Four levels at which the mind can mislead us

Four levels at which the mind can mislead us – The Bhagavad Gita 6.34 describes four characteristics of the mind that make it so difficult to manage. These four descriptors have been explained in different ways by various commentators. One way to understand them is to see them as describing four levels at which the mind can work against us, with each level being worse than the previous one.

These four levels can be described as mischievous, mendacious, malicious, and monstrous. Let’s look at these one by one.

Mischievous: This correlates with the Gita’s description of the mind as chanchala, or restless, wherein, like a child, it distracts us from things that are consequential to things that are inconsequential, from serious matters to frivolous ones, from things that matter to things that simply glitter. We frequently experience this feature of our mind whenever we try to focus on something important, such as studying or participating in a meeting, only for our attention to slip away to something of far lesser importance.

Mendacious: This level correlates with the Bhagavad Gita’s description of the mind as pramathi, which refers to it being mad or disconnected from reality. When the mind degenerates to this level, it starts making us believe that the unreal is real. Thus misled, we may get carried away by the mind’s promises of immediate and immense pleasure in particular indulgences, such as intoxication or something seemingly innocuous like the dopamine hit from scrolling on our phone for something titillating.

The pleasure from such things is often fleeting and minimal, yet the mind at this level may paralyze us with fear by painting dystopian scenarios about what could go wrong in the future, even when such fears are largely unfounded. This is the level at which mental health problems may start to surface.

Malicious: The third level is when the mind becomes malicious. This correlates with the Gita’s description of the mind as balavad (strong), which in this context can be seen as referring to the strength of its intention to harm us. While mischievous and mendacious actions can both be harmful, they might occur simply as pranks, without an actual intention to harm. Once the mind becomes malicious, however, it degenerates from being a mere troublemaker to being a downright enemy.

At this level, the mind impels us to actions that are self-destructive, sometimes even to the point of harming our body by urging us not just to consume drinks or drugs, but to consume them to a degree that could be lethal or even fatal. When the mind has become malicious, it means that some impurity, such as lust, anger, or greed, has become not just a prominent presence in the mind but the ruling reality of the mind. This level requires extreme caution, as individuals whose minds have transmogrified to such a degree may need to be carefully watched to prevent self-harm or harm to others.

Monstrous: The last and worst level to which the mind can degenerate is when it becomes monstrous. This level correlates with the Gita’s description of the mind as drudham (determined), with the unmistakably negative connotation of being stubborn or obstinate, specifically implying that the mind is on a mission to relentlessly and remorselessly destroy us.

While a malicious person may be satisfied with harming us once, a monstrous person will seek to keep harming us until we are utterly destroyed. When the mind becomes monstrous, it can drive individuals to make repeated attempts to destroy themselves, possibly requiring them to be under constant suicide watch, or it may lead them to remorselessly and callously harm others, almost as if in play. Such people may become sociopaths or psychopaths whose minds have become so monstrous that they have eclipsed, even eradicated, their conscience, becoming a menace to society that must be forcibly restrained.

Thankfully, for most of us, our mind rarely degenerates to the level of being monstrous, though it may sometimes become malicious. By understanding that these increasingly dangerous levels of the mind are facilitated and even fueled by the increasing presence of impurities within, we can stay on guard to prevent both the external perceptions and the internal contemplations that allow these impurities to grow disproportionately and dangerously.

Beyond avoiding the impure, if we try to focus the mind on the pure, especially the all-pure divine reality, Krishna, the mind can become increasingly purged of whatever impurities may be present. It can thus decrease being an enemy and start being a friend, as recommended in the Bhagavad Gita 6.5–6.

Summary:

• Our mind can be mischievous, distracting us from the serious with the frivolous, or even mendacious, making the untrue seem true and misdirecting or perverting our energies and efforts.
• The mind can further degenerate into becoming malicious, where it is driven by an agenda to harm us, or even monstrous, becoming a relentless enemy and making us dangerously self-destructive, as in the case of those committing suicide, or dangerously destructive, as in the case of sociopaths or psychopaths.
• The more we contemplate the impure, the worse our mind’s misleading influence becomes; the more we contemplate the pure, the more the mind changes from being an enemy to becoming a friend.

Think it over:

• Recollect an incident where the mind degenerated from mischievous to mendacious, misleading you to increasing degrees.
• Recall an incident when your mind became malicious, impelling you to do things that were directly and dangerously harmful.
• Reflect on any instance where you saw someone’s mind turning monstrous through their monstrous actions—actions that normal people would shudder to do and that even they themselves would have normally shuddered to do.

***

06.34 The mind is restless, turbulent, obstinate and very strong, O Kṛṣṇa, and to subdue it, I think, is more difficult than controlling the wind.