Lord Yama is talking of the chariot metaphor and the importance of the intellect.
‘Know the Atman as the Lord, body as the chariot, know the intellect as the charioteer and the mind as verily the reins.’
Arjuna represents the state of mind; the battlefield is the world.
‘They say, the senses are the horses, and sense-objects are their paths. The wise declare Atman to be the enjoyer united with body, senses and the mind.’
‘One who is without discrimination and always with an unrestrained mind, his sense organs become uncontrollable like the unruly horses of a charioteer.’
‘But he who with discrimination and has mind always controlled, his senses are controllable as the tamed horses of a charioteer.’
Throughout the shastras, the Gurus are talking of only one way of controlling the mind, that is by developing the buddhi, the intellect. It is a journey you have to embark on, whether you are a karma yogi, bhakta, or a 7jnani. Every human being has the faculty of buddhi.
In the order of gross to subtle:
Sense objects – Senses – Mind – Intellect – Vasanas – Atman.
The subtle controls the gross. Intellect is subtler than the mind. The strength of the intellect can be measured by your capacity to control the mind. The only way to strengthen your intellect’s discriminative nature is to get established in Vedantic wisdom.
And he who, without a discriminative (Intellect), an uncontrolled mind, and always impure, never attains that goal and gets into the cycle of birth and death.
The Lord is talking of the consequences of not operating on intellect. When you don’t have the discriminating, discerning ability, strength to control either your senses or the mind, such a person will not reach the absolute goal of self-realisation. The prerequisite for a spiritual journey is that you must be able to control your mind. Whenever the mind presents itself, are you able to checkmate it and bring it under your control?
Q: What are the challenges and its consequences of an uncontrolled vis-à-vis a controlled mind:
The challenges are:
| Uncontrolled Mind | Mind controlled by Intellect | |
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1 |
The mind operates on likes and dislikes. It compels you to do what you like and negate what you dislike. What you like may not be the right thing to do. What you dislike may be the most beneficial thing to do for you. | You will not operate on likes and dislikes. You operate on what is your duty. When you act on obligation, you checkmate the mind. So, every time your intellect should question if you are obliged to do or not. If not obliged, negate it. |
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2 |
Your mind is constantly caught up in the past worries and future anxieties. This tendency makes the mind asthira and chanchala unstable and restless. It becomes fidgety. | When you operate on intellect, the mind is always remains in the present. It is the most difficult thing for the mind to be in the present and do what you are expected to do. |
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3 |
Your mind has a phenomenal quality to keep generating innumerable, insatiable desires. So, the mind is never satisfied. | “You get what you deserve and not what you desire”. It’s cause and effect, and so you will get whatever is due for your actions. Accept the law and learn to be satisfied and contented. |
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4 |
The mind develops tremendous attachment to whatever you are involved in – be it lifestyle, value system or your possessions. You resist the change and this attachment causes mental anxiety, sorrow and suffering.
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When you operate on intellect, the mind will not develop attachment. You will operate like a lotus leaf in water. You will be detached and act like an actor on stage for every role. You may enjoy and possess many things but you will not be obsessed with the possessions. |
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5 |
Mind acts impulsively, without thinking rationally. | Think before you act. Traffic of thoughts must come to a halt. Eg: When you have a free left turn, you still see whether there is a traffic flow and then proceed.
The ability to think before you act is the opposite of impulsive behavior. |
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6 |
Mind becomes emotional, be it positive or negative. All the emotions that arise out of desire – anger/arrogance/fear, etc. cloud your intellectual clarity. These emotions arise as you have not used the intellect, and further these clouds the intellect. It’s a vicious cycle. | You can use your anger to set right the shortcomings of others. You need not become emotional. With intellect, you feel and use the emotion, and do not become emotional. |
To checkmate the mind with endless desires, learn to have contentment with what you have rather than riding on things what you don’t have. The 2nd verse of Bhaja Govindam by Adi Shankaracharya says:
मूढ जहीहि धनागमतृष्णां कुरु सद्बुद्धिं मनसि वितृष्णाम् ।
यल्लभसे निजकर्मोपात्तं वित्तं तेन विनोदय चित्तम् ॥ २॥
O Fool! Give up your thirst for acquiring and aggrandizing wealth; create the thought of Reality in your mind instead of the thirst. Whatever you get from your action, content your mind with that wealth obtained.
When your mind rushes to future, keep pulling it back to the present. You must be on the journey of continuously developing the intellect. Question your every action and the knowledge that you have heard from gurus.
The above are six pangs of the mind. Humanity is paying a serious prize of not understanding the importance of buddhi intellect. Any one aspect is enough to destroy you. Two main concerns are ignorance and arrogance. We don’t know what is happening to us and arrogantly we think we know.
To control all these aspects of the mind, you must have a strong intellect. You may live in the present and yet be attached or act on likes and dislikes. We may be exhibiting any one of those qualities in our action. So, to be able to consciously be aware of these mental diseases and address them is a very clear means of measuring your intellect. There is no other way.
The uncontrolled mind is impure, which means agitated and disturbed. An impure mind entertains selfish desires. No control over your sensuous appetite. You become indulgent like an animal. A person with a non-discriminative intellect will not achieve anything even at a relative level, forget the absolute goal. To achieve any goal, success in any field what is required is intellect to checkmate the mind on all these aspects. Otherwise, it impedes achieving your goal or success.
A mind which is controlled is ever pure, balanced, free from mental agitation, calm, serene, virtuous, and will reach the goal, whether relative or absolute. Once you reach the absolute goal, there is no cycle of birth and death. You are not born again.
Q: Mind is ‘What you think you become’. So what is the role of intellect?
A: The mind gets attached to whatever it is thinking. So intellect has the choice not to get attached, which is not worthy. Intellect will give a right channel to the mind so that you develop an attachment to the higher. We have no choice but to get attached to something or the other. So when you attach to the higher, you get liberated from the lower attachments. When intellect plays a role, you will be a little detached even to the higher.
Q: How do you develop the intellect?
A: One has to embark on the journey of developing the intellect to control the mind. The only one way is to do swadhyaya reflection on the knowledge you have acquired through the guru. The knowledge to be acquired is 20%, and reflection is 80%. If you do not keep this proportion, you will not be able to develop your intellect. You will only gather information. Until you have done reflection to 20% knowledge, you don’t acquire fresh knowledge.
Mere information will lead to arrogance and frustration. The same knowledge becomes detrimental. Churn and question the knowledge received from the guru, exercise your intellect in the auspicious hour of Brahma Muhurtam 4 am – 6 am. This is the only way to develop your intellect. Once you have developed the intellect and controlled the mind, you can contemplate and meditate. The sin you will be committing as a student is not following this reflection, manana.
Q: Will questioning the mind be beneficial?
A: The job of intellect is to constantly checkmate the mind. When you question, the mind gets unsettled. When you don’t question, the mind has the license to do whatever it wants.
