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# 2021-12-27 - Self-control by Swami Abhedānanda
Every religion can be divided into two parts, one of which may be
called the non-essential [exoteric] and the other the essential
[esoteric]. Doctrines, dogmas, rituals, ceremonies, and mythologies
of all the organized religious creeds come under the head of the
non-essential. It is not meant by this that they are useless; on the
contrary, the very fact of their existence proves that they are
helpful and necessary at certain stages of progress. What I mean is,
that it cannot be said that they are absolutely necessary for making
one live a purely spiritual life. A man or a woman may be highly
spiritual without performing any of the rituals and ceremonies
ordained, either by the scriptures of the world, or by any religious
hierarchy. A man or a woman may be truly religious without believing
in any creed, doctrine, dogma, or mythology. Those who think that
these non-essentials are indispensable for attaining to the ultimate
goal of religion, have not yet grasped the fundamental principles
that underlie all religions; they mistake the non-essential for the
essential; they cannot discriminate the one from the other; they lack
the insight of spiritual illumination. Those who understand the
essentials of religion and strictly follow them in their every-day
life do not disturb themselves about the non-essentials, these simple
and sincere souls alone reach the goal of religion by the shortest
way possible.
The essentials of religion are principally two: Self-knowledge and
Self-control. Self-knowledge means knowledge of the higher Self, the
divine nature of man; and self-control is the restraint of the lower
self or selfish nature. True knowledge of the divine Self comes when
the lower self is subdued. In ancient times, Greek philosophers
understood these two as the essentials of religion, therefore over
the temple entrance at Delphi the phrase "Know Thyself" was so
conspicuously engraven. Heraclitus, the ancient Greek philosopher,
interpreted this motto, saving: "It behooves all men to know
themselves and to exercise self-control"
In India, the ancient Seers of Truth understood the essential part of
religion so well that they tried their best to keep it separate from
the non-essential part of the popular religion of the masses. The
result of such attempts was the discovery of the system of Yoga. The
system of Yoga deals entirely with the essentials of religion; it
does not teach any dogma, creed, ritual, ceremony, or mythology. Its
main object is to teach mankind the different methods of attaining
the knowledge of the true Self, and the practice of self-control. A
true Yogi is one who has perfect control over himself [or herself],
and who has acquired self-knowledge. The science of Yoga explains
what self-control is, how it can be acquired, and what is the nature
of self-knowledge. A Yogi therefore reaches the ultimate goal of
religion and spiritual perfection without wasting his [or her] energy
in the practice of non-essentials.
The non-essentials of religion are like a huge heap of husks, under
which lies hidden the kernel of the essential truth: wherever there
is too much of non-essentials, there prevail religious corruption,
superstition, and false theology, the main object of which is to
convince the ignorant masses that the heap of non-essential dogmas,
doctrines, ceremonies, and rituals must be observed by all who wish
to be religious. But the science of Yoga, being free from dogmas,
ceremonies, and rituals, suffers neither from corruption, nor from
superstition, nor does it need any theology. It is pure and simple.
It welcomes to its fold all sincere and earnest souls who are
searching for higher truth and spiritual life, and seeks to make them
spiritual by giving the essentials of religion as their highest
ideal. It teaches them the method by which self-control and
knowledge of the supreme self can be acquired.
Self-control means the control of the lower self, or the animal
nature of man, by developing the higher powers that are latent in the
individual soul. Having ascended the grades of evolution from the
lower animals, man lives at first on the animal plane; then as he [or
she] rises higher and higher, the latent powers of the soul gradually
begin to manifest and overcome his [or her] animal tendencies.
Self-control is not manifested in the character of any man who
ignorantly obeys the dictates of the senses, and blindly serves the
internal masters of passion, anger, greed, self-delusion, pride, and
egotism. Those who can control themselves, or check the mad rush of
the mind toward sense objects, and who cease to obey those animal
impulses which are standing like fierce enemies in the path of
spiritual progress, enjoy undisturbed peace as long as they live,
thus reaching the highest goal of freedom; but those who are
constantly guided by sudden waves of passion, anger, pride, jealousy,
and hatred, are always disturbed in their minds; they are restless
and unhappy. How can persons who are slaves of their senses expect
happiness? Happiness comes in the state of perfect freedom, and not
in slavery; that freedom again can be acquired only through the
practice of self-control, therefore those who desire to enjoy
unbounded happiness and peace of mind on this earth should struggle
for freedom by learning to practise self-control.
