Swami Chinmayananda addressed the students of Somaiya College, Bombay, on the techniques of success. This series of three talks are being published as three separate blogs – Knowing is not Enough, Master the Mind and Great Minds make a Great Nation.

THE MIND

The mind is the instrument which translates into action the ideas and convictions which are already in the intellect. At home, we learn from our parents. In a university or college, we learn from teachers and books. From these, we get the bulk of our Intellectual ideas.

We understand and analyse them in our head. Still, whatever mass of knowledge we may acquire, we will be utter failures in life until we can use that knowledge in the world outside. In order to do that, we will have to assimilate it and express it through our minds. If the mind is not under my control, nothing within or outside me is under my control. Therefore, mental control, mental development, as the modern educationists say, is most important.

The student who develops a certain amount of mind control is marked as one who will have the greatest success in life. This idea was called yoga in the ancient times. Disciplining the mind is called yoga, not just sitting with folded legs, with the nose held between two fingers!

In order to discipline or train the mind, first of all I must know what the mind is. If I do not know the mind, how am I to train it? The mind is the commander; the mind is the king. Every activity of every person is only to satisfy his mind.

Think…Without thinking, people superficially say that the mind is something inside us. Is it the liver then? Or is something inside us. Is it the liver then? Or is it the kidneys? Or the heart? Think carefully. You may like to read about Positive Thinking.

AS THE THOUGHTS, SO THE MIND

We have been taught all sorts of things, but we still do not know what the mind is. Until we know what the mind, how can we train it, beautify or develop it? If the mind is unhappy, I am unhappy. If the mind is happy, I am happy. My entire life is dependent upon my mind. But very few of us know what the mind is. It is not taught in the school or college. An intelligent person will answer that the mind is thought. Yes, the mind is thought, but that is not a definition. Whenever there are thoughts, there is a mind. Whenever there is no thought, there is no mind. In your deep sleep, there are no thoughts in you. Therefore, there is no mind.

Thoughts and the mind are definitely inter-related. If the thoughts are calm, the mind is calm. If the thoughts are agitated, the mind is agitated. Similarly, if the thoughts are hopeful, the mind is hopeful. If the thoughts are despairing, the mind is despairing. The mind is exactly as the thoughts are. Therefore, anyone who is trying to understand what the mind is will arrive at the conclusion that the mind is thought. When I look at my mind, I discover it is a movement of constantly changing thoughts.

Last week, I was happy, meaning my thoughts were happy, until I got a letter telling me that my father was seriously ill. For three days, I was worried. A worried mind means that worried thoughts were in my mind. It happens to each one of us; one moment we are happy, and at another moment worried. The thoughts change. When the thoughts change, the mood also changes. But the mind itself is one and the same.

When milk is put into the pot, it is called a milk-pot. When honey is put in, it is called a honey-pot. Similarly, when you put ink into it, it is called an ink-pot. The pot remains one and the same.

Similarly, the mind is one and the same, whatever thoughts are put into it. It is a happy mind, when the thoughts are happy. It is a worried mind, when the thoughts are worried. It’s a depressed mind, when the thoughts are depressing. Between the thought and the mind, there is a relationship; thought alone, however, is not the mind.

The great Rishis pondered over these matters, and after analysing and carefully contemplating upon them, just as the scientist contemplates and discovers things in the outer world, they discovered and declared that thoughts and mind have a relationship just as water and the river.

WATER BY ITSELF IS NOT A RIVER

Twenty thousand buckets of water cannot produce a river. A tank full of water is also not the river; it is just water. It is when water is flowing continuously that there is a river. A river is water flowing. This flow is the relationship between the water and the river. In the same way, the flow of thoughts is the mind.

If the waters of a river are muddy, the river is called muddy. If the water is clean, the river is clean. Similarly, if the water is fast, the river is fast. As the water, so the river. As the thoughts, so the mind. If the thoughts are good, the mind is good. If the thoughts are bad, the mind is bad. A person may have a beautiful body, a big car, a million dollars, but if his mind is bad, he is bad. If the mind is good, the whole world is attracted towards him.

The other two parts of this series of talks – Knowing is not Enough (already published). And look-out for the next blog.

Reference: Tapovan Prasad 1968