Mastering the Mind

If you wish to conquer your strongest enemy, you should first detect, identify and understand the source of your enemy’s strengths. A careful observation of the mind reveals that it almost always gets excited by sense objects. Temptations arise through the doorways of the senses. However, we know it is impossible to totally shut down the senses. Still, you can certainly influence and discipline what you hear, smell, eat and touch. By way of analogy, rolling down your car windows while you are driving in the beautiful green countryside ensures the entry of fresh and fragrant air into your vehicle. On the other hand, keeping the windows open when you are in the thick of traffic, driving in a polluted city, only lets in dust and fumes.Different masters have expounded various methods of taming the mind. But a fundamental factor common to all of them is their emphasis on knowledge of life, which shapes the vision by which we set our goals. Our goals will be noble if our knowledge, vision and purpose in life are pure. This truism applies across the board, in all aspects of our life. For example, in the corporate world, if you do not know how to manage yourself, how can you manage a company? The problem with our modern educational system is that it teaches us how to make a living, but not how to live life and build character. It is to remedy this that Püjya Gurudev Swami Chinmayananda started up many schools in India, in order to give children a holistic, value based education.