The attainment of self-control is easy for those who have learned to
study their own minds, and who, after discovering their weaknesses,
try to reform their own characters. Like the lower animals, the
natural tendency of human beings is to seek pleasure and to avoid
pain. As long as [one] lives in the darkness of ignorance, and
cannot trace the causes which make [one] happy or unhappy, and as
long as [one] does not understand whether happiness and pleasure come
from external objects or from within, so long [one] fails to be
master of [one's self]. Right discrimination of the conditions which
make one happy or unhappy is the surest guide in the path which leads
to the attainment of self-control.
Now let us examine the present conditions of our minds. They are
naturally attracted by the objects which are pleasing to the senses,
or which help in fulfilling the purposes and desires that are
extremely strong in us. The majority of mankind are attached to
those objects which give pleasure, both sensuous and mental. They
are never attached to anything or anybody where they do not find
pleasure. In the same manner it can be shown that the natural
tendency of the mind is also to get away from pain. The eyes are
pleased to look at the beautiful colour which attracts them, the ears
are pleased to hear sweet words, melodious notes, and good music. We
like to smell sweet fragrance, and to taste the things pleasing to
the palate.
Yet that which is pleasing to the senses of one man may give pain to
another. [So many of our tastes are relative to our culture.] ...
The same colour or same sound or taste which is pleasing to one, may
be a source of intense discomfort to another. This shows that
pleasure and pain are not the inherent properties of the objects of
senses, but that they depend upon the conditions of the mind and body
which come in direct contact with those objects.
Mind has tremendous power over the body. If a certain idea gets
possession of the mind it affects the body and produces corresponding
changes in the whole system. The same mind which found pleasure in a
certain thing at one time, dislikes the very sight of that thing if
new ideas happen to get a hold upon it. [Thus our taste for food can
change over time. We can get used to a different style and then we
say that we have acquired a taste for it. This also seems to be the
premise of CBT: that our stress and suffering are caused by our own
beliefs and thoughts.] Therefore, it can be said that there is
nothing in the universe from which all individuals can derive
absolute pleasure or absolute pain, or that can even please the same
individual at all times. Those who seek pleasure from the objects of
senses cannot stick to one particular enjoyment at the time. If they
try to enjoy the same thing day after day, they will soon tire of it;
satiety is the inevitable result, and with that comes loss of
interest. [Unless they are trapped in addiction.]
Suppose a lady who is passionately fond of the opera should
constantly hear the same opera day and night, without hearing or
doing anything else, she would surely tire of it in a few days.
Constant change of the objects of pleasure is absolutely necessary
for those people who seek pleasure from the external world. It is
for this reason that many people who are too poor to afford much
variety in their pleasure delude themselves by thinking that wealth
would give them all they desire, and envy those who possess large
fortunes, foolishly believing that the rich must be always happy. In
this way, they often fail to enjoy the pleasures within their reach,
thus making their life a burden. They fail to understand that wealth
has its own trials, that are often only little more bearable than the
ills of poverty. The truth is that true happiness can only belong to
[one] who can control [one's] mind. The practice of self-control
would be a great blessing to all these unhappy people; it would make
their lives happier and better worth living.
Before we can control the natural tendency of the mind to seek
pleasure in external objects, we must know that the feeling of
pleasure depends upon the feeling of pain. If we do not have any
feeling of pain whatever, we cannot enjoy a pleasant feeling.
