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Om Namah Śivāya. Viśva, Maa, Deva, kī, jān. Dīpa Nārāyaṇa, Bhagavān, kī, jān. The human mind is very mighty. There is a small story. A saint, or a yogī, came to a village, and all the people went to have his darśan. The king of that village also went. Every day people attended the satsaṅg, and the king went too. One day, the king posed a question: "Can you tell me why I am coming to you? I am the king. I have everything; I am missing nothing. Yet still I come. What do you have that attracts me like a magnet?" The yogī said, "You are coming to me because you are the slave of my slave." The king was surprised. He said, "Sir, I am not a slave of anyone; I am the king." The yogī replied, "I know you are the king, but still you are a slave. Are you a slave, or are you the king? I am asking you personally. How far do you have your own decision or the willpower to say 'no' to your mind?" One cannot run away from the mind. The mind is a mighty process within us. All our sufferings are connected to it. Mano matra jagataḥ—this world is created out of the mind. We cannot run away from the mind; we should master it. The great saint Kabīr Dās said in a beautiful poem, "You have not killed or weaned your mind." Why couldn't you master your mind? Because the māmatā, the longing, is still there. If you can remove the longing, these desires, then you can win your mind. Why is the mamatā not removed or killed? Because Asā and Kṛṣṇa, the longing and the suffering for longing, are also supporters of your desires. Marmar gaya sharīr—the body died. Often, the body will die, but this mind will not die. These desires, the longing, the suffering for it, will go with you in your astral body. So this longing and these desires we also have in the astral world. Only, we do not have the physical body there. Therefore, how far can you control your mind? Controlling the mind does not mean to stop it. You can only control your mind if you are friendly with it. There is another story. In one village, a man had a horse. The horse was born in that farmer's house. They loved him so much they spoiled him. When he grew up, he became so wild that no one could catch him or ride him. They were unable to train him. Many expert riders came, sat on his back, and within seconds were thrown to the ground. So the farmer offered a prize: anyone who could train this horse would receive a reward. A man came from another village and said, "I will train your horse." Many villagers laughed; others were unhappy and felt sorry for the young man. They knew that very soon he would break his bones and spinal column, for hundreds of riders had tried. The man said, "Give me time." The farmer agreed, saying, "Okay. The horse is in the field. We wish that one day you will ride him, and we can ride him too." The man went to the horse, sitting about thirty meters away. He did nothing. Wherever the horse moved, he moved behind it. For one week he did this, so the horse gained some confidence. Day and night, he was around the horse somewhere, never disturbing it. After one week, he tried to bring some nice grass and just threw it near the horse. The horse came and ate. The man paid no attention, so the horse would not feel he was trying to trick it. After ten days, when the man went to get some nice grass, the horse followed him. He took the grass and threw it, then went to the other side, and the horse went away. He followed the horse. This continued for a month. It reached the point that whenever he brought nice grass, the horse ran to him and took it from his hand. They became good friends. When the horse went somewhere, the man followed; when the man went somewhere, the horse followed. When he sat under a tree, the horse would come and stand beside him. In this way, he won the horse's confidence and made it a good friend. He let the horse do whatever it wanted. Slowly, slowly, he began holding the horse in his arms and massaging its back. Sometimes he would lean on the horse. Eventually, he sat on the horse, and the horse was happy; nothing happened. It took him three months to become a perfect friend of the horse, begin to ride it, and become its master. Our mind is like a wild horse. If you try to run behind it, it can run much quicker than you. If you try to catch it, you cannot. If you try to catch it with force and do something, it will damage you; it can even kill you. Follow it. Gradually, slowly. In the case of the horse, it took three months. In our case, it may take three decades—that is not very much; it is very quick. Or three years. It depends on how you manage to do it. So, in the techniques of self-inquiry meditation, what do we say? Just observe your thoughts. Also, in Yoga Nidrā we say: if thoughts come, let them come; if they go, let them go. You should just know what you are thinking. What did you think? Why did you think? What should you think? Why should you think? Just analyze, follow your thoughts. In this way, we will be able to master our mind. Otherwise, if someone tries with force—"I will not think anymore, I will not think anymore"—it will not work. The mind is like a river. You cannot block the river; you cannot stop the river. But you can give some direction to the river. Similarly, we cannot stop the mind, but we can give direction to our mind. The direction we choose to lead the mind. So the mind is a very mighty process. And this mind has killed humanity. Many wars, many fights, many deceptions, many businesses—they are all products of the mind. There is a good process in the mind, and there is a bad process in the mind. So we can treat our mind through positive thinking, through tolerance, through free thinking. And we need the Guru's grace. We need the mercy of the Lord, for through this mercy we will be able to guide and master our mind. So you yourself shall do the work to master your mind.