So this is the process. The basic principle is the soul. The soul is acting through intelligence, and the intelligence is acting through mind, and the mind is expressed through the senses. This is the position. So as my mind is absorbed in something, some subject matter, my bodily symptoms also will work, or the senses will work according to that mind. Therefore for spiritual advancement also, you have to train your mind. Sa vai manaḥ kṛṣṇa-padāravindayor vacāṁsi vaikuṇṭha-guṇānuvarṇane (SB 9.4.18). If you use... First of all fix up your mind. Yoga means indriya-saṁyama. Yoga practice means that controlling the mind and the senses. That is yoga practice. Because our mind is very flickering and changing, something accepting immediately, something rejecting immediately, very flickering. Therefore we have to train up the mind, and when the mind is trained up, then automatically your senses will be controlled. If you are strong-minded, that "I will not accept any foodstuff which is not offered to Kṛṣṇa," naturally your tongue is controlled. Naturally.
Training the mind
Expressions researched:
"mind is trained"
|"mind must be so trained"
|"mind should be trained"
|"mind should be trained"
|"trained mind"
|"training for the mind"
|"training the mind"
|"training, the mind"
Bhagavad-gita As It Is
BG Chapters 1 - 6
The word ātmā denotes body, mind and soul—depending upon different circumstances. In the yoga system, the mind and the conditioned soul are especially important. Since the mind is the central point of yoga practice, ātmā refers here to the mind. The purpose of the yoga system is to control the mind and to draw it away from attachment to sense objects. It is stressed herein that the mind must be so trained that it can deliver the conditioned soul from the mire of nescience. In material existence one is subjected to the influence of the mind and the senses. In fact, the pure soul is entangled in the material world because the mind is involved with the false ego, which desires to lord it over material nature. Therefore, the mind should be trained so that it will not be attracted by the glitter of material nature, and in this way the conditioned soul may be saved. One should not degrade oneself by attraction to sense objects. The more one is attracted by sense objects, the more one becomes entangled in material existence. The best way to disentangle oneself is to always engage the mind in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. The word hi is used for emphasizing this point, i.e., that one must do this. It is also said:
- mana eva manuṣyāṇāṁ
- kāraṇaṁ bandha-mokṣayoḥ
- bandhāya viṣayāsaṅgo
- muktyai nirviṣayaṁ manaḥ
"For man, mind is the cause of bondage and mind is the cause of liberation. Mind absorbed in sense objects is the cause of bondage, and mind detached from the sense objects is the cause of liberation." (Amṛta-bindu Upaniṣad 2) Therefore, the mind which is always engaged in Kṛṣṇa consciousness is the cause of supreme liberation.
BG Chapters 13 - 18
To make the mind austere is to detach it from sense gratification. It should be so trained that it can be always thinking of doing good for others. The best training for the mind is gravity in thought. One should not deviate from Kṛṣṇa consciousness and must always avoid sense gratification. To purify one's nature is to become Kṛṣṇa conscious. Satisfaction of the mind can be obtained only by taking the mind away from thoughts of sense enjoyment. The more we think of sense enjoyment, the more the mind becomes dissatisfied. In the present age we unnecessarily engage the mind in so many different ways for sense gratification, and so there is no possibility of the mind's becoming satisfied. The best course is to divert the mind to the Vedic literature, which is full of satisfying stories, as in the Purāṇas and the Mahābhārata. One can take advantage of this knowledge and thus become purified. The mind should be devoid of duplicity, and one should think of the welfare of all. Silence means that one is always thinking of self-realization. The person in Kṛṣṇa consciousness observes perfect silence in this sense. Control of the mind means detaching the mind from sense enjoyment. One should be straightforward in his dealings and thereby purify his existence. All these qualities together constitute austerity in mental activities.
Srimad-Bhagavatam
SB Canto 4
The mind is the center of all activities and is described here as bṛhad-bala, very powerful. To get out of the clutches of māyā, material existence, one has to control his mind. According to training, the mind is the friend and the enemy of the living entity. If one gets a good manager, his estate is very nicely managed, but if the manager is a thief, his estate is spoiled. Similarly, in his material, conditional existence, the living entity gives power of attorney to his mind. As such, he is liable to be misdirected by his mind into enjoying sense objects. Śrīla Ambarīṣa Mahārāja therefore first engaged his mind upon the lotus feet of the Lord. Sa vai manaḥ kṛṣṇa-padāravindayoḥ (SB 9.4.18). When the mind is engaged in meditation on the lotus feet of the Lord, the senses are controlled. This system of control is called yama, and this means "subduing the senses." One who can subdue the senses is called a gosvāmī, but one who cannot control the mind is called go-dāsa. The mind directs the activities of the senses, which are expressed through different outlets, as described in the next verse.
