Mind (manas) dictated by
bloated ego (durahankara) and
perverted intelligence (vikshipta buddhi)
makes or mars a man’s life unless is properly guided by the enlightened buddhi.
The first thing that the jnyanis
aimed at was to control the Mind by means of Meditation. Meditation is the key
to success and happiness in life.
Each Mind is a world by
itself. There are as many worlds as there are thinking minds. It is this
thinking mind that makes a man a thinking animal. Thoughts are really
disturbances. A tranquil mind is a powerful tool in evolution and the humans
may reach the highest level of existence at sat-cit-anand level by subjugating
the Mind to the Will of the Supreme. In other words, there is a higher Mind, a
‘Supramental’ state, and a brahmn
state, where the Mind is in its pure and pristine state. It is the highest
state of existence, consciousness, and bliss (sat-cit-anand).
Sri Aurobindo has given
a detailed description of the stages of evolution of mankind and the different
aspects of functioning of Mind at each state. Accordingly, there are: 1. the
Physical, 2. the vital or the ethereal, 3. the mental or the psychic and 4. the
spiritual. At each one of these state there are again all the four levels, such
as the 1. Physical- physical-physical; physical-ethereal; physical-mental; and
the physical-spiritual, Ethereal- Ethereal-physical; ethereal-ethereal,
ethereal-mental; and the ethereal-spiritual; and so on it continues till it
reaches the Spiritual- spiritual-spiritual, the ultimate. This supramental state
of Consciousness is not known as yet! (See Appendix I).
At present, man has
reached only the Mental- mental (psychic)-ethereal or pranic state where he is worried about some skills, fulfillment of
basic needs, and security; some may have reached the Mental-mental-mental
stage and shine in some faculty and get
nominated for a Nobel Prize, but very few have reached the Mental-
mental-spiritual level of the stature of a Swami Ramakrishna and swami
Vivekananda, or Swami Yogananda or Swami Shivananda; so far none has reached
the state of either Saint Aurobindo, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi- both intellectual
and highly spiritual, and it may be difficult to reach the state of Sri Ramana
Maharshi, an embodiment of Consciousness. Almost all saints and swamis struggle
at Mental- mental-mental state of attainment and may or may not reach the
mental-spiritual level. Realization of the Self, ‘Atma sakshatkar’, let alone divine visioning and the highest
Spiritual level of Brahmn is not forthcoming for want of clarity, deep meditation
(Samprajnya samadhi). However, Nature
helps all the human beings to attain to higher and higher levels of evolution
in due course of time and thereby enables them, particularly the earnest
Seekers (sadhakas), to reach higher
levels of ‘Sage-Knowledge’ quickly in this process.
The only aim of all
saints and sadhus of India is to have the divine visioning and attain to some
sort of ananda, joy. They are ready to undergo any sort of hardship such as Hatha yoga or Kundalini yoga to attain this. The goal of life for an Indian is
to experience supreme bliss, mahat-anand
that liberates him from punarjanma,
repeated births and deaths. It is the inner clamor of the soul, the embodied
soul. The all-knowing Atman drives
the jiva to take to means such as yoga that enables it to reach this goal. This
supreme Bliss is one of immense happiness and joy and needs no external
support. All happiness and joy of the mundane world are exhaustive, repetitive,
and end up in frustration, disillusionment. But, this one is ever-satisfying
and the jiva is laid to eternal rest after this goal is reached, even while it
exists in the physical body. This is exactly what we mean by Rest in Peace
(RIP), mukti or moksha gati; but that
is not forthcoming easily without the knowledge of the Self.
It is important to focus
our attention on the Mind since it is the most important accessory of our life.
It is absolutely essential to keep it stable, without aberrations, and use it
diligently for a noble purpose. It is a good friend as well as a very bad enemy
depending on our elation with it. To be a good friend and help us we must tutor
it and tame it. Its rough edges such as anger, attachment, selfishness,
miserliness, jealous, ego, etc. should be smoothed out and rounded off. Mind
is our best friend provided it looks to its inner source of wealth of
experiences, and uses buddhi well for its guidance. There are many treatises on
Mind that can guide us in the matter. Understanding the Mind is as difficult as
realizing the Brahmn.
Prof. J. Krishnamurthy is an authority on
Mind. He goes on talking about the vibration of mind and the thoughts, ideas,
and illusions created by it. He remained so entangled in the web of mind till
the end and never conquered it to become a Sri Ramana Maharishi, an embodiment
of pure Consciousness, or the Buddha who attained to nirvana, a mind-less
state.
