Why is it so hard to control your Mind?
Bhagavad Gita Verse 2.60 Explained
Introduction
Bhagavad Gita is a conversation between Krishna and Arjun. This dialogue begins just before the war of Mahabharata is about to begin. On seeing his family in opposition, Arjun is gripped with fear and confusion and wants to run away, but Krishna convinces him to fight and tells Arjun why he today must raise his weapons to kill his brothers and relatives in this war.
Bhagavad Gits teaches us how to live life!
The core message of the Bhagavad Gita is considered very powerful for it can fundamentally transform the way you live your life. Bhagavad Gita is also called a summary of Vendantic Knowledge or simply ancient Knowledge.
Bhagavad Gita is crystallized form of the Hindu thought.
Bhagavad Gita is 700 verses long, spread across 18 chapters. Here we will understand Verse 60 of Chapter 2 of the Bhagavad Gita.
Verse 2.60
यततो ह्यपि कौन्तेय पुरुषस्य विपश्चित: |
इन्द्रियाणि प्रमाथीनि हरन्ति प्रसभं मन: || 60||
yatato hyapi kaunteya purushasya vipashchitah
indriyani pramathini haranti prasabham manah
Translation
Hey Arjun, The senses are so strong & turbulent that they overpower and forcibly carry away even a wise person who is an expert at controlling his MIND
Commentary
Krishna in this verse is speaking about the nature of our five senses and the mind, which is the control centre, hence also called the Sixth Sense.
Senses are like a powerful river
Krishna is comparing Senses to a powerful river which has a strong flow and turbulence. Imagine a mighty river like Ganga which when flowing in the Himalayas in the rainy season has force so powerful that it can carry with it even gaint tree logs as if they were mere matchsticks.
Now imagine yourself being pushed into such a river!
What will you do?
No matter how hard you try, you will flow with the current. No matter how much you want to reach the river bank, the flow will take you along with it. No matter how much you flap your arms, you won’t be able to swim. When a river is in such flow, you as a human are a mere floating object.
But like all rivers, the turbulent flow ceases after a while. As the mountains start to end and the river flows into the open plains, the turbulence is waned down. The flow becomes gentle as the water spreads out in the breath of the plains. The river is still mighty, but now the man who was once in danger of drowning, can now exert his power and try to swim. The river current now allows him to exert his effort. The relative gentleness of the flow invites the man to fight for his life.
That man, having faced the speed and turbulence of water, having faced the feeling of powerlessness, sees this as a sign of hope. He gives his best shot to swim across the river and reach the banks to safety.
The moral is that while a raging river is powerful and will sweep you away, the very same river loses its power at some point and that is when one can hope to get out of its clutches. Similarly, the senses will overpower you in an overwhelming way, but if you don’t give in, they will lose their power just like the mighty raging river does and you will be in a situation of better control.
Sensory experiences are rapid rivers of Passion
Each experience we have in our life is a result of our senses. We have a total of five senses.
These are Touch, Taste, Smell, Hearing, and Sight. We use our skin to feel the touch, nose to smell, tongue to taste, ears to hear, and eyes to see.
All these Senses behave like Sensors i.e. they gather information from our interactions of the surroundings and relay it to the Brain. Infact, the word “Sensor” is derived from “Senses”.
The Brain has specific sections which are dedicated to receive such sensory inputs and make sense of the information received. These areas located within the brain are called Sense Organs.
So while we might think that we see through our eyes, the reality is that the eyes are just capturing and sending light into the sense organ located in the brain and it is the brain where the actual image is being created. The notion that the true image of what we see is created in our eyes is indeed an illusion.
Hence Brain is where all the data processing is happening. The Brain however is the physical organ.
The Brain along with its consciousness is called the Mind.
Hence Mind is also called the Sixth sense as without the mind, we would not be able to make any meaningful sense of the information being received by the senses.
All the deep experiences we have involve all our senses. Imagine meeting with your lover. Imagine when you kissed your lover for the first time. It is an intense experience and hence always a memorable moment- one you can not forget ever!
The reason behind this is the fact that all our senses are sending intense streams of data to our minds. It is like five massive rivers flowing into an ocean pouring massive volumes of water. The mind is accepting all this water and making sense of it and also making your response.
Now this is a moment of passion. In such a situation you react without a thought. You are in the moment, immersed completely. It is similar to being caught in a waterslide, where once you slip, there is no stopping till the end.
In this moment the river of passion has gripped you. There is a strong urge to do more. In this moment you want more. It is as if a fire has been ignited in your body and this fire wants to burn everything.
A simple kiss on the lips, in the right setting and mood, can ignite passion and lead to foreplay, and even sex.
This is a classic example of how senses overpower you and the raging river of passion makes you do things without any conscious thought.
Desire is like a Fire which burns within
This is true for every temptation. Temptation is like a spark, which when given fuel, can turn into a massive fire. At the root of it are the powerful senses which indeed enjoy indulging with sense objects.
The eyes want to see more of what you desire, the ears want to hear more of what you enjoy listening to, the skin wants to feel the naked touch of the skin of your lover, the nose wants to smell the fragrance, and the tongue wants to taste what is delicious.
So the moment you give these senses a chance to indulge, they have the power to overwhelm you.
Mind is the master of the Senses
But then there is your mind. The mind has the power to not react to what these senses want you to do. The mind is the ultimate decision-maker. The mind is the master of these senses. But not all masters are the same. Some masters are great and powerful, and some are poor and weak.
A poor master can be overridden by the senses while a strong master is the one who makes the senses obey.
Krishna’s message to the mankind
So Krishna is trying to tell us that Senses are so powerful that they can even overwhelm the strongest of masters. Even the wisest of men fall prey to their sensual urges.
It is a continuous battle between the senses and the mind and one can’t always expect to be a master who always is in control.
You can be a very wise person, with a very strong mind, but even you would have moments of weakness in your life when the senses will overwhelm you.
There will always be occasions in your life when the river of passion will sweep you away. There will be moments when the fire of desire will burn you.
But these moments of weakness do not define the strength of your mind.
To judge the mental strength of a person by wearing a lens of failure is like judging the might of the ocean by feeling the touch of the dying wave on your feet.
A man is bound to fail!
Krishna is telling mankind that you are bound to fail at times, no matter how wise you are. But what matters is a strive to be in control of your senses most of the time.
So while one can strive to be the master of his senses always, that is like chasing those giant Himalayan mountain peaks which are far away from you. The closer you go, the farther they appear to be. So while you will eventually reach these peaks, and even climb them, but it is for sure going to be a long journey.
A man’s greatest victory is when is remains the master of his mind!
Similarly, a man has the potential to become the absolute master of his mind and can control his senses at his will, but this is a journey which will take its own sweet time, spanning many many years. It requires a man to exercise discipline and strengthen his will. Such a mastery demands great sacrifice. But even in this journey, a man is bound to fail, not once but many times.
A man with absolute control of the mind is indeed a God!
The ones who are in absolute control of their senses at all times have risen to the stature of Gods. But a man who is in control of his sense most of the time is no less than a god when he is in control. Events of failure, when the senses get better of him when the river of passion sweeps him, only make him human!
To Err is to be human. To be is perfect is to be divine!
So Krishna wants us to strive to become like Gods by becoming the master of our mind, but also advises us that it is only human to succumb to passion. The fight between the mind and senses shall forever go on. While this is the truth of life, but one must not be discouraged by failure and must keep on striving for perfection!
Krishna implies that one must believe in his purpose and keep up the fight, for only those who become the master of their minds are able to achieve success and happiness in life!
Chapter 2 to be continued..
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Hare Krishna
