Taming the mind: your biggest friend and your biggest enemy

For him who has conquered the mind, the mind is the best of friends; but for one who has failed to do so, his mind will remain the greatest enemy. One must deliver himself with the help of his mind, and not degrade himself. The mind is the friend of the conditioned soul, and his enemy as well.  There are three gates leading to this hell – lust, anger and greed. Every sane man should give these up, for they lead to the degradation of the self.


So how does one control the mind? How does one free the mind from lust, fear, anger, greed, pride and jealousy?  The following important principles can be followed.

- The nonpermanent appearance of happiness and distress, and their disappearance in due course, are like the appearance and disappearance of winter and summer seasons. They arise from sense perception, and one must learn to tolerate them without being disturbed.  A person firmly fixed in perfect knowledge is is unaffected by whatever good or evil he may obtain.  Such a person should be able to withdraw his senses from sense object, like a tortoise withdrawing its limbs to its shell. But, even if one restricts sense enjoyment, the taste for sense objects remains. The real solution is to purify the senses via Yoga to experience a higher taste. After all, the senses are so strong and impetuous that they forcibly carry away the mind of even a man of discrimination endeavouring to control them. 


It is important to control senses through regulation and free oneself from all attachment and aversion. As one contemplates on the objects on the senses, a person develops attachment for them, and from such attachment lust develops, and from lust anger arises. From anger, delusion arises, leading to bewilderment of memory, leading to loss of intelligence.

******
The remedy to all eliminating all inauspicious things within the heart is association of saintly persons and reading Srimad Bhagavatam.
As soon as irrevocable loving service is established in the heart, the effects of nature’s modes of passion and ignorance, such as lust, desire and hankering, disappear from the heart. Then the person is established in goodness, and he becomes completely happy.


******
Sometimes, all the above instructions fails to help in taming the mind.  It is said the Lord Aniruddha is the God controlling the mind.  In these cases, just pray to Him and chant "om aniruddhaya namah" for about 20 minutes to get ride of my anger etc.

This post is inspired by chapters 2, 6 and 16 of Bhagavadgita; and chapter 2 of canto 1 of Srimad Bhagavatam.

How to meditate

I write an overview of diferent techniques of meditation below hoping that one of them appeals to you and works for you.

One of the great sages defines meditation as the art of concentration on God.  God is defined differently based on each person's level of understanding. An atheistic physicist could define God as the sum total of all the matter, dark matter, universe and the rules governing the universe.  But, this is not a complete Whole as it does not explain what happened before Big Bang.   The second definition God is the life giving principle of all living beings --- this is called the Super Soul. This is what the Yogis meditate on during trance. The third definition of God is a person who lives outside the universe and is responsible for the universe, and whatever happened to it prior to Big Bang. Srimad Bhagavatam summarizes these three forms in verse 1.2.11 and further expands them in canto 2.

Meditation is the art and science of concentrating on God and in the process removing all the less desirable dirt in our heart (lust, anger, pride, jealousy, greed, etc.). The sages conclude that after cleaning up, one will realize that one's consciousness, mind and the body are three distinct entities. For instance, we make this distinction when we say "my body is aching". I never heard anyone saying "I am aching".   The sages also conclude that one can see the super-soul (God) when he has cleaned up his heart enough and is devoted.

The best definition of meditation is  in Bhagvadgita 6.47 as the one who thinks of the speaker of the Bhagvadgita. This would include the speaker's words (which would include the Gita), His actions, His form, His pastimes, His devotees etc.   Now, when one thinks of something, the mind tends to wander everywere except the object of meditation. To solve this problem, it is actually recommended that one chooses a phrase ("a mantra") with a sublime meaning, chant it and hear it. So meditation is actually very simple: pick a mantra, chant it and hear it.   Now, all mantras are not the same. For example, if one chants "coke coke coke", one gets bored very soon. On the other hand, if one chants names such as "aum", "Krsna", "Rama", "Allah", "Siva", "Ganesh", "Christ", people have demonstrated that they can do it for days and weeks with no stopping.   After experimenting a lot, I have settled down on this manthra: Hare Krsna Hare Krsna Krsna Krsna Hare Hare Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare.