SB Canto 5
Those in the material world are conditioned souls, nitya-baddha. The nitya-baddhas can become liberated by controlling the mind because the cause of conditioned life is the mind. When the mind is trained and the soul is not under the mind's control, the soul can be liberated even in this material world. When it is liberated, one is called jīvan-mukta. A jīvan-mukta knows how he has become conditioned; therefore he tries to purify himself and return home, back to Godhead. The eternally conditioned soul is eternally conditioned because he is controlled by the mind. The conditioned state and liberated state are compared to the sleeping, unconscious state and the awakened state. Those who are sleeping and unconscious are eternally conditioned, but those who are awake understand that they are eternally part and parcel of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Kṛṣṇa.
There is one easy weapon with which the mind can be conquered—neglect. The mind is always telling us to do this or that; therefore we should be very expert in disobeying the mind's orders. Gradually the mind should be trained to obey the orders of the soul. It is not that one should obey the orders of the mind. Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura used to say that to control the mind one should beat it with shoes many times just after awakening and again before going to sleep. In this way one can control the mind. This is the instruction of all the śāstras. If one does not do so, one is doomed to follow the dictations of the mind. Another bona fide process is to abide strictly by the orders of the spiritual master and engage in the Lord's service. Then the mind will be automatically controlled.
SB Canto 10.1 to 10.13
By chanting the Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra constantly, one can fix the mind on the lotus feet of Kṛṣṇa (sa vai manaḥ kṛṣṇa-padāravindayoḥ (SB 9.4.18)) and in this way achieve the perfection of yoga. Otherwise, the flickering mind will hover on the platform of mental speculation for sense enjoyment, and one will have to transmigrate from one type of body to another because the mind is trained only in relation to the material elements, or, in other words, to sense gratification, which is false. Māyā-sukhāya bharam udvahato vimūḍhān (SB 7.9.43). Rascals (vimūḍhān), being controlled by mental speculation, make huge arrangements by which to enjoy life temporarily, but they must give up the body at the time of death, when everything is taken away by Kṛṣṇa's external energy (mṛtyuḥ sarva-haraś cāham (BG 10.34)). At that time, whatever one has created in this life is lost, and one must automatically accept a new body by the force of material nature. In this life one may have constructed a very tall skyscraper, but in the next life, because of one's mentality, one may have to accept a body like that of a cat, a dog, a tree or perhaps a demigod. Thus the body is offered by the laws of material nature. Kāraṇaṁ guṇa-saṅgo 'sya sad-asad-yoni janmasu (BG 13.22). The spirit soul takes birth in higher and lower species of life only because of his association with the three qualities of material nature.
Sri Caitanya-caritamrta
CC Madhya-lila
Even though a woman be made of wood or stone, she becomes attractive when decorated. One becomes sexually agitated even by touching the form. Therefore one should not trust his mind, which is so fickle that it can give way to enemies at any moment. The mind is always accompanied by six enemies—namely, kāma, krodha, mada, moha, mātsarya and bhaya—that is, lust, anger, intoxication, illusion, envy and fear. Although the mind may be merged in spiritual consciousness, one should always be very careful in dealing with it, just as one is careful in dealing with a snake. One should never think that his mind is trained and that he can do whatever he likes. One interested in spiritual life should always engage his mind in the service of the Lord so that the enemies of the mind, who always accompany the mind, will be subdued. If the mind is not engaged in Kṛṣṇa consciousness at every moment, there is a chance that it will give way to its enemies. In this way we become victims of the mind.
Other Books by Srila Prabhupada
Nectar of Instruction
Since the mind may be one's enemy or one's friend, one has to train the mind to become his friend. The Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is especially meant for training the mind to be always engaged in Kṛṣṇa's business. The mind contains hundreds and thousands of impressions, not only of this life but also of many, many lives of the past. These impressions sometimes come in contact with one another and produce contradictory pictures. In this way the mind's function can become dangerous for a conditioned soul. Students of psychology are aware of the mind's various psychological changes. In Bhagavad-gītā (8.6) it is said:
- yaṁ yaṁ vāpi smaran bhāvaṁ
- tyajaty ante kalevaram
- taṁ taṁ evaiti kaunteya
- sadā tad-bhāva-bhāvitaḥ
"Whatever state of being one remembers when he quits his body, that state he will attain without fail."
