Monkey of the Mind

 There is a beautiful story in the yogic lore. A man went for a walk and accidentally walked into paradise. After the long walk he felt a little tired and thought, “I wish I could rest somewhere.” He saw a beautiful tree beneath which was wonderful, soft grass. So he went and slept on the grass. After a few hours, he woke up well-rested. Then he thought, “Oh! I am hungry. I wish I had something to eat.” He thought of all the nice things he wanted to eat and all of them just appeared in front of him. After he had the sumptuous food, the man thought, “Oh! I wish I had something to drink.” He thought of all the drinks he wanted and all of them appeared in front of him.

In yoga, the human mind is referred to as markata, or monkey, because of its nature. The word “monkey” has also become synonymous with imitation. If you say you are monkeying someone, it means you are imitating someone – this is the full-time job of your mind. So, an un-established mind is referred to as a monkey.

When this “monkey” became active in the man who went to paradise, he thought, “What the hell is happening here? I asked for food, food came. I asked for a drink, a drink came. Maybe there are ghosts around”. He looked and there were ghosts. The moment he saw them he got terrified and said, “Oh there are ghosts around here, maybe they will torture me.” And the ghosts started torturing him, and he started screaming and yelling in pain. He said, “Oh these ghosts are torturing me, they are going to kill me.” And he died.

The situation was, he was sitting under a wishing tree or a Kalpavriksha. Whatever he asked for became a reality. 

• A well-established human mind is referred to as a “Kalpavriksha.” 

• In this mind, whatever one ask for becomes a reality. 

• In life, we are constantly sitting under a Kalpavriksha (mind). So we need to develop our mind to a point where it becomes a Kalpavriksha, not a source of madness/monkey.