मनश्चञ्चलमस्थिरम् ...

गीता अध्याय ६

यतो यतो निश्चरति मनश्चञ्चलमस्थिरम् ।।

ततस्ततो नियम्यैतदात्मन्येव वशं नयेत् ।।२६।।

--

(Gita 6/26)

Latent and Blatant :

Exactly, "Who" is there that is supposed to go through this exercise?

Is there another mind that is supposed to bring back home (home is where the heart is!) this wandering mind to its home / heart?

Here, may be the heart the same that has been pointed out in the following verses 4/42 and 61/18 of the chapter 4 and 18 respectively?  :

तस्मादज्ञानसंभूतं हृत्स्थं ज्ञानासिनात्मनः।।

छित्त्वैनं संशयं योगमातिष्ठोत्तिष्ठ भारत ।।४२।।

and, 

ईश्वरः सर्वभूतानां हृद्देशेऽर्जुन तिष्ठति ।।

भ्रामयन् सर्वभूतानि यन्त्रारूढानि मायया ।।६१।।

This way for the time being, let us consider the two salient modes of mind. 

One is the superficial mind that is restless and keeps moving from one to another object.

There is yet another underlying deeper mind that is silent, taciturn, reticent, sitting at the core of the heart.

Though this division of mind into the superficial and the deeper too helps to some extent, the prime factor that governs the whole of this mind is the "attention" only that is the ever-existing fact within the grasp of all of us.

Still, the attention could be further viewed as the one and the same thing that has 3 components inseparable to one-another. This 3 components or the aspects of the "attention" could be again termed as the sense of being as the "I AM", the consciousness (knowing) and the intellect --the tendency of the mind.

The three aspects could be understood in the form of the Rudra-principle, the DevI-principle, and the gaNesha-principle as well.

Bringing back the wandering mind to its natural abode,  - the heart, could be done when these 3 principles are seen as the three marks of Reality that could be at once grasped by means of any or all of them together.

This is how one could 'meditate' and discover by reciting pATha of the three Atharva SheerShaM, namely :

The gaNesha Atharva SheerShaM, 

The Shiva Atharva SheerShaM, and the

Devi Atharva SheerShaM.

In the very process of reciting the pATha or the stotram one gradually discovers the mechanism of the mind at the two levels referred to above.

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