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The Mind: A Wild Horse to be Tamed with Love

A spiritual discourse on controlling the mind and the aim of human life.

"Yogīs and yatīs strive hard. They strive hard to create a beautiful garden of spirituality."

"The king is the ātmā. The wild horse is the mind. The trainer is our viveka, our discriminating intellect."

The lecturer continues a series of talks from India, focusing on self-realization as the singular aim of life. He explains the unruly nature of the mind, comparing it to a wild horse or a destructive monkey, and discusses the integrated practices of yoga, tantra, yantra, and mantra. Using parables, teachings from the Bhagavad Gītā, and devotional songs, he advises on taming the mind with patient love and discernment, warning against ambition, ego, and the deceptions of the world.

Filming location: Jadan, Rajasthan, India

Śrī Dīp Nārāyaṇ Bhagavān Kī Jai! Śrī Śrī Dev Puruṣa Mahādeva Kī Jai! Dharam Samrat Satguru Swami Madhavānandjī Bhagavān Kī Jai! Sat Tishnātan Dharma Kī Jai! Om Śāntiḥ Śāntiḥ Śāntiḥ! Blessed selves, dear spiritual seekers, practitioners of yoga and life, welcome to you all from the Holy Land of India. For the last four days, our subject has been the aim of human life. That aim is singular: Ātmā-Jñāna, Sākṣāt-Kāra, Self-Realization. The path to it is through seva, bhakti, tyāga, tapasyā, and vairāgya. This journey requires dedication and an understanding of our instruments: the jñānendriyas, karmendriyas, and the mind. The mind is mighty. Many complain they cannot control it, and it is true—the mind often does not follow our instructions. That is why we must practice yoga in daily life. The mind is compared to a monkey. As our beloved Holy Gurujī said in a bhajan: "Oh, my brothers, this mind is very stupid. This mind is uneducated. Anādi means having no talents and not being educated. Samājayoṁ samājat nahīṁ. Very often I try to explain to my mind, but it doesn’t understand." Contrarily, "Yogī, yatī, kohī mehnat karke bove, bhajan kī badī." Yogīs and yatīs strive hard. A 'yatī' is not an animal like a bear. Decades ago, an Austrian climber claimed to see a Yeti in the Annapurna mountains, describing it as a bear. Years later, he admitted it was a joke for fame. I once clarified at a forum: a Yatī is not an animal; it is a human, a yogī. 'Yatana' means one who is trying, practicing, often engaged in Tāntric sādhana. Tantric sādhana is deeply misunderstood in the West. It is not what many presume. Tantra encompasses how to cook, clean, eat, and garden. 'Tan' means to expand, and 'tra' means liberation. Thus, Tantra is to expand your consciousness and liberate yourself. But your consciousness cannot expand if you are a narrow, one-sided thinker. The practice requires an open mind and free thinking. Where sunlight reaches, darkness cannot persist. Similarly, one must reach a point of clear consciousness and a pure heart. However, so-called yogīs with high ambitions but polluted consciousness often fail. They become confused, like the fox that tries to eat grapes hanging too high. After repeated failures, the fox declares the grapes sour. Likewise, those with high ambition but a narrow, polluted mind cannot achieve liberation. There is yantra, mantra, tantra, jantra, chakra, and Kuṇḍalinī. A yantra is a precise geometric design; its measured angles influence energies, as in Vastu Śāstra. There are Gāyatrī Yantra, Śrī Yantra, and many others. The yantra purifies energy. Without yantra, there is no tantra; without mantra, there is no tantra. It is an integrated practice of yantra, mantra, tantra, and jantra. Yatīs often belong to Jain traditions. It was a joke to call a yeti a bear. "Yogī, yatī, koi mehnat karke bove bhajan ki badi." They strive hard to create a beautiful garden of spirituality—a garden where devotees enjoy bhajan, meditation, and fellowship. Such a yogī turns the human into the divine. But the mind is a monkey, a cruel harāmī. "Palame badi bigadi"—in no time, it destroys that beautiful spiritual garden. If you do not practice daily and are full of ambition and ego without achievement, you destroy your own spiritual work. You must first destroy yourself to destroy others, like a bomb that destroys itself upon explosion. In the Bhagavad Gītā, on the battlefield of Kurukṣetra, Arjuna argued that killing sinners would incur sin. Śrī Kṛṣṇa replied that to remove sin is a duty, not a sin. He told Arjuna that these warriors had already killed themselves inwardly; their viveka, knowledge, and