Other ways include reading revelations such as Bible, Quran, Bhagvadgita, Srimad Bhagavatam etc. Sometimes, these books are very heavy. For example, Einstein struggled with Bhagvadgita which is "only" 700 sentences. If one is disinclined to such heavy literature, one could start with reading historical accounts of great saints. One such book is "autobiography of a yogi". Or read a book written by a Self-realized person. These books convince you to try to come to mode of goodness, away from passion and ignorance. Technically, there are nine ways to meditate defined in Bhagavatam, which describes the highest meditation techniques.

There are people who practice concentrating on looking at a candle (trataka). Somehow, I never understood it to be sublime.

The typical distractions to meditation are our senses (eyes, ears, mouth, nose and touch). If your mouth is burning due to eating too much Jalapeno peppers and red chillies, it becomes difficult to meditate. So, one needs to eat food that is conducive to the meditation and mind. Milk is a good one. I have found high protein diets inconducive. I have found onion, garlic and sometimes even pizza (due to fermentation) distracting to meditation.

Even if one eats the right food, the body is still causing a lot of unrest to maintain the vital functions like excretion, breathing, pumping blood etc. These distract the practioner. To aid in reducing this unrest, one uses various breath control techniques, broadly called Pranayama (the fourth stage of eight fold ashtanga yoga system). Some people advocate watching the breath. The one I follow often is breath retention: take a deep breath with one nostril, retain and then exhale out with other nostril maintaing comfort and a time ratio of
1:4:2. One unit inhalation, 4 units retention and 2 units exhalation while mentally chanting a mantra. It is important not to stress the heart or lungs.  Slowly you will notice that your breathing slows down, your whole body slows down and your mind's unrest slows down, allowing it to focus. The meditation experience is deeper with breath control. Some people get these benefits from just watching breath.

How to die

Recently, one of my dear friends passed away.  From his obituary:


Dad passed away earlier this month after a short, but brave battle with cancer. There is a great deal I will miss about him - his immense curiosity about the world around him, his wry sense of humor and his great love for people. When we learned that his illness was terminal, we would often sit together in silence. I would attempt, somewhat awkwardly, to tell him how much he meant to me. Dad, not given to excessive sentimentality, would meticulously walk me through all of his paperwork and funeral plans - he insisted that his girls conduct his antim samskaars (funeral rites). As the end came, my mother, sister and I gathered around dad; we held his hands and bid our goodbyes, strangely peaceful in the knowledge that his suffering would cease and that we hadn't left anything unsaid or undone in the end.



As I was searching for things to do at the end of one's life --- practical tips.  I came across this story where the husband leaves the dying wife so she can focus on her duties at the end of life.  Interestingly Bhagavadgita (book followed by Hindus) advises you that "whatever state one remembers at death, that state he will attain without fail.Budhism also says the same. I do not know the recommendations in Judaism, Christianity and Islam. If you know, please advise me.

King Parixit, a famous kind of India, had died listening to Srimad Bhagavatam for the last seven days of this life.

Plan for Modi government

Firstly, I have nothing to do with politics. I am just sharing the thoughts to put a little bit of pressure on the government and to share a perspective.

I hope that the Modi government does not change India's no first use of nuclear weapons policy. China's no first use policy has lots of loop holes. India's and world's interest lies in convincing Pakistan and China also to adopt a strong no-first use of nuclear weapons.

****

The BJP and Modi have been historically claiming to establish a Rama Rajya --- Kingdom of Lord Ram in India. What would be the best way to please Lord Ram? Srimad Bhagavatam 12.3.52 says that diety worship is not prescribed for this age and instead the focus should be on singing the names of the Lord. Thus I would request BJP not to change the status quo at Ayodhaya - the site of the disputed Ram Janmabhumi.  Instead, the focus should be on singing the holy names of the Lord.

One of the hall marks of a Rama Rajya is piety. The higher one is in the social order, they should be more pious. Thus, it is entirely reasonable that every cabinet minister and MP in BJP should be motivated to get up at 4am and meditate on Lord Rama and chant His names for two hours everyday. In addition, they should agree to the four regulative principles laid out by Lord Rama: no illicit sex, no meat eating, no gambling and no intoxication. Mr. Modi should do this meditation for three hours a day as Prime Minister discount.

