All the vices in the world – from small troubles to the biggest calamities, even the most dreadful one of the tyrannous cycle of birth and death-come to us because of viciousness of the mind. We come to this world again and again; we hang upside down in mothers’ wombs; while in the world, we bear the sufferings of childhood feeling dependence and slavery at every step; desire, anger, attachment, hatred, fear, worry, malice, jealousy and envy get the better of us in youth; diseases seize and flatten us in old age; and in the end, death is waiting to pounce upon us. All of these troubles are born of defects of the mind.
We are miserable and are subjected to the grinding cycle of birth and death not want of wealth nor because we don’t have certificates and degrees nor because we are married or unmarried. We have deprived our mind of the peace of Consciousness. That is why it does external activities I search of happiness and bites at bits of momentary pleasures. Mired in transient pleasures, our mind is always engaged in thoughts like, ‘May this happen… may I get such and such achievement…’ but even if all these wishes are fulfilled, one fails to find absolute contentment because Supreme Self alone is absolute. This sloka is telling us a way to repose our mind in that Supreme self.
‘Satsang, relinquishment of desires, Self enquiry for Knowledge and dissolution of the operating waves of Prāna into their original source – these are the means to conquer the mind.’
Listen to satsang. It eradicates many evils and gives countless benefits but the highest benefit of satsang is Knowledge of, repose in and love for Supreme Self, the absolute truth, the eternal joy. The Truth personified God that existed before the beginning of time, existed at the beginning of aeons, is there now and will continue to be there eternally; that provides all wealthy men with the acumen to earn and retain wealth; that provides all powerful men the ability to attain and hold on to power; that has provided thousands of men and women with handsomeness and beauty; that has provided all wise men with wisdom,. That is called Supermen Self, the Atman. ‘Brahman is Truth, Knowledge, Infinite’. Nothing else exists in reality. By virtue of things borrowed form that Eternal Truth, we become something for a while. But He is the one in whom billions like us come into being and then dissolve in Him. That Brahman, the eternal Truth, Supreme Self is attained through satsang. Therefore, the sloka says, we should have satsang in life.
There are four types of satsang. To get established in the Supreme Self, the Absolute Truth, by making the intellect finer and subtler is the satsang number one. King Janaka, Buddha, Mahavira, Kabir, Adi shankaracharya, Guru Nanak, Jnaneshwar tukaram and many other renowned and unknown saints reposed in the Eternal truth and became one with God. Being established in God in the same way is satsang number one. Listening to such saints directly is satsang number two. Those who read with great reverence and understand the recorded utterances of such saints are doing satsang number three. Those who listen to periodic readings of the spiritual texts composed by such saints, sages, scholars and savants, where the message often gets diluted and becomes more of rhetoric, are having satsang number four known as Kathā.
Satsang helps you in attaining non-attachment. What is non-attachment? It is the eyes that see, but one identifies himself with the eyes and thinks, ‘I am seeing.’ Similar is the case with hearing, tasting and smelling. Again, the mind thinks but one says, ‘I am thinking ‘; the intellect is doing the work of decision making but one says, ‘It is my decision.’ My dear sir! What are you in reality? You have disintegrated and distributed yourself. Satsang will tell you that the senses are doing the job of seeing, smelling etc. not you.
‘All actions are wrought in all cases by the qualities of Nature only. He whose mind is deluded by egoism thinks: ‘I am the doer”.
All these qualities and activities are in the Nature. He, who deluded by egoism thinks himself as the doer, has to undergo the grind of samsāra according to the effects of his actions. But the one who attains Self Knowledge and considers himself to be different from the senses and internal organ is untouched by actions though outwardly engaged in them. He rests in the state of non-doership. So, satsang gives non-attachment. Freedom form attachment allows us to repose in the self which in turn leads to the state of Jivanmukti, liberation while living.
The second means to conquering the mind the by renouncing vāsanās *(desires). Desires too are of two kinds-pure and impure. What are impure desires? They are the impressions (samskāras) accumulated in the course of crores of past lives. Never lose hope; never get frustrated. Never be frightened by your vices and shortcomings into entertaining thoughts like, ‘It is not for me to tread the path of God-realization. I am not capable of attaining God realization. I have this vice, that shortcoming…’ The samaskāras have accumulated over crores of lives. The sheet of your soul has been soiled over billions of lives. It will take time to wash it clean. It will take time to dye it with the colour of devotion. But if you think, ‘I cannot achieve it; it is not possible for me,’ you will dirty the sheet even more. For crores of births, you have been going round in the cycle of birth and death. The samskāras have been imprinted on our mind over crores of births. Dullness of intellect, attachment to sense – enjoyments, stubbornness and fixation to one’s ideas-these habits are formed over crores of births. So the mind will not readily be prepared to acquiesce to the view point of God. The man does not get easily prepared to merge his experience with that of saints. Still there is no cause for worry. It becomes easier one day with constant practice.
