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core PRINCIPLES

Past Pains Ruin Present Life

7/7/2023

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It is said: “All problems are illusions of the mind.” Thoughts, feelings, sensations, perceptions, emotions, desires, impulses, reasonings, motivations and intentions are generated out of mind. Intensity of emotional reactions or negative impulsive behaviour and its longevity can impair or ruin your career, long-term relationship especially with your loved ones like, spouse, children, parents, in-laws, very close friends, etc., business or profession or whatever. 
Intensions, emotions, desires and impulses are deep rooted into past. Past connotes “embedded impressions” of past life i.e., actions done in previous birth or prior to present day in current life. The emotions of shame, guilt, sadness, and anger are related to past wounds that have not been more fully addressed. Some of us, driven by anxiety and fear, are preoccupied with the future, but the combination of our nature and nurture may make us vulnerable to envision our future constricted by our past.

A focused mind, not wandering into the past and future, is a peaceful, contented mind. Some specific techniques can be applied to harness our thoughts?
  1. We should accept that we even others are human being with limited knowledge and more limited experience. Hence, we need to “To go away of Past mistakes”.
  2. People have bad past memories – past life or this life esp. childhood’s memories. Cry them out, may be in lonely place or in forest.
  3. Forgive Yourself, Forgive Others. Torturing yourself doesn’t help anyone and only hurts you. We are not saint to have enemies but for the sake of our own health and happiness, let’s at least forgive them and forget them.
  4. Mindful Breathing
  5. By chanting Om, listening music or pursuing your passion remove sadness and disappointments vanish and contentment grows.

Genesis of Tendencies & Impulses:
William Shakespeare quoted in Twelfth Night: “Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them.” The fact is greatly debated by scientists and psychologists. It is discovered that partly genetic structure may be responsible for the tendencies.
The fact was mentioned by the ancient Hindu scientists (rishis) in Vedas, the oldest literature of world. To quote the references,
  1. In Yajurveda (Chapter 39 verse 7):
“उग्रश्च भीमश्च, ध्वान्तश्च धुनिश्च, सासध्वाँश्चाभियुग्वा, न विक्षिपः स्वाहा।। “
Means: The soul after death, according to its actions and nature, becomes violent and calm; fearful and fearless; ignorant and enlightened; roaring and quiet; patient or impatient passionate and ascetic; disruptive and concentrative; prey to bewilderment.
  1. In Bhagavad Gita (Chapter 3, verse 33), Bhagwan Krishna said:
  2. सदृशं चेष्टते स्वस्याः प्रकृतेर्ज्ञानवानपि। प्रकृतिं यान्ति भूतानि निग्रहः किं करिष्यति।।“
 
Means: Mental tendencies, character, potentials etc. are formed by the virtuous and vicious karmas done in past.
Overt Reasons:
  1. The research, by psychologists Matthew A. Killingsworth and Daniel T. Gilbert of Harvard University, is described in “The Harvard Gazette dated November 11, 2010” that a human mind is a wandering mind, and a wandering mind is an unhappy mind.  The ability to think about what is not happening is a cognitive achievement that comes at an emotional cost. Unlike other animals, humans spend a lot of time thinking about what isn’t going on around them: contemplating events that happened in the past, might happen in the future, or may never happen at all.
  2. In 1994, two psychology researchers, Terence Mitchell and Leigh Thompson explained a phenomenon of “rosy retrospection” which often leads to “overblown expectations” in the mind. It dampens the pleasure of present. “We are hard-wired to give negative stimuli a lot more cognitive attention in the present,” Dr Thompson said.
  3. We may be overly attached to the past when we are preoccupied in our thinking about what “should have” or “could have been.” Or, we may similarly be overly attached to the past when we intensely avoid thinking about it. This is true when we have had wounds that need to be addressed and mourned if we are to move on.
  4. People with depression tend to remember more negative personal memories and fewer positive personal memories than those without depression. For example, someone with depression may remember failing an exam rather than remembering their academic successes.
  5. We replay past mistakes of self or others over and over again in our head, allowing feelings of shame and regret to shape our actions in the present. We cling to frustration and worry about the future. We hold stress in our minds and bodies, destroying our present relationships, potentially creating serious health issues, and accept that state of tension as the norm.
  6. Most of the time people dwells either in past or future. Both are cause of sorrows. The genesis of worries, anxieties and fears is caused due to dwelling our mind in future. On the other hand, thinking about past is the major cause of pain. Life, in fact exists in present moment. If, we are so caught up in worrying about yesterday, or dreaming about tomorrow, what do we lose?  We lose today!!  We are no longer present in the moment, and we lose those moments forever.  Such preoccupation undermines our capacity to more fully engage in our present or with our potential future.
 
Impact:
  1. Our emotions often cloud our judgment in the heat of the moment, so we’re likely to record past experiences that were charged full of negative emotion with a strong untruthful bias in the mind.
  2. We do not get stomach ulcers from what you eat. We get ulcers from what is eaten i.e., Fear, worry, hate, selfishness, inability to adjust, anxiety, etc.

Remedies – as per psychologists:
  1. Dr Ethan Kross, a psychologist and the director of the University of Michigan Emotion and Self-Control Laboratory explained about “self-distancing” — “the ability to step outside yourself and view yourself from a more distanced perspective. Self-distancing has also been shown to reduce anxiety and depression, support self-reflection, and improve decision-making and emotion regulation, among other benefits.
  2. The documentation process helps to separate the facts from the emotion and allows you to reflect on that past thought more accurately.
  3. According to Dr. William Frey II, PH.D., biochemist at the Ramsey Medical Centre in Minneapolis, crying away your negative feelings releases harmful chemicals that build up in your body due to stress.
Remedies – as per Hindu Scriptures:
  1. In Patanjali Yogsutra (1.2): - योगश्चित्तवृत्तिनिरोधः॥1.2॥
Yoga is the technique to control the mind from distractions and modifications. Mind has five states viz. highly agitated, distracted due to rajas (क्षेप), infatuated, fascinated due to tamas (मौढय), waving, moving due to sattva, able to be steady (विक्षेप), steady due to pure sattva (एकाग्र), and restraint, prevention & destruction (निरोध) & focussed, due to pure sattva. (Please note: Yoga has eight limbs – Yama, Niyama, Asana, Pranayama, Pratyahara, Dharana, Dhyana & Samadhi)
 
