The mind is a fertile field for ignorance. Wipe out all traces of the mind (Mano-nasanam) – that is the task of the jnani (wise). How to destroy the mind? It is easy once you know what it is. The mind is stuffed with desire. It is a ball filled with air, like a football. Puncture it and it will not move from place to place. Nirvana means, without air. In a square field, the water filled from an irrigation canal appears to be a square; if the field is circular, rectangular or triangular, the sheet of water that fills it will have the same geometrical shape. The mind takes on the form of the desire that fills it. To take another example, it is like a piece of cloth, the warp and the woof being the yarn of desire. The texture, colour, durability, feel, and shine of the cloth will depend upon the desire that constitutes the warp and the woof. Remove the yarn, the warp and woof, one by one the cloth disappears. That is the technique of mano nasanam (destroying the mind). – Divine Discourse, Oct 16, 1964.