Lectures
Bhagavad-gita As It Is Lectures
So mind has nothing to do. Mind, simply training of the mind required. And how the mind is trained up? It is by good association. Good association, our mind is trained up. Saṅgāt sañjāyate kāmaḥ. Kāma means desire. Desire is the function of the mind. And saṅgāt sañjāyate kāmaḥ. And according to the association, my mind desires like that. So we have to make good association if we want to make our mind as my friend, if I want to make my mind as my friend, then I have to associate with sādhu. Tasmāt satsu sajyeta buddhimān. Buddhimān means intelligent person. He must associate with satsu. Satsu means those who are trying for self-realization. They are called sat. Sat and asat. Asat means who are trying for the temporary things. Matter is temporary. My body is temporary. So if I simply engage myself for bodily pleasures, sense gratification, then I am engaging myself to temporary things. But if I engage myself for self-realization, the permanent thing, then I am engaging myself to the sat, or to the permanent. Tasmāt satsu sajyeta buddhimān. "Anyone who is intelligent, he should associate with persons who are trying to elevate themselves for self-realization." That is called sat-saṅga, good association.
Now by training the mind, jitātmana, one who has conquered over the mind, jitātmanaḥ praśāntasya... Praśānta means he has become in equilibrium, praśānta. Praśānta. Because mind is dragging me always in nonpermanent things. Harāv abhaktasya kuto mahad-guṇā manorathenāsati dhāvato bahiḥ (SB 5.18.12). Asati manorathena. By the chariot of the mind. So long we are seated on the chariot of the untrained mind, unbridled mind, the mind will drag me to things which are nonpermanent. But my whole business is that I am permanent, I am eternal. Somehow or other, I have got this attachment for nonpermanent things. So I have to get out of this entanglement. So if my mind is not trained up, then the mind's business will be to drag me to nonpermanent things. Harāv abhaktasya kuto mahad-guṇāḥ. But this mind, as I told you the other day, can be very easily trained up if we fix up in our minds, on the fort of the mind, a great soldier, Kṛṣṇa. Just like if the fort is defended by a great general, then there is no question of entering of the enemy, similarly, if we put Kṛṣṇa on the fort of the mind, then there is no chance of entering of the enemies. Sa vai manaḥ kṛṣṇa-padāravindayoḥ (SB 9.4.18). That day we have explained.
Here it is said, the exact word in Sanskrit is mayy āsakta-manāḥ pārtha yogaṁ yuñjan mad-āśrayaḥ. Mayy āsakta: "If you simply become attached to Me," mayy āsakta-manāḥ... "Your mind should be so trained that you become attached to Me." This is yoga, because yoga means training the mind. To concentrate the mental focus on Viṣṇu or Kṛṣṇa, that is the yoga practice. The pressing of nose or making your head down and legs up, these are means to come to the point of samādhi, Kṛṣṇa consciousness. But they are not yoga itself or end. They are means to the end. But here is the end. If you can concentrate your mind on Kṛṣṇa, then you come to the ultimate point. Therefore Kṛṣṇa said, "Simply by concentrating your mind on Me, you will understand Me perfectly. And as soon as you understand Me perfectly..."
Srimad-Bhagavatam Lectures
So those who are Kṛṣṇa conscious, Kṛṣṇa conscious means, here it is said, mad-gata-cetasaḥ. Naitān mad-gata-cetasaḥ. Mad-gata. Bhagavān says, "Those who are always thinking of, in the mind, within the heart," mad-gata-cetasaḥ, "they are not suffering." They are not suffering in this way because they know that "Even if I am suffering, it is Kṛṣṇa's desire." So they welcome. Just like Kuntī. Queen Kuntī, when Kṛṣṇa was departing, taking farewell from Kuntī, so Kuntī said, "My dear Kṛṣṇa, when we are in full of danger, at that time You are always present as our friend, as our advisor. Now we are well situated. We have got our kingdom. We are well established. So You are going away to Dvārakā? No, no, no, this is not good. Better we may again go to that suffering so that we can remember You always." So the devotee sometimes welcomes suffering because that is an opportunity of remembering Kṛṣṇa very constantly. Tat te 'nukampāṁ su-samīkṣamāṇo bhuñjāna evātma-kṛtaṁ vipākam (SB 10.14.8). So when a devotee suffers, he thinks that "It is due to my past misdeeds. So I am suffering not very much, a very little, on account of Kṛṣṇa's grace. So it doesn't matter." So after all, it is, everything, in the mind, suffering and enjoying. So a devotee's mind is trained up in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Therefore he does not care for suffering. That is the difference between a devotee and nondevotee.
Yes, here is the secret of training the mind. The whole yoga system, aṣṭāṅga-yoga system—dhyāna, dhāraṇā, āsana, prāṇāyāma, like that—they are meant for only controlling the mind. Mind is the center of sensual activities. The purpose of aṣṭāṅga-yoga is to train up the mind because the mind is very restless. Arjuna, five hundred years ago, he also appreciated, the mind is very restless. So he declined to practice the haṭha-yoga system. He said clearly that "Kṛṣṇa, it is not possible for me to control the mind." In another place in the Bhagavad-gītā it is said, "The mind is the most dearmost friend, and mind is the bitterest enemy." Everyone's bitterest enemy and dearest friend is there. That is the mind. It requires little training.
