Conquest Mind Swami Sivananda Pdf Download
Clotilde Moralas
This book presents a number of most helpful hints on the Nature of Mind and many methods for the successful conquest of mind. By aspirants, devotees, seekers after Truth, psychologist, and others who are seeking peace of mind and happiness in life, this work will be found highly useful.
Psycho-analysis is a very important subject. You will find the principles of psycho-analysis in Indian philosophical systems, too. You know that the real origin of all diseases is in the mind. From the mind the disease is communicated to the physical body. There is, therefore, not much use merely treating the physical ailment; you must go to the very root, to the mind, find out the mental ills and eradicate them there. Then you can enjoy good health. This is the burden of Ayurveda also, where it is termed as Adhivyadhi. The same thing has been said by Hahnemann also. Various impure Vasanas in the mind cause various poisons in the system which produce diseases. Nowadays all the Allopathic doctors are advised to take up a study of psycho-analysis. Then only can they understand the origin of the disease. Psycho-analysis should be introduced even in Schools and Colleges. The Teachers and Professors should all have a thorough knowledge of this science.
There is a science, the supreme science or Brahma Vidya that teaches you That knowing which everything becomes known. We should attempt to study the Upanishads, the Prasthanatraya. Then this psycho-analysis will be nothing. Try to understand the Brahmavidya. Then alone can you understand all the sciences and have perfect knowledge and attain God-realisation which is the goal of your life, wherein you will attain Samadhi and become one with the supreme Brahman.
The Vasishtha Maha Ramayana is the earliest Indian philosophical work of the highest order on Vedanta. It is a monumental work wherein Sri Vasishtha, the great sage, taught the principles of Vedanta to his royal pupil Rama, the victor of Ravana and hero of the epic Ramayana. A study of this work raises any person to the lofty heights of divine awareness and splendour. Those who practise Atma-Chintana or Brahmabhyasa or Vedantic meditation will find in this marvellous work, a priceless treasure. Even the most worldly-minded person will become dispassionate and will attain peace of mind, solace and consolation by a study of this book. The practical hints on Sadhana are unique.
Yoga Vasishtha is a comprehensive, deep, systematic and literary philosophical work of ancient India. It embodies in itself the science of ontology, the knowledge of the Self, the principles of psychology, the science of emotions, the tenets of ethics and practical morality, discourses on theology, etc. According to this work, the world of our experience with various objects, time, space and laws is a creation of the mind, i.e., Idea or Kalpana.
Mind is endowed with creative power. Just as objects are created by the mind in the dream, so also everything is created by the mind in the waking state also. Expansion of the mind is Sankalpa. Sankalpa, through its power of differentiation generates this universe. Time and space are mental creations only. Through the play of the mind in objects nearness seems to be a great distance and vice versa. Through the force of the mind a Kalpa is regarded as a moment and vice versa. A moment of waking experience may be experienced as years in the dream. The mind can have the experience of miles within a short span and miles can also be experienced as a span only. Mind is the cause of bondage and liberation.
The mind manifests itself as the external world in the shape of pains or pleasures. The mind subjectively is consciousness. Objectively it is this universe. The mind attains through its enemy of discrimination the quiescent state of Parabrahman. The Sankalpas and Vasanas or subtle desires, which you generate enmesh you as in net. The Self-light or Parabrahman alone is, appearing as the mind or this universe.
Only those persons who are without Atmic enquiry will see as real this world which is nothing but of the nature of Sankalpa, mind. The expansion of this mind alone is Sankalpa. Sankalpa, through its power of differentiation, generates this universe. Extinction of Sankalpas alone is Moksha.
This impure mind which is filled with excessive delusion and a host of worldly thoughts, is the real enemy of the Atman. There is no other vessel on this earth to wade through the ocean of rebirth than the mastery of the antagonistic mind. Destroy this mind to its roots, by the fire of the Knowledge of the Self. This is the essence of Yoga Vasishtha.
The conception of mind in the philosophy of Vasishtha is most rational, most dynamic, and truer than any presented in Western or Eastern psychology. It satisfies the latest conclusions in modern science, modern psychology, modern theories of philosophic thought. In comparison with the wonderful psychology Yoga Vasishtha presents us, the whole of the contemporary Western psychology looks so very valueless for a practical grasp of the nature and the powers of the human Mind, for a resolution of all problems of life, which are brought to being by the mind alone, for the perfection of human life possible only by a mastery and conquest of the Mind.
