Radhika Ravi Ranjan
Our mind can be the solution to our problems or the source of all our problems, says Dr Swami Shankardev Saraswati. It is where all our thoughts arise, where ideas concretise, where we decide whether we are happy or sad. Therefore, harnessing our mind and our thoughts is crucial to our sense of well-being and happiness.
When the mind is silent and peaceful, it becomes very powerful. It can become a receptor of bliss and wisdom, enabling life to become a spontaneous flow and expression of joy and harmony. However, this inner silence cannot arise while there is a continual stream of disturbing thoughts and emotions. All this inner noise has to be removed before one can truly experience the soundless sound of inner silence.
This silence of the mind can be achieved through yoga. The aim of all yoga is to help people unfold their potential and become relaxed, strong and integrated beings. The first step is managing the mind. He says most people come to a yoga class without having worked with their minds.
Indeed, many people find that their mind is their biggest problem, because it is undeveloped and undisciplined. Majority of the people are forever seeking methods to calm and manage their minds. This is not an easy task primarily because the mind is a vast, luminous and creative power.
According to Dr Saraswati, it is because the mind is so powerful that it is difficult to manage. The untrained mind has been likened to a wild horse. Once tamed, it is a great friend; but untamed, it is a wild animal that can turn on us.
An untrained and undisciplined mind is a jumble of chaotic thoughts and feelings that can lead to poor perception, confusion and destructive emotions. A trained and disciplined mind, on the other hand, is a powerful tool that can think clearly, solve creatively and work to realise its desires and dreams.
There are methods in yoga by which people can discipline as well as enlighten their minds. Gradually, they become masters of powerful, happy, compassionate, and heart-centered minds.
Before one controls the mind, one must know the mind. The human mind has two parts - the lower and the higher. The lower mind is connected to the senses and allows us to conduct ourselves in the world. This, therefore, becomes our thinking mind. The higher mind is the subtle mind that links us to our higher consciousness. This, therefore, becomes our intuitive mind.
The lower mind has three main components: a rational, thinking mind, called manas in Sanskrit, a memory bank called chitta, and an ego or sense of individuality called ahamkara. Manas measures sense impressions and stores these in our chitta. The build-up of these impressions creates our ahamkara, our sense of who we are as human personalities.
The higher mind is called buddhi. It is connected to consciousness and has the characteristics of intelligence, intuition, knowledge, faith, generosity, compassion and wisdom. Usually, it is dominated by the louder and more compelling lower mind.
A yoga teacher can impart techniques about how the higher mind or buddhi can regulate the workings of the lower mind.
A monkey mind is precisely that - that which cannot be controlled easily and that which will behave impulsively and rashly, with no logical process. An undeveloped mind has been called the monkey mind for just those reasons. It is dominated by tamas, or darkness, represented by selfish thoughts, worry, insecurity, greed, rage, and petty judgments. Emotions and desires can erupt at any time, compelling one to act and react. When the monkey mind starts jumping around, the buddhi falls asleep.
Yogic and meditative processes help calm down the thoughts and emotions arising in our mind and allow the deeper and subtler intuitive elements to manifest. In yoga, the usual way to achieve our goal is to focus on the centre-point between the eyebrows, also called the third eye or ajna chakra. This is the point that controls both the higher mind as well as the lower mind.
One way to focus on the third eye is to chant Om. The root sound has a magical effect on the meditative process. Begin by sitting in a comfortable posture and emptying your mind of all thoughts. Then, direct attention to the eyebrow centre and visualise a point of light at this place. Now, chant the Om mantra for as long as your breath allows. Then simply sit in silence, noticing your state of deep relaxation and peace.
Another way to focus on the crucial eyebrow centre is to breathe through alternate nostrils, the yog called Pranayam. Inhale through one nostril, exhale through the other. Do the same with the other.
