The stored-up impressions of one life are not lost by the death of the body, but will remain latent for some time and will become the causes of future desires in another life. Each one of us is born with the stored-up impressions of his past birth, which will re-appear in the form of various tendencies, desires and habits. This is the explanation of the wide variations we see in members of the same family, for which heredity alone, or even heredity plus environment, fails to account. As the number of impressions increases, desires also increase, as has been said; if we allow the desires to rise up and play in our minds, they will take the forms of passion and anger, disturb mental peace, create new impressions, and be in turn the causes of fresh desires. Thus, there is no hope of controlling the mind by mere gratification of desires. There is no hope of satiating the craving for enjoyment by getting the objects of pleasures; this is simply putting fuel on fire, or oil on flames. The more we enjoy, the more will desires increase. Foolish people, who have never analyzed their minds, indulge their desires and seek pleasure from outside objects. No one has succeeded in attaining self-control by being a slave to desires, nor has any one become free from desires by gratifying them. Therefore, a Yogi says: “As fire is not quenched by butter, so the fire of desire will never be put out by the objects of pleasure. The more butter is poured on a fire, the more it will flare up; similarly, the more the objects of desire are indulged, the more the desires will increase. If a person were to possess all the objects upon this earth, still his greed would not stop, he would seek something more.” Do you suppose that a man who works hard to become a millionaire will ever be satisfied with his possessions and cease to acquire more? He will go on seeking to add to them as long as he will live. A poor man desires to be rich, a rich man desires to be a millionaire, and a millionaire wants to be a multi-millionaire, and so on; where is there any rest? Where is there happiness? When will his thirst for possessions or enjoyment cease? Will he ever acquire control over his mind? Perhaps not in this life
Thirst for enjoyment is the real disease in us; its various symptoms are passions, ambition, pride, hatred, jealousy, anger, etc. Tremendous mental strength and will-power are required to control the restless mind from taking the forms of waves of passion and anger. The perfect restlessness of the mind of an ordinary person who is the slave to his desires and passions has been vividly described by a Yogi; the poet could not find a better illustration than to compare it with a monkey, who is restless by nature; then thinking this was not quite enough, he added drunken monkey, stung by a scorpion. When any one is stung by a scorpion, he jumps about from place to place for nearly two days, so you can imagine the restlessness of that poor monkey; still the poet found something lacking in the simile, so he completed it by saying: "At last the monkey was possessed by a demon.” Is there any expression by which we can describe the wretched state of that poor monkey? Such is the ordinary state of our mind
Naturally it is restless, but it becomes more so when it drinks the wine of ambition, still more when it is stung by the scorpion of jealousy; but the climax is reached when the demon of pride enters the mind and takes possession of it. In such a case, how difficult it is to bring the mind under control. To conquer mind is more difficult than to conquer the whole world. He is the greatest hero and the real conqueror of the world who has conquered his own mind. “He that ruleth his spirit is greater than he who taketh a city.” A Yogi says: "If one man conquers in battle a thousand times a thousand men, and if another conquers himself, he is the greatest of conquerors.” Therefore we should pay special attention to the study of the mind; we should learn to analyze its nature and constantly watch over its various modifications, trying to develop and strengthen the will-power
A Yogi develops his will-power by daily practice; he rouses up the higher powers and continues to fight against his greatest enemies with firmness and determination until he accomplishes his end. Perfect self-control of a Yogi is that state of mind where no desires or passions of any kind disturb the peace and tranquillity of his soul. Such a state can be acquired more easily by removing the bubbles of desires before they take the wave form of passions, that is, by attacking them while they are in their weak state. This can be done either by right discrimination of the nature of desire or by comparing the transitory pleasure which results from our contact with the objects of senses, with the serene, peaceful mind which is undisturbed by desires or passions. We should also remember that the highest ideal of our life is not pleasure of the senses, nor slavery to desires and passions, but the attainment of mastery over the lower self, and the manifestation of the supreme Self
There is another way of obtaining self-control, through concentration and meditation. Concentrate your mind upon the supreme Self and do not let it be disturbed by any other thought or desire at that time. Those who have read the Light of Asia will remember that when Buddha sat in meditation under the Bo tree all the dormant impressions began to rise in his mind. They are described as the attendants of Mara, the personified evil thought. But Buddha said: “It is better to die on the battlefield while fighting with enemy than to be defeated and forced to live like a slave, seeking little bits of sense pleasures and enjoyments.” With such a strong determination Buddha became master of himself; whosoever will display similar determination of purpose and strength of character, will surely attain perfect self-control. They alone who have acquired self-control enjoy eternal peace and happiness in this life and attain the goal of all religions, the knowledge of the divine Self
Be now and Be here
Be yourself and Be happiness