The only condition is that you should be earnestly prepared to relinquish impure desires. If you are used to smoking twenty-five bidis or cigarettes everyday; reduce it to twenty-four, twenty-three… if you have been wasting two hours in idle gossip everyday; reduce it to one and half hour, seventy-five minutes and so on. This way, get rid of petty, harmful and vicious desires. You will experience increase in your power.
The third thing is verse – enquiry into Self Knowledge. ‘What am ‘I’? what is ‘this’ (world)? Who is it that feels the pleasure and pain? The sorrows are transient; they come and go; and so is happiness. I am unattached and a witness to these.’ If you want to experience divine peace and bliss within, but at the same time desire transient external-objects as well, you will think external objects even while meditation within. Therefore, reflect on the Ultimate truth. Recall the Knowledge that the external world is but a projection of the Indweller Pure Consciousness, the supreme Lord of the universe. God alone is the truth, the real thing; all else is fictitious. This will develop your inner potency.
The practice of Self-enquiry without renunciation and dispassion does not last longer. As you go on practicing Self-enquiry, you will comprehend the transience of the world and the eternalness of God. The father, mother, brother, friends, house, wealth etc. you had in the previous birth are nowhere to be found but the Lord who was with you in the previous birth continues to be with you even now in this life. The friends and kinsmen of yours in this birth will no more be so with the cruel stroke of death but God was, is and will continue to be yours. Know more and more clearly the Atman that was, is and will continue to be yours even after death.
The scriptures say that one who doesn’t develop dispassion to the filthiness of his body doesn’t deserve to be instructed on further dispassion. One thinks that the nose or sparking teeth of his beloved are beautiful, but, if he lifts its tip he will feel disgusted at the sight of dirty nasal discharge. The teeth are foul smelling due to dead micro, organism, if there is any beauty, effulgence or sweetness in this body, which is the abode of misery; it is that of the Lord. Detached from the Lord, this body is devoid of all worth. You need people to take it to the cremation grounds and money to dispose it of; but every body is good in its own place so long as it is capable of connection itself to the Pure Consciousness. The moment this connection is lost, it is of no use whatsoever. The happiest of men born and brought up amidst mountains of wealth as also the poorest are of worth only so long as they are connected to the Supreme Being, so long as they draw sustenance and motive power from Him. The moment its capacity to draw sustenance and motive power from God is lost, the body becomes helpless and needs people to carry it. Continually reflect over the mortality of the body and the immortality of the Atman.
The fourth measure is verse – suppression of the operative waves of Prāna. We have ten indriyas (the five organs of knowledge and the five organs of action). The mind is the master of these indriyas. And Prāna is the master of the mind. Prānāyāma is a great and powerful force. A few Prānāyāmas regularly done everyday will prevent diseases. All the endeavours of man, all the riches of the world put together cannot give even a fraction of benefit that can be attained by perfection in Prānayāma.
By suppression of Prāna, one conquers the mind and attains bliss and tranquility of mind. The more the Prāna is suppressed or in other words the more in depth the working of Prāna is known, the more accomplished and perfect will one become in due course of time. Sleep gives rest to your body and when you go into Samādhi after doing Prānāyāma, it gives rest to yourself so to say. You attain to your real Being; here vices and imperfections are ineffectual. Thus Prānāyāma is a big boon to your abilities.
The mind is controlled by Prānāyāma etc. When the mind is controlled, there is no need for external worship nor do you even need to seek the Lord. The clinging to the worldly attachment, to the covetousness for sense-enjoyments, to the desire for fruits of actions – these are the obstacles to concentration of mind and keep it always discontented. The control of mind on the other hand gives contentment that makes man perennially contented and blissful.
The Lord says in the Gita:
‘Ever content, steady in meditation, possessed of firm conviction, self-con-trolled with mind and intellect dedicated to Me, he, My devotee, is dear to Me.’
