Concepts of Mind management in the spiritual tradition

Concepts of Mind management in the spiritual tradition
In the antahkarana chatushtaya (the 4 parts of the inner 'instrument'- namely buddhi (intellect), chitta (memory), manas (mind) and aham (I consciousness), the buddhi and chitta are pre-conditioned by the past experiences and instincts. They can be cleansed and strengthened through right viveka (discrimination). But the one that directly perceives feels through the senses and soon gets influenced by the outer world is the manas. Therefore the control of this becomes most necessary to avoid further draining out of the inner potentials. Since nothing can be achieved without ‘inner silence’, controlling mind is vital in spiritual study. Although spirituality is itself much loftier than the study of psyche, mind needs to be given utmost attention because otherwise it plays havoc in the process of comprehension and concentration.
That is why all scriptures and paths emphasize upon mano-nigraha(control of mind). Like a stubborn and naughty child, the mind always tends to give a slip and play havoc in concentration and contemplation of subtle truths. It needs to be handled tactfully.
Bhagavadgeeta says- shanaih shanaih uparamair buddhyaa dhrutagrheetayaa--- The toughest achievement is self mastery. Adi Shankaracharya says- Jitam jagat kena? Mano hi yena. Numerous stories from puranas, epics and classical literature present stories and instances try to establish this fact. The greatest challenge of any true spiritual seeker therefore lies in escaping the pull of the mind. Patanjali even considers this as one significant step in astaangayoga. The process of collecting back the mental energies dispersed in outer names and forms is termed pratyaahaara. The control of the mind such that it does not run back is called dhaarana. The flow of the antahkarana towards the dhyeya(the object of meditation) is called dhyana. When this is perfected it culminates into samaadhi, a state wherein the antahkarana sublimates into the aatmaswarupa and attains perfect tranquility. This is the state of truth realization and supreme bliss.
The mind is constantly swayed hither and thither by the wind of delusion caused by the jeeva bhaava created by maaya. Adi Shankara explains with the examples of kasturi mrga, patanga( a kind of insect), elephant, fish and the deer explaining how each of them succumb to the greed of pleasure through each of their sense organs. The human being has all the five senses strongly distracting his mental energies outwardly. What then could be his plight!(vivekachudamani)
Merely controlling the outwardly flow of mind by force is of no use. The more we force it to silence down, the more it tends to drift away. I may quote a folk anecdote in this regard- A greedy man once forced a yogi to give him a mantra to suddenly become rich. The yogi disgusted by his greed wanted to teach him a lesson. He gave him a mantra and said, this mantra will soon fetch you the desired, but while you chant it you never ever for a moment remember ‘a monkey’, beware! The man was more then happy. He did everything to keep away the thoughts of the monkey but it kept coming to him. The more he avoided the thought the more it rebounded! Thus not mere negation, but indeed culturing and channelizing the mental energies is the purpose of saadhana
Till the true identity or aatmaswarupa reveals itself, the mind is bound down by the jeeva bhaava. This mind under the strong influence of delusion constantly nurtures a greed for enjoyment through senses. But as the aspirant slowly develops a capacity to discriminate between the material and spiritual existences, the transience of matter and its ways, the true nature of his soul i.e sat- chit- aananda, his mind gets back to track by itself. Thus chitta shuddhi through right act, speech, discrimination and meditation need to be constantly carried on so as the harness the mental energies inwards.
Managing the mind is important both for peace and balance in normal human life and even more for higher intellectual or spiritual comprehensions. The greatest contribution of Indian spiritual schools lies in devising various methods for mind management. This has also promoted many an effective yogic method of counseling, healing and health therapies. The concepts of mind management that we come across in Bhagavadgeeta, Upanishads, the numerous accounts and dialogue available in ancient literature and traditions including the folk and native ideologies, are today of great practical use in applications such as stress management, concentration techniques, memory boosting, control of mentions, BP and many more.
We are all very familiar with the revolutions that have been made world wide by our schools of yogasanas, pranayama, meditation and ayurveda systems. The yoga therapy system is nothing but medical application of the available mind management concepts in vedic and later vedic lore. In my own experience of life skills training and counseling, I have seen how handy and useful the Indian concepts of mind management and spirituality have been. Indeed even books on secular topics like arthashaastra, kaamashaastra, and others do not fail to emphasize on the necessity of indriyajaya and manonigraha. There are many darshanas, logical disputations, refutations and interpretations based on the vedic concepts. There are still many others that stood independent of the vedic injunctions like the Buddhism and Jainism. However all systems (except the charvaka!), unanimously support the concept of manonigraha.
Even for those who are least interested in spiritual probing, the concepts of mind and its mastery are of great use. What then to say about its use to sincere spiritual aspirants!

Extracted from my key note address at National science congress session- psycho-spiirtual and philosophical sciences, at AIISH, Mysore, hosted by SVAK, 2009