ARANI SERIES
Wednesday, November 30, 2016
Spark 27
Impulse Control
At the spur of the moment, our reactions to situations are often unpredictable. When we are provoked or tempted, we might respond violently or indulge thoughtlessly. Before such an impulsive behavior, we would not have thought we would do so. Afterwards we wonder why we did so.
Geeta recognizes this weakness in human beings. The sacred text addresses this issue under the broad category of “our inability to control our own senses”. A verse1 says loudly, “the senses are turbulent and they rob us of our discrimination!” In the literature of Emotional Intelligence, this trait is termed (good or poor) “impulse control”.
Why man lacks impulse control
We are usually aware of a small portion of our mind, which is called the conscious mind. This part is just the tip of the iceberg. A lot more remains unseen, put under the subconscious and the unconscious mind. Ancient Indian philosophical literature used a term vāsanā, which can be translated as hidden tendency. These vāsanās arise suddenly and take us in a direction which we would not have imagined.
The hidden tendencies do not come from the sky and enter us. They are the result of our own past. If we had acted a number of times in the past with anger, all those instances leave behind a residue in our unconscious mind; and we are prone to much anger now. Similarly if we had lived a life of enjoyment, those past instances leave behind a residue which shows now as a tendency to opt for pleasure, right or wrong! These past actions, performed necessarily without full understanding, are the basis of vāsanās.
Solutions
Geeta offers solutions to this problem which all of us face.
1) When they are weak, refuse to come under their sway
Sometimes the expressions of these vāsanās are weak and they rise slowly. A little will power then works. Sri Krishna says2, “There are many forces of attraction and repulsion within you; refuse to bend before them.” A person with diabetes knows this. There are occasions when she feels like taking a sweet but the desire is not strong. There is the temptation but the pull is rather weak. Will (will power) in such situations has the capactity to manage the challenge in a favorable way.
2) Fix your mind in God
Make hay when the sun shines, goes the old saying. Likewise we are advised by Sri Krishna to practice loving remembrance of God on a regular basis. Training the mind thus to delight in love of God, in the peace of turning inwards can go a long way in coming out with more mature responses when challenging situations occur. “Having kept the senses under check, stay firm with your mind fixed in Me,” says3 the Lord. The taste of joy in divine thoughts and outlooks then overpowers the rising impulses.
3) Anchor yourself in the Self
“Making your mind established in the Self, do not think of anything else,” is the advice the Lord gives4 us at another place. Following study of scriptures and reflection upon the teachings, we gain a good understanding of our own true nature, the Self. Practice of meditation then takes the form of ‘staying in that understanding’ and keeping away notions of our identity. This is also called jnāna-abhyāsa.
There are then tips in the contexts of karma-yoga where we train our psyche in the field of self-less service, of rājayoga, where we conduct special exercises of the body or of the breath, and all of these are part of the great adhyātma-vidyā – the science of spirituality.
Swami Chidananda
Notes:
1 indriyāni pramāthini, haranti prasabham manah – Geeta 2.60
2 tayor-na vasham-āgacchet – Geeta 3.34
3 yukta āseeta matparah – Geeta 2.61
4 ātmasamstham manah kritvā, na kinchid-api chintayet – Geeta 6.25
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