The one, whose Vrittis (the modifications of mind) have thus become powerless, remains perennially contented and blissful. Even if all the pleasures, not only of this world but also of all the celestial regions are given to one man, he cannot be perennially contented and blissful but peace of mind makes him perennially contented and blissful. Therefore this sloka is telling us:
Satsang, relinquishment of desires, Self-enquiry and suppression of the waves of Prana – these are the means to conquer the mind. And buy conquering the mind one becomes a great conquerer.
We are miserable and are subjected to the grinding cycle of birth and death not want of wealth nor because we don’t have certificates and degrees nor because we are married or unmarried. We have deprived our mind of the peace of Consciousness. That is why it does external activities I search of happiness and bites at bits of momentary pleasures. Mired in transient pleasures, our mind is always engaged in thoughts like, ‘May this happen… may I get such and such achievement…’ but even if all these wishes are fulfilled, one fails to find absolute contentment because Supreme Self alone is absolute. This sloka is telling us a way to repose our mind in that Supreme self.
‘Satsang, relinquishment of desires, Self enquiry for Knowledge and dissolution of the operating waves of Prāna into their original source – these are the means to conquer the mind.’
Listen to satsang. It eradicates many evils and gives countless benefits but the highest benefit of satsang is Knowledge of, repose in and love for Supreme Self, the absolute truth, the eternal joy. The Truth personified God that existed before the beginning of time, existed at the beginning of aeons, is there now and will continue to be there eternally; that provides all wealthy men with the acumen to earn and retain wealth; that provides all powerful men the ability to attain and hold on to power; that has provided thousands of men and women with handsomeness and beauty; that has provided all wise men with wisdom,. That is called Supermen Self, the Atman. ‘Brahman is Truth, Knowledge, Infinite’. Nothing else exists in reality. By virtue of things borrowed form that Eternal Truth, we become something for a while. But He is the one in whom billions like us come into being and then dissolve in Him. That Brahman, the eternal Truth, Supreme Self is attained through satsang. Therefore, the sloka says, we should have satsang in life.
There are four types of satsang. To get established in the Supreme Self, the Absolute Truth, by making the intellect finer and subtler is the satsang number one. King Janaka, Buddha, Mahavira, Kabir, Adi shankaracharya, Guru Nanak, Jnaneshwar tukaram and many other renowned and unknown saints reposed in the Eternal truth and became one with God. Being established in God in the same way is satsang number one. Listening to such saints directly is satsang number two. Those who read with great reverence and understand the recorded utterances of such saints are doing satsang number three. Those who listen to periodic readings of the spiritual texts composed by such saints, sages, scholars and savants, where the message often gets diluted and becomes more of rhetoric, are having satsang number four known as Kathā.
Satsang helps you in attaining non-attachment. What is non-attachment? It is the eyes that see, but one identifies himself with the eyes and thinks, ‘I am seeing.’ Similar is the case with hearing, tasting and smelling. Again, the mind thinks but one says, ‘I am thinking ‘; the intellect is doing the work of decision making but one says, ‘It is my decision.’ My dear sir! What are you in reality? You have disintegrated and distributed yourself. Satsang will tell you that the senses are doing the job of seeing, smelling etc. not you.
‘All actions are wrought in all cases by the qualities of Nature only. He whose mind is deluded by egoism thinks: ‘I am the doer”.
All these qualities and activities are in the Nature. He, who deluded by egoism thinks himself as the doer, has to undergo the grind of samsāra according to the effects of his actions. But the one who attains Self Knowledge and considers himself to be different from the senses and internal organ is untouched by actions though outwardly engaged in them. He rests in the state of non-doership. So, satsang gives non-attachment. Freedom form attachment allows us to repose in the self which in turn leads to the state of Jivanmukti, liberation while living.
The second means to conquering the mind the by renouncing vāsanās *(desires). Desires too are of two kinds-pure and impure. What are impure desires? They are the impressions (samskāras) accumulated in the course of crores of past lives. Never lose hope; never get frustrated. Never be frightened by your vices and shortcomings into entertaining thoughts like, ‘It is not for me to tread the path of God-realization. I am not capable of attaining God realization. I have this vice, that shortcoming…’ The samaskāras have accumulated over crores of lives. The sheet of your soul has been soiled over billions of lives. It will take time to wash it clean. It will take time to dye it with the colour of devotion. But if you think, ‘I cannot achieve it; it is not possible for me,’ you will dirty the sheet even more. For crores of births, you have been going round in the cycle of birth and death. The samskāras have been imprinted on our mind over crores of births. Dullness of intellect, attachment to sense – enjoyments, stubbornness and fixation to one’s ideas-these habits are formed over crores of births. So the mind will not readily be prepared to acquiesce to the view point of God. The man does not get easily prepared to merge his experience with that of saints. Still there is no cause for worry. It becomes easier one day with constant practice.
