The Challenge-Part III

Master your mind

We have wonderful ideas, but the instrument of the mind is not available to us at this moment. Therefore, Rishis and prophets - the glorious ancient depth psychologists, declared that unless you can master the mind, unless you have control over the instruments of expression, you cannot translate ideas into actions. Failure in this world is never due to a lack of ideas.

Only one percent in the whole of humanity are bestowed wonderful ideas and the capacity to translate them into reality. But the rest somehow go wrong when they put their ideas in the market place, when they express themselves in society, and, therefore, they cannot win the battle of life. For example, there are many who can judge music critically and write beautiful commentaries on music. But if you ask them, "Look here sir, certainly you are right, but can you sit down and sing?", he cannot. If he could, what would happen? He has the knowledge, he has the ears, he has the throat. But if he is asked to sing, he cannot. And if he does, all of you will go home!

The mind is the instrument which translates into action the ideas and convictions which are already in the intellect. Now, friends, in our home we learn from our parents. In a university or college, we learn from teachers and books. From these we get the bulk of our intellectual ideas. We understand and analyse them in our heads. Still, whatever mass of knowledge we may acquire, we can be an utter failure in our lives unless we can apply that knowledge in the world outside.

In order to send it out into the world, I will have to direct knowledge through my mind. Therefore, mental control, mental development, as the modern educationists say, is most important. The student who develops a certain amount of mind control is marked as one who will have the greatest success in life. This idea, developed throughout the ages of Hinduism, is called Yoga. Disciplining the mind is called Yoga, but not that which is popularly called Yoga; sitting with folded legs, the nose held between two fingers.

To be continued

About the author

Swami Chinmayananda

Swami Chinmayananda the great master's lectures were an outpour of wisdom. He introduced the Geetha Gnana Yagna. He wrote a lot of books on spirituality, commentaries to Vedantic texts, children books etc. He then started spreading His teachings globally.....