Does restraining the mind lay the foundation of inner peace or samadhi? Is there a mind control test?

To become asangpanthi you need mano-nigraha !

Questioner: What does mano-nigrahi mean? What does nigraha mean?

Dadashri: Mano-nigraha means to keep the mind restrained in a place where it does not cause any hindrance or unrest. Therefore, they keep it restrained (nirgraha) ‘here’ (on the spinal cord). They restrain it here in the chakras (series of energy fields or centers of consciousness; the five chakras of Kundalini). It can never stay forever;mano-nigraha, restraint of the mind cannot occur. It is only when ‘we’ give Gnan that one can take control over his mind.

Questioner: What is the test to see whether the mind has come under control? How would we know that?

Dadashri: That it has not come under control, is the test itself. To eat and to stay hungry; is there not a difference between the two tests? What is the test for it?  

Questioner: One will not feel like eating.

Dadashri: So that is the kind of test. Is it worth even raising such a question? Where did you bring the word ‘test’? Testing is something the goldsmiths do.

There is no inner arguments and rationalization (zavadava); inner peace prevails – that is the test. If inner peace goes away, then it is not a restrained mind (manonigraha).

Questioner: I do not understand that.

Dadashri: Do you experience peace or restlessness?

Questioner: Inner peace.

Dadashri: For that period of time, there is manonigraha (restraint of the mind). If inner peace does not remain, then manonigraha is gone. What are you trying to say?

Questioner: How can manonigraha remain constantly and always?

Dadashri: It cannot remain constantly for anyone. The mind can be controlled but one cannot attain permanent manonigraha. It will remain only for a little while. It (the mind) is no ordinary thing. You may pacify it for a while, but not forever.

Questioner: Say someone scores thirty-five percent then at least he passes at thirty-five percent, does he not? Then he can be promoted to a higher class, can he not?

Dadashri: You have to see whether inner peace prevails while your state of manonigraha is being tested. And if the mind has come into control, then you will experience samadhi (bliss of the Self despite external or internal turmoil). What other test is there? This is not like testing gold. What are you really trying to say?

Questioner: We are not able to tell whether the state of manonigraha occurs or not.

Dadashri: Why would manonigraha not occur? Whatever it is, whatever word it is, it all happens indeed. But one would do it, if the need is there, isn’t that so?  Do you have a need to restrain the mind (manonigraha)?

Questioner: Yes.

Dadashri: What for?

Questioner: To obtain peace.

Dadashri: Give him that book (shuddha vyavahar charanvidhi). Do everything that is in this book and you will experience inner peace.

‘We’ do not know anything about the chakras. Had ‘we’ become involved with chakras, ‘we’ would have been doomed.  

Questioner: Is it possible to become asangapanthi without achieving the state of manonigraha?

Dadashri: Restraining the mind (mano-nigraha) is useful in the worldly life. It is useful for the purpose of giving rise to riddhi-siddhi (prosperity and achievement; the remover of obstacles). There is no need to restrain the mind. One becomes asangpanthi through Gnan, not through restraining the mind. That is why the Lord has said, how can one restrain [another] when he is restrained himself? How can he restrain the senses and all else?

Questioner: So then how can one go to the state that is beyond thoughts?

Dadashri: Once the mind is under control, where is the need to go beyond thoughts? What else remains once the mind comes under control? For infinite lives people have been trying to control the mind. But still the mind has not come under control. So hasn’t the time come for one to go into the jungle and scream out loud? Why should one wail out loud in the jungle? Because there, no one will console him, whereas here people are kind and will say, ‘Hey! Get him some water. Bring him some tea.’ They will not even let him cry in peace, whereas in the forest, one can cry peacefully. You can cry the whole night long. That is why the mind has never come under control. When one has wandered around for infinite lives, so then this life goes to waste. One will have to control his mind, will he not? How long can things continue haphazardly in this way? But then one thinks to himself, ‘I am advanced’. Hey! You may be advanced in one thing, but your mind is not under your control whatsoever! It gets irritated at the slightest instigation. Amidst such tremendous weakness, one claims ‘I am something’.