The problem, of course, is that the newly minted yogi is still burdened with the monkey mind. How can a person achieve dedication to the goal of governing his own ungovernable mind? The monkey mind will not agree to its own taming. The answer lies in the fact that the monkey mind is not one’s entire consciousness. There is a margin of awareness that lies beyond the monkey mind. This marginal awareness must gain the strength to overcome the monkey by making an alliance with a spiritual guide who has gained such self-sovereignty. Through the development of a deep, trusting, candid relationship, centered upon the open exploration of the soul of the disciple, and a gathering recognition of the power of their bond of love to strengthen and stabilize the soul, the disciple will gradually internalize the power of spirit such a guide transmits. This will create and augment an inner center of legitimate authority that can step-by-step further the process of disciplining and elevating the monkey mind to finally recognize its true divinity.
In Indian mythology, the divinized monkey mind is personified in Hanuman. The monkey god Hanuman served Rama, the avatar of the Supreme Being, in the great war to free the soul, His beloved Sita, from the clutches of the devil, the many-headed Ravana, and his army of demons. This eternally relevant epic, the Ramayana, tells the deep story that is being lived out in all of us every day of our lives. The more consciously aware one becomes of the playing out of this archetypal project in one’s own soul, the more easily one will gain power over the demons that torment us.
The first step in gaining victory in this most intimate and ultimate conflict is to become a disciple of a living spiritual path, a path with a living guide who can help you overcome the obstacles that will inevitably arise once you throw down the gauntlet to Maya. The more one can use one’s margin of awareness to bond with the teacher, to accept guidance and advice that comes from a clearer mind, one that has your highest good as goal and holds your well-being as a sacred trust, the more effectively one will be able to defy the monkey mind and carry out the mandates of the Supreme Self.
Becoming a disciple means that one dedicates oneself to the spiritual disciplines, the sadhanas, which will lead to sovereignty over the monkey mind. The first discipline to undertake is daily meditation. By using all one’s free will to gain a sattvic, meditative serenity, one can gradually overcome the tendency of the monkey mind to passive refusal through tamasic inertia and sleep, as well as its active resistance through rajasic hyperactivity, including the hyperactive fury of the traumatized mind. Once the regimen of regular meditation sittings every day, morning and evening, has been put in place, one will have taken the most important step in curbing the excesses of the monkey mind, and of soothing its anguish and pain.
Fulfilling all the other disciplines, the yamas and niyamas, is the next major victory that must be gained. This means the perseverance in spiritual study, the vowing not to act out, not to flee, not to run away from oneself, and engaging in the steady, gradual, but ever more profound purification of one’s behavior, then one’s thoughts, and finally the unconscious phantasies of the ego mind. In time, one’s life will have become a work of art, one’s attitudes will have become noble, one’s thoughts sublime. One will naturally live one’s life in blessed simplicity, in inward realization of the Divine Presence. One’s consciousness will have become one-pointed, whole-hearted, silent, solitary, and free. This is the transformation from monkey mind to monk. The true monk, whether living in a monastery (or ashram) or out in the kali yuga chaos, whether single or married, will be a beacon of light and peace to the suffering world. The true monk is a bodhisattva, a benevolent bringer of salvation to all the lost souls who seek release from their torments.
In this conversion to monk-hood, the yogi renounces the last traces of ego-mind, and in the effortless action, the karma yoga, of divine service, of functioning as a conduit of healing energy, wisdom, spiritual power, and the ongoing humble life of servant leadership, the purification process will attain its fullness. Consciousness will have become the temple of the Supreme Being. Ego will have died. The kingdom of Heaven will have come to fruition within. This is the final transformation from monk to monarch. The divine inner monarchy is not ruled by an ego, but rather, by the Absolute Emptiness that the ego will have become—an Emptiness that is filled by the Presence of God.
This is the fulfillment of our purpose on Earth, and the beginning of the return to divine life for our entire planetary consciousness, the whole collective life of Nature. All depends on humans once more playing the role of containing and radiating the Supreme Light that unites us all in love, in joy, in the bliss of our eternal Essence. Let us give all of Creation the ultimate blessing of Supreme Liberation. Our suffering world cannot wait. It calls out for healing love. Our world is our Self. Will you not sacrifice your monkey mind to save your world, to save your soul? This is the question that haunts everyone’s conscience. I wish you blessings on finding the answer that will set us all free.
Namaste,
Shunyamurti