page_title: Conquest of Mind
section_title: Topics covered
hierarchical_section_title: Conquest of Mind / Topics covered
caption_attribution_description: English: Ancient Egyptian picture of jugglers, seen in the third row Français&#160;: Peintures égyptiennes anciennes de jongleurs, sur la troisième ligne
context_page_description: Conquest of Mind is a book that describes practices and strategies for leading the spiritual life. Written by Eknath Easwaran, the strategies are intended to be usable within any major religious tradition, or outside of all traditions. The book was originally published in the United States in 1988. Multiple revised English-language editions have been published, and translations have also appeared in several other European and Asian languages. The book has been reviewed in newspapers and magazines.
context_section_description: Each US edition of Conquest of Mind begins with an introduction. It is followed in the 1988 and 2010 US editions by five major parts, each divided into 14 chapters. The chapters in Part Four were omitted in the 2001 US edition.
  Easwaran's introduction explains how he uses the words "meditation" and "mystic." He cautions that mixing instructions from different perspectives can result in confusion. "If you want to become a tennis champion, you don't take lessons from Vic Braden and Nick Bollettieri at the same time; they have utterly different approaches to the game. Meditation teachers have different approaches too. When Easwaran speaks of meditation, he means 
  a dynamic discipline [for] teaching attention to flow without a break toward a single inspirational focus within the mind... until finally the mind becomes completely absorbed... [and] is still, calm, and clear. This is our native state.... As the Bible puts it, "Be still, and know that I am God.
  In Easwaran's language, the "great mystics" — who he often uses as illustrative examples — are people who have attained this goal. "Mysticism," a word Easwaran regards as easily misunderstood, refers to "the conviction, born of personal experience, that there is a divine core in human personality which each of us can realize directly, and that making this discovery is the real goal of our lives."
  Part One is entitled "Taking Charge of Your Thoughts." It consists of 4 chapters. Thinking in Freedom (ch. 1) uses the mastery of a skilled surfer or ballet dancer as an analogy for the type of mastery that Easwaran believes all people would like in the art of living. Such mastery is attainable by training the mind, he says, but it requires great practice. Living Skills (ch. 2) describes Easwaran's method of meditating on a passage, its benefits for being present-focused, and for reacting to other people freely, rather than compulsively. Training the Mind (ch. 3) urges readers to think of the various parts of their week, such as home and work, as exercise stations that each provide a special opportunity to train the mind, and reduce egoism.
  In Juggling (ch. 4), Easwaran describes feats of juggling that he witnessed in San Francisco's Ghirardelli Square, stating that "what that young man learned to do with his body, you can learn to do with your mind." Mental juggling involves "likes and dislikes.... Can you change your likes at will?.... We need to learn to enjoy doing something we dislike or to enjoy not doing something we like, when it is in the long-term best interests of others or ourselves." Easwaran describes his own experiences in changing his eating habits, stating that he learned from Mahatma Gandhi that "training the palate is a powerful aid in training the mind."
  Part Two, "Reshaping Your Life," also contains 4 chapters, entitled Learning to Swim, All Life Is Yoga, Tremendous Trifles, and The Forces of Life. They compare mental skill to swimming, and the mind to a lake; Describe strategies usable throughout the day for deepen meditation; Present examples of the "thousands of little occasions [on which] the mind is taught to be calm and kind: not instantaneously... but in the ordinary choices of the day"; and describe techniques for allying ourselves with an "upward drive to evolve into spiritual beings," rather than with past conditioning in narrow, selfish pursuits.
  Part Three, "Strategies from the Buddha," contains two chapters. Obstacles and Opportunities describes how to overcome five obstacles identified by the Buddha: sensuality, ill will, laziness, restlessness, and fear/anxiety. Strategies for Freedom discusses five Buddhist "strategies for freedom," including using "a right thought to drive out one that is wrong," reflection, withdrawing attention, and going "to the root."
  Part Four, entitled "Three Spiritual Strengths," contains 3 chapters. They are titled Determination, Detachment, and Discrimination, and describe tools and opportunities for developing each of these qualities, drawing on examples that range from Easwaran's own life to Teresa of Avila, Thérèse
caption: Ancient Egyptian jugglers (c. 1994-1781 BCE, Middle Kingdom).[26]
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