Question: If the mind is so bad, how can we get rid of it?

Sri Chinmoy: We cannot categorically say that the mind is bad and that we must throw it away or discard it. The mind is imperfect but we can perfect it. The mind is darkness but we can and we must illumine it. The mind plays a tremendous role in our human life, in society. In the Western world the mind has come to a very high stage of development. The mind is like an elder brother. It has more wisdom than the aggressive vital and the sleeping physical. But again, when we make a comparison between the mind and the heart, we see all the limitations of the physical mind.

Inside the heart is the soul. That is its special place of abode within the body. When we want to do something properly, divinely, we have to concentrate on the heart in order to contact the soul. So let us try to live inside the heart. If we can stay in the heart we will get the capacity to identify ourselves with others, who form our larger part, our larger being. In the spiritual life we always want to identify ourselves with the Vast, to make our inseparable oneness with the Vast. This is what the heart can do; the mind cannot do it. But we shall not discard the mind; we shall only try to take the mind to a proper place, and that is to the heart's illumination and the soul's illumination. When the illumination of the heart enters into the mind, the mind becomes a most powerful instrument that can be used in a divine way.

The human mind is a marvellous development. But a time comes in the march of evolution when we see the limitations of the mind. The mind is necessary only until we enter into the deeper region of spirituality. At that time we must offer our mind to our soul and let the soul illumine or transform the mind and give the mind the capacity to transcend its self-imposed or self-created barriers. As you know, there is a higher mind, an overmind and a supermind. Through the guidance of the soul one can enter into these higher regions of the mind. But as long as we are caught in the physical mind, all will remain imperfection and bondage.

Now, how can we inspire the mind to enter into the heart? If we find fault with the mind, we can never change it and transform it. But if we appreciate its capacity to play a significant role in God's cosmic Drama, then we can easily transform it. The mind, as well as the heart, is also important for the full manifestation of God on earth. It can and must become a chosen instrument of God.