How powerful is the mind? Why should one never kill the mind?

Usefulness of the Mind on the Path to Liberation

It is the 'boat' that takes us to moksha!

Questioner: Everyone says to ‘kill the mind’.

Dadashri: Yes. Why does one have to kill the mind? People will make this kind of a research. If you kill the mind, what is left behind with you? A person cannot live without the mind. The mind will be necessary until one goes to moksha – attains Liberation. People are killing the mind, breaking it down, are they not? That is very wrong. The mind is the cause for Liberation. One is bound through the mind and through the mind he will attain liberation.

Questioner: Lord Krishna has said in Gita that it is only the mind that is the cause for man’s bondage and Liberation; is that right?

Dadashri: That is correct. If you want Liberation, the mind will take you; because, you have been in bondage because of it. Therefore, you should not break down the mind. The mind is a ‘boat’; if it turns towards this side, it will take you to moksha and if it turns that way, it will make you wander around in the worldly life (sansar). Therefore, to get you started on the path of knowledge, someone is needed to turn you towards it.

Questioner: It is also said that the mind is like a monkey, right?

Dadashri: That is just the name we gave it. Some call it a monkey and some have called it a boat.

Questioner: But, is it really (like) a monkey?

Dadashri: It is not a monkey; it is a ‘boat’. However, if it is in your experience that it is a monkey, it will often show you its teeth so you will have to call it a monkey, won’t you? And what does it mean when we call it a ‘boat’? It is this mind that takes you on the wrong path in this world and it also takes you on the right path. Therefore, until you have reached the shore, don’t break down the mind.

You are still in the middle of the worldly ‘ocean’, the shore is nowhere in sight and you break your boat believing that sooner or later you are going to have to break it – you read in some book somewhere – based on that, if you break your ‘boat’, what will become of you?

Questioner: I will drown mid ocean.

Dadashri: That is what happens to these people. Yes, people will say, ‘the thoughts in the mind give me too much pain.’ So, people tell me, ‘Perform an operation; break down the mind.’ Hey, it should not be broken; leave it alone. You need the entire mind to be intact.

The mind is quite indispensable. The physical world is there because the mind is there and the path to Liberation is through the physical world. As long as it is necessary, the mind will keep you in the physical world and when the time comes, it will even take you to moksha. Thus, it is like a boat in the worldly ocean. So when you want to go to moksha, it will take you to the shore. Once you reach the shore, you can let it go, you can bid it farewell. After you get off, you can say, ‘Jai Sacchidanand. You and I are separate’. So, the mind is not to be opposed. The mind is the best thing. The mind is indeed within its own function; in its own properties only.

The mind performs it's function, why are you beating the poor thing? It is the boat that will take you to Liberation; it is also the boat that will cause your downfall (to a lower life form). It can also make you wander around in the worldly life. You have to know how to navigate this boat. When does this boat help in taking you towards Liberation? It is said that, when you meet the bestower of Liberation; the one who can give you Liberation – if you were to look for such a person and find him; the boat will flow towards that direction (of Liberation). It will not go until then, because the compass has not been set in that direction and thus it (mind) has been misdirected. Therefore, the shore cannot be found at all.

So, don’t try to remove the mind. You should decide where you want to go then get a ‘compass’ and set it. Yes, set up one compass that shows the north, then look at the star in the sky on one side and look at the compass, and then you will be able to reach. Have you set a compass in the boat?

Questioner: No.

Dadashri: So then are you navigating the boat without a compass in the ocean of this worldly life? Should you not set the compass? The mind is not bothering you, why are you suffering unnecessarily? Why are you punishing the mind unnecessarily? Every person keeps harassing the mind. The mind is not like that. Look, how your mind was in the past? Was it not causing objections?

Questioner (Mahatma): Yes.

Dadashri: Is it causing any objections now? How tumultuous your mind was?

The mind is a necessary thing. It is necessary to turn around its energy. The energy that is going in the wrong direction, if you were to turn that mind this way, it will take you there with the same speed. ‘We’ turn your mind around. What is your compass like? It is the compass of societal norms. Just as they have a mariner’s compass fixed towards the north in the boats, your compass is fixed upon loksangnya– what people say and dictate. Where people believe happiness lies, you too believe it to be there. And if this compass turns according to Gnani’s sangnya (as per Gnani’s dictate), everything will be over, there will be completion. That is why ‘we’ change your vision for you.

Questioner: We simply have to decide our goal.

Dadashri: Yes, that is all. This mind is necessary. All those who have fractured the mind by practicing yoga can never attain Liberation. Mind is the means to go to Liberation; it should be allowed to blossom. On the yoga path, they all fracture it; that is quite useless.

Therefore, let the mind be with you till the end. No matter how badly it harasses you, the mind will be with you. Now that I have changed your viewpoint, mind is no longer necessary for you.

Questioner (Mahatma): When will I arrive at the shore? The shore will come at the end, so, will the mind be there till the end?

Dadashri: Yes, but after attaining the Gnan, you have arrived at the shore, haven’t you? So you have to keep on seeing what this boat is doing! You have already arrived at the shore (near completion). You have also gone ashore. What is the use of breaking down the boat now? If it gets banged around here and there, if it turns around like this, let it. Fact is, after attaining this Gnan, the mind doesn’t harass you. Actually, it is the live mind that does a lot of harassing and this (yours) is a dead mind; it is the discharge mind, it has been rendered lifeless. That one (before attaining the Gnan) was alive so it was giving you a lot of pain. Thus, this knowledge is effective; did you realize this one hundred percent today?

People go on fracturing the mind. Why are they beating it up unnecessarily? Whose fault is this? Here one commits the crime but another gets punished. How much liability is incurred! In making such mistakes, one will have to burden great liability.