The only condition is that you should be earnestly prepared to relinquish impure desires. If you are used to smoking twenty-five bidis or cigarettes everyday; reduce it to twenty-four, twenty-three… if you have been wasting two hours in idle gossip everyday; reduce it to one and half hour, seventy-five minutes and so on. This way, get rid of petty, harmful and vicious desires. You will experience increase in your power.
The third thing is verse – enquiry into Self Knowledge. ‘What am ‘I’? what is ‘this’ (world)? Who is it that feels the pleasure and pain? The sorrows are transient; they come and go; and so is happiness. I am unattached and a witness to these.’ If you want to experience divine peace and bliss within, but at the same time desire transient external-objects as well, you will think external objects even while meditation within. Therefore, reflect on the Ultimate truth. Recall the Knowledge that the external world is but a projection of the Indweller Pure Consciousness, the supreme Lord of the universe. God alone is the truth, the real thing; all else is fictitious. This will develop your inner potency.
The practice of Self-enquiry without renunciation and dispassion does not last longer. As you go on practicing Self-enquiry, you will comprehend the transience of the world and the eternalness of God. The father, mother, brother, friends, house, wealth etc. you had in the previous birth are nowhere to be found but the Lord who was with you in the previous birth continues to be with you even now in this life. The friends and kinsmen of yours in this birth will no more be so with the cruel stroke of death but God was, is and will continue to be yours. Know more and more clearly the Atman that was, is and will continue to be yours even after death.
The scriptures say that one who doesn’t develop dispassion to the filthiness of his body doesn’t deserve to be instructed on further dispassion. One thinks that the nose or sparking teeth of his beloved are beautiful, but, if he lifts its tip he will feel disgusted at the sight of dirty nasal discharge. The teeth are foul smelling due to dead micro, organism, if there is any beauty, effulgence or sweetness in this body, which is the abode of misery; it is that of the Lord. Detached from the Lord, this body is devoid of all worth. You need people to take it to the cremation grounds and money to dispose it of; but every body is good in its own place so long as it is capable of connection itself to the Pure Consciousness. The moment this connection is lost, it is of no use whatsoever. The happiest of men born and brought up amidst mountains of wealth as also the poorest are of worth only so long as they are connected to the Supreme Being, so long as they draw sustenance and motive power from Him. The moment its capacity to draw sustenance and motive power from God is lost, the body becomes helpless and needs people to carry it. Continually reflect over the mortality of the body and the immortality of the Atman.
The fourth measure is verse – suppression of the operative waves of Prāna. We have ten indriyas (the five organs of knowledge and the five organs of action). The mind is the master of these indriyas. And Prāna is the master of the mind. Prānāyāma is a great and powerful force. A few Prānāyāmas regularly done everyday will prevent diseases. All the endeavours of man, all the riches of the world put together cannot give even a fraction of benefit that can be attained by perfection in Prānayāma.
By suppression of Prāna, one conquers the mind and attains bliss and tranquility of mind. The more the Prāna is suppressed or in other words the more in depth the working of Prāna is known, the more accomplished and perfect will one become in due course of time. Sleep gives rest to your body and when you go into Samādhi after doing Prānāyāma, it gives rest to yourself so to say. You attain to your real Being; here vices and imperfections are ineffectual. Thus Prānāyāma is a big boon to your abilities.
The mind is controlled by Prānāyāma etc. When the mind is controlled, there is no need for external worship nor do you even need to seek the Lord. The clinging to the worldly attachment, to the covetousness for sense-enjoyments, to the desire for fruits of actions – these are the obstacles to concentration of mind and keep it always discontented. The control of mind on the other hand gives contentment that makes man perennially contented and blissful.
The Lord says in the Gita:
‘Ever content, steady in meditation, possessed of firm conviction, self-con-trolled with mind and intellect dedicated to Me, he, My devotee, is dear to Me.’
The one, whose Vrittis (the modifications of mind) have thus become powerless, remains perennially contented and blissful. Even if all the pleasures, not only of this world but also of all the celestial regions are given to one man, he cannot be perennially contented and blissful but peace of mind makes him perennially contented and blissful. Therefore this sloka is telling us:
Satsang, relinquishment of desires, Self-enquiry and suppression of the waves of Prana – these are the means to conquer the mind. And buy conquering the mind one becomes a great conquerer.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment