How to Ensure Rest for the Mind

The clock, to all appearances, keeps on ticking away continuously. But this is really not the case. It is not continuous, for there is, one can notice, a short pause between one tick and the next. That is the interval of rest. But the mind does not have even this short interval between one thought and the next. And in the continuous succession of thoughts, there is no order or relationship. This adds to the confusion and concern. This is the main source of ill-health in man.

We are at present planning and preparing for physical rest and recreation and we know that even machines need hours of rest! But we have neglected the duty of ensuring rest for the mind. Dhyana (meditation) is the name for the period of rest we provide for the busy and wayward mind. The heart is engaged, like the ticking of the clock, in beats, but a new pulse of energy is generated between one beat and another. It makes for the flow, regardless of the past or the future moments. It is a constant flux toward a goal.

The swimmer in the river must push aside the waters in front to the sides and to kick the waters to the back so that he can move forward straight and fast. Forcing the water back is the act that takes him forward. That is to say, do not attach importance to it, throw it back, give it up, renounce; that alone can help you to progress even an inch. Instead, man collects and stores, accumulates and takes pride in what he holds firm, regardless of the preciousness of the human trait of renunciation.

So we sink into material possessions, victories, and vagaries. We do not float or swim across the temptations. We must try to discover and learn the means of progress… When the tiny squirrel decided to share in building the passage across the sea, did it not receive the blessings of Lord Rama? The squirrel knew that its help could only be infinitesimal, but the feeling of dedication that prompted it won the grace of God.

Sri Sathya Sai Speaks, Vol. 16 (1983)

A restless mind is another important source of ill health. Man is constantly afflicted with some source of worry or other. He is never free from anxiety. Why? Because he is identifying himself with the body. How did he acquire this body? Through his past activities and deeds. What were they caused by? By the twin pulls of love and hate. How did they originate? They were born out of the entanglement in duality, in the opposites. And why does he get snared by them? Ignorance of the Truth, the ONE. You must know that each one is a pilgrim, and each life is but a stage in the journey toward the city of liberation.

This body is a resthouse in which we stay for a short time during the pilgrimage. The mind is the caretaker, the watchman in the choultry where we rest. We are not to treat him as if he is master or owner. But we ought to take care that the house we are privileged to occupy is not damaged or polluted. We must take good care of it and its furnishings and treat the watchman politely.

The pilgrim is either helped or handicapped by the antics of the mind. The mind has as its warp and woof desire or thirst for something or other, getting some gain or avoiding some loss. Desire arises from attachment, often the consequence of delusion. Desire distorts and denigrates the mind. It keeps the mind incessantly agitated. No sheet of water can be calm when stones are dropping on it, and if there is a perpetual shower of desires, the mind, too, will be pitifully restless.

The ananda (bliss) that emanates from the atma in man has, in fact, to be stored with the help of the buddhi as channel, in the reservoir, the mind. That is its genuine function. But if the reservoir has many cracks and crevices, namely the senses, the ananda will be frittered away, and the reservoir will be rendered dry. When the hunger of the senses is sought to be appeased, the mind becomes vacillating and wayward. The mind is the master of the senses. That is its legitimate role. The senses are the servants. When the master serves the servants, he loses his self-respect and falls in the esteem of all.

Sri Sathya Sai Speaks, Vol. 15 (1981-82)

Flying hither and thither, higher and higher, the bird has at last to perch on a tree for rest. So, too, even the richest and the most powerful man seeks rest, peace (shanti). Peace can be got only in one shop, in inner reality. The senses will drag you along into a mire, which submerges you deeper and deeper in alternate joy and grief, prolonged discontent. Only contemplation of unity can remove fear, rivalry, envy, greed, desire—all feelings that prompt discontent. Every other avenue can give only pseudo-contentment, and a day will come when you will throw away all these playthings and toys and cry, “Lord! Grant me unruffled peace.” The bandit Valmiki prayed so; the confirmed atheist, too, has one day to pray for peace and rest.

Sri Sathya Sai Speaks, Vol. 1 (1953-60)