The Citta - Can it be controlled? Meena Hemrajani

Citta on the whole can be considered as mind. Yoga is defined as Citta-Vrtti – Nirodha i.e., Yoga is nothing but control of mind. We have to understand the functioning of mind. The moment we see an object many thoughts relating to the object – its name, texture, color, whether I like it or not etc., come to our mind.

It is difficult to control the mind but it is not impossible. There was a farmer who met a ghost. The ghost told him I will do any work you ask me to do provided you don’t leave me idle for a minute. If you don’t give me work then I will eat you up. The farmer was very happy to have this kind of a servant in today’s time. He asked him to come to his house the next day. The next morning the farmer was having his breakfast and the ghost entered. The farmer asked him to help farming – the ghost comes back in one minute. The farmer asked him, "How did you come back so soon?" The ghost replied I finished farming. The farmer wondered "How can it be possible. I have not even eaten one spoonful of porridge." The ghost asks him if he wanted to check it. The farmer went to the farm and saw everything perfectly carried out. The ghost asks for more work. The farmer says "Go to the market, buy vegetables, buy things, do cooking, sweeping, cleaning etc." The ghost finishes all the work in one minute and asks for more work. The farmer gives him all his pending work and the ghost finishes all the work in two hours. Now the farmer is perplexed and does not know what to do. So, in fear, the farmer starts running – the ghost also runs behind him. Ultimately, an idea struck the farmer’s mind and he asks the ghost to dig the ground. The ghost digs – then the farmer asks him to get a pole and fix it in the ground. The ghost does that. Now, the farmer tells him to climb the pole – the ghost climbs up – then the farmer tells him to come down – the ghost comes down. The farmer instructs him to go up and down the pole until he gives him the next work. In this way, the farmer saves his life by controlling the ghost. The ghost becomes a powerful instrument for him. Whenever the farmer would have any work he would call the ghost – do this, do that and when the ghost would finish all the work then he would tell him to climb up and down the pole.

© "Yoga and Total Health" (April, 2002) published by The Yoga Institute, Shri Yogendra Marg, Prabhat Colony, Santacruz East, Mumbai 400 055. Reprinted with permission.

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