Whatever a person’s mind desires, he achieves the same. The multiple emotions of desire, anger, greed, attachment, ego, fear, pain, and suffering are attached to the mind, therefore each person attains positions according to these expressions.
It is often heard that today my mood is not good, I am unable to focus on this work, I do not have a good appetite today, my heart is very distressed today, etc. Therefore, it is certain that a person’s behavior depends upon his or her state of mind. The body as per the state of the mind. We feel sad when our mind is full of sorrow.
Laziness, piety, ego are also the products of the mind. The body does as the mind commands. This happens because we do not have control over our minds. Our mind is not under our control, rather we have become its slaves and the mind has become our master. In such situations, we are not able to make decisions with our conscience, because the mind of a normal person is fickle and it always leads him or her towards wishes-desires. And the person turns into its slave and indulges in those odd desires. The mind itself creates fascination and attachment. Thus, it is clear that if we want to conquer these evils of lust, anger, attachment, greed, laziness, etc., then we must first conquer our own minds. When we can control our mind with our wisdom, then we are able to attain complete control over all these odd situations. Then these situations are not able to impact life, behavior, or thoughts. The person grows beyond the limitation of these emotions and gets beyond attachment. Then we also rise above the lust desires-wishes.
Therefore the wise men have advised to empty the mind by renouncing the vile wishes-desires. The thought-less mind will enable control over the vile desires, and destroy the attachments. The termination of attachment will grant liberation from the tendencies of sadness and sorrow. Therefore, a thoughtless mind leads to freedom from bondage and is the real sainthood.
Thus the primary duty of the Sadhak is to attempt to gain control over the mind and endeavor to get away from the attachments. It is difficult, but everything is possible through a firm will-power. The elimination of the fickleness of the mind leads to the expansion of divine noble consciousness.
Karat Karat, Abhyas Te, Jadamati Hot Sujaan |
Rasari Aavat Jaat Te, Sil Par Padat Sisaan ||
It is clear that it is up to the person to be tied within the bondages or to attain freedom from these bondages. He will remain tied to the bondages till he considers his physical body to be everything, and remains a slave to the pleasures of the senses. When a person rises above the physical body, the mind begins to come under his control and as soon as the mind is fully controlled, he attains liberation from all kinds of desires and bondages.
Once a devotee asked Gautam Buddha that a query has arisen within his mind for many days as to why the moon remains stained in spite of being beautiful? Why does the spot below the lamp remain in darkness even though the lamp illuminates everything? Lord Buddha smilingly replied that – it is natural to have such questions in the mind as to why the moon and lamp suffer from these defects in spite of having such good qualities. However, did you not think of this?
The disciple interrupted before Lod Buddha could complete his reply and asked – What did I not comprehend? Tathagat answered – Have you ever thought that people express the qualities of the moon, they always praise its coolness and beauty, but why did you focus on its defects instead of considering to praise it in your mind? Similarly, where people all over the world commend the lamp for benefiting them with light, why did you only see the darkness under it? Let me explain the reason for this – Lord Buddha continued – This is so because one sees whatever one’s mental feelings are. We become slaves to whatever feelings develop within our minds.
Thus we realize the reality only when we clear the mirror of our mind when the mind becomes thoughtless. When one fully controls the mind, one automatically gains control over all the senses because all senses are subordinate to the mind. The control over the mind leads to the termination of its fickleness, which in turn enables the person to properly accomplish Sadhanas or Yogic processes. Only then the Sadhak will be able to reach the basic elemental level of the Sadhana and will be able to obtain Siddhis from the Sadhanas.
This entire world is just a theater. Whatever is visible here, is all temporary, and illusory. When we see a movie on the movie screen, we view various kinds of scenes, people or activities. We see them when the film plays on the screen, but all of them terminate as soon as the film ends. Similarly, many different kinds of movies continue to play in this theater of the world, but nothing remains in the end.
Once the sky was overcast with dark clouds on a dark night. Lightening occasionally flashed in between, with loud thunder. A young person was utilizing this bright light to view his path. Finally, he reached the door of a hut where an old sage lived. That old sage had never left this hut to go anywhere. Whenever anyone queried him about the world, he used to reply that he had seen the entire world. Doesn’t the entire universe exist within the self itself?
The young man stood outside the hut for a while. Then he fearfully knocked at the door. A voice came from within, who is it? What do you seek? The youth replied – I do not know who I am. Yet I have been wandering in search of joy for many years. I seek joy and the search has led me to your door. A pearl of laughter came from within and it was said that how can someone who doesn’t realize the self, comprehend the joy. One cannot do this search in the dark. However, this knowledge is enough – that I do not know myself. Then the door opened, lightning flashed, and the youth noticed the old sage standing in front of him. His face glowed with intensity. The youth fell onto his feet. He knelt beside the old sage and queried – What is joy? Where is the joy?
The old sage restarted his laughter upon hearing this, and replied – My dear! The joy lies within the restlessness. The neutral absolute grows the joy. This is a basic mistake. You seek it out. You can find outside whatever is external. How can you seek, whatever is within the self? Everything is present within the self for-ever. Then the old sage took out two fruits from his bag and gifted them to the youth – There are wonderful fruits. Eating the first one can enable you to comprehend the real joy. Eating the second one will enable you to realize the joy itself. However, you can eat only one fruit, because the second fruit disappears as soon as you eat the first one. Thus you can never partake the second fruit to comprehend the joy. Now it is your choice. The youth hesitated and said – I first want to comprehend the joy. How can I realize it without understanding it? The old sage laughed and said – Your wonderings have increased. You cannot realize joy this way, even after multiple lives, what to say of years.
Therefore, man is sadder than trees, plants, animals, and birds. This is not bliss. He just considers joy to be the ignorance of oblivion towards grief and a sense of awareness of grief. Liberation from both knowledge and ignorance. Liberation from the mind. The freedom from the mind leads the person towards the self. This realization of the self is real joy, salvation, and freedom. This is the expression of “Aham Brahmasmi“.
Man Ev Manushaayaanaam Kaaranam BandhamokshyoH ||
The mind is the cause of bondage and salvation for people.
With divine blessings,
Kailash Shrimali
