Recorded at the Vedanta Society of Western Washington on April 27, 2014.

In this talk, Swami Bhaskarananda explains that the “battle within” is the struggle to bring the mind under control and find lasting peace. Through a memorable example of a student who sought solitude for meditation but found his own mind to be the most persistent companion, he shows that peace cannot be gained merely by changing outer circumstances. He then outlines the Vedantic understanding of the mind as the antahkarana, the inner instrument of knowing, and describes its functions as manas (cognition and doubt), buddhi (discernment), chitta (memory), and ahankara (the sense of “I”). Restlessness, he notes, arises when the mind becomes turbulent and conflicted, much as Arjuna’s mind was in the Bhagavad Gita.

Swami Bhaskarananda connects inner conflict to the play of the three gunas: sattva (clarity and peace), rajas (restlessness and desire), and tamas (inertia and confusion). Desire for sense objects, he explains, fuels agitation and can cascade into anger, delusion, and poor judgment. The practical remedy is spiritual practice that increases sattva—prayer, chanting, and disciplined living—so the discerning faculty of the mind can restrain turbulence. As the mind grows calmer and purer, one gains the capacity to see that the ego is not the true Self, and inner victory becomes possible through steadiness in divine awareness.