Chapter 2 Verses 60 – 63. The lecture was given by Swami Tattwamayananda on June 14, 2019. - The mind: our master or our slave? - Why does the mind revolt? - When does our mind become our friend? - Can we program our mind? - Why we cannot program our mind. - We cannot disown our accumulated impressions and samskaras. - The problem of fragmentation of the mind. - The pull of the sense-objects, the senses, the visual and the audio objects, the internet, etc. - If the mind is dragged away from its ideal, it won't stop till it reaches rock-bottom. - The analogy from Sri Shankaracharya's 'Viveka-chudamani'. - The analogy of the ball falling down the ladder - The attraction of the senses. - ('Viveka-chudamani', an introductory text on Advaita Vedanta - verse: 326). - The enslavement of the mind when dragged by unrestrained senses. - A warning: we should never try to restrain the senses without first evolving a counter-focus. - The mind compared to a drunken monkey, possessed by a ghost and bitten by a scorpion. - 'Controlling the mind' does not mean suppression, it actually means sublimation. - Keeping the senses engaged in creative work. - Need for a higher ideal in life and going beyond the sensory system. - Patanjali's concept of 'Parinama-dukha'. - (Ref: साधन-पादः ॥ परिणामतापसंस्कारदुःखैर्गुणवृत्तिविरोधा च्च दुःखमेव सर्वं विवेकिनः ॥ २.१५॥ ) - The danger of keeping the mind in a vacuum, without a higher ideal, without a good job. - Giving a promotion to the mind by feeding it with good food in the form of spiritual ideas. - The importance of a healthy mind and disciplined senses: directing it into creative channels. - Psychology of the five 'kleshas' from Patanjali's Yoga-sutras - (साधन-पादः ॥ "अविद्यास्मितारागद्वेषाभिनिवेशाः क्लेशाः" ॥ २.३॥ ). - Kunti's prayer to Lord Sri Krishna: "Please give me more trouble so that I will always remember you and will never forget you." (Ref: the ancient Sanskrit epic, 'Mahabharata' ). - The imagery of the journey on a chariot from the Kathopanishad.