How Can the Mind's Wandering Cease? 5 Revolutionary Sutras

The Endless Cycle of Restlessness and Your Mistake

You have changed countless bodies, been born thousands of times, and loved who knows how many people, but don't you still feel an emptiness within today? Even after having everything, why are you not at peace? The truth is that the treasure of supreme bliss is laid before you, yet you wander outside. The greatest problem is that your intellect has become enslaved to your mind, and the mind is imprisoned in the world's desires. You wander from place to place seeking peace, changing methods, changing gurus, but unable to make a 'nischchay' (decision). Do you know that this wandering will not end until you abandon your 'manmani' and accept that truth which is extremely near to you?

Sutra 1: The 'Forest of Doubt' and the Absence of Conviction

You may think that the more scriptures you read, the more methods you learn, the more learned and peaceful you will become. But without 'nischchay', merely accumulating information pushes you into a 'forest of doubt'. You cannot have concentration until you settle on one path. As long as you keep arguing with your intellect about which is right and which is wrong, you will only continue to wander. Clarity of the path comes when you abandon intellectual cleverness and become steadfast in one truth.

Sutra 2: 'Naam' and 'Vani'

To find the Lord, you need not undertake difficult sadhana, but rather take refuge in 'naam' and 'vani'. Even if your intellect does not understand the meaning of these words, their listening and singing will absorb the 'poison' from your mind and bring you near to that supreme bliss.

Sutra 3: Abandoning Your 'Cleverness' and Following the Guru's Command

Do you know that your greatest obstacle is your own 'intellect'? You want to measure every divine experience on the touchstone of logic. To dissolve your intellect in the guru's words is true wisdom. If on one side stands a master of the senses through austerity, and on the other side stands an 'ananya bhakt' who remains in the guru's command, that bhakt outweighs them all. Look at the example of Goswami Tulasidas Ji. He performed countless sadhanas, yet did not have the vision of the Lord. But when he went to satsang, there he met Hanuman Ji, and through him he had the direct vision of Shri Ram at Chitrakoot. This proves that following the words of the saints and bhagavad-charcha is the most established path to realization.

Sutra 4: The Secret of 'Rest'—"I am Yours"

True rest is not in a place, but in 'bhav'. Even if you are across seven seas, if your bhav is "I am Shyama-Shyam's and they are mine," then your place of rest is Vrindavan itself. No matter how great a sinner or corrupted you are, the moment you abandon the ego of your intellect and surrender to their feet, your restlessness ends. The root of love is 'naam', and its fruit is 'rest in Vrindavan'. Stop feeding worldly entanglements to your intellect and make 'naam' alone your foundation.

Sutra 5: A One-Minute Challenge—Recognize Your Capacity

You may think you are a great sadhak or can conquer the mind through your own strength? Taking Vrindavan as witness, try to remain for just one minute without any attachment or aversion or worldly thoughts. You will not even last one minute. This is our reality. Our intellect is actually 'maya's agent', which repeatedly pulls us towards the world. Only when you accept this helplessness of yours will the doors of 'grace' open. Only when you abandon your 'manmani' and believe "I can do nothing; the Lord will do everything," will the wandering end.

The Attraction of Maya or the Path of Love—What Will You Choose?

The path to end wandering is not complex, but very simple. The problem is that we only listen to the words of the saints; we do not put them into practice. We are still feeding our intellect's cleverness and worldly entanglements. Remember, we have lost countless opportunities in the past. Maya will throw its seductive delusion before us again, but do we want to be trapped in that net again? Abandon the futile struggle of your intellect and surrender yourself to the flow of 'naam' and 'vani'.

Original article: bhajanmarg.com