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Conflict resolution
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The Jaina studies have given a detailed analysis of the mind. The mind is considered to be gross as well as subtle. The former is known as the physical mind (dravya mana) and the latter as the psychical mind (bhāva mana). This is the two-fold classification of the mind in Jaina philosophy
The power to experience and to feel pertains to the psychical mind. Without the psychical mind, the physical mind has no basis. All experiences and thoughts emerging from desires and wants, resolves and conflicts, find their substratum in the psychical mind. While describing the form of the mind, the scriptures say that the mind is like a swing oscillating between hopes and desires. And no single object is ever the cause of these endless desires. The mind is in fact the birthplace of these wants, cravings and ambitions which take birth and fade away only to be replaced by newer wants.
The question is - will this cycle of desires and resolves that emerge in the mind keep on churning without a beginning or an end? Can the thought-waves of the mind be restrained by the barriers of detachment? Can the waves of strange and restless emotions ever reach a peaceful end? Is it possible to reach a state which is free of desires and resolves? The scriptures describe a state of complete cessation of desires, a state of absolute detachment, but they also state that attaining such a state cannot happen all at once. It is not possible to combat the mind so easily. In the Bhagavad Gitā, Arjuna says:
Oh Kịşņā! The mind is fickle, turbulent and unyielding. To control it, I think, is as difficult as controlling the wind.
Truly, to control the mind is as enormous a challenge as climbing the Himalayas. Before scaling the lofty Himalayas, it is essential to practice scaling smaller mountains to gain confidence and strength. Similarly, one can only reach the state of detachment after the mind has learnt to resolve conflicts by analysis and clear thought. Before forsaking desires completely,
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sankalpa-vikalpātmakam manah cancalar hi manah krusna pramāthi valavaddrudham tasyāha nigraham manye vāyoriva suduşkarama
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