The Mind - Your Friend Or Your Enemy?

[DRUGHI]

How can you naam jap if your mind is running in a thousand different directions?

[_anon_]

this is such a good topic! :s

two problems

1. friendship means compromise (but NOT on principles) compromising with the mind might not work-still considering tht

2. you dont control your friends. i hope not anyway.

the mind isnt an enemy either.

maybe something between the two

[OhTwadi]

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[kaur_khalistani_lioness]

2. you dont control your friends. i hope not anyway.

yes u dont control ur friends( in western society/culture? ) lolz

but look at it from a perspective of a person who lived in the east who looks nd lives/thinks according to an eastern philosophy. plus evryone ha a different def when it comes to this word"friend"

when we say friend(mind)...its not a friend as of a total different person

maybe this can help

i have heard many punjabis say "chaal manna...uthh kuj ni bannaa lazy ho kay...or ki milna ro kay,or soun kay...(then say what they about to do)" etc etc they talk to their man/mind in a way as of talkin to someone else but r they really?

u would understand it if u have heard someone talk to their mind ...or did something that they didnt want to do... by using these word...cuz they knew thats what needs to be done.

its beautiful..

i wish i could explain it better(its what u feel when u hear or say those words )... i dont get to hear it a lot now, but used too. sometimes i do but only when im amongst older people

wise people eh?=)

[kaur_khalistani_lioness]

papiv2 i think ways of treating your mind as your enemy would be to blame it (as brother said what 'it' is an issue in itself!),to see it as a roadblock to vaheguru, to think of it as something you dislike because it makes you think dirty thought,makes you swear, makes you cheat and lie etc. as an enemy you might treat it harshly by perhaps using hath ie strict penances, maybe you adopt silence (mohn) or any other kind of strict/harsh/difficult physical or mental activity.

i dont know, maybe im chatting rubbish!!!

guru sahib is against that innit? those who do that arent really succesful at it..and papi can find the gurbani tuks to back that up=)

but i agree with ur last thoughts:

as a friend, perhaps you would think wow my mind listens to gurbani,wow my amazing mind can realise vaheguru,my mind is my link to guru sahib! maybe this means you dont beat yourself up or get depressed every time you make a mistake,as you realise that everyone makes a mistake? maybe you try and teach your mind slowly with love step by step,rather then try and beat it into submission by forcing yourself to do 23 hours nitnem in one day! (just an example!)

this a great example too nd have had many people say thats how we shoud look at it

A further example is of the mind as a little seed. It has great potential and can achieve greatness, but only if watered and cared for correctly. If you dont water it, give it nutrients or sunlight then it wont grow but will stay in the mud. .... If you daily spend time with it, take care of it and give it what it needs to be strong and healthy then it can grow into a beautiful rose,

[sall]

Waheguru Ji Ka Khalsa Waheguru Ji Ke Fateh

Beautiful topic and indeed a great challange to each and every one of us. What is mind?

SGGS "Mun to jot saroop haa apna mool pachan , man har jee tere naal ha gurmatee rang maan"

Apologies for spelling mistakes, I think both friend and enemy when SGGS quotes "Gurmukh karre nit jang" what jang/war are we talking about with the mind,it's to control from the five theives. How about when SGGS mentions " Hasti sir jeeo anskh haae " Like the wild elephant this mind travels fast how does one control it..jaap meditation is necessary. Jaap has to be from within lasting at least 2 hours daily followed by nitnem.

Bhai sant Singh je Maskeen did about 10 odd hours of vichaar on the mind "is man ko koee khojo bahi " have a listen to them @ http://www.maskeensahib.com/?p=p_39&sN...Recordings-2001. Amazing vichaar out of this world, goes beyond any book on meditation...

I've studied Japanese ways of dealing with the same issue they use ZEN meditation very similar to advise from SGGS " Sun smadh anhat teh naa" What is sun smadh? tibetian monks and Japanese have explored this extensively and they refer to the term "AKIAI/KIAI" and believe everything around us is energy that we absorb. The first way of control is to ACCEPT isn't this the same as we read in Japjee, accept hukam. Acceptance of everything at any given time weather in an argument or discussion then blending before sending. I.E. Blending with the enemy and then sending in the right direction. We can only win in this way.accept what we receive , blend with it then send it /channel that energy into the right direction.This can only be done with right breathing which has to be deep and not shallow..but who are we or I ohooo here comes "hauu and haumee" the very reason we are here on this earth... Great topic keep learning

[The_Perfect_Student]

these are my personal views

the mind is your enemy because it consists of those 5 evils that control us.

the whole idea is to beat the mind (man jeetay jag jeet where "JAG" stands as a name of God and not as world) meaning when you win over the mind you win the lord.

We can try torturing the mind or beating it with the stick but that wont work. like you said only way you're going to win over it by love, patience, faith and devotion of God. Meditation on God and practicing what gurbani tells us will one day make us a winner of your mind. winning over the mind is not a overnight thing so dont expect it to be, it could take months, years, lifetimes to become closer and closer to God.

we should be the doing to the opposite to what your mind tells us. if your mind wants us to be egoistcal, we should become humble, lowest of the low, treat ourselve as dust of the entire creation feet. The ego wont like that.

if your mind is selfishly attached to MOH, we should then treat our family, relationships as sangat that we will treat everyone equally.

if your mind wants you to see angery, then we can practice kindness, love and forgiveness (opposite of what ur mind wants)

if your mind wants you to get lustful, we start thinking of every women as our mother and sisters and if a lustful thoughts pops in the head, we imagine bowing to their feet and kissing it and asking for forgiveness.

if your mind wants you to be greedy, we then donate some of our earnings to the poor to become free of greed.

so just do the opposite of your mind. this is what i believe

mahapaapi

[wjkk wjkf]

I believe that our mind is not only bad but good as well. Yes we have the 5 chor to fight and maya, but we also have love, compassion etc in our minds. A lot of us probably have more elements of the 5 chor in us then the good elements.

I agree that by reading Gurbani, not only the 5 bania but also more Bani when we can, from Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji and by Japping Naam even as you walk around in the day, then we can overcome our 5 chor. If you're thinking about Waheguru all day then when things like lust come into your mind, it will be unlikely to last long (if it even lasts) because while you think of Waheguru- that power will help you be stronger and think twice (I believe). The more you Jaap Naam and read Gurbani, the less these bad elements will exist in your mind. They will eventually get replaced by the better elements and if in Waheguru's will, bring you closer to Them (I try not to give Waheguru a gender).

The mind is a part of us. I hope this makes sense, or I could explain it better.

Bhul Chukk Maaf

[sall]

Waheguru Ji Ka Khalsa Waheguru Ji Ke Fateh

One thing a lot of people mention is reading bani will help, I must stress reading with the mind listening not just mere reading as we all know too well the mind runs away like a wild donkey especially when reading bani. A mahapursh once mentioned that if we take a deep breath and read paat slowly until that breath is complete and finished it's far easier for our minds to pay attention as it's controlled fashion. Have ever seen a babies breathe, if not check there stomach when they breathe, it's very deep and the use the diaphram fully. We all did that once but as we grow older our breathing becomes shallow and we only use our chest.Slow controlled breathing with as much paat as possible slowly per breath I can almost guarntee if done properly your mind will listen to that paat , hence the wander slowly gets better and overall as you build consistency you may master much much more than you think.

[OhTwadi]

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