MONKEY MIND

Mind is a monkey many people say! It is highly unstable! It travels faster than time itself! There is nothing that can stop its journey all over the universe. People remain in their own place but the the mind will be travelling in a different place and thinking about something else! The only way to control the mind is to practice yoga. Yoga is defined as that which arrests the instability of manas! “ Yogah chitta vrutti nirodhaha”. We find examples of people visiting temples with new brand slippers. They are bodily present before the deity but their mind is centered on the slippers in the fear that someone may steal them! Human mind is fond of trifles and cannot concentrate on the Divine properly. Too many thoughts crisscross over the mind when a person starts meditation and he is unable to concentrate! Our mind is a bundle of desires and emotions that alternate again and again!

I have an interesting incident of how the mind works in certain situations. It was a classroom in a school and the teacher was seriously working out a problem in mathematics. All the students were listening with rapt attention. There was a student in the corner of the classroom not very much interested in what the teacher was doing! There was a window near by and the student  was intently looking at it! The teacher finished his  work on the blackboard, turned to the students and noticed the student in the corner looking through the window! He was surprised and inquisitive to know what the student was looking at. Pointing to the student in the corner and noting that he was very inattentive he questioned, “ Has anything entered your head?” The student was rudely shaken out of his attention and recovering himself replied, “ Yes Sir, the body has entered completely but the tail is remaining!” The teacher and other students were shocked and amused at the answer. All along he was observing the movement of a rat attempting to burrow into a hole! Knowing this the entire class erupted into boisterous laughter!

It is the mind that is the cause of bondage and emancipation. “ Mana eva manushyanam karanam bandha mokshayoh” It is the mind that makes or mars you.If the mind is turned to piety, religion, and spirituality it leads one to the goal of liberation or mukti. If, on the other hand, it is turned totally to mundane affairs, there will be bondage to family and other material things. The spiritual advancement  of a person relies on one’s mental condition and thought. It proceeds  from his heart and not from any of his external actions! Another illustration. Two friends walked along and came to a place where a religious and spiritual discourse on the Bhagavata Purana was conducted. One of the friends suggested that they should get in and listen to the valuable discourse. The other disagreed and wanted to go to a nearby brothel and enjoy the time instead of wasting time at the boring discourse! But the first friend, not interested in such illegal activity, went into sit and hear the discourse on the Bhagavata.

The second, according to his desire, went into the brothel but was sorely disappointed as he did not find the pleasure he anticipated! He cursed himself for inflicting this suffering on himself and contemplated on the spiritual happiness his friend would be enjoying at the Bhagavata discourse. He would be fascinated at the Divine sports or Hari narrated in the Purana! The friend, thus thought about Srihari despite being in a brothel! The other friend who went to listen to the discourse was also disappointed! He did not find the discourse interesting either.  He felt bored! He thought about his friend who should be having a nice and interesting time at the brothel! He felt that he should have followed his friend to the brothel! Though he was physically present listening to the discourse, his mind was at the brothel and his friend there! He dreamt of  the pleasures his friend would have experienced at the brothel!

As a result of the activities of the mind engaged in good or bad things, the friends got the result! The first friend, whose mind was packed with evil thoughts got all the sin of visiting the brothel though he was not physically present there!  On the other hand the second friend who went to the brothel acquired  all the punya or merit of listening to Bhagavata despite his absence there! Therefore the mind has a very important role in bringing about a transformation in man! There is another story of a sadhu who felt sorry for a prostitute and advised her to turn to righteous life. But it was her profession.The sadhu, strangely, began counting the number of persons who visited her daily! The prostitute, though in her profession, felt sorry for her state and prayed to God for relief at least in the next birth! The Sadhu, became a sinner as he forgot God and meditation and concentrated on counting the number of people who visited the prostitute! On the other hand, being in her profession, the prostitute sincerely felt sorry for herself and prayed to God for relief and pardon! Her act, being offered to God, lost all its taint and she became a purified soul! While the sadhu went to hell for his evil act, the prostitute is said to have reached heaven for her repentance and thinking of God throughout her professional life!!