Our hearts are filled with too much dirt. We need to clean it up. The biggest public service Mr. Modi can do I to motivate everyone to meditate for 30 mins. For that, he needs to be strong in meditation. If Mr. Modi and his ministers and BJP leaders cannot follow the above laid meditation schedule, their claim to establishing a Rama Rajya is just a political gimmick - which it probably is.

****
There these three modes of material nature (sattva, rajas, tamas in sanskrit) goodness (knowledge, thoughtfulness and satisfaction), passion (cravings for pleasure, power and prestige) and ignorance (laziness, intoxication and violence). Transcedence is higher than this mode where people can see with an enlightened vision, their loving relationship with all living beings.

BJP has historically been worried about counting the numbers of Hindus, Christians and Muslims. While the tactics Christians use to convert people to Christianity would be abhorred by Jesus Christ (who preached no intoxication and no meat eating - Thou Shall Not Kill), one should understand that such conversions do not change the modes of a person. A person does not become better and closer to God just because he stamps a new religious affiliation. They will change only when they diligently practice the spiritual disciplines taught by their religion and change their qualities and desires. Unfortunately, superficial religionists, not understanding or practicing the essence of their religion, imagine that they are "saving" others from evil by converting them, while they are yet to save themselves from the evil qualities that have gripped them.

Instead of complaining on the devious tactics resulting in culture-destruction, BJP would do well to understand that the foundational problem is the intellectual lethargy of Indians in understanding their own national legacy. Indians don't protest against attacks on their culture because they don't realize the value of what they are losing.

****
Let everyone understand the value of eating food in the mode of goodness. Let BJP make a lot of sweets and deserts made of milk (doodh peda), offer it to Lord Rama, and distribute to everyone. Everyone would benefit. Even Lord Rama would appreciate it.

I believe this should be the Indian diplomacy to calm Mr. Putin and other world leaders (sb canto 1 chapters 5-6). Sanity and gentleness is the scarciest commodity currently.

****
Education: Modi government should intitute a country wide policy to teach Pranayama in every school. Every class should start with a minute of Pranayama. Every examination should start with a five minute silence/Pranayama. Automatically, the grades will improve.

****
Unfotunately, BJP has used religion for mostly political purposes. BJP would do well to encourage everyone to elevate themselves to Love of God in their own religious path. The problem is that hardly 1% follows the scriptual injunctions of their religion, and are misguided systematically by the mosque, church and temples to interpret scriptures in the mode of ignorance. They are exploiting God actually.

Book review: The American Paradox - Spiritual Hunger in an Age of Plenty

This book is by David G. Myers is among the several books that use telling facts and revealing statistics to examine the reality behind the globally glamorized American dream of the happy life through wealth and sensual enjoyment.
Since 1960,
- the divorce rate has doubled
- the teen suicide has tripled
- the recorded violent crime rate has quadrupled
- the prison population has quintipled
- the percentage of babies born to unmarried parents has sextupled
- Cohabitation (a predictor of future divorce) has increased seven fold.
- depression has soared - to ten times the pre-world war II level.

Has the American dream turned out to be a masked nightmare? What went wrong?

******

My take is that American (and Indians and everyone else) forgot to cater to their mind also in their plans to make life more comfortable to the body. We hardly pay attention to resting and recuperating the most overworked "organ" of the self: the mind.

 If 5% of the society takes up a holistic life style involving eating right foods and 30 minutes of quiet time in a day, we have a much better chance of address problems of the current world. Americans have forgotten compassion.

