Ishwar-ji speaks often about the five boys that throng our mental home. These are
Lust
Anger
Greed
Attachment
Ego.
If I look at it closely, Lust and Greed ( कामः लोभः) are mentioned clearly as eternal enemies of man in the Bhagavadgita. Similarly, anger and attachment (क्रोधः मोहः) are well known foes of man when it comes to equanimity. The last one, ego, is an inescapable one - the sense of I, me, and myself, which projects oneself as all-important in the scheme of things. Spiritually, of course, the Self or Atman is at the centre of creation, as परमात्मा. But the limited self identified with body and mind is the problem because it is driven by false perception and false expectations.
There is a beautiful shloka in the Bhagavadgita which shows what is the way to deal with these five enemies, lovingly called here by Ishwar-ji as the five boys. In fact Ishwar-ji says that when we reach Sachkhand, we go take a dip in the Manas-sarovar lake. The five boys come till there, take the dip with us, and when we rise again, they have disappeared forever!
The shloka in the Bhagavadgita describes what is tapas or austerity of the mind.
मनःप्रसादः सौम्यत्वं मौनमात्मविनिग्रहः ।
भावसंशुद्धिरित्येतत् तपो मानसमुच्यते ॥ १७.१६ ॥
A happy disposition (counters anger), kindliness (counters ego), reticence/silence (instils a meditative disposition), self-control (counters lust and greed), purity of heart (counters infatuation and attachment) - these are called the austerity of the mind in the path to realization of the Soul (परमात्मा).
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