiness too will be naturally understood and not experienced through the senses. Once this happiness is gained, the world can give nothing greater than this to the yogi. No other happiness gained from worldly enjoyments will seem to have any worth. Even the greatest sorrow be it pain, disease or death will not affect the yogi because he is in a state that is beyond all that.
In an earlier post, Sloka 23 also introduced a new description for the word yoga, which was described as “dukha saMyoga viyogam yogaH”. Yoga is nothing but freedom from sorrow. It is divorce from sorrow. So yoga must not only be known by us, but it should be practiced with determination. If a yogi wants this supreme happiness, he should be able to renounce all desires. This is not an overnight process. It should be done slowly – shanaiH shanaiH uparameth. Very gradually he should get rid of desires, then he should try to restrain his senses using his mind and become calm and focus his mind on God alone. Is this an easy task? Can this mind become focused so easily? The Lord answers this in the next verse.
यतो यतो निश्चरति मनश्चञ्चलमस्थिरम् ।
ततस्ततो नियम्यैतदात्मन्येव वशं नयेत् ॥६- २६॥
yato yato nishcharati manashcha.nchalamasthiram.h .
tatastato niyamyaitadaatmanyeva vashaM nayet.h .. 6.26.
By whatever cause the mind, which is restless and fidgeting, wanders away, the yogi should bring it back from that and concentrate only on the Self.
yataH yataH - from whatever cause : nishcharati - wanders away : manaH – the mind : cha.nchalaM - restless : asthiram.h – unsteady : tataH tataH - from every such object : niyamya - having restrained or pulling back : etat.h – this : aatmani eva - in the self alone : vashaM nayet.h – should fix (his mind)
In this Sloka, the lord warns us that the mind will keep wandering away in all directions. This is the nature of the mind. Once a chemistry teacher performed an experiment in class. He dropped a 5 dollar bill into a solution. He then asked “Will this bill dissolve in this solution?” Immediately, one student replied, “No”. The teacher was very impressed and asked him to explain. He said, “I don’t know about the solution, but I know that if it will dissolve, you will never put a 5 dollar bill from your pocket”.
The mind works by association. The boy knew about the teacher and he could make a statement about the experiment. The mind just moves from one thought to another.
Here the lord describes the mind using two adjectives – asthiraM and cha.nchalaM. asthiraM means that it cannot hold on to one idea. It keeps jumping from one idea to another. Cha.nchalam means restless. Even when there is one thought in the mind, the mind keeps running up and down that thought. The mind is like a monkey. Just as the monkey jumps from branch to branch of a tree, the mind keeps jumping from one thought to another.
We may be sitting in front of the Lord and chanting Krishna, Krishna. While we are saying this, the mind thinks, what happened to Krishna who studied with me in school. Thinking about the school, the mind runs into the school and thinks about the teacher who taught us in school. From the teacher, the mind thinks that the teacher is now in London and runs to London. Then it thinks, personally I like America better and runs to the US. Once in the US, the mind also does a bit of sightseeing!! So, it jumps to the Niagara falls. The mind thinks “Oh! How wonderful the Niagara falls are”. Now it suddenly remembers what it was originally doing and comes back and falls at Krishna’s feet. Krishna is standing there ready to bless us, but the mind has traveled the entire World. So starting from Krishna, we travel the entire world, from our school to London to US that too to Niagara falls, thanks to this unsteady mind. Swami Chinamayananda saya that all Indian gods have smiles in their face, because they know this is what happens when we pray. We have our mind wandering in all directions and then think that our prayer session was excellent!! The Lord says that the mind will keep jumping, but call it back every time. When we say Krishna and then think about a friend, say “No, come back and again think about the Lord”. Just as a child which is restless will keep running away from its mother and the mother keeps bringing the child back, the mind needs to be brought back again and again. Just as a train can only travel along a track and if it derails, it has to brought back, when ever our mind derails from the track, we need to pull it back. When bullocks are used to plough a field, they are yoked together so that they will work well. Similarly, our mind needs to be yoked and this yoking of the mind with thoughts of God is called yoga.
Man is an animal who will do anything only if there are any benefits for him. When we want to a horse to move, we need to show it a carrot – an incentive so that it will move. Human nature always questions, “What’s in it for me?”. So, too, the yogi might wonder, what he will get when he controls his mind and is always meditating on God. In The next verse, The Lord deals with the benefits of withdrawing the mind from all sides and concentrating on God.
“How to control our mind ” is the question often asked by all but we do not seem to have any easy answer . In Bhagavadgeeta Chapter 6 Verse 35 Shri Bhagavan (Lord) says :”The mind is restless no doubt, and difficult to curb, Arjuna; but it can be brought under control by repeated practice (of meditation) and by excercise of dispassion, O son of Kunti. He further says in the next Verse 36 :
Yoga is difficult of achievement for one whose mind is not subdued; by him, however, who has the mind under control, and is ceaselessly striving, it can be easily attained through practice, Such is My conviction.
In Chapter 5 Verse 19: He (Shri Bhagavan) says : Even here (i.e in the material world) is the mortal plane conquered by those whose mind is established in unity; since the Absolute is untouched by evil and is the same to all, hence they are established in the Eternal.
The human mind due to its selfish tendency might ask “what is the benefit of controlling the mind?: He answers in Chapter 6 Verse 27: “For the Yogi whose mind is perfectly serene, who is sinless, whose passion is subdued, and who is identified with “Brahma”, the embodiment of Truth, Knowledge and Bliss (Sat Chit Ananda) , supreme happiness comes as a matter of course.” Hari Om.
A piece of edriution unlike any other!