Bondage and Freedom

Author(s): Chitrabhanu
Publisher: Divine Knowledge Society

Page 15

overrule his judgment, his sense of right and wrong, he becomes a slave to his desires and emotions. The humanity of his mind and the divinity of his soul are subordinated to the bestiality of his body:
The next constituent is the Mind. The chief characteristic of the mind is its humanity. Sometimes a man's mind is only half awake. It is then in a sort of finely balanced condition and can be pushed out of balance by the slightest force on either side. At such a time the brute in the man takes advantage of the half awake condition of the mind and makes it work as it likes. Thus, the mind which should rule the senses, becomes a slave to his senses and carries out the messages which his sensés send, without using any discretion.
But those who read good books, or listen to the enlightening words of the wise, have a well trained mind. Good thoughts strengthen it against temptations so that it is always alert. When the senses try to mislead it, it will immediately put them under a stern control, for it is well aware of the consequences of yielding to the temptation of indulging them. What an untrained mind fails to do, a mind disciplined with good reading, good company and good thoughts succeeds in achieving, though it may have to put up a hard fight against its foe-sensuality. The mind triumphs over matter.
We must understand this clearly-sensual desires are bestial in origin. Whenever our senses try to