Master Your Mind

Chapter 6 Verse 5 of the Bhagavad Gita says that for him who has conquered the mind, the mind is

• the greatest enemy

• the best friend

• the God

Our mind operates at four levels which are

• mind, ego, chitta and intellect

• senses, body, atma, mind

When does your mind become your enemy?

• When it listens to the intellect which tells you it is wrong to stay up late watching a movie during school days

• When you want to buy the latest I-phone while you already have a phone which is in a good working condition

What does our intellect do?

• It discriminates between what is right and wrong

• It makes us slave to our senses

Before you do anything, always ask

• is it exciting or boring?

• is this good or bad?

• is this right or wrong?

Your mother has cooked dinner for you but you want to buy your favourite food from Food Panda Your intellect says it is not right to buy as mum has already cooked and it will be wasted if you do not eat but your sense of taste says I really want it as it is more delicious than your mum's dinner. What is the right thing to do?

• Follow my sense of taste

• Listen to my intellect

How can we enlighten our intellect?

• By following our senses

• By chanting gayathri mantra

How can I master the mind?

• By following all its whims and fancies and go after all the sense objects

• By following the intellect ie. the power of discrimination of what is right and wrong /good and bad

If the mind craves for whatever our senses want for example you chose to go for a movie and pizza dinner with a bunch of friends when you need to study for your exam which is just around the corner (and your previous grades have not been good). As a result you failed that exam. What is the lesson learnt?

• If my mind follows the senses, I will only have a short term pleasure and will regret later

• If my mind follows the body and senses, I will always be successful and happy

• I must always use my power of discrimination i.e. the intellect and always ask this question:- is it right or wrong?/ is it good or bad?/ is it long term gain or immediate short term pleasure?

What is your take home message from today's class?