“There is a transcendental state that is highly desirable to experience, which is the birthright of all human beings. The means to gaining this experience is through quieting the mind. Those who have this experience report a happiness that is far greater than any other previously experienced. They also affirm that this experience has a beneficial effect on the rest of their lives. They feel happy in general. Their relationships with others are satisfying. They feel peace and a lack of worry, as fear is vastly reduced

We define quieting of the mind as the act of volitionally slowing down, and eventually stopping thoughts. Even beyond stopping thoughts, quieting the mind involves stopping other activities of the mind, such as sense perception. This is not a complete, exact definition, but will suffice for now.

The science of quieting the mind is a rather large subject, but a few general aspects can be introduced here.

Food: Most people have had an experience of food affecting their mental state. Caffeinated beverages have a very stimulating effect on the mind. Certain drugs and herbs, have a dulling effect. We assert that if a person eats an appropriate quantity of light foods of certain types, maintaining this for a long time, their mind will gain a tendency towards quietness.

Integrity: Through living a life of uprightness and honesty, a person will have a much quieter mind. It seems that the human conscience will not allow us to live a dishonest life without disturbing our minds. 

Balance: Our bodies and minds have certain innate needs, if we don’t meet those needs, or we overdo when meeting those needs, our mind gets disturbed. Examples of imbalance are exercising too little or too much, working too little or too much, and sleeping too little or too much. 

Reduction of desire: If we are always craving new and different material possessions and adrenalin producing experiences, our mind will definitely not become quieter. These days, many people are intuiting this; there is a movement towards creating a simpler life. We think that this is a step in the right direction.

Certainly, we will always have desires. Many of these desires are ‘natural’ desires. When we are hungry, we want to eat, and we should eat. When we are sleepy, we want to sleep, and we should sleep. We want good relationships with others, and we should have them. However many desires are fabricated desires. Western marketing techniques are specifically designed to create desire, these fabricated desires do not lead to a quiet mind.

One needn't take the existence of a transcendental state on faith. One can make the sincere effort to quiet the mind, and then see what happens. If one make the somewhat significant effort necessary to quiet their mind, we assert that the results are predictable.“

- Dr KLS Jois (Acharya)