Conquering the Mind: Mastering Your Thoughts

Conquering the Mind

We must conquer our minds and cultivate higher consciousness to achieve spiritual growth.

There is a beautiful saying of Sri Shankara. “Who”, he asks, “has conquered the world?” And he answers the question thus: “He, who has conquered his mind!”.

The Gita tells us that we have a lower mind and a higher mind. The higher mind or buddhi is eka (one-pointed): the lower mind is ananta (not unified, lacking in concentration).

The lower mind looks outward, the higher mind looks inward. Narrowness is a mark of the lower mind. Expansion of consciousness is characteristic of the higher mind.

The lower mind is sakaamya buddhi, the higher mind is nishkaamya buddhi. The lower mind is prompted by desire for fruits of action. The higher mind is active for the sake not of desires but of dharma.

The lower mind is bheda-buddhi, consciousness of separation: the higher mind is abheda-buddhi, unity-consciousness. When my bheda-buddhi is active, I indulge in ahamkara (egoism). I say to myself: “I am superior to you! My caste is superior to yours!” But when abheda-buddhi awakes, I see the One in All — the One Atman, the one Cosmic Life in all that is.

Wandering of the mind must cease if you are to grow in the life spiritual. The very basis of spiritual life is concentration. And, without concentration or unified will, there can be no realization of the soul’s eternity.

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