Here, the difference between Mind and
Consciousness is noteworthy. In its pure state, Mind bereft of all its
blemishes such attachment, desires, ego, etc is as good as Consciousness; both
are one and same in pure state. Mind, like Akash, has immense space and
capacity to create and hold thoughts, ideas, images, dreams, and desires. As
the Mind is filled with these pollutants, it becomes impure and stands apart
from pure unblemished undifferentiated Consciousness, called Brahmn. While pure
consciousness is addressed as Bhagavan Shree Krishna, the blemished mind,
confused with moha, is called
‘Arjuna’ in the Mahabharata. The Mind (of Arjuna) is filled with attachment (moha) and, as such, it is not willing to
act (fight his kith and kin, teacher, and the Grand Sire Bhishma), whereas,
pure consciousness (Sri Krishna) stands apart as the ‘Witnessing Self’. The
state of pure consciousness where there is awareness of ‘self’, as well as, an
other in an undifferentiated state, is called the Sakshin (witnessing self).
A yogi reaches this state by constant practice of tapas. A wise person (viveki) will not fall for the worldy
attractions and avoids indulgences in the sensuous activities and thereby
attains the sakshi bhava.
Contemplate on the following:
Mind becomes whatever it contemplates, focuses its attention on
and shifts its position from moment to moment varying according to its moods!
It is Akasha in its true state and accommodates everything within its fold. It
can expand, as well as, contract without limit. Nobody can predict its action
and it has no support or stability. It is pure, pristine, unblemished when it
is undifferentiated brahmn, the satte of pure Consciousness.
Mind has tremendous power of creation. It creates illusory objects
and believes them as true. Mind has no support and seeks support and rests on
whatever it can hold on. It sticks on to whatever it catches- such as fear,
anger, attachment, etc.Mind is a powerful agent of the Ego, the sustaining power, or destroyer.
It makes or mars life of its master. Ego sits on the throne of Mind and uses
the intellect and senses to fulfill its desires.
Mind cannot be conquered; it
can be tutored and tamed to serve the Atman. Mind cannot be used to annihilate
the mind as stated in Laya-yoga. It only means to set it aside.
Mind is a good servant as well as a bad task Master.
Mind is restless and always on the run shifting its desire from
object to object. Its desires are insatiable and as such always disillusioned.
Ultimately, the Mind in order to serve the Lord should drop all
its wandering and rest with its Master like a falcon that comes to rest on the
branch of a tree after day-long flight; or sit like Anjaneya (symbol of turbid
Mind) at the feet of Sri Ram with folded hands, or Arjuna, for that matter,
sitting similarly at the feet of Sri Krishna (pure Consciousness) looking for
guidance. When higher mind takes over, rest of the things will be taken care
of.
Normally, the Mind, Body,
and Soul should work in unison, but will not. Similarly, Mind should work under
the guidance of Intellect (buddhi), Consciousness (chit), but will not.
The Bhagavad-Gita is a
dialogue between pure Consciousness (Krishna) and the deluded Mind (Arjuna). It
helps to establish oneself in his true Self (svastha).
One who conquers his
Mind conquers the world, Bhavasagara, Samsara. This mind full of
desires, attachment, worldly knowledge and interest in the sensual enjoyment is
a dust bin. It has to be cleansed. The
polluted Mind is cleansed by japa, chant name of the Lord, Ishta devata nama smarane, such as Vishnu Sahasranama, Lalita
Sahasranama, Soundaryalahari, or the Shree Sharada Chatushati. These
are the sure and certain sources of our happiness as well as ultimate release
from bondage, Liberation- bhuktimuktiprada.
The best way to control
mind is to observe where the thoughts originate and stop it by mere
observation. Meditation is the means of observation of the Mind. It kills the
thoughts and desires and releases the inherent energy required for
enlightenment.
The Mind and its
behaviour constitute the crux of the problem. All the problems of man have
their root here in the unending desires and the quixotic behaviour of mind, and
conduct towards fulfilment of the desires, or attainment. The moment desires
cease the worldly interests wane and wear out. Everything happens at the
appropriate time when knowledge becomes wisdom and turns the jiva towards renunciation
(vairagya). This renunciation comes to the jiva only when is tired of
its worldly life. It is also said, ‘only a very few blessed ones can take to
jnyan-vijnyan yoga’ as stated
in the Bhagavad-Gita. People may take to devotion; but devotion without
jnyan (knowledge) will not lead to wisdom and renunciation. That is why Lord
Krishna says that:
nahi jnyanena sadrusham |
There is nothing that is
equal or similar to Knowledge, Here knowledge means, ‘Knowledge of brahmn’. Not the knowledge of material science
There is nothing superior to brahm-jnyan, the knowledge of ‘ultimate
reality of existence’.
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