According to Vedic philosophy ignorance is the root cause for bondage of the soul with nature – leading to all the pleasures and pains. Vedas seek its adherents to pursue that knowledge which can shred all bondage.
Vedas also declare that each soul is potentially divine and that its goal is to unleash the power of divinity within, by controlling the nature – that which is outside and within its material body. According to Vedas you could achieve this by practicing one or any two of the following four Yogic paths, namely: Work (Karma), Devotion (Bhakti), Meditation (Dhyana) or Knowledge (Gyana). Doctrines, dogmas, rituals, books or temples etc are all but secondary.
Vedic Rishis have claimed that he who controls mind will controls matter as well. The internal nature is much higher than the external, and much more difficult to grapple with, much more difficult to control; therefore he who has conquered the internal self will control the whole universe.
Rishis have advised Vedic adherents to understand the subtle fact that the body is just the external crust of the mind; that body and mind are not two different things. Body and mind are just as the oyster and its shell. They are but two aspects of one thing; the internal substance of the oyster is taking up matter from outside, and manufacturing the shell.
Therefore, if we have control of our own self, it is very easy to have control of the external. Then again, these forces are not different. It is not that some forces are physical, and some mental; the physical forces are but the gross manifestations of the mental forces.