Profile of a person with extreme allergy cured in ayurveda

On Apr 25, 2014 , "Sudhakar Govindavajhala"  wrote:
>
> Dear All,
>
>     [I am probably a quack. Please do not consider this as medical advice. Please think of it as an interesting experience I have had
> that I am trying to understand.]
>
>      I had written earlier about my experiences with Ayurveda; I have
> a few other articles written up on this subject that I will post in
> the future. I am trying to find like-minded individuals who would be
> willing to study the subject so that an informed opinion can be made.
> I write below an overview of a patient who did not have a cure for her
> life-threatening  allergy in modern medicine (Allopathy) and had found
> a cure in Ayurveda.  I am trying to document cases as they come to me;
> please help me write these cases with scientific rigour. This post is
> far from being of the highest scientific quality.
>
>
>         There is this African born lady (probably aged thirty-five) who lives
> in America. I met her at the Ayurvedic health resort a few months ago.
> She grew up as a strong non-vegetarian who used to essentially live on
> frozen pizzas.  Over a period of time, she developed  a series of
> allergies. In the initial stage, she develops allergy to food stuffs
> such as corn, then wheat, potato, rice etc. (not sure of the order).
> Finally, she develops allergy to **all** food stuffs.  In the next
> stage, she develops allergy to water too. She could not eat or drink
> anything. She would throw up if she swallowed. All doctors  agreed
> that she has a serious allergy, but were unable to offer a cure.        She
> is forced to take a large number of intravenous drips, practically
> carrying around an IV drip that feeds her.
>
>         After realizing that the medical system is unable to help her, she
> starts seeing nutritionists to see if they help. She really did not
> find any help. An Indian nutritionist had suggested to her that she
> try Ayurveda.  So, this lady  finds this Ayurvedic center in the
> middle of nowhere near rural Coimbatore. After a therapy over a few
> months she starts being able to tolerate some kinds of food material.
> She had been asked to come back after an year or six-months. Besides
> the therapy, the doctors convince her to eat healthy sattvic food.
> After doing multiple trips, this lady is able to eat normal sattvic
> diet --- effectively curing her allergy.  She has since then been
> eating only sattvic food.
>
>         You kindly ponder over it decide. I am not saying it is a panacea, either. Technically, sattvic
> food is defined as
>
> ayuh sattva balarogya
> sukha priti vivardhanah
> rasyah snigdah sthira hrdya
> ahara sattvika priya
>
> "Foods dear to those in the mode of goodness increase the duration of
> life, purify one's existence and give strength, health, happiness and
> satisfaction. Such foods are juicy, fatty, wholesome and pleasing to
> the heart."
>
>
>
> I write a few of my concerns on modern education below:
>
>     If you ask a modern doctor educated in India about Ayurveda, the
> perception is that Ayurveda is hocus-pocus. While this may be due to
> difficulty of finding a genuine Ayurvedic practitioner, it is
> unfortunate that modern doctors do not take  a balanced view.  It is
> unfortunate that modern  education convinces that our ancestors are
> fools, even though they did not have the latest iPhone.  They are
> atleast as intelligent as us damnit, albeit with the limitations of
> time and place.
>
>
>     Everyone is searching for eternal life, unlimited knowledge, and
> unlimited bliss (sat-chit-ananda). With this aim, people do their
> things, including going to office, watching sports, movies, social
> service, national service, service to society, scientific research,
> reading religious scriptures, undergo austerity as philosophers,
> yogis, bhaktas, etc.  But these goals are only attained when one rises
> above all these pretensions (religion, caste, nation, sex, education,
> etc.).  A prerequisite for such happiness is eating sattvic food and
> compassion. Compassion starts with compassion towards what you eat or
> else it is an opportunistic ego boosting technique.  It is due to this
> lack of purity of food that believers of different religions fight
> even though they are praying to the same God in different names and
> forms/formlessness.  Hardly any modern educational institution has
> managed to teach this important principle of life: purity of food.
> They teach students to find happiness in things external to the body
> than in one's Self.  That is why we have a world where almost everyone
> is unhappy --- roots of a quarrelsome world.  Happiness is inside
> one's self yet people search the whole world for happiness!
>
>
> Effectively, all advancement of knowledge in science, philosophy, fine
> arts, nationalism, economic development, religion and great activities
> are wasted as peace is still evasive.
>
> Sincerely,
> --sudhakar
>
>
> Dr. Sudhakar Govindavajhala
> IITM, B.Tech, 2001
> Princeton, Ph.D., 2001-2006

