Monkeys In The Mind
Authored by
THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM
rāgadveṣaviyuktaistu viṣayānindriyaiścaran ātmavaśyairvidheyātmā prasādamadhigacchati
The self-controlled man, moving among objects with his senses under control, free from both attraction and repulsion, attains peace
The only way, the Lord says, is to control one's senses, complete with oneself and surrender to Him, the Universal energy, and achieve everlasting peace.
prasāde sarvaduḥkhānāṁ hānirasyopajāyate prasannacetaso hyāśu buddhiḥ paryavatiṣṭhate
All pains are destroyed in that peace, for the intellect of the tranquil-minded soon becomes steady
Ground yourself in the completion of the present.
nāsti buddhirayuktasya na cāyuktasya bhāvanā na cābhāvayataḥ śāntir aśāntasya kutaḥ sukham
A person not in self awareness cannot be wise or happy or peaceful. How can there be happiness to one without peace
Stay fully in the space of completion, and based on the truth of integrity and authenticity, act.
ndriyāṇāṁ hi caratāṁ yanmano 'nuvidhīyate tadasya harati prajñāṁ vāyurnāvamivāmbhasi
He loses his awareness of the present moment when his mind follows the wandering senses, just as the wind carries away a boat on the waters.
Be complete and focus completely.
Kṛṣṇa reveals two very important truths here in the last two verses. One is that you can never be peaceful unless you are complete, conscious. The other is that you cannot be complete if you are led by your senses. Therefore, as long as your senses lead you into what you think is a pleasurable journey; you cannot really be happy or peaceful. It is just another trick your mind is playing on you. Your happiness is not real happiness. It is just a gap between two periods of sorrow. What you hear, what you think you hear, what you see, what you think you see, and so on, all these sense inputs are unreliable, incomplete cognitions.
Anybody who succeeded, till that success happened, he only failed! But if he had held on to his past record, success should not have happened in his life. This journey never stops all through your life unless you make a serious attempt to complete with it. Your mind, on itsown, would never want to stay in the present moment, which is the only moment of truth. Self- completion, svapūrṇatva is the only direct method to reclaim your space of completion. This is your basic right. Reclaim it!
Drop the past records. The past track never gives you the confidence, the possibility. Unless you see the possibility, life does not flow in you! Excitement does not happen in you. The past records always bring deep sorrow, because by nature, past records are death. Possibility, by nature, is Life! The past record is neither as bad as you remember, nor worthy of being remembered. Possibility is life. Life is possibility, not past record.
Kṛṣṇa says, 'Get away from your senses; escape from their control; ground yourself in the completion of the present. Only then can you be at peace. How can there be happiness for one without peace, aśāntasya kutaḥ sukham? (2.66).