Acharya Tulsi Head of the Terapanth religious organization and the preceptor of the Anuvrat movement in India, is by his very office inclined to b keen on the necessity of maintaining perfect discipline. He has written a book entitled Mononushasamnam ("The Discipline of The mind") which has a special appeal for the modern man whose mind is caught in ceaseless turmoil, Indeed, the psychological problem today has grown terribly complex, as never before. Of course, the mind and the problems created by it have existed since the beginning of time, but of late these problems have become much more acute and intricate. Industrialization and over-urbanization have made man so feverishly busy as to intensify mental disquiet and in equilibrium. Modern age is par excellence an age of multiple communications. News travels fast. It was not so in the previous age. There was little communication then beyond the immediate neighborhood; a relative living in a distant village remained ignorant of what happened to his kin. There has been a remarkable change since. An occurrence in a remote corner of India today becomes immediately known all over the globe. Means of communication have grown so varied and fast that an event gets broadcast to all the world in a matter of minutes. This also constitutes a major cause of mental problems. In fact, modern age furnishes a rich soil for the growth of innumerable psychological complications. No wonder, te phrase, `disciplining the mind' has assumed an extraordinary significance today, arresting the attention of each and Sunday.
The question arises if this disciplining of the mind occurs spontaneously at the very beginning, if the mind is to be approached directly without any preparation, or gradually, in stages, requiring a proper technique to achieve mastery over it. Shivaji kept losing one battle after another. Whenever he undertook an invasion, he was defeated. Once, disguised, he entered the house of an old woman. The old woman extended to her guest a hearty welcome and most hospitably offered him khichri1 (Khichri : a preparation of rice and pulse boiled together.) on a plate. She poured lots of ghee on it. The khichri was hot. Shivaji had not eaten for many days. The aroma of hot food sharpened his appetite all the more and in his extreme impatience to start eating he at once put his hand in the middle of the plate, with the result that his fingers got burnt. He involuntarily drew back his hand without putting a morsel into h is mouth. The old woman smiled and said, "Son! You seem to be as big a fool as Shivaji." At this Shivaji started. " Shivaji a fool!" he murmured to himself. " Why so, mother?", he asked politely, The old woman replied, "Son, don't you see that is what Shivaji is doing all the time-the he invades the enemy's capital where the latter's men and materials are most concentrated. No wonder his attacks are invariably repulsed. Now, if he first sets about conquering the smaller towns on the fringe, his strength and resources will gradually multiply and he could then successfully invade the capital.
The eating of the pulse-rice must begin from the periphery and not from the centre where it is too hot."
Shivaji thus received an invaluable lesson from an illiterate but experienced old woman.
Is not the effort to discipline the mind directly like trying to eat hot khichri from the centre of the plate? Has any man ever been able to vanquish the mind at the very outset? Whoever tried to do so as either failed to grasp it at all or has got terribly confounded in the process? The hot khichri must be allowed to cool before it can be eaten. One must start from the periphery to the centre, not vice-versa.
It occurred to me that Acharya Shri's book could be more appropriately entitled, "Disciplining of Desire"-that is, putting a
curb on appetites, restraining of desires. However, the book has been entitled, "The Discipline of the Mind", that is controlling or overpowering the mind. And perhaps rightly so. A palpable fact is immediately grasped' the intangible remains shrouded in mystery. It is the visible edifice (the mind) and not the hidden foundation (desire which movers the mind), which commands recognition in nomenclature.
That the mind is ever restless is a patent fact. But why it is restless is not so obvious. In Manonushasanam the whole technique of controlling the mind has been set down.
It has six stages:
i) Control over food
ii) Control over the body
iii) Control over the senses
iv) Control over breathing
v) Control over desire
vi) Control over the mind
The `mind' comes last; `control over desire' precedes it. is characteristic of a living being to eat, to have a body, to have sense organs, to breathe, to speak and to think. But in the present machine-dominated age, all these qualities stand rudely shaken. With greater and still greater development in the filed of mechanization, man's innate characteristics seem to have been set at nought. The computer with its artificial intelligence has particularly affected modern life. The computer can do sums and it can also compose verse. Not only does the computer diagnose disease, but it also prescribes medicines. And it does this well than a qualified doctor. To think and reason which is one of the chief human characteristics stands surpassed; the computer thinks better, dictates a more correct decision.
However, `to desire' remains one indisputable characteristic of a living creature. The computer can do many things, but it cannot desire. To desire is a living being's most mysterious and inimitable trait. This is what distinguishes a living creature from the inanimate. The function of the brain is to think. The computer, too is a kind of brain, it is man's creation. But the computer in man-his brain-is nature's creation. Breathing, too, is a physiological process. But one has to go deep to find the origin of desire. Here is a marvel form a different world- the world of the psyche-a door forms an invisible body, which opens into the physical body. A subtle gland generates desire, which, in its turn, is the basis of all action.The mind is restless through desire. Desire comes from a profoundly subtle world beyond the mind and fills it with perturbation. It grows restless and starts wandering. We want to grasp the mind, but it eludes us all the time. How to grasp it becomes a problem.
