A purified mind is a source of power.   An impure mind is weak and drawn towards the stronger mind.   Observe the mind and influences upon it; there will be some startling revelations.   Individualized mind is nothing but collection of impressions gathered from previous and present births.    That is why someone wants to study mathematics and some other commerce, it is a matter of taste acquired by the mind through associations.  What we call aptitude is nothing but inherent tendencies in a person to excel in a certain field, but not excel in other fields.   This aptitude is nothing but a desire and knowledge or skill in a being. Why can’t every one have similar efficiencies?   The reason is that the mind of all people had previously not been exposed to that particular activity and subject or it had developed distaste and aversion to it in his previous incarnations.   If one studies science in a particular birth he will have a tendency to study the same in the next and excel in the same subject.    This does not stop one from not gaining proficiency in a subject not exposed to earlier, hard work and determination can make anything possible.   Mind responds very well to firm decisions.

       Mind is ever changing.   Vedic scriptures state that mind is made every minute.   It changes its color like a chameleon.    Man’s conscience keeps changing according to his knowledge, as he keeps correcting his opinions and views.   Conscience is nothing but one’s own convictions derived at either from reasoning or through instinct.  We have the Tamasic mind full or sloth and dullness, the Rajsic mind full of activity, restlessness, ego and limited reasoning and discrimination.   The Sattvic mind, is pure intelligent, humble and contended.    The mind is directly related to the food consumed, because the food also has the same qualities and the mind assumes the quality of the food eaten by the being.     Hence there is great importance attached to the type of food one intakes.

       The mind has three functions: thought, sensation and volition.   Desire, cognition and decision are the processes of the mind.    The mind follows the Law of Association, Law of Continuity and Law of Relativity. (Not the relativity of Albert Einstein) These laws do not require elaboration. Mind always requires change and variety it gets frustrated with monotony.   Thinking, feeling, awareness of various objects, planning etc go on concurrently in the mind.   These activities can be simultaneous or separate.

        The seat of the mind is in the brain in the physical body and in the heart in the astral body.   The whole individual body can be taken as one individualized unit of the mind when we refer to mind in a personality context.    There are certain portions of the brain, which respond to separate or different notions of the mind.    Mind is given intelligence by the Supreme Being.   Mind can only do one thing at a time.    People who attempt to do many things at a time, like studying and listening to music etc are wasting precious time and energy.  Such efforts do not provide full results.

     Mind is ever changing; it is nothing but habits, impulses and emotions.    Mind gropes in the wilderness, it has to be taught and it demands proof due to ignorance.   Due to ignorance and requirement of proof it cannot understand or visualize subtle truths and doubts scriptural knowledge.    It is unstable it forgets things very fast. Memory is part of the mind.    It is full of desires and craving.  It carries forward all the impurities of desires and actions of the samskaras from the previous births.   This is a very small platform to fully mention and discuss the traits of the mind.  

      It is mind that renders all knowledge to the being through the senses.    This happens due to the connection of the mind with the sense organs.  As brought out earlier   the mind itself is non-intelligent it receives its light from the soul.   Yes, the mind is the most mysterious and diverse thing created by the Lord, it is actually his instrument of power and play.    There are volumes of Vedic literature available on mind.     The object to bring this out here is to make the reader aware of general characteristics of the mind to enable the genuine aspirant to be able to control the mind.   A book of many volumes can be written on this subject, but this is part of Divine Knowledge and cannot be easily assimilated or perceived even by most intelligent of persons.    Hence, it is not dealt in detail at this juncture.           

      To be able to control the mind it is essential to have purity in thought and action.   To achieve the purity one has to gradually come to terms with what one actually desires in life, pure knowledge permanent happiness or chase ephemeral pleasures.   Once an aim has been set in life it becomes easy to achieve the rest because the mind responds very well to determination.  But remember to tame a tiger is easier than taming a mind, it has to be a continuous untiring and patient effort.

  Here are some important clues to tame the mind:

(a)          Get rid of unnecessary desires.   Desires not only make the mind restless but also makes one commit mistakes one after another.   Be satisfied in what God gives you do not desire objects that do not belong to you.

(b)          Learn to remain calm and peaceful under all circumstances.

(c)          Stop getting angry and irritable.   These are seeds or irrationality, immature behavior and self-destruction.

(d)          Give up ego and pride.   These are enemies of progress in spiritual life.  

(e)          Control the emotions.   Do not react irrationally and without thought.

(f)           Give up prejudices, mind is always biased, and start to control the lower mind by the higher mind.

(g)          Give up bad company.   Do not waste precious time in clubs and gossip.

(h)          Develop compassion towards all beings.

(i)            Do not argue or show your knowledge.   Arguing creates sense of hostility and it is waste of energy.

(j)            Do not crib or criticize any one or any circumstance. Everything happens by the will of the Lord