For training the mind, this yoga system is. Those who are too much engrossed in the bodily concept of life, for them, this yoga system, aṣṭāṅga-yoga system, is recommended by practicing a certain type of āsana and making a type of exercise of the breathing, in this way, prāṇāyāma, dhyāna, dhāraṇā, āsana, prāṇāyāma. But there is another simple method that is recommended in the śāstra. You can train up your mind if you simply keep your mind on the lotus feet of Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa is here, and you see Kṛṣṇa's lotus feet, and if you practice to meditate upon Kṛṣṇa's lotus feet, Kṛṣṇa's bodily feature, then immediately your mind becomes controlled.
So mind is the basic principle of another form of body. Therefore our Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is training the mind how to remain Kṛṣṇa conscious at the time of death, because Kṛṣṇa says in the Bhagavad-gītā, yaṁ yaṁ vāpi smaran bhāvam (BG 8.6). Therefore in Bengali poetry there is a saying, bhajan kara sādhan kara mate janle haya,(?) means "You are doing everything in spiritual life, but everything will be examined at the time of death. How you have practiced your bhajana, sādhana, this will be examined at the time of death." If at the time of death you remember Kṛṣṇa, that will be the examination. We are chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare/ Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare, training the mind. So at the time of death, if you think of Kṛṣṇa, then your examination is passed. Yaṁ yaṁ vāpi smaran bhāvam (BG 8.6). That kṛṣṇa-bhāva immediately will carry you to the Kṛṣṇaloka.
As you are changing body... Everyone is changing. Everyone knows, "I was a child. Then I became a baby, I became a boy, I became a young man. Now I am old man." So these, one after an..., change, one body after another, that is going on simply... Similarly, tathā dehāntara-prāptiḥ, after this body is finished, I must get another body. So I am transformed to one body to another by mind, intelligence and ego. That has to be trained, mind. If you train up your mind where to go... We decide even in this life. We first of all decide in the mind, "Where I shall go?" We purchase ticket. We make arrangement. Similarly, the mind should be trained up how to go back to home, back to Godhead. This is called bhajana-sādhana, to train up the mind. If the mind becomes disturbed at the time of death, then... Even Bharata Mahārāja, such an exalted person, he became very much affectionate with a deer calf, and he had to take birth as a deer. Such an exalted person, so much advanced in spiritual life, but at the time... Yaṁ yaṁ vāpi smaran bhāvam (BG 8.6). He was absorbed in the thought of the small deer whom he loved very much, so he had to take the body of a deer.
So there is such chance. So how much careful we should be, training our mind so that at the end of life we can think of Kṛṣṇa. That is the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement, training the mind to think of Kṛṣṇa, the same thing. Man-manā bhava mad-bhakto mad-yājī māṁ namaskuru (BG 18.65). This should be trained up.
A devotee who is always living under the protection, shelter, of Kṛṣṇa's lotus feet, like haṁsa... Haṁsa, you'll find, they enjoy. When there is a lotus they go down within the water and entangle with the stems of the lotus flower. There is a prayer by Mukunda, Mukunda-mala-stotra. Adyaiva me mānasa-haṁsaḥ, like that. Just now I forget. So our mind should be trained up like haṁsa who entangles himself with the stem of lotus flower. So we have to take shelter of this haṁsa. Pada-yugālaya-haṁsa-saṅgaḥ. Unless we associate with such haṁsa who has nothing to do with this material world, who has taken the cream of the material, Kṛṣṇa, such haṁsa, if we become his servant... Gopī-bhartur pada-kamalayo dāsa-dāsa-dāsānudāsa. Then it will be successful. Pada-yugālaya-haṁsa-saṅgaḥ. Then it will be possible. If we associate with haṁsa, pure devotees, then our life will be successful.
Conversations and Morning Walks
1969 Conversations and Morning Walks
Prabhupāda: So religious principle means to know that this is not the place to live happily. This is the principle aim of teaching religion. We are trying to live here, making things nicely adjusted, peace and prosperity. That will never be possible. This is foolishness. So religion means, religiously trained mind means he will know that "This is not the place for me. I should (with)draw my attachment for this place, and I must know what is my necessity. I am a spirit soul. I am not this body. Therefore bodily necessities are not all my demands. I must have spiritual necessities also. So all this means that I must give up my attachment for this body and I must develop my spiritual needs." That is the purpose of religion.
| Page Title: | Training the mind |
| Compiler: | Visnu Murti, Labangalatika |
| Created: | 13 of Dec, 2008 |
| Totals by Section: | BG=2, SB=4, CC=1, OB=1, Lec=9, Con=1, Let=0 |
| No. of Quotes: | 18 |