love were dead. Their bodies were merely running on momentum, heading for a black hole. It was better for them to die by Arjuna's hand for a chance at a better future. Our ten indriyas—five jñānendriyas and five karmendriyas—are like ten horses. The mind is the mighty elephant driving them. Like Rāvaṇa, who could hold ten elephants in his hands, an uncontrolled mind holds all your energies. If the mind is not controlled, it pulls you astray and destroys you. How then to control it? There is a parable of a king who owned a beautiful but wild horse. No rider could tame it. Many tried and were injured. A wise man approached the king, asking for no reward but the pleasure of serving. He requested a few months. People laughed, but the king agreed. The man simply followed the horse everywhere, maintaining a distance, accompanying it without force. He sat where it drank, slept where it rested. Slowly, he came closer. He then began offering it green grass from his hand. Over two months, the horse grew to trust him, eating from his hand, resting beside him, and accepting his touch. Eventually, the man placed his cloth on its back and, with love and patience, trained it to be ridden. When the king asked his secret, the man replied, "I did nothing. I only loved him. I was there for him." The king is the ātmā. The wild horse is the mind. The trainer is our viveka, our discriminating intellect. Similarly, observe your mind. Do not force it. Look upon it with kindness. Do not feed it negativity or let it be forced by others. Yogīs and sādhakas, through discipline, create an inner spiritual garden. Yet this stupid mind can suddenly bring negative thoughts and destroy all that work. As the bhajan says: "O siyāra rehnabande... be careful, my friend. Don’t let it cheat you." This world is a city of cheaters who deceive with sweet words. Often, a yogī is cheated by so-called friends and later feels sorrow. Another saying offers wisdom: "Better to be cheated than to cheat." "Thaggījne me balā hai, thaggīne me balā nahī. Thaggīne vālā kuch samayte khuś rehtā hai, lekin unko karma kā daṇḍ bhognā paḍtā hai." The cheater may be happy for a while but must bear the karmic consequences. The one cheated is seen as humble and kind, and does not incur bad karma. The warning is: "O siyāra rehnabande... be careful. Na jānā bhūl thakā ke." Do not forget and fail by falling into negativity, backbiting, criticism, and sin. Do not fall into darkness. Be alert regarding your mind and senses. This body itself can be a cheat. We are stuck because we have lost the aim of human life. You are the king (nagarika rājā) of the city of your body. The treasury is your potential, and the citizens are your mind and senses. Will you be their king or their slave? Realize the ātmā; that is the purpose of this precious human life. Do not let the body and its deceptions distract you. We often get lost in parpañca—petty conflicts: "I am right, you are wrong," complaints about work, cooking, or shouting. You were not born for this. If you reside within, giving up all likes and dislikes, you become nirāvaheda (undisturbed). When an elephant walks through the street and dogs bark, the elephant is not frightened like a rabbit. The dogs bark but dare not come near. Let the dogs bark; do not be a fearful 'Angsthase' (a German term for a coward). Do not be anxious over every little thing. As the teaching goes: "Nirvairā ho, niśaṅkh... cintā mat karnā." Be without enmity, without fear. "Jiski rakshakarta Rām, kisi se nai, kisi se nai marnā." For one whose protector is Rām, there is no fear of anyone. "Sadā rahe ānand liyā guru śaraṇa." Always remain in bliss, having taken refuge in the Guru. A person eating something sweet knows its taste intimately, even if they cannot speak of it. Similarly, we must know our aim and destination clearly: the spiritual purpose of life, encompassing this life and beyond. We will continue this discussion in the next webcast. Please join us again. For today, this is enough. I wish you all the best and the blessings of Guru Dev. Aum Aum. Śānti, Śānti,... Hari Om, Śrī Dīp Nārāyaṇ Bhagavān Kī Jai.

This text is transcribed and grammar corrected by AI. If in doubt what was actually said in the recording, use the transcript to double click the desired cue. This will position the recording in most cases just before the sentence is uttered.

The text contains hyperlinks in bold to three authoritative books on yoga, written by humans, to clarify the context of the lecture:

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