You do not have a naughty “monkey mind”
There’s a commonly held notion that the mind behaves like a naughty monkey. Out of control, unable to keep still jumping from branch to branch. Supposedly, this naughty monkey mind is why we find ourselves caught up in thinking all the time. Like the monkey, the mind is all over the place, unable to concentrate and be still.
Have you ever tried to catch a monkey? If you want the wandering monkey to come to you, putting delicious food at the base of a tree is far more effective than harsh words and chasing it down with a stick. Entice the animal with something charming and it comes to you of its own accord, easily and with no effort on your part.
It’s the same for our mind. Assuming the mind is mischievous and out of control leads to all sorts of techniques to try to force it into being quiet. As a result, various practices aimed at controlling the mind have developed. But in order to tie it down, a great deal of effort is required.
Many of these techniques involve concentration. Common examples are to concentrate on the breath or focus on a particular image. The report from people who have tried these approaches is that it’s difficult to stay focused. It takes a lot of effort and eventually they give up. People often say they feel more wound up then when they started!
We can see how this works (or doesn’t!) by performing a very simple exercise:
Take a moment and try not to think. Just for a moment, try to stop the thoughts in your mind. (Note: the use of the word tryis a clue in itself!)
Within a few seconds you’ll feel how useless this is. A paradox immediately presents itself. If the aim is to stop thought then the thought, “I must not think” is another thought. You end up in a circular loop of thinking about not thinking. Very frustrating!
Unless you’re able to offer some charming enticement for the mind, it will automatically wander off in search of something more enjoyable.
What makes Vedic Meditation different to these types of concentration techniques? We offer the mind something charming right from the get-go. Rather than trying to force the mind to be quiet, we orient the mind towards more subtle, inner layers automatically. We do this by using a vehicle (the mantra) to lead it in that direction, naturally and spontaneously. No effort. No strain.