'Habits Die Hard'

  'Habits die hard' is an age-old adage. We are all habituated to certain ideas, attitudes, behaviors and act accordingly. We do not even know that! We just behave in a normal way, but people can easily make out how it has become our habit. The reason for this habit is just repetitive action. We are prone to go by memory, experiences and memories. The impressions of certain happenings, visuals, feelings are so strong that they etch out deep impressions on our mind. some people, certain situations, some happenings are so deep rooted that we will not forget them. They influence our thoughts, ideas, dreams, and aspirations. Thus, we are all products of past! We are all driven by memories, experiences, habits in our day-to-day activities. Is there a way out?

   We have Jiddu Krishnamurthy who advocated a certain method that would make us live natural, happy and joyful, day-to-day. It is so simple, but extremely difficult to practice. Jiddu says, "Just live in the present". The present is a great gift of Almighty! Alas, we tend to ignore the present and always try to live in the past or the future. We never realize the fact that we are all beasts of burden carrying dead horse, nauseating, at that! We do not cats away, discard, these unwanted memories. Certain experiences are haunting and we become easy prey to that and repeat the same mistakes again and again. He asks, why not we forget it?  Why do we relish the past so much? Past is dead. There are some who always dream! They all forget the reality, They are dreamers who anticipate the impossible. Even if their dreams turn out to be real,they do not understand the reality! These two categories of people belong to two different ages. The youngsters dream while the old people relish their past memories and both forget the present.

   JK says, "Empty the Mind, the trash can. discard the dead horse. live in the present. For once, try to realize that the memories, experiences, impressions, are all obstacles to the enjoyment of the present, ever-new happenings at the present. But the mind is habituated! It is the Mind! "Mind is your friend, as also, your enemy" says the Bhagavan. Normally, the Mind is the Charioteer that drives the jiva, manava. The Mind has no intelligence of its own. The Mind is assisted by buddhi and ahankar. Ahankar (ego) behaves as the boss. Boss directs the buddhi and manas to use the Sense organs (indriya) to work in a certain way. It is this ahankar that ruins the life since it is blinded by selfish interests. If the mind seeks guidance from the prajnya (consciousness) it can work to the advantage of the jiva. The mind is the store hose of impressions, memories, and past experiences and, as such, has no proper guidance from the Soul!
    The Bhagavad-Gita gives a beautiful account of 'the Chariot driven by Bhagavan Shree Krishna where Arjuna sits confused'! The mind is blemished with a host of qualities and afflictions such as ego, attachment, selfish interests, anger, avarice, jealousy, etc. With these sorts of  forces, the mind is incapable of getting clarity. If the mind looks to the Atman, the store house of knowledge, it will be guided in a proper way to the betterment of the jiva. The 'Atman knows all' is the fundamental doctrine. Hence, one should take to yoga, get rid of the afflicted mind, perverted intelligence and the ego. The jiva should live in the present, with a clean consciousness, work selfless and enjoy the bliss!