Baba Hari Dass - Mind Quotes

13 Sourced Quotes

View all Baba Hari Dass Quotes
Q: Can intellect aid understanding? A: It helps in the beginning but cannot give full enlightenment. The mind is the main instrument to gain enlightenment, but enlightenment is only reached when the mind stops. Q: How can we stop the mind? A: Not hitting it with a hammer. Stop the mind by the mind.

Baba Hari Dass
Using siddhis (powers) is not good for those who possess them. It can also trap the mind into desires. By being pure in mind siddhis will come by itself, and a yogi should not try to show his powers. First thing is to have siddhis and then not to get trapped in siddhis.

Baba Hari Dass
The ego rules the mind because it links the I with the mind and body. If the I, which is another name for the self, were not identified with the mind and body, the ego would have no power. Self-study [svadhyaya], therefore, is the set of practices that investigates the nature of the self to discover its origin. When the origin is found to be separate from the body, the ego loses the battle and peace is attain.

Baba Hari Dass
In this verse Lord Krishna advises Arjuna how to fight the battle he is trying to avoid. Life in the world functions by ego, attachment and desire, which gives the rise to the idea of likes and dislikes. In this way the mind starts identifying all experiences in the world in terms of opposites, such as pleasure and pain, gain and loss, victory and defeat... Here, Sri Krishna is saying that if Arjuna has neither desire for heaven nor for sovereignty over the earth, then he should achieve equanimity of the mind. With equanimity of the mind one can achieve success in the war of life. Without it, one cannot remain unaffected by the pairs of opposites and will be continually tossed about by the waves of egocentric likes and dislikes.

Baba Hari Dass
Q: How do you define ego? A: Ego is life. To keep the body's existence is ego. It is the part of the mind which identifies a creature with the world. Ego self tells you, This is my body, and also tells you, This is my Self. It connects the two.

Baba Hari Dass
Greed is a sickness of the mind. The more one hoards, the more greed increases. Giving with no expectation eliminates greed.

Baba Hari Dass
Without watching ourselves we can't be aware of the tricks the mind plays. So a yogi should be alert all the time.

Baba Hari Dass
Samyama, which is the application of concentration (dharana), meditation (dhyana), and superconscious trance (samadhi) in lightning succession, is practiced with the intent to gain specific knowledge of the object of concentration. The object is seen from all sides, in all its aspects, with full depth and breadth. As such, this complete absorption of the mind using the process of samyama brings complete and specific knowledge of the object. This power of knowing is vibhuti.

Baba Hari Dass
Human birth is the highest. It is for attaining liberation. If we don't consciously try for liberation, then we are misusing our human birth. Every action, thought, and word should be spiritual. It happens only when the mind is purified by sadhana [spiritual practice].

Baba Hari Dass
All sadhanas or methods are for simply tricking the mind. The trick is to not let the mind spread out in a form of thoughts.

Baba Hari Dass
Q: What is silence?
A: Silence is an austerity. You control your desire to talk. By talking, people try to impress others, which you can't do if you are in silence. In silence you have to develop tolerance. At first it is difficult to do because you separate yourself from others by not expressing yourself. But gradually the mind reduces that ego and an aspirant accepts the situation, which develops tolerance and reduces anger.

Baba Hari Dass
Just like pure water poured in a dirty cup becomes dirty, similarly the pure ego rooted in the impure mind becomes impure ego.

Baba Hari Dass
The ego has no form and no particular center of existence. It pervades the mind, intellect, senses, and the body as 'I am'.

Baba Hari Dass