Mind & its control

Dear Dhananjay,

Each day, for sadhana, I chant OM thrice, do bandhas, nadhi shodana, then 2-3 pranayama rounds and maybe couple asanas afterward.

I have few questions for continuing to progress.

1) How long should breath be held for each bandha? For the middle bandha, when you suck up the stomach, I am feeling stomach pain-what should be done.

2) For pranayama rounds, should intake, retention, and exhale all be 16 seconds each? I find retention easy but inhaling/exhaling is choppy and sometime I can't time ti evenly or do it more quickly...will practice make better.

3) For "meditation", what exactly should I do. I think of the atman as the space around me and contemplate how I am not the mind/body/senses and am instead the space around me. Sometime if I hold in breath when thinking I will get a warm, hypnotized, "fuzzy" feeling that glows through my body. Is this correct. If not correct, what is the right meditation "procedure" to think of.

4) I know this sounds lame but my mind will only fully be at rest if I reach a certain financial goal, help my parents retire, and become a "New York Times bestselling author". Where are there desires coming from? Are they legitimate to pursue and will the almighty help me reach them.

5) The mind wants bliss because that is our source. Yet it is deluded and runs after false bliss like self-abuse, sensory pleasures, etc. During the day time, suppose I am hard at work after finishing sadhana. The mind is tired and wants to resort to sense pleasure and this is when sexual temptation becomes high. How can we keep the mind in a state of bliss, rest, and contentment when we are not in sadhana, the majority of the time.

Much gratitude
Kanth