Pleasure is pleasure only when it stands in relation to the feeling
of pain. Whenever we compare one sensation or feeling with another,
we find one more pleasing than the other; the less pleasing one is
ordinarily called painful. The tendency of our mind is to seek
objects that are more pleasing than those which we already possess,
or happen to enjoy, and the moment we find a thing which we think
would produce a more agreeable sensation than the things we now have,
we crave to possess it. Having satisfied the craving, if after
comparison we discover that the latter is not better than the former,
we remain as unsatisfied as before, and may even wish to go back to
the former condition. Thus we can understand that although pleasures
and pain may arise in different individuals from their contact with
the same objects of senses, the natural tendency of mind is to seek
pleasure and avoid pain. We are attached to those objects from
relation with which we derive pleasure, but the moment these cease to
yield us gratification, we become indifferent to the very things we
so eagerly desired; sometimes we grow to hate them and wish to get
away from them.
Our minds are constantly seeking new objects of pleasure through the
gates of the senses, and attach themselves to every fresh object that
promises to give us a pleasant feeling or sensation While this
attachment lasts, the mind becomes a slave to it. If anything
happens to come in the way and prevent the mind from enjoying a
particular pleasure, the mind tries to overcome the obstacle. The
stronger the opposing power, the greater is the mental struggle to
subdue it. If the desire be very strong and we cannot succeed in
gratifying it by ordinary means, we often get enraged and adopt more
violent measures, thus losing all possibility of a peaceful state of
mind.
That simple desire for enjoyment takes the form of a ruling passion,
agitates the whole mind, and manifests in the form of anger and
unrest. In that agitated state of the mind, we lose the sense of
right and wrong, memory grows dull, understanding gets confused, we
lose foresight and act like brutes. Passion is the stronger form of
desire, the same strong desire, when acting under opposition, takes
the form of anger. Desire is the first stage, passion is the second
stage, and the third stage is anger.
Passion and anger, again, lead to hatred, jealousy, and many other
wicked feelings which are expressed outwardly in the form of vicious
acts. [One] who can control [one's] mind from being disturbed by
passion and anger, has obtained self-control. The control of
passions and anger comes when the mind does not seek pleasure from
external objects, but learns by experience that pleasure which can be
derived through the senses, is very transient; it lasts for a few
seconds only, and its true source is not in the object itself, but
depends mostly upon the mental and physical conditions of the enjoyer.
We have seen that passion and anger are the second and third stages
of desire, these desires, according to the Yogis, remain in the
subconscious plane of our minds. Here a question arises: What is the
cause of these desires? A Yogi, trying to trace the cause of
desires, says that they are the outcome of the dormant impressions in
our minds, or the awakened state of these impressions. [A Yogi]
further says that when we enjoy any external object through our
senses, our minds are impressed with certain changes which are
produced while we are in direct contact with the thing. When we eat
an apple, the impression of its taste is left in the mind. When we
hear a musical note, an impression of the note, pleasant or
unpleasant, remains in the mind. Similarly, all the impressions
which the external objects leave in the mind, will remain there in a
seed form or dormant state, by the law of persistence of force. None
of them will be lost; whatever things we have enjoyed or suffered in
our lives are stored up in that seed form, or in the form of dormant
impressions. These dormant impressions are the causes of our desires.
[In my experience these impressions are symbols, or thought-forms in
my mind. They are different than sensations and English words. They
are like a private language. They are the substance of dreams and
imagination.]
Some of the Western psychologists have supported this theory of the
Yogis. Professor Beneke says in his Elementary Psychology: "What has
once been produced in the soul continues still to exist, even when it
has ceased to be excited. That which was conscious merely becomes
unconscious, or lives in the internal substance of the soul." Sir
William Hamilton admits the existence of the latent impressions when
he says: "The whole we are conscious of, is constructed out of what
we are not conscious of." He explains the psychic activity of the
subconscious plane by comparing the chain of impressions or thoughts
with a row of billiard balls, of which, if struck at one end, only
the last one moves, the vibration being merely transmitted through
the rest. But a Yogi says that these dormant impressions are the
seeds or real cause of desires.
