The Bhagavad Gita says: ‘For one without self-control (Ayukta) and therefore without spiritual perception (Buddhi) there is no meditation (Bhavana). And for one without meditation there is no peace (Santi). And for one without peace, where is happiness?’ The meaning of this is that our spiritual practices will be effective to the extent they are supported by the control of the senses and by a strong aspiration for the Divine. Strong aspiration for the Divine will automatically make a life of the senses insipid, and enable one to have some mastery of the senses. With such a background, one has to perform spiritual practices and then only the mind will remain steady in the Lord, who is the fountainhead of peace. If the practices become merely mechanical, or settle into a matter of dull routine, as it invariably happens when they are not backed by these two conditions, they will have only a very superficial effect on the mind and will take a very long time to take sure effect. But even this should not disappoint very much in pursuing one’s spiritual practice.

The Gita also says ‘peace follows abandonment’. The abandonment spoken of here is of the little ego of ours which is always trying to secure everything for itself in the false belief that it could entrench itself in security thereby. If we could project this ego of ours in meditation and witness its real nature as being only a succession of fleeting unsubstantial moments, and then absolutely abandon the pursuit of security for it and dissipate it thereby and face the abysmal depths, we find Santi welling up. It is the same thing that Sri Krishna also says in the Bhagavad Gita in the language of devotional philosophy when He asks us to abandon all ‘Dharmas’ and take refuge in Him alone. It is only when the little ego ceases that there will be ‘the peace that passeth understanding.’