This was a question and answer session with Gurudev , Swami Chinmayanandaji, on the 16/05/1984, in Siddhabari as he sat informally outside the old Satsang hall in the evenings. We all gathered around him to ask him for guidance on how to calm the mind.
These are excerpts from my notes. Fortunate to still have them! I produce them as I wrote them then.
Swamiji began answering in his characteristic humorous style.He began, “ Never ask a sanyaasi what he thinks of this and that, you are giving him a full chit to bluff you! Ask only “ What does the Shastra say .? “
Q. Swamiji, what is the mind?
Ans. Mind is thought flow. What you are, depends on the quality of this thought flow, because thoughts crystallise as desires and desires finally manifest as actions. As you think so you become. There are ways of controlling the mind and gaining complete mastery over it.The thoughts should be trained to be pure. We should also control the quantity of thoughts. Thoughts rushing one upon another is a mind agitated. Calm down the thought flow, let it flow gently. Lastly, dam the flow. Learn to hold or release the thoughts acoording to your will. The three ways of controlling the mind are: 1) Quality, 2.) Quantity, 3). Damming it. The equipment is the same, but just the quality of thoughts makes one a saint or a first rate rascal, a noble or a bad man.so, control the mind. Don’t let it make you dance. Let it dance to your tune.
Q. How does one calm the mind?
Ans. Don’t try to quieten the mind with the mind.The controller must be different from the controlled. Hence the importance of an Idol. Humble yourself, surrender to Him and ask for His help to control your mind. It will become quiet. This is the importance of the Ishta, (personalised God).
Another tip to quieten the mind is to narrow its field of activity. The more you let it roam extrovertedly the more restless and jumpy it will become. So narrow its field of occupations.
The physical body should be absolutely still for a long time. Train it to sit erect with the legs and seat firmly on the ground, without moving even a centimetre, for quite sometime. Physical movement does not allow the mind to become calm. Just as in water, a clear reflection is not possible if the water has waves. It has to be completely placid.
The mind can quieten down with total surrender to the Lord. You are your own enemy. You have tied yourself in chains of attachment and then you say that you are shackled! Disengage yourself from all the worldly things of OET (Objects Emotions Thoughts) and just pray to Him. Let the ‘divine potential’ in you be tapped. We all have it, that is our true nature. Relax your facial and head muscles. The more you climb in His lap and near Him, the happier and calmer will be your mind. Some people learn to quieten the mind and go into a stupor, a kind of a hibernation. No, then you will not progress. The mind has to be quiet but the intellect has to be highly purified , alert and vigilant, then the divine joy will tumble out of you. It will unfold to you. It is not a passive experience but a positive one.
Another technique to quieten the mind while meditating is to do japa louder and louder (mentally). May be as loud as you can. That will arrest the mind from wandering.
The sign of an impure mind is likes and dislikes. The less you react to likes and dislikes ,the more pure the mind. True meditation is a state of bliss. If you are ever cheerful and smiling you are in constant meditation.
Q. Swamiji there is a lot of struggle in meditation?
Ans. In the earlier stages a seeker finds it very difficult to disengage the mind from the OET(objects, emotions, thoughts) and pull it inwards. This is because of trillions of years of habits that were extrovert. For example , when a rocket is launched it requires the maximum amount of energy to pull away from the earth’s gravity in the beginning. When it is out of the earth’s gravity the flight is much easier. Once it enters the moon’s circle of gravity it has to make no effort to go forward, it is pulled by the moon itself. Thus the mind has to make a Herculean effort to disengage from the OET. When you progress in sadhana it gradually becomes effortless, and once you reach Poorna Sattva
(Total quietude of the mind) the pure consciousness or Brahman sucks you in. The effort of the mind is not needed.
Q. Do we need to give up all desires? Please could you explain ‘sarva Sankalpa parityajya’?
Ans. Any desire born of Sankalpa has to be abandoned. Those that are natural in you , you will not be conscious of, e.g. Anger. A man who is short tempered will not realise it, it will come naturally to him. Similarly love for singing or dancing etc. that is why we say “ she is a born singer ,or born dancer. “ But any desire that is within the purview of recognition, destroy it immediately. Any desire that causes even the least amount of agitation, destroy it. If the desire is too overwhelming and has to be exhausted, then surrender to the Lord and exhaust it with the mind always established in”Thy will be done, free me from this shackle that I have accrued over past lives.” Come out of it as a man after a bath, not go deeper into it.
Q . Swamiji , what determines thought quality?
Ans. Thought belongs to the world of matter, but subtle matter. ( tan matra). When it is vitalised by Prana it becomes the thought flow: the mind. Anything that moves has direction. So also when thoughts move they move in the direction of your tendencies , whether you like it or not.
The author is the President Chinmaya Mission Delhi.