Discipline of mind has always been one of the major problems of human beings. The problem has become much more severe in the modern material world when there are numerous diversions for the mind. The need for mental discipline is felt ever since childhood when a child finds it difficult to concentrate on studies. Whenever he start reading a text-book, his mind gets diverted to other thoughts and he loses concentration. As a result, he fails to understand and remember the content of the subject even after spending hours. A good student, however, have no difficulty in focusing his mind on the subject and he is able to learn much more in the same time.
The problem of wavering mind does not end as the person grows. Most people even in their youth and later years find it difficult to focus on the task ahead. Their mind is full of thoughts which seem to come and go automatically without the control of the person. Hence whenever, the person tries to focus his mind on any problem, these randomly generating thoughts disturb his mind and he starts thinking about other problems instead of focusing on the problem in hand. However, even the other thought does not last long and soon the mind is filled with yet another thought and the second problem too is discarded without finding any solution to the problem.
The mind of a person who has no control over his thought is full of many unsolved problems which keep on bothering him as soon his mind tries to get some peace. The loads of problems make him restless and worried. Often he loses sleep in the night as no sooner he try to sleep, the unsolved problem start bothering him.
The peace of the mind is a desperate need for most people as a restless mind can not live peacefully and happily.
The Techniques of Mind-Control
We know many methods to control our mind. The most popular amongst them is meditation. Here, we try to focus our mind on any object or thought for long hours and stop the other thoughts coming in. However, most people find it impossible to control their thoughts while trying meditation. As a matter of fact, the more they try to focus their mind on any object, more thoughts start pouring in his mind like water flows when floodgates are open.
Some people try to focus their mind by practicing isolation. They retire in an isolated place for sometime so that they lose contact with the outside world. They do not see television or listen to news which gives their mind no scope to react to any external thought.
Another popular technique for control of mind is called Vipasana, which means seeing the things as they are. Vipasana is one of the most ancient techniques of meditation practiced y Gautama Buddha. There are number of courses on Vipasana which last for 10-15 days. These are done under the guidance of a teacher at Ashram often located far away from the cities. During the stay, all contacts from the external world are broken, all physical contacts are suspended and all forms of prayers, yoga etc are discontinued. The mediation of Vipasana includes silence and strict control over the food.
Yoga is yet another method for increasing concentration of the mind and it is quite popular in the West nowadays. Yoga requires the person to practice a number of postures of body and follow a disciplined lifestyle free from intoxicants, stimulants etc.
There are many other courses like “Art of Living” by Sri Sri Ravishankar which are also quite popular to control the mind and bring peace in life.
The Limitation of Mind Control Techniques
The mind control techniques are no doubt effective as evident from the popularity of the Gurus who teaches such techniques. However, these techniques are unable to bring permanent change in the life of the person. Every person has to return to his normal life after the practice of Yoga, Meditation, Vipasana or Art of Living. Most people find it impossible to life the life of a yogi or Vipasani in the real life. The result is the stimulation of mind again when the person faces the real world.
It is therefore, necessary to understand the real principles behind the discipline of mind which can be followed by a person in his daily life i..e while doing his regular jobs and in the atmosphere of his office and home. If one does only few minutes of yoga or meditation everyday like morning exercise, he is unlikely to have a focused mind throughout the day. If he increases the time of mediation, it reduces the time for doing his job which makes him even more restless.
Controlling of Mind
If we observe closely, we can find that the key to mind control is the control of the body and senses. Gita (III 42-43) explains the relationship of body, senses, mind, Soul and the Universal Soul (God) in the following words.
The senses are superior to the body. Above the senses is the mind, above the mind is the Soul and above the Soul is God (Universal Intelligence).
Gita further states that
All Actions is entirely done by the nature of the Soul of the man. Man deluded by his ego thinks, “I am the doer”. (Gita, III 27)
Thus the key to mind control is the control of body and senses. If a man can control his body and senses, his mind shall automatically be controlled. If the mind of the person is in his control, the basic nature of his soul is transformed which brings fundamental changes in the nature of the man as the physical man is nothing but the reflection of the spiritual Soul.
It is for this reason that all techniques of mind-control tries to control the body and senses of the person. The body is controlled by bring discipline in the man like getting up early on the fixed time, doing exercises, doing physical workouts and physical labour etc. The senses are kept under control by restricting the inputs to the five senses i.e. eyes, ears, nose, skin and sexual organs. The outputs of the senses are controlled by the practice of silence and avoiding all type of routine activities. It is through the control of the body and senses that the mind of the person is gradually calmed and focused.
Yet, once the person return to the real world, his peace of mind is again disturbed as all artificially created situations cannot last indefinitely.
Discipline of Mind for Life
Once we have understood the basic fundamental of mind control; we can practice it in our daily lives without going to any classes or teacher. The practice has to be done in all waking hours so that it becomes part of our personality as the our soul gets transformed due to discipline of body, senses and mind.
The discipline of body means following a routine in getting up in the morning, eating breakfast, lunch or dinner or sleeping in the night at fixed hours. One must try to stick his routine except in the extraordinary situations. Physical exercise, yoga, walking, sports can bring further discipline in the body which can expedite the control of mind.
The other task of the control of senses must be practiced along with the control of body for the best results. The control of senses can be attained by eating healthy foods and avoiding spicy, high-calorie, hot food or meat. One must avoid the speaking up aloud and unnecessary talking to control his speech. In order to control ones audio inputs, there is a need to avoid loud music or speaking aloud. One has to control what he senses as every audio-video input influences the mind. Thus one must avoid the inputs that disturb the peace of one’s mind.
These are not difficult steps and one can easily follow them in everyday whether in office or home or while traveling. Practice of such control alone can bring fundamental change in the personality and calm the mind of a person enabling him to focus his mind and shun restlessness of body and mind.
The Key to Control Mind
The key to control of the mind is the control of the body and senses of the self. While we do not have any physical method to control the mind, we can control our body and senses to control our mind and thoughts which transforms our nature. Once the nature of the man is changed, no efforts are required to control his mind as his mind become calm and focused to bring peace and happiness in his life. Someone has wisely said,
Whatever you hold in your mind will tend to occur in your life. If you continue to believe as you have always believed, you will continue to act as you have always acted. If you continue to act as you have always acted, you will continue to get what you have always gotten. If you want different results in your life or your work, all you have to do is change your mind.
