many people are interested in controlling the mind and becoming master of it. if you go to a bookstore then you will find many books which share secrets to control mind.
but in reality, it is not possible to control the mind or to stop the mind at all. infact, the more you try to control the mind, more the mind will go out of your control. anyone who has a rational mind can find it out for himself. just close your eyes, and tell your mind that you will not think about monkey or any other object of your liking. now, no matter how hard you try, you can not stop the mind from thinking about monkeys.
it is because you are trying to control the mind or trying to stop it from doing something. and mind will exactly try to do which you don’t want him to do. it behaves like a servant who does not listen to the command of the master. this is because mind does not want to be your slave. so basically, it becomes a struggle between you and your mind. mind does not want to become your slave… so it fights and proves you wrong.
so forget about controlling the mind or stopping the thinking process. it is impossible. there is a possibility that a rat can kill a cat or a cat can kill a dog. but there is no possibility for controlling the mind.
yes, you can train your mind or refine its capabilities. e.g. scientist have very good concentration skills. some people can have very good imagination skills and so on.
so how to stop or control mind:
if you had started reading this article in search of how to control mind then there is no need to lose hope. because if your idea about controlling the mind, was to become the master of your mind then you are in the right place. yes, this is possible. one can be the master of the mind but with a different approach of meditation.
in meditation one does not try to control the mechanism of the mind but one becomes a watcher of the mind. one simply watches all the thoughts in the mind with out any judgement or involvement or identification. through meditation it is possible to go beyond the mind and that state is called ‘no mind’ state and in that state satori and samadhi happens.
so the person who wants to become the master of the mind should explore more about the meditation. but many people are teaching wrong meditation techniques. so one has to follow the meditation technique which increases your awareness or witnessing or consciousness. as your consciousness or witnessing ability increases, your hold on mind becomes more stronger. when you become master of witnessing, then automatically you become master of your mind also. so witnessing is the key to control the mind. witness your thoughts, your emotions, your moods and your physical actions like eating, walking, listening, talking etc. put energy in developing your inner center of witnessing and rest all follow.