When you want to tame an animal or persuade an individual to do a job, it is always necessary to put the animal or individual into a happy mood. When that person is in a happy mood, one can easily teach him, but not when he is preoccupied or mentally worried.

The principle is: The mind is available for remoulding when it is in a cheerful, happy mood. This cheerful, happy mood is the beginning trace of serenity (sattva).

When meditating we are trying to persuade our own mind, not anyone else's. We are trying to persuade it to come to the contemplation of the Higher. And the mind will be easily available for our purpose when it is in a happy, cheerful mood. Though bliss is our true nature, and even though we are always searching for happiness in all our efforts, our mind is at this moment addicted to sorrow. Even in a happy situation, we are afraid to be too happy. That is our nature now, out of sheer habit. The majority of us consider that to be happy or cheerful within is to be irresponsible in life. We consider that to be in tension, under severe stress and strain is our normal, healthy condition.

Many of us will have to persuade ourselves in the beginning to learn the art of being cheerful within especially when we sit for meditation. In that happy mood, the mind is plastic. We can reshape its contours and get a better performance from it; Not only during the time of meditation, but also in our outside activities, a healthy and cheerful mind will produce a better performance in the long run. Much of its crookedness is straightened. Its unsymmetrical development and growth can be transformed into symmetrical beauty.

A yogi is one who has a controlled, regulated, trained, and beautified the mind. With such a mind, he contacts the world outside. When we have such a trained mind, then even in the midst of sense objects, problems, and challenges we are not in the least perturbed. And when the mind is not perturbed our vision is not clouded. We go through life gathering no moss, maintaining our divine immaculate beauty and purity.

Inner Poise

In order to mould the mind into that beauty and tempo, the present mind is to be readjusted. And that is the first step or result when we are systematically and correctly meditate. Among the very first signposts to show that we are on the right path is this gathering joy within, a stability and poise in spite of problems outside. And in all such conditions, the spiritual student generally misunderstands the new mood; he becomes afraid that he may be developing a sense of irresponsibility in the world. It is not so. The joys of the world do not excite him. The sorrows of the world come to him, lash at him, yet he feels untouched by them. Seekers very often ask, "What is happening to me? My brother died, and I am not upset. Before, such a situation was sufficient to upset me for a whole year; now it does not affect me. Have I become dead inside?" This kind of a doubt may come to your mind. It is not a sign of irresponsibility, but a sign of your inner growth.

After you set up your prayer room, or a corner where you want to meditate, try to use the same place every day. Do not change it. Use the same seat, at the same place, because slowly that corner, that seat, gathers an atmosphere of its own. It becomes a psychological and spiritual harbour. By association of ideas, the moment you sit there, your mind automatically becomes quiet.

The first attempt should be to make your mind cheerful and happy. Smile away, not with the lips, but in your mind. Within a short time, after a few days of conscious effort, at a moment's notice, under any circumstance, you will be able to change the mood of the mind to this attitude of inner joy.

All great masters, saints, and sages constantly live in this attitude. And it is this cheerful mood that we see in their eyes – an enchantment of peace and joy. Just as a miserable man throws a dark, dreary, tragic atmosphere around him, such a peaceful and happy master spreads an atmosphere of joy, so that even when the grossest of us come near him, we are filled with a mysterious joy, a voiceless experience that generates our spirit of reverence toward him.