Question: What is the purpose of controlling the mind and how can it be done?
Answer: The mind is flickering and easily influencable. People know that and make use of it, knowingly or unknowingly. For example, people dress to look nice and make a certain impression in the mind of other persons. Advertising experts use it to influence people to buy products by creating images and familiarities in their minds, and magicians use it to create specific illusions in people's minds.
Our mind constantly suggests us what to do, what to get and what to wish for. Thus, without controlling the mind it will always come up with more and more suggestions and wishes, thus we will never become satisfied. If we do not control our mind we are like prisoners, tied up to this material world, running after temporal pleasures. For example, sometimes people do things that are actually unreasonable, or buy something of little importance, not really being conscious about what they are doing.
But how can we control our mind to become free from that entangled situation?
The Bhagavad Gita tells us that the mind is our enemy if it is uncontrolled but it is our best friend if we control it. That is because only by controlling the mind it is possible to transcend the material limits and make spiritual progress. Wealth, fame and sexual attractions are the three prominent types of lust that keep us in that material condition. They are the source of most of the problems we have to face in our lives. So, if we follow this kind of attractions without restrictions, the mind is our enemy, whereas by regulating them, the mind will become our best friend.
Some persons seem to have control over their mind and in some way they also seem to have some control over the mind of others, like magicians. Those mystic powers will not help us to overcome our material deficiencies. Rather, they serve the purpose of incrementing our wishes and false ego even more. The presence of authority in our lives is what helps us to control our mind. The mind is looking for direction. Because authority always stays in a fixed position, while the nature of the mind is flickering. The highest authority is God. But in our present condition we do not have a close connection with God. Therefore we have to find a representative of God, a spiritual master, as an authority in our live. A spiritual master will guide us towards an elevated life because he can see things without disturbance of the mind and egotistic motives. Without the acceptance of a wellwishing authority we will accept false authorities and stay confused.
Srila Prabhupada said that it is possible to control the mind if we engage it in devotional service. If we become enthusiastic about something, then suddenly the mind starts cooperating and does not disturb anymore. Such animation can be found if we connect our mind and our heart with the purpose of our existence.
The mind wants to be engaged in something devotional. It becomes happy if it is making plans how to serve Krishna. But certainly one becomes easily distracted from this state of consciousness and starts to justify one's actions, searching the difficulty in others. Therefore we have to understand the mechanism of the mind.
The mind is part of our subtle material body, which consists of mind, intelligence and the false ego. But we, our true self, is different. The soul is of spiritual nature. So by serving the desires of the mind and the body, we become materially conditioned. By serving the needs of the soul we will become free from this entanglement. A spiritual master will show us how to do that.
A great part of yoga deals with controlling the mind. It is not easy, but if the heart is conquered, the mind will follow automatically. So, inspiration is a vital part of spiritual life.
A great help to control the mind comes from chanting mantras. The word 'mantra' itself consists of the two syllables 'man' and 'tra'. 'Man' comes from 'manah', meaning mind, and 'tra' comes from 'trayate', meaning liberation. So, mantras are destined to help us to control our mind.
The hare krsna maha mantra, Hare Krsna Hare Krsna Krsna Krsna Hare Hare Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare, is called the great mantra because it directly connects us with the supreme platform and automatically helps us to fix our mind.
The highest form of mind control is to engage it in devotional service of the Lord by rendering service to a spiritual master. This process will reveal the highest goal of life to us.