Freedom from the thraldom of mind, matter and Maya, maintains the Sakta-guru, is impossible of achievement except through the Grace of the Endless Sakti or Power that the Divine Mother is. If the Mind is to be conquered, the Maya is to be transcended, the Matter is to be transfused into absolute Consciousness, one has to awaken the Supreme Power latent in oneself, as the Kundalini Sakti, as the Divine Mother, by Dhyana, by Bhavana, by Japa, by the force and potencies released from Mantra Sakti. One attains Siddhi or Perfection when the latent infinite Power is awakened, and the entire process and the subtleties of the discipline have to be conducted and obtained from the Guru.
From pages 30, 85, 173, 180 and 182 of this book let us compile here those relevant passages of Sivananda that present to us his method of will-culture for mind-control. Mind-control is extremely difficult.
Not demanding any feats of high intelligence nor gifts of eloquence, for its effective exercise, except a little devotion, a spirit of reverence, a little faith, a little earnestness, prayer brings a hundred rewards, exerts a tremendous influence on the whole of the nature of man, and brings the mind into purity and tranquillity. Sivananda finds prayer one of the best methods of conquering the mind. His only condition for real praying is that prayers should be raised in sincerity, must proceed from the heart, must be for divine light, purity and spiritual guidance, and not for selfish ends or petty gifts and worldly prizes and goods.
Prayer, Sivananda says, is a mighty spiritual force. It elevates the mind, destroys its impurities, keeps it in tune with the Divine Being. Sincere devotees realise the importance, the power, the value and the splendour of prayer. A Yogi can actually visualise, through his inner eye, the dynamic and beneficial effects produced on the mind by prayer. Get up in the early morning and repeat some prayers. Pray in any manner you like. Become as simple as a child; open freely the chambers of your heart. You will get everything. Namadev prayed and Vittal came out of the image to eat his food; Ekanath prayed and Lord Hari showed His form with four hands; Damaji prayed and Lord Krishna played the part of a menial in paying his dues to Badshah. Draupadi prayed fervently, Lord Krishna ran from Dwarka to relieve her distress; Gajendra prayed ardently, Lord Hari appeared with a disc to protect him. It was Prahlada that rendered cool the boiling oil when it was poured over his head; it was the power of prayer of Mira that converted the bed of nails into a bed of roses, cobra into a flower-garland. In temptations, in despondency, in trials, in every mood and condition of mind, prayer affords the best relief, and if tried gives itself as the easiest means of transforming the entire inner nature and establishing a perfect mastery over the mind.
When the Divine Names are chanted and sung, a significant change takes place in the entire organism of the person chanting and singing. There is a twofold effect produced by the utterance of the Divine Name. The Mantra-sakti or the power generated by the juxtaposition of the letters of the Mantra and by the utterance of the same sets the whole nervous system of the person in vibration, a vibration which brings about rhythm, harmony and equilibrium in it. When the system is in such a harmonised state, the breath, too, flows rhythmically and the mind rests in a state of tranquillity. It is in this peaceful state of the mind that the divine consciousness is reflected and the supernal joy of the Eternal is experienced. Secondly the idea of the Divine being generated in the mind at the time of the repetition of the Name gives a direct fillip to the mind in its attempt to unite itself with the Divine Being.
The nervous system is in a state of perfect harmony when the vibration produced by the chanting of the divine Name pervades it with a force of integration. The Divine Name is not merely a sound; it is a force which can overcome all the distractive forces in the human system and render it pure and make it fit for the experience of Sattva, the highly transparent medium through which the Immortal Being is reflected.
The chemical components of different articles of food, vibrate at varying rates. The intake of certain foods set up discordant vibrations in the physical body, throws the mind-stuff into a state of restlessness and disequilibrium, renders the very living of spiritual life, difficult. Mind-control is made an easy affair by strict regulation of food.
The human mind refuses to surrender its inveterate habits and gross limitations, unless battered by circumstances and brought into the disciplines of suffering. Comfort and coziness settle the mind in lazy complacency. Stress and strain stir its powers; suffering and sorrow render it sensitive to the higher realities that never fail it. Pain and privation purify the heart, develop will-power and discipline the entire nature; they aid the mind examine itself, take an inventory of its resources, and establish a mastery over its own weaknesses.
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