Anchoring the Mind in the turbulent sea of Senses- Gita verses 2.59-2.61

Dear Bhargavi,
The senses are doing what is assigned to them - but only after taking orders from our mind!!
So, mind control is more important & for that realisation of Self is required.
Love,
Chithra.

Originally Posted by gayathriar

Dear C & C - Your lines 'Healthy ideas wipe out the unhealthy ones. As devotion to the Lord increases, the wild vehemence of the mind gets tamed down. The energies are now conserved and the hyper dynamic mind achieves stupendous successes!' and the examples of abstinence focusing on higher purposes like lent, Ramzan and Sabarimala yatra sums it all up.

Pavithra's FB on simple living and high thinking is extremely relevant....!

Thanks to you both for providing food for thought every week...Just wishing all days were thursdays....!

-Gayathri.

Dear Gayathri
According to me, introspection is all about weighing the incidents in our lives on the weighing scale of Bhagawad Gita and other such Spiritual books. Such an introspection not only enables us to see where we have gone right or wrong but helps us in paving a way for a spiritually productive life in future.
The keen interest that you are taking in imbibing the spirit of Gita is not only heartwarming but augurs very well for your future life
Sri

Originally Posted by vidhi

Dear Cheeniya Sir

The zen quote you have mentioned is very enlightening. We should be able to manage the senses sensibly without getting attached to it. We get irritated when some one else tries to control us. Is it because of the senses?

regards
Vidhi

Dear Vidhi
It is not surprising that a person who thinks he has his senses well under control gets irritated when someone tries to control him. It is almost like the reaction of an experienced pilot who is cruising smoothly in the skies at the sight of a hijacker. But the point here is that if a person who thinks that he has all his senses under his total control will NOT get irritated if someone else tries to control him.
Sri

Originally Posted by ammukutty

Dear Cheeniya Sir,
For enlightened souls sense control is always there.But for ordinary people like us spiritual pracitces help us in maintaining the right path.Bhajans,listening to spiritual discourses,chants,fasting,observing various rituals are some of the varied means to divert our energy & mind towards the eternal truth.Capturing the mind is an impossible task.The more we try to catch it the more it runs away from us.(Iam reminded of your post "The Wandering Monkey").People used to ridicule the Hindu religion saying that we worship the monkey(Lord Hanuman)But Lord Hanuman represents our mind or infact the monkey nature of our mind.We are indirectly worshipping our mind by worshipping Him.Quoting the example of Sabarimala piligrimage & the preparations that one undertakes for the same were very apt for this post.Thankyou Sir,not only for illustrating on the teachings of Gita but also enriching us with spritual knowledge from various disciplines like Zen.

regards,
ammu

Dear Ammu
Your take on the monkey nature of our mind is very interesting indeed. It reminds me of the great Chinese Philosopher Wu Cheng-en's extraordinary masterpiece titled The Monkey. There is an episode in it which is at once comical and profound. It is about a Monkey that gets to heaven and there causes so much trouble that at last Buddha has to be called to subdue it! The Monkey is really an allegory about the incarnation of human cleverness.
Sri
.

Originally Posted by Sriniketan

Cheeniya Sir,

Not controlling our mind, but directing it to a Higher plane is the only solution to overcome the problems we face...nicely explained with various day-to-day eg..
'Asathoma sat gamaya' is the perfect one which leads our mind to the Supreme Self.
Thanks for bringing this up here, it now gives me more meaning to it..

sriniketan

Dear Sri
It is said that Ramana Maharshi underwent a very serious surgery to contain a cancerous growth in his arm and the surgery was carried out without administering chloroform or any other anesthetic as ordained by the Maharshi. He went into deep meditation during the entire operation. He took the occasion to teach us that when the mind was directed to the Supreme, all the senses would remain dormant.
Sri

Cheeniya Sir,
A very apt eg. I had heard this incident, but today I understood how Sri Ramana Maharishi got it done...

sriniketan