Most individuals encounter a common challenge. They find themselves troubled by their own mind. They lament, “Oh, my mind does not cooperate with me! My mind doesn't listen to me! My mind tells me to go to sleep. My mind wavers. My mind distracts me.” This gives rise to a question. How can one take control of their mind?
Shri Krishna tells Arjun in the Gita:
मय्येव मन आधत्स्व मयि बुद्धिं निवेशय |
निवसिष्यसि मय्येव अत ऊर्ध्वं न संशय: || 8||mayyev man ādhatsv mayi buddhiṁ niveśhay
nivasiṣhyasi mayyev at ūrdhvaṁ na sanśhayaḥBhagavad Gita: 12/ 8
Shri Krishna tells Arjun, “Arjun, you must give your mind to Me and your intellect to Me.” (Man dede buddhi dede Govind Radhe. Yahi hai prapanna paribhasha bata de.” (Radha Govind Geet).
“Arjun, give Me your mind and your intellect.” So Arjun thought, “Well, I only have one thing and that is my mind. And Shri Krishna is asking me, telling me to give both, the mind and the intellect?”
Yes, it's true that we only have the one mind, but the same mind has two states. When the mind is thinking, when the mind is contemplating, it is called the ‘mind’ or ‘man’ in Hindi. And when the mind is making decisions, then that mind is known as the ‘intellect’ or ‘buddhi’ in Hindi.
So it is also described in the Vedas that the Lord says that I have, speaking to us souls, telling us, I have given you a chariot. And the chariot is being pulled by horses. In the mouth of the horses are the reins held by the driver or the charioteer. And on this chariot, there is a passenger. So this analogy tells us that the chariot is this human body that we all possess, that we have received with great fortune. So the chariot is this human body. The horses are the sense organs and the reins of the horses are the mind. And the charioteer, the driver, is the intellect and the passenger is the soul.
So Sri Krishna is making reference again to the mind and to the intellect. Now, the mind is the servant of the intellect. It is controlled. It is governed by the intellect.