  1. In Shrimad Bhagavad Gita, Bhagwan Krishna said:
 
समं कायशिरोग्रीवं धारयन्नचलं स्थिरः। संप्रेक्ष्य नासिकाग्रं स्वं दिशश्चानवलोकयन्।।6.13।।
प्रशान्तात्मा विगतभीर्ब्रह्मचारिव्रते स्थितः। मनः संयम्य मच्चित्तो युक्त आसीत मत्परः।।6.14।। युञ्जन्नेवं सदाऽऽत्मानं योगी नियतमानसः। शान्तिं निर्वाणपरमां मत्संस्थामधिगच्छति।।6.15।।

He should hold the body, head and neck straight and steady, remaining firm and fixing the gaze on the tip of his nose, without looking in other directions (13). He should be serene minded, firm in the pledge of complete chastity and fearless, keeping himself perfectly calm and with the mind held in restraint and fixed on Me (Brahman/Shree Krishna), the vigilant Yogi should sit absorbed in Me (Brahman/Shree Krishna) (14). Thus, constantly applying his mind to Me (Brahman/Shree Krishna), the Yogi of disciplined mind, attains everlasting peace and supreme Bliss (15).

Remedies – Impulse Control Mechanism: Scientific Approach:
Shri Shrikant M Ambike has very lucidly explained the impulse control mechanism (https://www.shrikantmambike.com/emotional-intelligence-the-impulse-control-wheel/) as under:
  1. Self-awareness: One must know his / her general tendencies to trip on people or go mad at situations, be constantly in the mood of aggression, being impulsive on something, and finding it very difficult to hold back the urge to react impulsively, get back at something or somebody. Acceptance of his / her adverse behaviour and working on it for changes inside him / her.
  2. Self-regulation: It refers to the act of taking responsibility for the emotions, defining core values of the life and developing trustworthiness i.e., you trust yourself; you can trust that you will respond to your emotions by doing what is the best for you and for those around you in any given situation.           
  3. Identifying stressors & document it: The next important aspect towards impulse control is to identify the emotional triggers- in which conditions they set you off. On the face of it, it may seem to be an automatic response to thoughts and events and the use of the word trigger is critical because the reaction occurs automatically without much self-control. However, if one works on those triggers, the reaction just like everything else we do is a matter of choice. To be able to manage our impulses, we need to take charge of our emotions rather than allowing them to rule over us, and identifying stressors is one way towards it. The following are some of the stress elements due to which we may lose our impulse control:
  1. Internal stressors: these can be temporary and applicable for a certain situation, depending upon your moods, anxieties, fears, and personality traits such as pessimism, perfectionism, and suspiciousness. It is the thought which gives rise to emotion and emotion will give rise to behaviour.
  2. A person/place or a situation: You may get stressed and hence lose your impulse control due to a particular person with whom you may have some unpleasant past memories or some particular place which can trigger fear or nightmares because of the perceived danger or some situation like facing a dreadful boss/ a job interview can make your nervous.
  3. Family issues: you may face some financial issues like a loss of money, loss of a job or being cheated by someone for a hefty amount and you may vent it out on the family quite often. These feelings of anxieties, worries about future/betrayal, etc. can take a toll on your impulse control. Sometimes, relationship changes with your spouse and others can also determine your emotional health.
  4. Work pressure: if you don’t like the job, the office and the boss you are working with and on top of that continuously under the pressure of meeting challenging deadlines, budgets, and targets, you are a potential candidate for loss of impulse control.
  5. Change: most of us like to be in the state of the status quo, i.e., our comfort zone. Any change in that, like a change of job, the additional responsibility of a team, change of city, changes in working due to technological changes and challenges in learning them, etc. can decide on how you maintain your composure when triggered with some external event that is deviating from the set norm.
  1. Empathy: If you can be always in the mode of seeing the perspective of the other person, from where they are coming from, and trying to understand what they are going through, you will have much better control over your impulses. Our self-centred ways of dealing with every aspect of our life can mask our capability to think for other person and we may lose impulse control.
  2. Managing relationships: failures to manage your impulses and frequent tripping over the people around you, especially your loved ones like, spouse, children, parents, very close friends, etc. can ruin these very delicate relationships so much that, they may no longer be your loved ones or you may cease to be in their loved one’s list. It’s OK if you are not able to manage your anger and other disruptive emotions once in a while, your closed ones will still be willing to understand you as ‘one-off case’ and let go off, but the problem starts when it becomes your routine to vent out your frustration on others, have contempt and disrespect for people around you, taking people for granted, self-absorbed perspectives, resorting to bulldozing and intimidation tactics in the office, spousal abuse, (both mental as well as physical), etc. The person may realize his/her mistake for losing out on his/her impulses and may even regret later, however, you may find that some bonds are difficult to be repaired once strained.
 
Here again, impulse control success will depend on how much you value your relationships with others. It has to take precedence over your overtly inflated egos, false sense of pride, arrogance, rudeness, conceitedness and being one up over the other attitude. Any relationship has to be a give and take.
  1. Adaptability: Not all the conditions, situations and people will be in our control and never all the time. There will be occasions where we will be challenged in one, more, or all the above factors when things will not go as per our wish or the outcomes may not be as what we had expected them to be. Nor the conditions will remain the same as they have been. In fact, change is the only constant in life. The key here is to change yourself by managing your impulses to fit in the changed circumstances. Responding effectively to the new challenges and overcoming them and adjusting yourself to the situation and managing your teams while maintaining your composure is all about adaptability.
 
