Through meditation and practices like pranayama, one can anchor the wandering mind
Long ago, there lived an old farmer who was barely productive. Day after day, he would sit on the porch and gaze at the farmland as his son toiled hard and cultivated the land. Seeing his father unemployed frustrated the son. Finally, he gave in to the obnoxious thoughts in his mind and decided to nail his father in a coffin and throw him off a cliff. As he was about to do so, he heard a knock from inside the coffin. The startled son opened the coffin and saw his father sleeping peacefully in it, and remarked, “Throw me if you want, but save the wood of the coffin for your dire times.”
The old man was mindful and aware. The ungrateful son had a galloping mind. ‘Vitrushnasya vashikara sajana vairagyam’ is an aphorism in Sanskrit that implies that a mind that gallops is an obstruction in itself.
We hear from fellow meditators that they experienced bliss, or saw a shimmering light, and felt that they could observe some celestial beings holding and touching them during the process of meditation. And then the mind starts wandering and galloping. Meditation happens very naturally, like a person brushing his teeth or undertaking his daily chores. The human mind, which is free from feverish desires, cravings, illusions and dreams attains poise. Lord Krishna says in the Bhagavad Gita, “You cannot get into yoga (union with self) unless you drop the hankering for desires in you.”
A former colleague who retired recently mentioned during our morning walks that he was unable to sleep or rest peacefully as his mind was cannonaded with innumerable thoughts, worries and anxieties. If 80 per cent efficacious events transpired in our lives and there were 20 per cent unwelcome situations, the mind focuses on the 20 per cent. A mind that gallops is never grateful nor counts its blessings. Such a mind becomes fossilised, is full of anger and continues living in the events of the past. It suffers from attitudinal problems and great lack. A person with such tendencies should realise and pause to think that everything in life is transitory and ephemeral. The hope of spring is replaced by the simmering heat of the summer, followed by welcome rains in the monsoons, which the dry lands ache for. Autumn provides us with opportunities and then winter makes out a balance sheet of the assets and liabilities of work done and those not undertaken. A wandering mind is akin to a pendulum, swinging between daydreaming and wishful thinking, consequently landing in mediocrity and unproductive activity.
The retired colleague probed further as to whether meditation or reading would assist the mind in composing itself for a good night’s rest or sleep. It is indeed a paradoxical situation. The mind needs to be occupied and yet be free from cravings so that it does not gallop or wander. This trait or quality can be cultivated only through the practice of vairagya or dispassion. The ‘I’ factor in the mind lives in the past or future. Instead of being a repetitive parrot, it needs to reinvent and reengineer its configuration and layout. Freshness ignites a spark for providing a new trajectory or direction in life. Politeness makes the mind humble and is propelled out of its closet to learn and it becomes contemporary to acquire skills hitherto not tried. When challenged, the mind slowly but surely stops galloping and regains composure. By practising pranayama, breathing techniques, yoga and pursuing knowledge over a period, the mind stops galloping, regains its alacrity and glides into a space of dispassionate meditation and joyous living.
(The writer is the CEO of Chhattisgarh East Railway Ltd. and Chhattisgarh East West Railway Ltd. He is a faculty of the Art of Living; views are personal)
