Viṣhnave namah

Maharishi Nārada continued, “O Emperor! To that mind which remains contented at all times, all directions appear blissful.** A contented person remains blissful even when he has to survive only on water”. **

In general, the mind lacks contentment. Eternal contentment is very difficult to achieve. Excessive desires, anger, lust, jealousy and other impurities rule the mind. “Contrary to this, a person who is a slave to insatiable desires, especially those of the tongue and other sensual pleasures, is like a dog that guards the house. The radiance, knowledge, penance and fame of that Brahmin who lacks contentment get depleted. His knowledge inevitably weakens.

When the thirst is quenched and stomach is filled, the desire to eat and drink vanishes. Anger vanishes completely when its task is achieved. **Unlike them greed never vanishes. Even when all the directions are conquered and even after enjoying every form of luxury that this world can provide, greed does not vanish in the person. **

Many a time, learned scholars who are well-versed in various types of knowledge, and who are asked to preside over many august assemblies in order to dispel the doubts of the ordinary folks, fall to lower levels due to their lack of contentment.

**Only when the person stops seeking comforts, he can conquer desires. Only when desires are discarded, anger can be conquered. Greed can vanish only when the person deeply understands that accumulating wealth only leads to sorrows. **

By scrutinizing thoroughly the truth about the object, it will be evident that there is nothing to fear from it. Through this, fear can be distanced. Through discriminatory knowledge of permanent and impermanent objects in this creation, sorrows and attachments can be conquered. Pretentiousness gets destroyed by serving great saints.

The obstacles created by the society in spiritual path should be conquered by practicing silence (mouna). By keeping the body and senses motionless, violence (himsa) can be conquered. Grief caused by other living entities can be conquered by developing feelings of compassion towards the living entities that were the cause our grief. Grief that has its roots in destiny should be conquered by developing absolute focus upon the Self.

Sorrows that are caused due to diseases and other bodily afflictions should be overcome by practicing Yogic disciplines. By consuming pure food which increases traits of goodness (sattva), excessive sleep can be conquered.

The human being should conquer worldly passions (rajo guna) and laziness/ inertia (tamo guna) through developing good traits (sattva guna). By developing detachment (vairagya) and increasing inclination towards spiritual knowledge (jnana), passion and inertia can be conquered. Thereafter, with a calm mind the aspirant should conquer the traits of goodness (sattva guna).

**All the various impurities explained above can easily be conquered by the aspirant through staunch devotion towards his spiritual Guru (Guru bhakti)! The spiritual Guru who lights the lamp called Spiritual Knowledge in the person is none other than the Supreme Lord. **All the scriptural and Vedic study undertaken by the person who treats such spiritual Guru as an ordinary human being is as wasteful as an elephant’s bath”.

What is the use of serving the Guru when devotion towards him is missing? An elephant bathes in the river and thereafter just as it exits the lake it pours murky water all over its body. Of what use is such bath?

“O Dharmaraja! Srikrishna is the sole Lord for all living entities and for Nature (Prakriti). This is the truth. Eminent Yogis place His lotus feet in their hearts and meditate upon them. Sadly, the ordinary humans consider this Supreme Lord to be an ordinary man. Similarly, the Spiritual-guru is none other than the Supreme Lord.

The ultimate purpose of all the various disciplines stipulated in the scriptures is to conquer the mind, the five senses, and the six inner enemies, viz., lust and other desires, anger, greed, attachment, egoism and envy.

Even after controlling them all, if the person is unable to master the dhāraṇa, dhyāna and samādhi states, then these disciplines are nothing but a sheer waste of time and energy. The human being engages in agricultural activities and reaps resultant benefits. However, all these activities together with their results only aid in extending the cycle of repeated re-births. None of these fruitive activities can grant him liberation. Similarly, Poortha karmas i.e. the activities of digging wells and ponds for public use etc., and Iṣṭha karmas i.e. undertaking Yagnas and other rituals, undertaken by an impure person help him only in aspects pertaining to worldly life but can never grant him liberation.

The person who is determined to conquer the mind should at first distance from the society. He should stop accumulating objects of comfort. He should spend time in solitude. He should beg for alms which he should consume in moderation.

Selecting a comfortable place, which is neither too high nor too low, he should place his mat and should sit such that his spine is erect. Body and the limbs should be comfortable and steady. He should then chant the Omkara mantra.

Until the mind discards desires in totality, the aspirant should focus exclusively upon the tip of his nose and perform Pranayama coupled with inhalation, exhalation and retention of breath”.

Pooraka means to inhale until the lungs are completely filled. Complete exhalation is Recaka. Retaining the breath both within and outside is Kumbhaka.

“The aspirant should keep a constant vigil over his mind, which is impure due to desires and which tends to chase them. He should bring back on track the mind which has drifted towards desires. He should stop all these activities of the senses, and fix the mind firmly in the heart”.

Narayana