Post by Amritha Varshini on Sept 8, 2014 18:11:39 GMT 5.5
Controlling the Mind - Bhagavan Ramana's Answer
This happened during the early Skandasramam days.
Sri Bhagavan is seated in his usual place on one side of the verandah. Sri Easwara Sami is seated nearby. Sri Kavyakanthan Ganapathi Muni is little distance away while G. Venkatramier is seated near him.
Venktramiyer addressed Bhagavan thus: “Whichever way one turns, one finds that the mind has to be subdued. We are told it has to be controlled. Can this really be done when on the one hand the mind is an entity not easily grasped and on the other one continues to have worldly worries?”
Kavyakantha moved his hand slightly towards Venkatramiyer as if registering surprise that he should have chosen to enquire about something quite general.
Sri Bhagavan remained silent for a while and then said, “Hmm. A person who has never seen an ocean must make a trip to it to know about it. Standing there before the huge expanse of water, this person may wish to bathe in the sea. Of what use is it if, seeing the roaring and rolling of the waves, he were to just stand there thinking, “I shall wait for all this to subside. When it does, I shall enter it for a quiet bathe just as in the pond back home?” He has to realize either by himself or by being told, that the ocean is restlessness and that it has been so from the moment of Creation and will continue likewise till Pralaya (destruction). He will then resolve to learn to bathe in it, as it is. He may wade into it by and by, and perhaps, through prior instruction, learn to duck under a wave and let it pass over him. He would naturally hold his breath while doing so. Soon he would be skilled enough to duck, at a stretch, wave after wave, and thus achieve the purpose of bathing without coming to grief. The ocean may go on and though in it, he is free from its grip.
Bhagavan then added, after a pause, “So too here”.
[Extract form The Mountain Path May-June, 1989]
Courtesy – Direct Path published by Ramana Kendra, New Delhi