The Manas-Dama Experiment

It is very easy to say that one has to regulate oneself; but it is not that much easy to practice the same. There must be certain practical steps to be adopted to regulate oneself. According to Hinduism ‘sama’ and ‘dama’ are to be practised for the attainment of a state of self-regulation. ‘Sama’ means to conquer the ‘manas’ and ‘dama’ means to control the sense organs. ‘Manas’ can never be equated to mind, because by ‘manas’ it means the subtle forms of all the sensory and motor organs. That is, ‘manas’ is capable to perform all the functions of sensory and motor organs in a subtle manner. If one is able to control the subtle form, then naturally one must be able to control the gross forms too. Therefore, it is always a futile exercise to try to control the sense organs, without having proper control over ‘manas’. Hence, it has been argued that he who controls the ‘manas’ must be able to control the sensory and motor organs. When one is able to control ‘manas’, sense organs and motor organs thereon must be able to regulate oneself. A self-regulated person is not expected to abstain from the day to day duties and functions but on the contrary he or she has to perform such duties and functions in accordance with one’s ability and commitment. Such a man can make his best in his performance. What happens now-a-days is that we are not able to get the best from the people in and around us. The main complaint is that humans are being used by the market as a commodity, but a self- regulated man must be able to overcome the temptations of the market, due to many reasons. But the fact reminds us that market is not an external entity but it is an internal mechanism. A self- regulated person must be able to control the temptations of the market by controlling the mechanism. This may be a viable alternative to market economy even.