Charles Darwin wrote: It’s not the strongest of the species nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is most adaptable to change. How to be more adaptable while maintaining your impulses:
  1. Practice holding back your first response long enough and thoughtfully responding to the situation rather than reacting.
  2. Listen: Instead of spontaneous reaction, listen the other one fully, you are nonjudgmental and ready to take information which may give you an important breakthrough in deciding your further course of action in handling any situation.
  3. Get feedback on your behaviour and identify alternative ways of behaving to be more effective in given situations.
  4. Try laughing at yourself
  5. Reducing the strength of stressors
  6. Change your perspective: Some people who in the past have done something wrong to you, will throw you into a spiral of anger or depression. For such people first have some compassion and try to let go of all those emotions attached with the disturbing memories. Try to admire him / her for some of his qualities like his integrity, intellect, etc.
  7. Prepare yourself: Recognize due to what reasons/habits/ or behaviours of the people around you, you trip on them. Never lose your temper by jumping to the conclusions that the other person is behaving in a particular manner just to displace you out of your head.
  8. Living in the present: Most of us go mad or show greedy tendencies because we focus on the fears/uncertainties of tomorrow or the worries and troubles of yesterday. Choose to live in the current moment. The more you are mindful and living in the ‘now’ the more is the possibility of you having the impulse control because most impulsive reactions are a result of that we having some past beliefs about our self, about people or situations or perceived dangers about the future which most times are not true. With poor impulse control we may be always in the panicky mode.
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Satchitananda

6/30/2023

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Satchitananda
Satchitananda (Sanskrit: सच्चिदानन्द), a compound word of Sat (Existence), Chit (Consciousness), and Ananda (Bliss), is a description of the subjective experience of Brahman. This sublimely blissful experience of the boundless, pure consciousness is a glimpse of ultimate reality.
Sat, Chit and Ananda are not three distinct entities. They are not different from one another. They are coeval and coexistent with Atman. Just as water, Jal & Pani and light, heat and luminosity signify one and the same thing, so also Sat-Chit-Ananda signifies the one Atman.

What is Sat, Chit and Ananda:
  1. sat (Sanskrit root as, "to be") means "Truth", "Absolute Being", "a palpable force of virtue and truth". Sat describes an essence that is pure and timeless, that never changes, that is eternal. Sat is the very nature of the Absolute; it is also a “dimension” of the transcendental reality. Sat is pure existence, devoid of any identification with social status, the body, the emotions, the thoughts, or the mind. Thus, the masks of individuality fall away in sat.
  2. Chit means pure consciousness, pure awareness or pure experience. Pure Existence cannot really be present unless it is aware of its existence. In its purity, it is independent of the body, senses, feelings, thoughts, mind, and even the world. Thus, this Existence-Awareness- “I” is the essential nature of our Self. It can never cease to Exist and the Awareness of the Existence can never cease. This essential Awareness of our essential Being is Ananda (Pure Bliss).
  3. Ananda means pure bliss. Ananda, spiritual beatitude, is absolute happiness without object and without end. It expresses the nature of Brahman (the Supreme Reality). This bliss comes from the same source as sat and chit. Supreme Bliss, unending joy, and delight are the very radiance of the Spiritual Heart. Ananda is not just the emotion of being happy, which usually leads to unhappiness when it goes away. Happiness leads by attainment external object cherished. Happiness goes away after its attainment sooner or later. Whereas Ananda arises spontaneously, not on demand. It is revealed only in total surrender to the Spiritual Heart.
Who is Satchitananda:
  1. For the Vaishnava (devotee of Vishnu), it is Vaikuntha, abode of Vishnu.
  2. For Gaudiya Vaishnavism (also known as Hare Krishna), the religious movement founded by Chaitanya Mahaprabhu in the 16th century, is the devotional worship (bhakti) of Radha and Krishna.
  3. For Goswami Tulsidas, it is Rama not only as an incarnation of Lord Vishnu, but also of Brahman, the supreme world spirit.
  4. As per Vedantic philosophy, it is the three fundamental attributes of Brahman.
  5. In the Advaita Vedanta school of Hindu philosophy, a person who fully lives Brahman (24 hours a day) is called a jivanmukta.

Where Satchitananda explained:
In Vedas & Upanishads:
Sat or Truth:
  1. Satyasya Satyam, 'the Truth of truth.' [Brihadaranyaka Upanishad 2.1.20]
  2. All this is Brahman. (Sarvam khalvidam brahma) — Chandogya Upanishad 3.14.1
  3. Brahman is the only truth, the world is unreal, and there is ultimately no difference between Brahman and Atman, individual self. (Brahma satyam jagat mithya, jivo brahmaiva naparah) - most famous quote by Shankara from Vivekachudamani.
  4. Brahman is known when it is realized in every state of mind, for by such Knowledge one attains Immortality. By Atman one obtains strength, by Knowledge, Immortality. (Kena Upanishad 2.4).
Consciousness or Experience:
  1. Consciousness is Brahman. prajnanam brahma - (Aitareya Upanishad 3.1.3) ('Consciousness is Ultimate Reality')
  2. I am Brahman. Aham brahmasmi (अहम् ब्रह्मास्मि) - (Brihadaranyaka Upanishad 1.4.10 of Yajurveda)
  3. You are Brahman. Tat Tvam Asi (तत् त्वम् असि) - (Chandogya Upanishad 6.8.7 of Samaveda)
  4. This Self is Brahman." ayam atma brahma - (Mandukya Upanishad 2.)
 
One of the most important verses of the Rig Veda (1.164.46) is:
The Reality (Truth) is ONE: the wise call It by various names. Ekam sat vipra bahudha vadanti.
 