Delhi rape, values in life

On Dec 25, 2012 1:13 PM, "Sudhakar Govindavajhala"  wrote:
>
> Dear Sir,
>
> Thank you for your note.  I have been pondering about the recent Delhi rape in a moving bus, India, and beyond.  I write the note below with utmost humility with a hope to communicate to like minded people, get some solace and learn from your collective experience.
>
> The most fundamental problem is that we as  a society and individuals have forgotten our values.   These days, for most of the people it is all about sense gratification, money and return on investment. What was Gandhi's return on investment?
>
> I have been taking up charitable activities and social activities for the greater common Good. Somehow my anguish do good and to raise money to support for good causes was not shared by people whose help I seek in the form of their physical labor, intellectual labor, time and money.  That is when I have come to realize that the most fundamental problem is the lack of consciousness and sensitivity on the parts of individuals who make up the society.  Unless the consciousness of individuals and hence society at large changes, despite the economic improvements, the society is bound to degenerate into a society of cats and dogs.
>
> I live in New York and there is economic development and no hunger. However, people are still suffering from depression, insecurity, very narrow definition of happiness, etc.   The official statistic is that 6.7% of U.S. adult population have suffered depression (12-month prevalence); 16.5% being the life time prevalence. Modern medicine is unable to present a real cure. The psychotropic drugs have effect for a few days, then they get you addicted, leading to a need for higher potency drugs and a downward spiral.
>
> I have been lucky enough to have been exposed to Yoga and Meditation. My personal experience and that of observing friends who meditate, gives me the conviction that Yoga and meditation present real solutions of the ills identified above. In particular, it changes consciousness and makes people sensitive. It helps you get rid of one's narrow identities. 
>
> I am collaborating with friends to establish a center of excellence on Meditation and Yoga in New Jersey. I distribute books on meditation to family, friends and public, usually requesting people to make a  $10 donation. I reach out to mainstream white, black and brown people in America on the benefits of Yoga and meditation hoping that they will calm down, look inward, and understand that happiness is not in more physical luxuries, but is inwards --- inside the Self.  When you accost them on the road, they are not necessarily receptive.   So we are keeping Yoga and meditation books in every hotel room in America. It was already successful in California.
>
> It is now I discover how much prejudice people (Indians and Americans) have!  My high flying friends --- from IIT, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, cannot contribute 100$  which would buy 25 books for the project. I guess I have not articulated the return on investment. On the other hand, my team is able to raise 100$ from a person who pushes carts in the grocery store (who would make about 70$ per day). The other day when I was keeping a books table in a fair, the person next to me was able to sell more lottery tickets for prizes worth 50$ than I could sell Yoga, Meditation and other self development books for adults and children.
Btw, by yoga I am not referring to th indian gymnastics you see in commercial yoga centers. A prerequisite for yoga is equipoise.
>
>  A good number of times, my friends somehow believe in science and medicine without proof, but do not want even spend 10 minutes on self-development experiments like meditation. My cousin is spending 20% of his salary on depression drugs for his child. Somehow the 25 year child has time for TV, Internet etc., but not 2 minutes to meditate everyday. 
>
> My friends show me (silly) articles against meditation and Yoga in New York Times, but do not want to try it. Such is the nature of our society and civilization. There is a fundamental degeneration in the society where most of the individuals are after money, and other short term gains. They seem to think that money can buy happiness and health and national independence.  It is a question of time before this system blows up into a society of cats and dogs.
>
>  I believe that the fundamental problem lies in the educational system and we individuals.  That is natural because the system is made by people who do not have a sufficient understanding of a holistic way of life.
>
>
> However, on a positive note, I do meet individuals in New Jersey who understand this degeneration and live like Yogis despite their professional activities and family responsibilities.  My Guru gets up 2.30am to meditate! I spend 3 hours a day despite professional and family responsibilities.  There is a need for the Elite to understand that they have been blessed with a comfortable life so they could lead people and themselves to a better way of life.  Once you lead a holistic way of life, you can convince your friends --- the Elite --- of the same. Then, you can convince the public policy stakeholders and such.
>
> Please do not sacrifice the development of the Self for the sake of materialistic gains. Economic gains are meant to support Self-development, not eclipse it.  Please ponder over this.  Thank you for your consideration. Please advise me.
>
>
> Sincerely,
> --sudhakar
>
> Dr. Sudhakar Govindavajhala