Let us suppose that the mind substance is like a sea, that the
surface is the conscious plane, and that the dormant impressions lie
deep below surface. Here we should remember that anything that
remains in a dormant state, is bound to manifest when the conditions
become favourable. Forced by their inward nature, when the dormant
impressions begin to manifest, they may be said to rise up slowly
from the bottom of the sea of mind in the form of minute bubbles. We
may call this bubble the subtle state of desire, or the awakened
impression. Then it gradually rises to the surface and appears
larger and larger in size. Let us call this bubble state of the
awakened impression, desire, then the bubble of desire, after playing
on the surface of the mental sea for some time, bursts there and
takes the form of a wave, and agitates the whole sea of mind,
transforming it into one mass of impulse. The mind becomes restless,
peace is disturbed, power of discrimination becomes dull, we do not
know whether good or bad results will follow should we yield to the
impelling impulse, we are forcibly driven headlong toward the object
of desire, whatever it be, mental (like ambition, pride, etc.), or
merely sensuous. In fact, our controlling power having been overcome
by that wave of desire, we can no longer call it desire. It
temporarily takes the form of a ruling passion, or strong impulse.
That tremendous impulse controls our nerves, muscles, and the whole
body, struggle to gratify this longing, only to find, when we have
attained the thing and gratified the longing, that the satisfaction
is but brief. The tempest that wrecked our self-control gradually
subsides, and the particular desire that provoked it returns again to
its dormant state; then a temporary peace of mind is regained and we
remain happy for a time.
In the meanwhile another dormant impression gets ready to appear in
the form of a bubble. Slowly it rises up from the subconscious to
the conscious plane, and the same process is repeated. This
ever-recurring series of desires and their temporary gratification
forms the daily life of all such persons as have not learned to
control their minds. When this fleeting peace of mind, or so-called
happiness, has been secured, the desire subsides into a dormant state
for a longer or shorter period. This process is continuously going
on in each mind at every moment. Suppose a person is invited to a
dinner party, where [one] partakes of something very delicious which
[one] never tasted before and which [one] likes immensely. Do you
think that the impression of that taste will be lost as soon as the
dinner is over? Certainly not; it will remain in the mind and
engender a desire for the same thing again; the memory will recall
that impression and it will become the cause of a fresh desire. In
this manner it can be shown that every new impression is the cause or
seed of a new desire.
When [someone] begins to drink intoxicating liquors [one] feels a
peculiar sensation; it drives away [one's] dullness, exhilarates
[one], excites [one's] nervous system, and makes [one] happy for the
time being. After the effect of the stimulant is over, the
impression of the agreeable feeling it produced is left in [one's]
mind; for some time it remains latent, then it rises up in the form
of a desire, or bubble, to the surface of [one's] mental sea. Rising
to the surface, it bursts and produces a wave, or impulse, which
intensifies the desire and leads [one] to drink again. The fresh
exhilaration creates another impression, which stamps itself upon the
former, and the process goes on with increasing frequency With every
fresh yielding to desire, the old impression is deepened, until the
series of stored-up impressions becomes so strong that it forms a
part of [one's] nature and becomes what we call habit. Similar
processes have produced all varieties of habits, good and bad, which
we find in different people in different countries. A kindred
process produces what we call instinct in the lower animals.
The stored-up impressions of one life are not lost by the death of
the body, but will remain latent for some time and will become the
causes of future desires in another life. Each one of us is born
with the stored-up impressions of [our] past birth, which will
re-appear in the form of various tendencies, desires, and habits.
This is the explanation of the wide variations we see in members of
the same family, for which heredity alone, or even heredity plus
environment, fails to account. As the number of impressions
increases, desires also increase, as has been said; if we allow the
desires to rise up and play in our minds, they will take the forms of
passion and anger, disturb mental peace, create new impressions, and
be in turn the causes of fresh desires. Thus, there is no hope of
controlling the mind by mere gratification of desires. There is no
hope of satiating the craving for enjoyment by getting the objects of
pleasures, this is simply putting fuel on fire, or oil on flames.