Ananda or Bliss:
  1. Brahman is bliss (ananda). (Taittiriya Upanishad 3.6.1).
  2. The infinite is bliss. There is no bliss in anything finite. Only the Infinite is bliss. One must desire to understand the Infinite. (Chandogya Up. 7.23.1)
Modern Gurus:
In “Yoga and the Spiritual Life” Sri Chinmoynanada has stated  - “To be sure, the Kingdom of Heaven is more than just a mere plane, like other planes. It is a plane of divine Consciousness. It is a state of Realisation. It embodies Sat-Chit-Ananda. Sat is divine Existence, Chit is divine Consciousness, Ananda is divine Bliss. When we go deep within, we feel these three together, and when we acquire the inner vision to perceive them all at once, we live verily in the Kingdom of Heaven. Otherwise, Existence is at one place, Consciousness is somewhere else and Bliss is nowhere near the other two. When we see and feel Existence-Consciousness-Bliss on the self-same plane, each complementing and fulfilling the others, we can say that we live in the Kingdom of Heaven. Yes, the Kingdom of Heaven is within us. Not only can we feel it, but without the least possible doubt, we can become it.”
In Sri Aurobindo's evolutionary vision of the soul and the Universe, of which sachidananda is the principal term, even though the soul is incarnate in maya and subject to space, matter and time, it maintains an ongoing and eternal oneness with Saccidananda or divinity. This incarnating aspect or dimension of the human being, the spirit-soul, or the 'psychic being' or chaitya purusha, is the staple essence that reincarnates from life to life. This essence is of the energetic quality of sachidananda.
 
Aurobindo holds that there exists a supreme power, the 'Supermind', which is the first emanation from sachidananda and can be brought into play through the practice of yoga to yoke life, mind and matter with sublime states of consciousness, being, delight and power and thereby manifest more of our inherent divinity.

Where Satchitananda resides:
Consciousness is multi-layered in human beings, which has potential to move upward. These layers are called in Hindu philosophy (Taittiriya Upanishad) as Pancha Kosha - starting from lowest, annamaya, pranamaya, manomaya, vijaynamaya and ananadamaya. It depends on the evolutionary stage of the person, he or she enjoys living in that particular level or realm. Satchitananda is highest plane.
  1. Annamaya Kosha is the physical body made of five elements (Pancha Bhutas), namely earth, water, fire, wind, and space. A person who resided predominantly in the Annamaya Kosha believes that he is only the physical body. He gives more importance to physical things and physical fitness. If you see people around, you will find most people finds happiness in food, audio visual media, perfumes, touching opposite sex, luxuries, big brands, cars, etc. “

  2. Pranmay Kosh is energy sheath or the life force which holds together the body and the mind. Its physical manifestation is the breath. This kosha is made of five vital forces (pancha pranas) namely apana, prana, udana, samana and vyana. These vital forces surge through causing various body functions. A balance between these five pranas is health, and an imbalance results in disease.  People residing in this kosha are active and energetic.
  3. Manomay kosh is the aspect of one's personality wherein the mind carries on its different functions such as perception (manas) (मन), memory (chittah) (चित्त), and ego (ahankara) (अहंकार). It is the mental faculty (manas) that receives all the five sensory inputs, interprets them. Memory (chittah) is the storehouse of karma and samskaras (impressions). Ahamkara is a sense of 'I' ness or the faculty of identity. By which, person identifies himself with the body – Dehatma Bhava (देहात्मा भाव). The manomay kosh includes thoughts, emotions, feelings, imagination, memories, and the subconscious mind.
 
The trained mind can influence the entire physical body system to function well and conserve energy. The trained mind increases concentration. The purified mind overcomes selfishness and ego, increases inner strength and brings inner peace. We can purify the Manomaya kosha through meditation, karma yoga (selfless service and charity work), bhakti yoga (prayer), knowledge (studying the scriptures), and Yama and Niyamas (the yogic moral ethics towards the society and self-discipline). The state of the manomay kosh is affected by both what we eat (annamaya kosha) and our energy level (pranamaya kosha) too.
 
The person residing in this layer has thoughts and desires which identify with form and name, position and qualities. He is emotional in nature. This person lacks the cognitive abilities of reasoning and is void of any discrimination but may have keen appreciation for fine arts, music and dance and drama.
 
  1. Vigyanmay kosh is the faculty of intelligence and reasoning. It is the discriminating faculty (Buddhi) which continuously guides the manomay kosh to master the basic instincts and to discriminate between what is 'good and bad', 'right and wrong,' 'useful and not useful' to move towards long-term sukha (happiness).
 
The person residing in Vigyanamaya Kosha is knowledgeable and wise. Loves literature, creative and are good orators. This fourth sheath is the wisdom that lies beneath the processing, thinking aspect of the mind. He knows, decides, judges, and discriminates between the information he processes and is innovative. Discovery, research and management are the areas where these people are involved in. Persons experiencing Anandamaya Kosha are stable in behaviour and firm in decision, are happy in every state of life and appreciate higher order of things and thinking like nature, prayers, meditation connection with God etc. They are self-realized persons. 
 
