The Upanishads give a very beautiful line now and then. They say Yadeeccheth Shantim Atmanah—if you wish to discover peace within, then do this. Take this as a command. If someone is not interested in discovering the path to peace, then they can continue to live as they please.
To be able to distinguish between what is truth and what is not, there are six types of wealth—Shama or tranquility of the mind, Dama or control over senses, Titiksha means endurance or forbearing, Uparati or being with your nature, Shraddha or faith, and Samadhana or being at ease.
The mind is a repository of vital energy like a tank of water for instance. The gateways of the senses—eyes, ears, nose, tongue and skin—are always open. The mind or knowledge constantly keeps flowing out of these organs of perception.
When it flows out, it is not without a goal. Constantly, the ears are going after its object of perception—sound. The eyes are searching for forms and colours to see. The nose is looking out for good smells and also inevitably attracted by foul smells. The tongue keeps asking for tasty things to munch on, whether there is hunger or not.
The skin goes after its sense of feeling and touching something that makes it happy. Each sense organ does not function naturally in a controlled way. The mind rushes out through these five means like crazy horses with a lot of power. For great pursuits in the field of sports, music, science, arts, literature or mathematics, the conserved reservoir of mental energy is very important.
For a person who has to deliver a speech for one hour cannot afford to waste energy by loose and wasteful talking throughout the day. He needs the mental energy to focus and concentrate on the topic he is going to present, the examples he is going to give, the way the speech will be delivered, and the stories he has to narrate to convey the point.
Such a person will not and cannot spend his energy through the senses in worthless pursuits that have no direct bearing on the speech he is going to present.
We see even flautists, players, teachers and speakers going on a day of silence every week or periodically. This is to conserve the energy of speech to be applied productively in the concert platform or in the classroom.
Even in material pursuits, if personal energy has to be conserved, then what does one have to say about the energy needed for the highest pursuit in the world to realise our true self?
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