Podcast details
Restless mind
To achieve peaceful meditation, understand and control the flow of sensory impressions into desires.
We have five senses of knowledge receiving impressions from the outer world. These impressions go from the conscious mind to the subconscious mind, where they are stored. When an impression goes deep into the subconscious, it becomes a desire. These desires then rise like smoke to the conscious mind. The mind is a function operating between the subconscious and consciousness; its duty is to retrieve stored information. The conscious mind is connected to the intellect, which judges and identifies these impressions, such as recognizing a smell. This identification can create a conscious desire. If unfulfilled, that desire returns to the subconscious. During sleep, the mind retrieves it, creating a dream to express it. The mind faithfully brings out whatever is stored inside. Therefore, to quiet the mind in meditation, you must control what enters it. Limit your needs and desires by not giving your senses too much freedom. Control the source of impressions, not the mind itself.
"Direct your mental power towards that particular aim. Try to limit your needs, limit your desires."
"Therefore, control the senses, not the mind."
Filming location: Australia
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:
- Yoga in Daily Life - The System
Paramhans Swami Maheshwarananda. Ibera Verlag, Vienna, 2000. ISBN 978-3-85052-000-3 - The Hidden Power in Humans - Chakras and Kundalini
Paramhans Swami Maheshwarananda. Ibera Verlag, Vienna, 2004. ISBN 978-3-85052-197-0 - Lila Amrit - The Divine Life of Sri Mahaprabhuji
Paramhans Swami Madhavananda. Int. Sri Deep Madhavananda Ashram Fellowship, Vienna, 1998. ISBN 3-85052-104-4