  1. Anandamay kosh is the bliss sheath (Ananda). The bliss sheath normally has its fullest play during deep sleep: while in the dreaming and wakeful states, it has only a partial manifestation. The blissful sheath is a reflection of the Atman which is truth, beauty, and bliss absolute. This is unaffected by our gross senses, emotions, and tribulations. Nevertheless, anandamay kosh is still a sheath covering atman (the Supreme Self), not the intrinsic reality of atman, which is sat-chit-ananda. Thus, bliss is not a state of mind but the condition that remains when all psycho-mental phenomena—including the experience of joy—have been transcended.
How to reach Satchitananda:
In Shrimad Bhagavad Gita, Bhagwan Sri Krishna has explained the means to reach Satchitananda. Self-surrender (Smarpan) to almighty is only means to reach Satchitananda. He says:
  • The grace of the Supreme Being comes on those who surrender themselves whole-heartedly to him, and that grace accomplishes what one cannot do by one’s own effort. (Chapter 15, shlokas 1-3)
  • whole hearted self-surrender (body, mind and soul) and love ensures attainment of Brahman. (Chapter 9, shlokas 29-34)
  • Those, who depend exclusively on Me, and surrender all actions to Me, worship Me (God with attributes), constantly meditate on Me with single-minded devotion, I speedily deliver from the ocean of birth and death, their mind being fixed on Me (Chapter 12, Shlokas 6,7). Therefore, fix your mind on Me, and establish your intellect in Me alone; thereafter you will abide solely in Me. There is no doubt about it (Chapter 12, Shlokas 8). If you cannot steadily fix the mind on Me, Arjuna, then seek to attain Me through the (Bhakti) Yoga of practice (listening, chanting, meditating, japa, study of scriptures etc.) (Chapter 12, Shlokas 9). If you are not able to the pursuit of such practice, be intent to work for Me; you shall attain perfection (in the form of My realization) even by performing (Nishkam Karma) actions for My sake (Chapter 12, Shlokas 10). If, taking recourse to the Yoga of My realization, you are unable even to do this, then, subduing your mind and intellect etc., relinquish the fruit of all actions (Chapter 12, Shlokas 11).
  • Knowledge (Jnana) is better than practice (Raja Yoga) without discernment (knowing the essence), meditation on God (Bhakti) is superior to knowledge, and renunciation of the fruit of actions (Nishkam Karma) is even superior to meditation; for, peace immediately follows renunciation (Chapter 12, Shlokas 12).
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I Surrender (Atam-Samarpan)

3/5/2023

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Surrender literally means to stop fighting. Stop fighting with yourself. Stop fighting the universe and the natural flow of things. Stop resisting and pushing against reality. “I surrender” means total surrender. Surrendering of once attachment to its possession, post, pride and place; preferences-priorities; liking-disliking; pleasure-pain etc. Surrender is ultimate means to get success in apara prakriti (external or material world) as well as para prakriti (inner or spiritual life). In this material world, surrender before boss, surrender before mighty…….is mantra for getting the desired results.
The ultimate aim of all religions is “Surrender of ego”. The different religions have different rituals which are for spiritual upliftment and to reduce ego. Rituals symbolizes lower form of surrender – temporary surrender of possessions, time, actions etc. Higher form of surrender is attainment of spiritual upliftment by complete & permanent self-surrender (body, mind and ego).  

What is Surrender:
The surrender does not mean leaving the rational decisions, inactions or laziness, not being emotional, not taking resolves from will power etc. It is rather perfecting the decision-making, to be intensely emotional, taking strong resolution and working hard. The process invites the purifying the mind, intellect, chit and ego. It will require to dropping the burdens of past sins, not taking selfish decisions, not doing selfish actions, to be fearless of outcomes, etc.

Why Surrender:
Total Surrender can be to any deity, Guru, Parents, work-in-hand, for personal enquiry or to Nirankar Brahman. In Shrimad Bhagavad Gita, Bhakti yoga, Karma yoga, Jnana yoga and Raja Yoga are the different paths to attain salvation. All the four paths mandate total surrender which can be to any personal deity or if Guru or parents attain that stature; or when work become worship without selfish motives; or making intense enquiry forgetting everything else; or in the Asamprajaatah (seedless) Samadhi wherein all desires, ignorance, afflictions, sufferings, impressions etc. retire. Saint Kabir said –

“जब मैं था तब हरी नहीं, अब हरी है मैं नाही । सब अँधियारा मिट गया, दीपक देखा माही । “

Means: When I was immersed in my ego – I could not see the God – but when the guru illuminated the lamp of knowledge within me, all the darkness of ignorance disappeared – the light of knowledge kept the ego going and in the light of knowledge I found the God.
Importance of Surrender in Hinduism:
 
In Shree Bhagavad Gita, Bhagwan Shree Krishna said Arjuna,
  1. मामुपेत्य पुनर्जन्म दुःखालयमशाश्वतम् । नाप्नुवन्ति महात्मानः संसिद्धिं परमां गताः ॥ ८-१५॥
Means - After attaining Me, the great souls do not incur rebirth in this miserable transitory world, because they have attained the highest perfection.
 
  1. मन्मना भव मद्भक्तो मद्याजी मां नमस्कुरु । मामेवैष्यसि युक्त्वैवमात्मानं मत्परायणः ॥ ९-३४॥
Means - One who fix his mind daily, continuously & unmoved on Me (Brahman/Shree Krishna); be devoted to Me, worship by listening, chanting, meditating & studying Me without motives; surrender everything to me with great devotion & love; make obeisance to Me and entirely depending on Me, he shall come to Me.
 
  1. ये तु सर्वाणि कर्माणि मयि संन्यस्य मत्पराः । अनन्येनैव योगेन मां ध्यायन्त उपासते ॥ १२-६॥ तेषामहं समुद्धर्ता मृत्युसंसारसागरात् । भवामि नचिरात्पार्थ मय्यावेशितचेतसाम् ॥ १२-७॥
Means - Those, who depend exclusively on Me, and surrender all actions to Me, worship Me (God with attributes), constantly meditate on Me with single-minded devotion, I speedily deliver from the ocean of birth and death, their mind being fixed on Me
 
  1. मां च योऽव्यभिचारेण भक्तियोगेन सेवते । स गुणान्समतीत्यैतान्ब्रह्मभूयाय कल्पते ॥ १४-२६॥
Means - he who serves Me with the yoga of unswerving devotion, transcending these qualities [binary opposites, like good and evil, pain and pleasure] is ready for liberation in Brahman.
 
  1. मन्मना भव मद्भक्तो मद्याजी मां नमस्कुरु । मामेवैष्यसि सत्यं ते प्रतिजाने प्रियोऽसि मे ॥ १८-६५॥
Means - Fix your mind on Me, be devoted to Me, offer service to Me, bow down to Me, and you shall certainly reach Me. I promise you he is exceptionally dear to Me.
 
  1. सर्वधर्मान्परित्यज्य मामेकं शरणं व्रज । अहं त्वा सर्वपापेभ्यो मोक्षयिष्यामि मा शुचः ॥ १८-६६॥
Means - Abandon all varieties of duties and just surrender unto Me. I shall absolve you from all sinful reactions. Do not fear.
 
