This lecture was given on November 3, 2019, at the Vedanta Society of Northern California by Swami Tattwamayananda.

-According to Sushruta Samhita, an ancient Sanskrit Ayurvedic Text, a healthy person is one whose body, mind and soul are in a state of perfect stability.
-The mind often does not want to cooperate with us. There is a conflict between what we want to do and what we end up doing in the form of mental blocks. Modern medicine may only postpone the problem.
-Kalidasa says that youth, money, authority over others, and lack of wisdom each can cause serious problems.
-The mind is compared, in ancient Sanskrit texts, to a monkey who is drunk on alcohol, has gone mad, has been bitten by a scorpion, and possessed by a ghost. William James calls it the stream consciousness.
-In Yoga, the concept of Citta-Prasada refers to a clear balanced mind, controlled by spiritual common sense. When we observe our own mind, we do not identify with our emotions.
-Spiritual common sense means not only knowing something but also learning to handle what we know.
-Because we cannot directly control what we will think at any time, we make use of our ability to control our physical activities. Physical energy can be converted to positive spiritual energy through selfless dedicated work for a noble cause or a spiritual ideal (Karma Yoga).
-Vyasa’s commentary on Patanjali’s Yoga Sutra compares the mind to a river (citta nadi). It will either flow to the auspicious or to the negative, but it certainly cannot keep still. Direct the mind towards positive channels through good physical actions and consuming positive ideas.
-To permanently solve the problems of the mind, we must link the mind to something stable and beyond the mind – Atman – the transcendental Reality as a witness.
-Anxiety is foreign to our mind.
-Even a strong positive intention to do something noble will generate an invisible spiritual wealth in our mind.
-To break the cycle of anxiety, we must learn to perform actions without being enslaved by utilitarian ideas (the prison of short-term goals).
-Buddha calls it being from desire (trshna).
-We must learn to link ourselves to something beyond the mind. The mind automatically focuses on immediate short-term results.
-When we try to make a change and move towards a more noble way of life, we may be confronted by postponement, procrastination, false justifications, and taking things for granted.
-To obtain clarity and stability of mind (citta-prasada) we must take in good mental food rather than poisonous food.
-We can learn to think of a higher ideal. We can have a sublime ideal, a higher worry (Parinama Duhkha from Patanjali’s Yoga Sutra). Buddha is a great example.
-We evolve a sublime ego, dedicated to serving God. This gives a promotion to work - a new definition of work. This kind of work gives peace of mind and evolves a stable mind.
-The concept of Swardharma from the Bhagavad Gita sublimates our activities towards a higher ideal.
-We evolve from a state of work exclusively, to a state of both work and worship, and finally to a stage where all work is worship.
-When all work is saturated with the spiritual ideal, we can no longer become too anxious.
-We experience mental imbalance because our actions may not be in harmony with our duties (satyam, dharma, ṛtam). We can rebalance by performing Swardharma.