Ch 27

• Importance of controlling and regulating the mind:

  • Self-control and discipline are crucial for healthy development of the individual and society
  • Without self-control, negative feelings like possessiveness, arrogance, aggressiveness, anger, hatred, and intolerance prevail
• Yoga as a way of life:

  • Developed for healthy development of an individual
  • Balances body, mind, intellect, and emotions
  • Neglect of emotional aspects in modern education leads to lack of discipline, restraint, tolerance, and character
• Control of mind:

  • Not only for religious or spiritual aspirants but necessary for success in all vocations
  • No progress in individual or community lives without proper mind-control and regulation
  • A peaceful and tranquil mind can achieve anything in life
• Jeevan Vigyan:

  • Teaches positive values for mind control
  • Helps in disciplining thoughts and mind
  • A method of controlling emotions and behaviours
• Preksha Dhyana:

  • Meditation technique for controlling and disciplining the mind
  • Involves perception of breathing, body, and psychic centers
  • Leads to change in attitudes and behaviors, making a person more righteous
  • Total relaxation achieved through stages of meditation like Kayotsarg, Mental Concentration, and Awareness of the body
• Art of Living:

  • Focuses on harmony of body, mind, and soul
  • Introduced by Sri Paramhansa Yogananda for a more integrated humane and spiritual life
  • Practical methods include balanced diet, regular exercise, meditation, studying religious literature, and leading a pious life
  • Revived and refined by Sri Sri Ravi Shanker with techniques like Sudarshan Kryia for stress elimination and inner peace
• Breath is the link between body and mind and works as a key to handle negative emotions and facilitate the use of true potential at work, home, and leisure
• Sudarshan Kriya is a breath cleansing process that harmonizes the body, mind, and emotions
• Sudarshan Kriya incorporates specific natural rhythms of the breath to harmonize the body, mind, and emotional stress, reducing negative emotions like anger, frustration, and depression
• Sudarshan Kriya cleanses the system from the inside, controlling and disciplining the mind through breath control
• Transcendental Meditation (TM) moves the mind from the surface of life to the depth of being, experiencing subtler states of thought and transcending all thoughts
• TM ensures the connection of the outer life with the inner value of Being, making all avenues of outer life positive and worthwhile
• Vipassana is a technique of self-observation, observing things as they really are to bring peace and tranquility to the human mind
• In Vipassana, the breath is observed as it is - natural and normal, without controlling it, to experience the reality within the body
• Vipassana breaks the barriers of conscious and unconscious mind through observation, allowing the mind to become peaceful, disciplined, and controlled