Processes of surrender:
In Hinduism, there are five methods for achieving the self-surrender which are mentioned as under:
  1. God-Centred actions - In Hinduism, Bhagawata Purana explains the attainment of total surrender by God-centred actions under navdha bhakti viz. listening, hymning/eulogizing, meditating/ remembering, service, worship, salutation/greeting, servitude/bondage, and comradeship/friendliness. These actions ultimately lead to self-surrender. Hindu Philosophers such Ramanujacharya, Nibakacharya, Madhavacharya, Vallabhacharya etc. introduced the system of services to be offered to the deity.
  2. Service-Centred actions – In Hinduism, Sri Vivekananda reiterated the service of all beings in the spirit of the God. The ideal of service is inspired by reverence and humility. The surrender has four stages – selfishness, sharing, selflessness and ultimately surrender.  All these stages reflect in actions, thoughts, will and ego. It eliminates the pseudo ego of possession, post & pride and makes complete presence of almighty in actions, thoughts and will-power.
  3. Work as worship of God – Shree Krishna advised in Shrimad Bhagavad Gita that constant remembrance of God and practice of meditation automatically follow the successful performance of surrendering the sense of agency and fruits of work to God. Ist stage: Work and worship – doing the karma with sattvic attributes and worshipping and loving the personal god. IInd stage: Work as worship – Doing the karma whole day as worshipping the god. IIIrd stage: Work is worship – Feel karma itself is God. IVth stage: No duality – Oneness i.e., realising self and everybody is Brahman (almighty).
  4. Intense Enquiry - Shedding the pride of material possession which is received from this world and will be left after death; shedding the pride of body which is the gift of parents & nature; shedding the pride of knowledge which belongs to teachers or books; shedding the pride of soul which is part of cosmic consciousness.
  5. Realising Consciousness by eliminating various bodies – As per Hindu philosophy, the soul or individual consciousness is encased in five sheaths or walls – Annamay kosh (sensory & motor organs), Pranmay Kosh (Breath & vital energy flows), Manomay Kosh (Mind, thoughts), Vigyanmaya Kosh (Intellect, analytical power) and Anandamaya Kosh (Bliss). In this process, withdrawal is done from sensory perceptions, then from thoughts, then from intellect / analysis and lastly forgetting everything even bliss for the moments.
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Duality of mind & Sufferings

2/26/2023

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Mind is the gatekeeper of inner subjective world which transact with outer world through sense organs. All the sensory perceptions or experiences are stored in mind. Faculties like thought, imagination, memory, will etc. are responsible for various mental phenomena, like perception, pain-pleasure, belief, desire, intention, and emotion. The transactional mind acts as a smokescreen that prevents us from seeing within ourselves. The pure awareness or consciousness is in fact separated from body-mind. If we compare electricity and electrical instrument, electricity is the pure awareness and mind is electrical instrument. But activities of mind create false ego. This false ego separates us from pure consciousness and bifurcates the inner being. One suffers intensely due to the burns from the bogus bifurcation in the inner being.

The sense organs of the body generate the mind. The sense organs send sensory perceptions in mind and create sensuality i.e., stimulation for desire to enjoy. Thoughts in mind analyse & classify sensations into pleasant and unpleasant and that is the beginning of sensuality. This generates cravings for the repetition of the pleasant and for riddance from unpleasant. So, the root cause of our sorrow and sufferings is the separation of sensations. Mind casts a shadow on the understanding of the eternal reality. Eternal reality can be discovered only when the consciousness is free from illusion.

Human mind remains dormant due to the dominant activity of the separative “I”. chittavrithi separates from Chaitanya. Surrendering of “I” is bliss and silence.

What duality:
The mind dwells in duality or opposites – pleasure or pain, attachment or aversion, fear or fearlessness, cowardice or courage, anger or amicability, victory or defeat etc. The “Intelligence”, the Chaitanya is not corrupted by choices, by likes-dislikes, preference-aversion, justification-condemnation.

In chapter 3 of Shrimad Bhagavad Gita, Shree Krishna says, “the person in material consciousness is convinced by false ego that he is the doer of everything. He does not know that the mechanism of the body is produced by material nature, which works under the supervision of the Pure or Supreme consciousness.”

Quantum physics says that in the subatomic universe of quarks, objects exist in the quantum state of non-separateness. The objects continue to be connected. This connectedness remains unaffected by distance and time! The connecting force does not move through space despite a mysterious movement par excellence. ‘Close’ and ‘far’ are the same in this quantum state where ‘time’ and ‘space’ lose the conventional meaning as they become inseparable! Quantum physics has thus hit the nature of division-less, time-less Divinity!


Bhagavat Gita (vii 24-26) has also said: - Ground Human Awareness is absolutely free from division in time and space.


Mind as cause of Duality:
Mind has five constituents viz. evidence, beliefs, choices, inertness and memory. These constituents are responsible for suffering and non-suffering.

Chief contents of mind are craving, fear, attachment, dependency and greed. Greedy persons are fearful.
  1. Craving at any level of one’s being, breeds conflicts and our attempts escape from conflicts, only increase further confusion – both within and without. Understanding of cravings comes only through the constant awareness of the movements of “I”. The understanding of self is the beginning of wisdom and there is no path to wisdom.
  2. Fear has various forms – apprehension, aggression, anxiety, antagonism, insecurity, inhibition, stress, tension and so on.
  3. Greed also has various forms – ambition, anticipation, expectation, hope and aspiration. Fear is the direct result of demanding, desiring, wanting, craving, hoping, expecting, speculating, becoming and so on.

End of Dualism:
The refusal to be involved with attraction and aversion, is detachment (Vairagya). Detachment comes through having complete attention. This is the result of aloofness from sense objects i.e., sensory perceptions are not converted into sensuality by classification as pleasant or unpleasant.

