O Rama, listen closely. The mind is like a weak enemy, taking the deceptive form of mistaken perception, but it can be swiftly conquered through determined effort. Calmness is the foundation of prosperity; from calmness, right action arises. When one has subdued the mind, even the conquest of the three worlds becomes insignificant, for such a person has achieved true mastery. In that sublime state where not even the slightest disturbance from weapons, fire, calamities, or falling arises—a state that is simply the cessation of one's own restless nature—what interference could there possibly be, and who could bring it? Those base men, powerless even in their own experience, are unable to manage themselves in the varied situations of worldly life. The ideas, “I am a man,” “I am seen,” “I am born,” “I am alive,” are false perceptions. These are merely movements of the restless mind arising from unreality, and they pass away. In truth, no one here dies, and no one here is born; it is only the mind that, upon leaving the body, perceives its own death and imagines it has journeyed to another world. When the mind departs from this world to another, it manifests itself differently there; it does not perish until liberation is attained. Why, then, should there be fear of death? The mind, assuming the form of a body, moves about in this world and the next; it persists until liberation, having no other form. The suffering that arises in people concerning a son, brother, servant, or others does not occur in their own mind, for their own consciousness is not interrupted—this is my view. Having thoroughly considered all possibilities—across, above, and below—again and again, I see that there is truly no means except the pacification of the mind. Apart from wholesome conduct, when pure knowledge arises in the heart, then by the mere dissolution of the mind, genuine rest is attained. Consciousness meditates in the space of the heart with the wheel of pure awareness; destroy the mind without fear, and sorrows will not trouble you. If you have found delight in what is undelightful, then those very limbs of the mind are severed—this is my conviction. “This is ‘I’, this is ‘mine’”—the mind is only this much. By simply not thinking in this way, the mind dissolves, just as a donor gives away possessions. Like a broken cloud vanishing in the clear autumn sky, so too, in the supreme, undifferentiated reality, the mind becomes free of impressions. Where weapons, fire, and wind operate, there may be fear; but in what is self-dependent, soft, and clear, what fear can there be in the absence of thought-constructions? “This is good, this is not”—such notions arise from childhood and remain unbroken; like a noble parent guiding a child, the mind should be joined to the good. Those who slay the five-headed lion of the senses—the lion that expands the forest of transmigration—are the true conquerors who attain liberation. Terrifying calamities, bringing confusion, arise from the formation of thoughts, just as mirages appear in the desert. Let the winds of the end of the age blow, let the oceans merge into one, let twelve suns burn fiercely—there is no harm for one whose mind is free from thoughts. From the seed of the mind arise fruits of good and evil; these are the thickets of worldly existence, the shoots of the seven worlds. All attainments are accomplished solely by the absence of thought; remain steadfast in the sovereignty of thoughtlessness, devoted to its support. As the mind gradually diminishes, it grants supreme bliss, just as a dying ember gives warmth to one seeking the end of embers. Even if the mind aims at the highest abode of Brahman, it is distinctly perceived within the smallest particle, divided and manifest. Through the power of thought alone, great misfortune is created; through the power of quiescence of thought, the desired goal is easily attained. Conquer the mind by the power of contentment alone, and achieve victory by the ever-arising, unpursued satisfaction. May that unborn state remain, which is left when the mind is purified by supreme equanimity, by the wisdom of the knower of the Self, by the pacification and limitation of inner egoity. Whatever object, in whatever manner, and by whatever means, the mind intensely desires, it perceives as it wishes. This intense momentum of the mind arises and ceases; it is causeless by nature, like a chain of bubbles in gentle water. Just as coldness is the nature of snow, and blackness the nature of soot, so is restlessness the very form of the mind, which is of a single, exceedingly intense character. How can the forceful motion of this exceedingly restless mind, whose only cause is its own momentum, be restrained by strength, O Brahman? Nowhere is a mind without restlessness ever seen; restlessness is the nature of the mind, just as heat is the nature of fire. This very restless power, established in consciousness, is the mental energy—the essence of the world's display. Just as the existence of air is not known without its movement or touch, so too the existence of consciousness is only through restless vibration. That which is free from restlessness is called the dead mind; and that alone is said to be asceticism, the liberation celebrated in the scriptures. By the mere dissolution of the mind, the cessation of suffering is attained; by the mere arising of the mind, the highest suffering is obtained. The demon of the mind, when it rises up, loudly produces suffering; for the sake of endless enjoyment and happiness, strive diligently to bring it down. Its fickleness is indeed called ignorance, also known by the other name ‘tendency’; destroy it through discernment. By the dissolution of ignorance, which is tendency, and by the inner peace of mind—when these are dissolved through renunciation—the highest good is attained. That which is between existence and non-existence, which is between consciousness and inertness—that, O Rama, is called the mind, having the form of oscillation between the two. When the mind is absorbed in dullness and, by identifying with dullness, is seized by it, then, through the force of firm habit, the mind attains inertness. Thus, O Rama, the mind is both the cause and the conqueror of suffering and joy. By understanding its nature and dissolving its restlessness, one attains the highest peace and liberation.