How Can the Mind Become Our Friend?Read

Shri Krishna explains to Arjuna that the true yogi and renunciant is one who performs one’s duty without depending on the fruits of action. Simply stopping work does not establish yoga. The mind must also be freed from the constant pressure of desires and intentions.

At the beginning of spiritual practice, selfless action prepares a person. As the mind grows somewhat steadier, peace and restraint deepen the practice. Along this journey, one must learn to recognise one’s inner condition.

Shri Krishna says that one should lift oneself by oneself. One can be one’s own friend, and one can also become one’s own enemy. A disciplined mind leads toward the right direction. An undisciplined one keeps wandering after desires, fears and impulses.

For a person who has mastered the mind, pleasure and pain, honour and dishonour, and favourable and unfavourable conditions no longer determine everything. An inner steadiness begins to arise that does not change with every shift in circumstances.

This steadiness also appears in how one sees other people. Toward friends, adversaries, acquaintances and strangers, discernment remains intact. The person does not judge everyone under the influence of attachment or aversion.

For meditation, Shri Krishna speaks of a clean, quiet place, a steady seat and a disciplined body. The body, head and neck should be straight. Instead of wandering in many directions, the mind should be fixed on the Divine. In practice, fear, the craving to possess and restlessness gradually diminish.

Yet yoga also requires balance in daily life. One who eats too much and one who eats nothing at all, one who sleeps excessively and one who suppresses sleep altogether, both encounter difficulty. Balance in food, conduct, work, sleep and wakefulness supports spiritual practice.

When the mind is steady in the self, its state is like a lamp placed in a windless spot. The flame continues to burn without repeatedly flickering. In such a state, a person experiences fulfilment within.

Patience is necessary to reach this peace. Shri Krishna says that wherever the mind wanders, it should be brought back from there. This has to be done repeatedly. A seeker should not become discouraged and abandon the practice.

Arjuna now voices his difficulty. He says that the mind is extremely restless, powerful and stubborn. Controlling it seems as difficult as controlling the wind. The idea of equanimity makes sense, but keeping the mind steady in it does not seem easy.

Shri Krishna acknowledges the difficulty. Controlling the mind truly is hard, but it is possible through practice and detachment. Practice repeatedly brings the mind back to the right direction. Detachment loosens the grip of sense objects that draws the mind away.

Arjuna then asks what happens to someone who begins the practice with faith but does not reach complete fulfilment. Will that person be lost, deprived of both worldly life and spiritual practice?

Shri Krishna assures him that an effort toward well-being is never wasted. Sincere effort made in spiritual practice becomes the foundation of a person’s continuing journey. Earlier practice draws one back toward the same path. Incomplete progress should therefore not be mistaken for total failure.

The maturity of yoga is not limited to sitting peacefully within oneself. The highest yogi understands the joys and sorrows of others as one’s own. Such a person sees all beings in the self and the self in all beings.

Finally, Shri Krishna asks Arjuna to become a yogi. Among all yogis, He holds most dear the one who fills the inner being with Him through faith. Self-discipline is not a journey of suppressing the mind until it becomes hard; it is the work of making it pure and steady enough for equanimity, compassion and love for the Divine to arise. The author has expanded on this in his following book in 63,200 words. (Shrimad Bhagavad Gita — Part 6 — Self-Discipline)