Link to purport by A C Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupada

Transcript of Bhakti-Shastri class on this verse by Chaitanya

Now Arjuna will give one more graphic reason which tells his concerns, why he is saying mind is restless so that I cannot practice it which is described in the next verse 6.34

 

  • 33-37: Dealing with the mind, the main obstacle in yoga

 

Bg 6.34

cañcalaṁ hi manaḥ kṛṣṇa
pramāthi balavad dṛḍham
tasyāhaṁ nigrahaṁ manye
vāyor iva su-duṣkaram

Word for word: 

cañcalam — flickering; hi — certainly; manaḥ — mind; kṛṣṇa — O Kṛṣṇa; pramāthi — agitating; bala–vat — strong; dṛḍham — obstinate; tasya — its; aham — I; nigraham — subduing; manye — think; vāyoḥ — of the wind; iva — like; su–duṣkaram — difficult.

Translation: 

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

 

cañcalaṁ, the mind is restless, and then what kind of restless he is giving four kinds of serious describers, first one is cañcalaṁ, restless next is pramāthi, wild agitating, balavad is strong, and dṛḍham is obstinate.

Let us understand these to understand their distinctive implication.

cañcalaṁ is like a child cañcala we say child is restless cañcala, if mother will say child sit down here I will do some work, will the child sit down quietly, let me see what this toy is I will play with it let me go here and there, often restlessness leads to mischief and fun for the mother & father what my child is doing right now, and restlessness can also leads to occasional danger like child is seating on bed, falls off from bed, there may be little danger but mind is restless do 1st thing, 2nd thing, 3rd thing, 4th things…mind just goes everywhere trying to explore there is a childish curiosity is can be dangerous but often innocent, so Arjuna uses the first word is the mind just like an innocent child, is this childish nave curiosity alone, NO it is not like that it is one feature of the mind but what makes the mind dangerous is that is it not just like a child in curiosity it also like a bull in strength cañcalaṁ, pramāthi balavad dṛḍham, second describer is mad pramāthi is mad, Pramatha and Unmata is used in various places in scriptures, Matha is intoxicated, Pramathi is maddened over here, so it is agitated to point of being mad, when we talk about madness there are different levels of madness there are some people who are having some problems in brain because of which they are sent to mental hospitals, and they are completely disconnected from reality, they may say that I am President of India other may say I am president of America these sorts of statements indicates madness, people gets disconnected from reality and live in an illusory world, in that illusory world what thought will come to their mind and how they will act that nobody knows, so sometimes some mad people are dangerous, mad people can get any idea and act is any way. A child is not mad, child is just innocent, but here it is said mind is not just like a child it is Pramathi it is mad. 

We can see that we also go mad sometimes, for example a person may get obsessed by anger and the person starts speaking such crazy things, so anger is like temporary madness, temporally insanity when it covers over us we do such things speak such things we can’t conceive of doing such things at other times. So what makes us do it, it is just madness so Pramathi, mind is mad so it is restless in a dangerous sense. Two to three persons are required to control even an ordinary mad person, when he comes in his madness but imagine if the mad person is a big bully may be a boxing champion with huge muscles and if that person goes mad it is very-very difficult to control that person, so the mind is balavad, extremely powerful so in fact in 11th canto in the Avanti Brahmana Prayers there is a reference verse which says mind is god like power, it is very significant usages because when mind takes control of us it almost becomes Omni potent and as God’s command cannot be disobeyed, the mind’s command is it impossible to disobey, the mind’s God like power. It is so ferocious it is so irresistible in BG 10 chapter Sri Krishna will speak Indriyanam Manschasmi, among the senses I am the mind, so the mind represents supreme power of Sri Krishna. For all practical purposes we can say Maya is equivalent to the mind. Maya takes us away from Sri Krishna and more than external it is internal, in mind. So ontologically (which means in terms of existence, in terms of nature of reality) there is Maya Devi separately and she manifests in different ways, she is quite different from Mana, but for all practical purposes mind is maya it acts irrationally, self destructively, suicidal. Balavad with in material world Maya is Omni potent, Omni present, just like God. How is that? Maya knows our weaknesses. Krishna has given us free will and has given arena to work with our free will, this material world, so we can choose to either serve Krishna or maya like in a jail there is vigilance system by which jail knows where are prisoners and what they are doing so like that within the material world which is like a jail, Maya has the vigilance and may know everything, she has been given that power by Sri Krishna and because she knows everything she can be extremely dangerous for us, in the sense that maya can act through our mind and trap us. Maya’s goal is not to trap us but to promote us but the way it is done is through testing So Balavad, powerful. A powerful person can also act in a sensible way but here it is said that the mind is obstinate, dṛḍham, this word came earlier and it can be used in a positive sense, determination. But in this context it means obstinacy. Determination is something which is good, noble laudable, a person receives failure in doing something but still keep trying doing the same positive thing that is determination but obstinacy means when something is undesirable and a person should give that up and when get lot of lessons from different places, indicators, warning that one should give this up but one doesn’t give up that is called obstinacy, so we say that Ravan’s obstinacy in not giving up mother Sita, Ravana got so many warning so many cautions first of all he knew he did not have any protection from manavas he had already heard about the power of Lord Ram from various sources. So obstinacy is one keep going on wrong path despite so many warnings, demonstration etc. similarly Duryodhana has not paid any attention to the advices he has received from various sources. Which means when the mind gets attached to some idea, I want this enjoyment then the mind just doesn’t listen to anything else, No I want this come what may, I don’t care the mind gets hooked to a particular idea, it is obstinate so actually this combination of four things restlessness, madness, power and obstinacy, makes the mind extremely dangerous, so Arjuna is telling Krishna all these four are there and thus dealing with mind is impossible, so we have our worst enemy right inside us, mind is like a wind which blows of. It is interesting to see Shri Krishna has used metaphor to use wind in 6.19 yatha deepo nivas thao…as lamp kept in a windless stage does not flicker similarly the mind of the yogis is fixed on the self, there He has compared the wind with the material desires, in 6.18 also He said when mind is free from material desires it becomes peaceful. So here Arjuna is telling what to talk about no wind there is such a wind that it is irresistible. Compare a windless place with tornado, hurricane cyclone, the wind is so forceful that nothing can be done to check it. So Arjuna has said I have weapons which can stop the storms but none of these is effective on mind. Mind is impossible to control. Here Arjuna is expressing because whole process of astanga yoga is cantered around to control the mind. The mana and it equivalents has come so many times in this chapter. So now Arjuna’s question will be answered by Sri Krishna. Let us see how Sri Krishna answers the question.

