Disciplining the Mind

Divine Life Society Publication: Disciplining the Mind by Sri Swami Krishnananda

The necessity for the control of the mind arises on account of the structure of the relation of the mind to its object. This is a very important thing that we learned. The nature of things in the world demands that the mind has to be disciplined, and the process of the discipline and control of the mind is a gradual and steady approach to the ideal before us, slowly dissociating and freeing the mind from its entanglements in external phenomena, then steadily rising to the internal conditioning factors of the mind until we come to the mind itself.

At present, the mind is out of control. It does not listen to what is really good for us. The mind is after what is pleasant, and not what is really to its own benefit, like a naughty child who does not know what is for its own good.

The difficulty in the discipline of the mind is because the mind itself is the subject of action in this intricate process. We are used to thinking of objects, things and persons in the world who are brought into a sort of relation with the subjective mind. We can deal with things and persons in the world, but we cannot deal with the mind in any manner whatsoever because of the simple fact that the mind is the centre of action, and it is not the object towards which the action is directed.

In one of his books, Swami Sivanandaji Maharaj has defined the mind in a humorous way as thus: “The mind is something which is really nothing but does everything. This is the mind.”

The control of the mind is in essence the control of our own self. We are trying to subjugate our own self. How can we control our own self when the controller and the controlled are one and the same? The ruler and the ruled, the king and the subject are identical, as it were. How can we exert an influence on our own self? How can we pass a rule or a mandate on our own self? How can we discipline our self, when the discipliner is the same as the disciplined? This is the peculiarity of the mind, and this is also the peculiarity of what we really and essentially are.

While in the regulation, discipline, etc., of things outside we seem to move horizontally with things, in the control of the mind we have to move vertically with our own self. We do not move externally as we do in our dealings with the things of the world. This is not a movement outward in relation to things, persons and objects; this is a rise from the lower to the higher.

In the control of the mind we try to raise ourselves from a lower status of consciousness to a higher status. This is an ascent of the individual into the higher realms of wider and wider connotations of mind and self. This is not a causal relation of the subject with the object, it is not a connection that you establish between yourself and something outside, and it is not an order that you issue to someone alien to you or totally different from you. This is an inner transformation that you try to bring about in your own self by an act of what may be rightly called the contemplative process. The discipline of the mind is a process of inward contemplative transformation.

The child grows into an adult. The sapling becomes a tree. What do we call this process? It is an inner transformation constitutionally taking place in every part of the total that we call the personality, or whatever it is. No outward agent, external instrument, is necessary or even possible in the control of the mind. Who can control the mind, because the mind is the subject of action, as I mentioned already. The subject cannot be controlled by anyone else. The inward readjustment of the constituents of the mind is the process of the control of the mind.

The objects of the mind are the same as the contents of the mind. The object of the mind is that pattern or shape into which the mind casts itself when it comes in contact with a so-called physical object or even merely a notion. What affects your mind is not the object physically existing outside. What affects your mind is the shape or mould into which the mind is cast. What affects your mind is the mind itself. Do not be under the notion that it is somebody else that is troubling you. The world outside, the people around you, the things that are created by God are not the troublemakers, though we are under the impression that all our troubles come from outside persons. The troubles, the pains and the pleasures of our life are ultimately to be equated with the internal transformations that the mind undergoes for reasons which we cannot easily explain at present.

Just as molten lead, molten gold or molten metal cast into a crucible takes the shape of the crucible, the mind takes the shape or the pattern of that particular object to which it is related, with which it is connected, to which it is attached, from which it is repelled, etc. So the discipline and control of the mind is ultimately a process of preventing the mind from casting itself into moulds of various patterns, etc. The mind should contemplate itself.

Aristotle’s definition of God is thought thinking itself – not thought thinking an object, which would be human thinking and empirical thinking. As our intention in the practice of yoga is to grow into the divinity of Godhood, we have to slowly learn the art of freeing the mind from the necessity of casting itself into moulds of empirical characters.

God, the Absolute, which is the goal of the practice of yoga and the goal of the evolution of the entire cosmos, has two characters: infinitude and subjectivity. Infinitude implies transcendence of space and time. Subjectivity implies freedom from the consciousness of externality. This is what we mean by ‘the Atman’ in Sanskrit. The term ‘Atman’ really means the character of subjectivity in consciousness which refuses to get related to anything outside it.

The lowest concept of the mind is of objects. The next higher concept is of the senses. The next higher is the mind. Higher than the mind is the intellect. Higher than the intellect is yourself, which is indistinguishable from the Infinite or the Absolute.

Bhagavan Sri Krishna says, if you take resort to the higher forces which are more integrating and comprehensive, ultimately resorting to the Self, the supreme Parmatman, Ishvara, God, the Absolute Himself, if you take resort to Him, strength will be drawn from Him. God Himself will help you. While all the forces may be set against you at a particular moment of your practice, while it will appear as if there are only clouds, wind, thunderstorms and darkness everywhere, it will not continue for long. The clouds will disperse; the sun will shine. It will all be brilliant sunshine, beauty, warmth and clarity of perception if only you have the patience to wait for the day. So one of the most important qualifications for a seeker is patience. Do not try to know everything at the same moment of time. Everything will be unfolded before you gradually, systematically, one after the other, until glory will be the name of your final achievement.

Excerpts from: Disciplining the Mind by Sri Swami Krishnananda