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Master your mind

A spiritual discourse on mastering the mind through friendship and observation, illustrated by parables.

"You are coming to me because you are the slave of my slave."

"Our mind is like a horse, a wild horse. If you try to catch it with violence and force, it will harm you and can even kill you."

The speaker narrates two stories: first, a yogi explains to a king that he is enslaved by his own mind; second, a trainer patiently befriends a wild horse to master it. He uses these analogies to teach that the mind cannot be controlled by force but must be gently observed and guided through techniques like self-inquiry and positive thinking, a process that requires time and grace.

Recording location: Czech Republic, Strilky, Summer seminar

Oṃ Namaḥ Śivāya, Viśva, Mā, Deva, Kī, Jān, Dīp Nārāyaṇa, Bhagavān, Kī, Jān. The human mind is very mighty. There is a small story. A saint, a yogī, came to a village, and all the people went for his darśan. The king of that village also went. Every day people attended the satsaṅg, and he went too. One day the king posed a question: "Can you tell me why I am coming to you? I am a king. I have everything. I am missing nothing. But still I come to you. 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 to hear this. He said, "Sir, I am not a slave of anyone; I am the king." The yogī replied, "I know that you are a king, but still you are the slave of my slave." "Then please tell me," asked the king, "who is your slave, that I am his slave?" The yogī said, "My slave is the mind, and you are the slave of the mind." Now do you understand? Are you the king, or are you the slave of the mind? 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 in us. All our sufferings are connected to the mind. "Mano mātra jagataḥ"—this world is created out of the mind. We cannot run away from the mind; we should master the mind. 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 mamatā, the longing, is still there. If you can remove the longing, these desires, then you can win over your mind. Then you can win over the mind. Why is the mamatā not removed or killed? Why have you not gotten rid of that mamatā, that longing? Because āśā and kṛṣṇā, the longing and the suffering for longing, these are also supporters of your desires. Because longing and even the suffering from longing supports your desires. "Marmar gayā śarīr"—the body died. Often the body will die, but this mind will not die. These desires, longing, suffering for it, that will go with you with your astral body. So this longing and desires, we have also in the astral world. Only we don't have the 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. Now he's grown, became so wild that no one could catch him and no one could ride him. They were not able to train him. Many experts, riders, came and they sat on his back, and within seconds they were on the ground. So the farmer offered a prize: if anyone could train this horse, they would get this much prize. One man came from another village and he said, "I will train your horse." Many villagers were somewhere laughing, somewhere unhappy; they were sorry for that young man. They knew that very soon he would break his bones and spinal column because hundreds of riders had tried to train that horse. "Give me time," the man said. The farmer said, "Okay. There is a horse in the field, and we wish that you will one day ride him, and we can ride him too." So the man went to the horse. About thirty meters away, he was sitting there, doing nothing. Wherever the horse moved, he moved behind. For one week, he did like this. The horse got some confidence. Day and night, he was around the horse somewhere. He didn't disturb the horse at all. After one week, he tried to bring some nice grass and just threw it somewhere near the horse. The horse came and ate. The man didn't pay attention, so that the horse should not feel that he was trying to make a trick to catch him. After ten days, when the man went to get some nice grass, the horse went behind him. So he took the grass and just threw it. He went to the other side, and the horse went away. He went behind the horse. Likewise, for one month. Now it has happened that whenever he wanted to bring some nice grass, the horse ran there and took it from his hand. And so it gradually happened that over the month, whenever he brought that good grass for the horse, the horse would come to him and eat from his hand. They became good friends. They became good friends. When the horse used to go somewhere, he would go behind it, and when the man used to go somewhere, the horse would go behind him. When the horse wanted to go somewhere, the man would go behind it, and when the man went somewhere, the horse would go behind him. When he was sitting under the tree, the horse used to come to him and stand beside him. Likewise, he won the confidence of the horse. And he made the horse such a good friend. So the horse let him do whatever he wanted to do. So the horse let him do whatever he wanted. So slowly, slowly, he was holding the horse in his arms and massaging its back. He massaged its back. Sometimes he used to lean on the horse. And likewise, he sat on the horse. And the horse was happy, nothing happened. It took him three months to become a perfect good friend of the horse and begin to ride it, and he became the master of that horse. So our mind is like a horse, a wild horse. If you try to run behind it, it can run much quicker than you. If you try to catch it, you can't catch it. And if you try to catch it with force and do something, it will kill you. It will damage you. If you try to catch it with violence and force, it will harm you and can even kill you. Therefore, we should not force our mind into anything. Observe it. Gradually, slowly. Until you are able to control it. It will take time. In the case of the horse, it took three months. In our case, it may take three decades. That's not very much. It's very quick. Or three years. It depends on how you will 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. Just you should 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," then the mind is like a river. You can't block the river, you can't stop the river, but you can give some direction to the river. And so we cannot stop the mind, we can give direction to our mind. That direction, which direction we want to lead the mind. So the mind is a very mighty process. And this mind has killed humanity. Many wars, many fights, many cheats, many businesses, many things, they are all through 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, free thinking. And we need the Gurū Kṛpā. We need the mercy of the Lord, that through this mercy we will be able to guide and master our mind. So you shall do it yourself to master your mind. Recording location: Czech Republic, Strilky, Summer seminar

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.

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