 

Sril Prabupada is mentioning from Katho Upanisad about controlling the mind:

In the Vedic literature (Kaṭha Upaniṣad 1.3.3–4) it is said:

ātmānaṁ rathinaṁ viddhi
śarīraṁ ratham eva ca
buddhiṁ tu sārathiṁ viddhi
manaḥ pragraham eva ca

indriyāṇi hayān āhur
viṣayāṁs teṣu gocarān
ātmendriya-mano-yuktaṁ
bhoktety āhur manīṣiṇaḥ

“The individual is the passenger in the car of the material body, and intelligence is the driver. Mind is the driving instrument, and the senses are the horses. The self is thus the enjoyer or sufferer in the association of the mind and senses. So it is understood by great thinkers.” Intelligence is supposed to direct the mind, but the mind is so strong and obstinate that it often overcomes even one’s own intelligence, as an acute infection may surpass the efficacy of medicine. Such a strong mind is supposed to be controlled by the practice of yoga, but such practice is never practical for a worldly person like Arjuna. And what can we say of modern man? The simile used here is appropriate: one cannot capture the blowing wind. And it is even more difficult to capture the turbulent mind. The easiest way to control the mind, as suggested by Lord Chaitanya, is chanting “Hare Kṛṣṇa,” the great mantra for deliverance, in all humility. The method prescribed is sa vai manaḥ kṛṣṇa-padāravindayoḥ: one must engage one’s mind fully in Kṛṣṇa. Only then will there remain no other engagements to agitate the mind.

ātmānaṁ rathinaṁ viddhi, the soul is the Passenger in the chariot

śarīraṁ ratham eva ca, the body is like the chariot 

buddhiṁ tu sārathiṁ viddhi, the intelligence is like Sarathi, charioteer

manaḥ pragraham eva ca, pragraham is that which control, the reins that is mind.

indriyāṇi hayān āhur, senses are like horses

viṣayāṁs teṣu gocarān, sense objects are the things towards which horses wants to run, senses want to run,

ātmendriya-mano-yuktaṁ, the soul equipped with mind and senses
bhoktety āhur manīṣiṇaḥ, those who has conquered the mind, those who are seers, the seers give this metaphor, what is this metaphor? It is understood by great thinkers and what do they understand? ātmendriya-mano-yuktaṁ, the soul equipped with mind and senses that atama is yuktaṁ by mana and indriya and mana, bhoktety, the soul try to enjoy the senses, of course sometimes the soul gets enjoyment but most of the time soul gets suffering, 

So here it is very difficult to control the mind, the chariot body metaphor is given we will see how chariot body metaphor is developed in BG later, now let us look at Sri Krishna’s answer.

So Sri Krishna first emphasises with Arjuna, and first He says Yes, Arjuna it is difficult to control the mind, but it is possible let me describe to you how it is possible.

So when the disciple expresses the doubt there has to be some sympathy, I can’t do it suppose somebody says I get angry soon, WHAT you are chanting from 10 YEARS and still you get angry you are FALLEN SOUL….We cannot give responses which hurts people, ultimately the response should be encouraging and have to be empathetic, which means we understand their position, sympathy means I am at higher level and I am showing sympathy but empathy means I come down to your level, when we are talking to children in order to come to their level we kneel down to sit down, if while talking they have to look up that it self creates discomfort, so best is come down to their level and talk to them, our philosophy is lofty but for new people we have to bring it down to their level, help them understand at their level how they can practice, initially we come down to children’s level but they are also growing similarly people would be growing when they grow up their level also increases.

End of transcription.