How to deal with mind?

[Ms. Bhanu Samykya asked: Padanamaskaram Swami, My mind is my only enemy. It always opposes the spiritual knowledge and God. I have to keep on arguing with it. Sometimes, my current work gets distributed due to these inner arguments with mind. But, getting one's mind to the feet of the Lord is the essence of reading spiritual knowledge. As of now, I only know how to oppose its false claims on God. But, I don't know whether it is the correct way to deal with the mind which acts like an enemy. It always anticipates for negative results and tries to push me into fear. At times, I can identify that by Your grace and oppose it at the beginning only. But at other times, it eats up all my energy and time. I become inefficient even to do small worldly works. Please help me in dealing with my mind. Thank You so much Swami for making me realise that I'm not my mind and that the mind is only an instrument of the soul. Without Your clarification and knowledge, I can't even imagine how worst I could be. Thank You for saving me in every battle with my mind. - At Your Divine Lotus Feet, Bhanu Samykya.]

Swami Replied:- The nature of mind is to do samkalpa (thinking in one way like let us say – the mind proposes that there is a bird on the tree) and immediately vikalpa (altering its own proposed way like let us take the same above example:- the mind alters its own proposal and says that the bird seen by you on the tree is not a bird actually, but, it is a fruit of the tree.). Both of these samkalpa and vikalpa are put together and are called as the ‘mind’. To pacify the mind, the intelligence comes into the field doing sharp analysis to achieve the correct conclusion as the final decision, that is, it is a bird only and not a fruit of the tree.

When you are fighting with your mind, only the intelligence is fighting with the mind correcting it by supplying sharp analysis to arrive at the correct decision. When this is done, the mind becomes satisfied to rest with silence. Don’t think that this case is for you only. In fact, in the case of anybody, this clash between intelligence and mind always takes place. Sadguru helps your intelligence by supplying a brighter and sharper analysis, which will strongly satisfy your mind. Generally, the intelligence is capable of satisfying the mind and only when some help is needed by the intelligence, one shall approach Sadguru either in person or on phone. Don’t get worried thinking that this clash is specific in your case only because such false assumption will bring unnecessary tension. If you know that this is a general disease observed in every case, you will not get unnecessary tension.