How To Handle Mind For Success And Happiness

Son of a rich man committed suicide after a failure in his business . A student killed himself after an unexpected failure in his exam . A slum boy became a famous author . The daughter of a rickshaw puller became an  IAS officer . One of the two sons of Mr. Sharma is a teacher but another has become an alcoholic and a source of troubles to his family . Often we have seen that a single event has different effects on different people. The same event can encourage a person but discourage another .In a classroom some students are attentive and meritorious but some others are dull and restless. What makes the difference ? Isn't it the mind ? How does mind play its role in shaping the personalities  of people ?

It's a proven fact that it's the mind which makes all the difference. All of us do have it but very few know it . Very few still  are aware of its role in our day to day life . It's a powerful tool which should be handled with care or it can play havoc very easily. But its proper handling needs the knowledge of its structure and functioning more than the sheer willingness. Once we understand what it is made up of , how it functions and how to take charge of it , 99.9 % of our problems will go away . Imagine what can happen if a sharp knife is given to a child ! Come on ,let us understand it .

There are five states of mind .

1. Moodha state  - When the mind is dull and lazy . Like in drowsiness and on Sundays
2. Kshipta state - Restless , thoughtless . Occupied with the activities only . No sense of purpose and mindfulness.
3. Vikshipta state - Occupied with some special goal and activity . Scientists , philosophers , professionals  , scholars are examples.
4. Ekagra state - Focussed and concentrated mind  . With larger attention span.
5. Niruddha state - Complete control over mind . When we can handle our attention at our will .

Control is the key to development .
The greater control we have on our mind , the higher we have the chance of  development and evolution . Even the animals can be trained to acquire control over their mind by their trainers .it is seen in circuses , police and military .Also their poor mental control is used against them in trapping and hunting them . It is a mark of evolution in human beings.

Controlled instinct becomes reason. Reason under control becomes inspiration . Inspiration under control becomes realization.

Understand the mind

So it is clear that the control of mind is the key to success . However before knowing how to get that control we must understand the mind itself. According to Yogic psychology mind is the flitting thoughts on awareness . The thoughts manifest in many forms such as emotions, drives, impulses, attitude, etc. In order to control the mind, the control of thoughts is a must . What decide the content of mind ? These things can be categorized in three groups based on the three inlets which are their entrances.

There are three inlets to mind .

1 - Five senses - sight , hearing, smell ,taste, touch . The sense exposure to different objects decide, in great measure ,our thought world . So the first step is to have a conscious control of  senses .

2- Activities - Our activities create deeper impressions on mind which go beyond the conscious layer . So conscious control of our activities is the second step .

3- Memory - Every past experiences are stored as impressions on mind . They form tendencies or samskara . They reside in the subconscious and timely surface as memory on the conscious mind . The conscious mind may forget the long past events but the subconscious mind remembers everything . Even cells keep the genetic memory . Look , even if we haven't seen our great grandfather or grandmother , their memory is retained by our body in various forms , like a resembling nose or resembling eyes or a chin .

A Closer View Of The Mental World
Now let's have a closer look on the mental world . There are two important terms to know . Vritti and pratyaya .

1- vritti - It means mental fluctuations . 

2- pratyaya - It means thought .

An ordinary mind is characterized by unstable vrittis and dissimilar pratyayas .A focused mind is characterized by a stable vritti and dissimilar pratyayas . A concentrated mind has stable vritti and similar pratyay . Non fluctuating vritti rising and falling at the same point with same pratyay is the characteristic of a meditative mind .

Attention Creates The Wonderful Difference Among People

A concentrated mind is the result of a high degree of attention. Through the power of attention we can acquire a concentrated mind . Attention is our own property. We become conscious of only that thing we pay attention to . It is our attention which maintains the stability of our vrittis and decides our pratyay . Attention is a steady beam of our consciousness generated by our will . It is totally in our hands to direct it to some point and maintain its stability there. Attention has two undercurrents , awareness and will . The first requirement is our willingness . If we  want , we shall become aware . Then we have to maintain this state of awareness deliberately .

A concentrated mind can do wonders while a scattered mind is  not of much use . As a concentrated beam of light can perform many miraculous and wonderful activities like surgery, cinema , cutting stones etc. , the concentrated mind also can be made to do desired work in a more successful way . When the scattered light of the sun is concentrated through a special kind of glass , we have seen in our school days , its heat increases multiple times and it can  even burn a piece of paper very easily.

A Focussed Mind Is The Key To All Success . How To Acquire Control Over Our Minds ?

Thus it is indisputable that we should strive to have the required power of attention which will pave the way to our development as a truly aware and evolved human being. In its process, having understood the way how the mind functions and what it consists of , we should diligently set aside a few minutes daily for its practice . The practice may include any of the various methods prescribed in our scriptures or by an able teacher . One of the most powerful methods is to watch the movement of our thoughts and to  try to remain detached from them . At the same time we should feel our true identity as an awareness completely different from the thoughts, scenes, feelings etc .

It has the power to fill our life with perennial and boundless happiness. And the happiest part of it is that it is possible and that too takes only two things which we already possess : awareness and will . We are just a wish away from our life goal , bliss . Isn't it we are all looking for ? So what are we waiting for ? Come on . Let's attain it .