The Power of the Mind

The power of the human mind is unlimited.

This is actually a true statement, but for most people it is not a clear concept. The fact is that most of us never really studied our own minds. It is not really our fault; it is just that we were never taught anything about the mind, its functioning and abilities, or its very nature.

The Yogis of India and Tibet have studied the mind for thousands of years, mastering its very nature and many aspects. They have learned its mysteries and the various ways to control the mind, to focus it and develop it to unbelievable levels. These are very necessary practices for many reasons. First and foremost, in Yoga developing the mind is intended for the purposes of self-realization – for reaching enlightenment. Secondly, the development and concentration of the mind is necessary for achieving any goal in life, starting from improving your health, character, emotional level, or emotional and mental control, as well as many others. In this way you can improve every aspect of your life.

If we stop to think about it, in our lives, every action we take and every objective we aim to achieve culminates beneficially due to one thing and one thing alone: how strong and developed our minds are. Of course another crucial quality necessary for success is will power, and when the mind becomes developed and strong, will power can develop powerfully as well. You will find that many beneficial qualities that we need depend on our mental development and that is why the mind is of such great importance.

It sounds simple, doesn't it? Well, it’s far from it. To actually develop the mind you first need persistence. This means that to really see results and have real progress you need to apply yourself to your mental evolution wholeheartedly on a daily basis. As Swami Sivananda Saraswati used to say in his amazing teachings on the mind: “The mind can be controlled by untiring perseverance and patience equal to that of one engaged in emptying the ocean, drop by drop, with the tip of a blade of grass.” (Mind, Its Mysteries and Control: a Divine Life Society publication)

Many other great Yogis from India and Tibet have praised the power of the mind and the ability to control and use it as the highest level of practice. Swami Vivekananda the Great, the primary disciple of Ramakrishna Paramahamsa, notes the power of the mind as supreme in his renowned work Raja Yoga, and goes into great detail on how the mind can be purified, strengthened, and studied.

The greatest Yogi of Tibet, Milarepa, was a great master of the mind. It is said that he reached such paranormal abilities of the mind that he was able to levitate and even fly through the air. He achieved one of the rarest paranormal powers of Yoga: the power of mental projection. His life story relates that when he reached that level of mental power he was able to move through space and time and reach levels beyond the understanding of normal human beings.

According to the traditional Yogic knowledge, mental power becomes truly profound when the practice of visualization is included. The Yogis of India and Tibet have developed various techniques, some of which are of the utmost importance, to reach results that surpass the imagination. From simple visualization techniques from the Raja Yoga system of practice to highly advanced Kashmiri Shaivist methods, from the famous Shambhavi Mudra of the Indian Yogis to various Tibetan methods of visualization – all lead to purification, amplification, and intense development of the mind.

The truth is that our minds have enormous power. As Swami Vivekananda Saraswati from Agama Yoga often says, the best way to understand how much power the mind has – if it is focused properly – is to compare mental power to the electricity running through a light bulb. A bulb shines light into a whole room using a 220V electrical current, but if we put exactly the same electrical input into a laser device, we would be able to cut through steel!

This means that the ability to focus and concentrate our minds is the key to getting results. When we gather the rays of the mind instead of allowing them to scatter, the mind suddenly has access to a huge amount of energy and power.

The Buddhists teach that by developing the mind and focusing it, the mind becomes refined and pure. Then working with the mind, following specific steps, it will develop to such a degree that it will change in quality completely and eventually bring us to the perfect state of nirvana. Buddhist lore compares this process to cleaning a mirror: the more you clean it the better it will reflect the true nature of your deepest self and, when you perfect this process, the mirror (your mind) will be able to reflect perfectly the true nature of your true self, which is enlightenment.

We’ll conclude with a saying by the well known Taoist philosopher Lao Tzu: "He who controls the mind controls the universe."