When the sense organs function in their natural state without inference of thoughts, then sensuality is totally wiped out and equanimity or even mindedness takes place. In the state of equanimity, the person does not feel opposites – pleasure or pain, attachment or aversion, fear or fearlessness, cowardice or courage, anger or amicability, victory or defeat etc. This leads to no-mind state.


When the activities of the mind are dormant, the divinity reveals its dominance. One is released from the dualities of suffering and satisfaction, of the fences and freedom, of grief and gratification, even of the life and life-less-ness.


Three-dimensional attitude to end duality:
  1. First dimension – Sat or pure bhava or living without attachment – living in Atithi Bhava i.e., the attitude of a guest.
  2. Second dimension – Chit or pure consciousness – living in Sakshi Bhava i.e., the attitude of witness.
  3. Third dimension – Anand – pure joy or bliss – living in Samapti Bhava i.e., the attitude ending and not getting trapped in cultivation of opposites.

Kriya Yoga to end duality:
When we are caught in our unnatural state of the “I-ness” (Chittavrithi), we function in the dimension of opposites, constantly struggling to become something other than our being. We desperately seek ‘what should be’, refusing to see “what is”.

Humility means emptiness without a trace of borrowed knowledge or the conditioned reflexes as experience. It is the complete abnegation of all self-centred thought and ideations.


Thinking is wanting. When there is no want, there is no thought and thus just silence.

Seeing all these outward things without condemnation or appreciation, you can ride on the tide of inner awareness in whole-ness generating intense inward silence.
Comparison breeds animosity and subtle hatred, conflict, inner outer, is the ground for violence. 

The enquiry and exploration into this “I-ness”, the “me-ness” the “ego-ness”, - that is called Swadhyaya! That is the beginning of kriya yoga. Lessening the activity of the “I” is emergence of Intelligence. Kriya practices, Tapas is very subtle, but very effective. In due course, when the Tapas works Understanding happens. Its main purpose is to release the body from the stranglehold of the mind.


Kriya practices is meant to work through the body on the mind silencing its activities. They transform the Gunas. They are a great cleansing process that helps to make the body available to the chance of penetration of Intelligence.


Kriya practice helps to maintain this fine balancing act between thought and no-thought. Kriya yoga is the science of inner being. Kriya yoga is a journey towards no-mind. Kriya yoga blasts the duality in the life developed by the ego centre. It liberates the yogi from the possessiveness, accumulative and acquisitive urges. Possessiveness is not only of materialism but also of guru, an ideal, human being etc. But kriya yoga needs deep understanding, tremendous courage and Himalayan patience. Kriya makes person empty drum that gives the right tone, not the packed drum of borrowed ideas which makes a dreadful noise.

 
Do not renounce the world, but just renounce the ‘me’! But it is most difficult to be simple! Dissolution of separative consciousness in the unitary awareness is kriya. 

Kriya yoga is stepping out of the world of time and mind and beginning to live the state of timelessness and eternity. Kriya yoga requires abandoning rituals, psychological registrations, pride, envy, comparison, come to emptiness, to existence, to eternal joy. Kriya yoga is not lure for more. No more running or rat race for power, reputation, delusion, experience, attachment, possessions, ego-gratification and stupid pleasure movement.


By practising Kriya yoga, mind exists like honey, not like water. Honey, if disturbed, quickly returns to immobility; whereas water goes into turmoil by disturbance. Kriya yogi does not resist thoughts, but just remain disinterested in perpetuation of thoughts. In natural state, everything appears and disappears in rhythm. In kriya yoga all desires come to end, even desirelessness ceases to be an object for desire. 


Kriyas are not physical fitness program, rather it is simple practices to release the body from the stranglehold of the mental pollutions and to generate an energy of equanimity. If kriyas are done with patience and understanding without getting into the activity of the “I”, the blasting is not far off. Death of “I” that Kriya brings about, is immortality.

Time is the enemy in the inner dimension of consciousness which prevents fusion of thinker and thought.

Gunas are the natural traits and tendencies of the human mind. They are present at birth and later modified marginally. Kriya process which consists of knowing the activities of “I”, allowing the body to function naturally and blasting into the state of equanimity transforms the gunas.


Spiritual experiences are just conditioned reflexes from the belief – systems, knowledge, ideas, imaginations borrowed from dream-merchants of the spiritual market. All the subtle feelings in the spine, buzzing or tickling of energy at the chakras, sounds and other phenomena must be choicelessly ignored for the blissful revelation of the innocence, intelligence, Chaitanya-Nath!


Freedom is the natural state in meditation wherein the contents of the consciousness such as tradition, anxiety, name, position, and attachment, and voluntarily. Freedom lies beyond the field of separative consciousness which comprises fragmentations only.

Discipline comes from constant watching of ‘what is’ which is the false inner division. All disorders emanate from the endless pursuit of ‘what should be’. Coercive discipline is fake order and thus it is still disorder.

In Kriya Yoga, WATCH is the key –
  1. W – words, wishes, will.
  2. A – anticipations, apprehensions, agitations, activities, anger, antagonism, arrogance, aggression.
  3. T – thoughts, tendencies, tensions, tragedies & travails, trials & turmoils, tricks & traps, tradition & truth.
  4. C – conjectures, conclusions, conditioned reflexes, cunningness, connings, confusions, callousness and cruelty.
  5. H – habits & hang ups, hypothesis & half-truths, hopes & hypocrisies, heart beats.

​Bhakti to end duality
:
Vibhakta means divided. Bhakta means not divided or whole or not fragmented. Bhakti is the virtue of Samarpan (surrender) and Samajh (understanding) and Saha-anubhuti (sharing the divine perception).
 
Reference: Kriya Yoga by Shibendu Lahiri
 
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Ego (Ahamkara)

8/20/2022

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Ego is self or “I-ness” Everyone has an ego, whether big or small. In Hinduism, Ahamkara (अहंकार) is a Sanskrit term that is related to the ego. Egoism is identifying with or attachment to one's ego. It is a crystallization of pre-existing thoughts and desires resulting into shadow self, which is subject to ignorance, duality and illusion (maya) that veils the true Self and lets the ego-sense take charge of the mind and body and act as if it is the real Self. Ego will significantly impact our relationships with one another and the outside world. It also affects our ability to be persuasive and understood.