An electric fan was on. A peasant came and found the strong current not to his liking. He wanted the blades to stop moving. So he put the stick he was carrying in his hand in between the blades. Seeing that the fan had stopped moving, he drew back the stick and put it beside him on the floor. Immediately the fan restarted. The same strong breeze! He felt confounded and struck the fan with his stick a number of times. The stick gave way and the fan too was damaged. The peasant thought the fan too recalcitrant, to so totally disregard his wishes.
Aren't we all behaving in the same fashion? The he fan of the mind is on. We want to stop it, but know not how to switch it off. We utterly ignore the power, which makes the fan turn. The electric current drives the fan. Push the button and the current is on. Unless the current is witched off, the fan would not stop. The blades do not move on their own. They move because of the current. As long as the current flows, the fan moves. We may say, "The fan is stubborn, that it is skittish; it does not stop." But will that stop it?
Our response to the ceaselessly chattering mind is not unlike that of the illiterate peasant. Vainly do we assail the mind? By brute force we would make it stop. It does not oblige. The fan of the mind will stop only when we inactivate the motive force behind it. That motive force is desire. It is the force of desire that makes the mind so restless. The electric charge of desire sends out its waves and the mind is caught in turmoil. Like the electric current, desire itself
is invisible. The blades of the fan are visible and one starts quarrelling with the blades. In vain. One may go on like that for 10, 50 or 100 years; it would serve no purpose. The fight ceases only when the function of desire is fully grasped. Where there is desire, confusion inevitably creeps in, passions rage, aberrations and fickleness set in. This fickleness cannot be done away with, nor can we destroy the passions like anger, lust and pride; confusion persists to the last. Unless of course we get hold of the root, which is desire. It is, therefore, extremely necessary to control desire.
A naughty child was indulging in mischief. He was indiscriminately throwing about this man's clothes, that man's books and still another man's kerchiefs. Someone said, "Child! Why are you doing all this?" Pat came the answer; "It's my will, who are you, pray, to question me like that."
There could not be a more damning reply. A man sat down in the middle of the road. A wayfarer objected, "Why
are you blocking the passage?" He answered, "My sweet will! Who are you to expostulate with me?" The wife remonstrated with her husband, "You are ill. The doctor has proscribed salt for you. Why do you take it then?" The husband retorted, "What I should take or not take is my own affair. May you and the doctor be damn'd!
My will! My desire! - An irrefutable reply before which all other replies pale into insignificance. And yet man has found that desire has nothing permanent about it; it is conditioned by time and place.
One cannot have one's way everywhere and at all times. This naturally led to the necessity of controlling desire. Man reasoned thus: whatever desire may arise, whatever impulse originates form within, whatever option offers itself, it cannot be unilaterally of universally imposed. It needs to be controlled, disciplined. A maxim duly evolved: "purify desire!" Desires are basically arbitrary, irregular, If each desire is allowed to have its way, there would be complete chaos, our society being turned into that of aboriginals, dominated by constantly changing whims. All sorts of desires enter
the mind. If a man acts upon each and every desire that comes to him, life would become impossible. A desire to rob someone, to appropriate another man's property comes to the fore and the man commits the robbery, forcibly occupies another man's house. If you demand why he is indulging in these anti-social acts, he says, "It's my will. I felt like killing and robbing and I have done it. Who are you to stop me from pursuing my desire?" In a situation like that, the whole
edifice of justice crumbles down, causing grave disorder, Hence the evolution of the principle of desire-purification. Desires must be sifted, purified, refined. Only that desire may be acted upon that does not interfere with other people's freedom that does not obstruct or harm others in any way. Without this sifting and purification, no civilized society or culture would be possible.
Even sublimated desires can pose great danger, and society accepts these at its own risk. For example, society acknowledges the right of married couples to unite. This is an outcome of the regulation of man's natural urge. Nevertheless, indiscriminate and excessive sexual indulgence would land a man in the whirlpool of lust, making him a
prey to various diseases irreparably destroying his energies; thus rendering him incapable of any action whatsoever.
So, mere purification of desire is not enough and one must go beyond.
One must study, as a preparation to knowing oneself, who shall object to that? But if a person reads continuously for 24 hours of the day, he will spoil his eyes and his brain will get perverted. Desire must be sublimated, refined, but that too call for restraint and discipline.
In Ayurved is mentioned a doctrine made of their terms-non-concentration, concentration, and over-concentration. Where there is no concentration, nothing flowers. If a man cannot concentrate at all on his studies, he wills continue to be an ignoramus. Too much concentration is also harmful. If a man reads day and night, his energies would soon be exhausted. He will not be able to accomplish anything, both no concentration at all and over-concentration stultify. But to concentrate is good. Study for 2-4 hours, then rest, and then study and rest again. This is what disciplining of desire
means. Concentration means control over sublimated desire, its proper regulation.
An important rule of spiritual training is that desire should be disciplined. The question arises as to how it is to be done. Can desire be forcibly controlled? No. Discipline must arise of itself, spontaneously. Manonushasanam lays down the whole process in detail. Our body houses all the centres of desire and emotion. Every disposition is contained therein. both cruelty and mercy find a place there. With the centre of lust there coexists the centre of virtue.
Likewise centres of unrest and profound peace or salvation. All these centres are present in the body. Only one has to study the entire process to know which button must be pressed to activate a particular centre.