The more we enjoy, the more will desires increase. Foolish people,
who have never analyzed their minds, indulge their desires and seek
pleasure from outside objects. No one has succeeded in attaining
self-control by being a slave to desires, nor has any one become free
from desires by gratifying them. Therefore, a Yogi says: "As fire is
not quenched by butter, so the fire of desire will never be put out
by the objects of pleasure. The more butter is poured on a fire, the
more it will flare up; similarly, the more the objects of desire are
indulged, the more the desires will increase. If a person were to
possess all the objects upon this earth, still [one's] greed would
not stop, [one] would seek something more." Do you suppose that a
[person] who works hard to become a millionaire will ever be
satisfied with [one's] possessions and cease to acquire more? [That
person] will go on seeking to add to them as long as [one] will live.
A poor [person] desires to be rich, a rich [person] desires to be a
millionaire, and a millionaire wants to be a multi-millionaire, and
so on; where is there any rest? Where is there happiness? When will
[one's] thirst for possessions or enjoyment cease? Will [one] ever
acquire control over [one's] mind? Perhaps not in this life.
Thirst for enjoyment is the real disease in us; its various symptoms
are passions, ambition, pride, hatred, jealousy, anger, etc.
Tremendous mental strength and will-power are required to control the
restless mind from taking the forms of waves of passion and anger.
The perfect restlessness of the mind of an ordinary person who is the
slave to [their] desires and passions has been vividly described by a
Yogi, the poet could not find a better illustration than to compare
it with a monkey, who is restless by nature, then thinking this was
not quite enough, [that poet] added drunken monkey, stung by a
scorpion. When any one is stung by a scorpion, [one] jumps about
from place to place for nearly two days, so you can imagine the
restlessness of that poor monkey; still the poet found something
lacking in the simile, so [they] completed it by saying: "At last the
monkey was possessed by a demon." Is there any expression by which
we can describe the wretched state of that poor monkey? Such is the
ordinary state of our mind. Naturally it is restless, but it becomes
more so when it drinks the wine of ambition, still more when it is
stung by the scorpion of jealousy; but the climax is reached when the
demon of pride enters the mind and takes possession of it. In such a
case, how difficult it is to bring the mind under control. To
conquer mind is more difficult than to conquer the whole world.
[That person] is the greatest hero and the real conqueror of the
world who has conquered [their] own mind. "[The person] that ruleth
[their own] spirit is greater than he who taketh a city." A Yogi
says: "If one [person] conquers in battle a thousand times a thousand
[other people], and if another conquers [their own self, then the
latter] is the greatest of conquerors." Therefore we should pay
special attention to the study of the mind; we should learn to
analyze its nature and constantly watch over its various
modifications, trying to develop and strengthen the will-power.
A Yogi develops [their] will-power by daily practice; [one] rouses up
the higher powers and continues to fight against [one's] greatest
enemies with firmness and determination until [one] accomplishes
[this] end. Perfect self-control of a Yogi is that state of mind
where no desires or passions of any kind disturb the peace and
tranquillity of [one's] soul. Such a state can be acquired more
easily by removing the bubbles of desires before they take the wave
form of passions, that is, by attacking them while they are in their
weak state. This can be done either by right discrimination of the
nature of desire or by comparing the transitory pleasure which
results from our contact with the objects of senses, with the serene,
peaceful mind which is undisturbed by desires or passions. We should
also remember that the highest ideal of our life is not pleasure of
the senses, nor slavery to desires and passions, but the attainment
of mastery over the lower self, and the manifestation of the supreme
Self.
There is another way of obtaining self-control, through concentration
and meditation. Concentrate your mind upon the supreme Self and do
not let it be disturbed by any other thought or desire at that time.
Those who have read the Light of Asia will remember that when Buddha
sat in meditation under the Bo tree all the dormant impressions began
to rise in his mind. They are described as the attendants of Mara,
the personified evil thought. But Buddha said: "It is better to die
on the battlefield while fighting with enemy than to be defeated and
forced to live like a slave, seeking little bits of sense pleasures
and enjoyments." With such a strong determination Buddha became
master of himself; whosoever will display similar determination of
purpose and strength of character, will surely attain perfect
self-control. They alone who have acquired self-control enjoy
eternal peace and happiness in this life and attain the goal of all
religions, the knowledge of the divine Self.
author: Abhedānanda, Swami, 1866-1939 |