Remember that the ego is mischievous, wicked and vulgar. Its voice is the noise of the world. Let us put out the noise of the ego to hear the voice of the divine. The elimination of egoism is the sole condition of self-realization. One’s individual ego, pre-conceived notions, pet ideas, prejudices and selfish interests should be given up. All these stands in the way of spiritual progress.

As per modern psychology, ego comprises the executive functions of personality by serving as the integrator of the outer and inner worlds as well as of the id and the superego. Freud conceptualised ego structure as id, ego and superego. The id is driven by the pleasure principle, which strives for immediate gratification of all desires, wants, and needs. Ego develops from the id and ensures that the impulses of the id can be expressed in a manner acceptable in the real world. The superego begins to emerge at around age five. The superego tries to perfect and civilize our behaviour. It works to suppress all unacceptable urges of the id and struggles to make the ego act upon idealistic standards rather that upon realistic principles. However, id, the ego, and the superego are not three separate entities.

There is not much inputs about “ego” in modern psychology. But ancient Hindu rishis have deeply probed about it. As per Hinduism, “ego” has been elaborated as below:

What is Ego:
Ahamkara (Ego) identifies the atman (soul, self, jivatma) with the physical body. Ego is not mere self-pride or arrogance, except in a very narrow sense. In a wider sense, it is the very feeling of separation that makes one feel distinct and different from the rest of the creation and the Creator.
 
  1. In Shrimad Bhagavad Gita, Shree Krishna says, "Air, water, earth, fire, sky, mind, intelligence and ahamkara (ego) together constitute the nature created by me." In chapter 3, Shree Krishna says, “the person in material consciousness is convinced by false ego that he is the doer of everything. He does not know that the mechanism of the body is produced by material nature, which works under the supervision of the Supreme consciousness.”
  2. According to Samkhya darshan (philosophy), prakriti evolves twenty-three elements (5 organs of perceptions, 5 organs of action, 5 tanmantras, 5 gross elements, ego, mind and Buddhi.
  3. As per Vedanta darshan, ego is one of the four parts of the inner organs. The other three are manas (mind), buddhi (intellect) and chitta (memory).
 
How ego functions:
  1. Ego acts as the instrument of self, the principle of individuation, acting as an independent conscious entity within the impure reality.
  2. Chitta is storehouse of samskaras carried forward from one life to another life. Samskaras have three attributes - sattva (goodness, calmness, harmonious), rajas (passion, activity, movement), and tamas (ignorance, inertia, laziness). These samskaras develops veil of attachment and ignorance which frames the attitudes within ego – positive or negative and develops impulses of desires. These desires have three levels of potency – high, medium and low. Based on the potency of desires and signals received from sensory organs, the mind develops ocean of thoughts.
  3. With the help of intellect, ego manifests itself by assuming authorship of all the actions of intellect (buddhi), mind (manas), the senses and organs of action.
  4. Then the person indulges in desire-ridden actions and assume ownership of them.
  5. Due to egoistic actions, the person suffers from their consequences and is caught helplessly in the ocean of life.
 
How to overcome ego:
  1. Long-term process - All the malice, pains and miseries trace to the ego and ignorance. Anger, jealousy, ……originate basically from ego. It is not possible to be egoless but diluting the ego is possible only by realisation and becoming more and more selfless. The expansion of self to include others and thereby expanding the self to the society, results into becoming more and more selfless. Selflessness can avoid the recurring pains and miseries.
  2. Short-term process - To arrest negative thoughts, two levels actions are required. First, the person should use strong will power to avoid such inputs through sensory organs which develop such thoughts. Secondly, the person should delay the negative decisions at the time when the potency such impulses are strong.
 
The various Hindu scriptures have the dynamics of ego and actions in great details. I am discussing here only a few to describe -
  1. Shrimad Bhagavad Gita (chapter 5.7) declares, the qualified karma yogi is one who pure in his heart, who has controlled his mind and his senses overcomes his egoistic thinking and limited vision. He sees his self in all living beings and remains free even though engaged in action.
  2. According to Hatha Yoga, the best way to progressively reduce the power of ego is to combine the Ida and Pingala paths; integrate the duties and work in the world with meditation practices.
  3. According to Samkhya Darshan, Ahamkara comes into being as proximity of two realms – consciousness or jivatma and unconsciousness or prakriti. Ego or Ahmkara provides basis for subject –object relationship. Ahamkara stands for the bifurcation of consciousness or true self and empirical “I” which is the root cause of ignorance and miseries.
  4. Sant Kabir has explained the above in his doha as under:

जब मैं था तब हरि नहीं अब हरि है मैं नाहीं । प्रेम गली अति सांकरी जामें दो न समाहीं ॥
अर्थ:  जब तक मन में अहंकार था तब तक ईश्वर का साक्षात्कार न हुआ. जब अहम समाप्त हुआ तभी प्रभु  मिले. जब ईश्वर का साक्षात्कार हुआ – तब अहम स्वतः नष्ट हो गया. ईश्वर की सत्ता का बोध तभी हुआ जब अहंकार गया. प्रेम में द्वैत भाव नहीं हो सकता – प्रेम की संकरी – पतली गली में एक ही समा सकता है – अहम या परम ! परम की प्राप्ति के लिए अहम का विसर्जन आवश्यक है.


According to Shrimad Bhagavad Gita, conquest of the self is therefore very important for peace of mind and union with God. He who conquers his self is in the company of the Supreme. He remains stable and serene in cold or heat, sorrow or happiness, respect or disrespect (6.7). Giving up all desires, without the awareness of any need, sense of ownership and egoism, he attains peace (2.71).
 
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Pride and Humility

4/22/2022

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Pride literally means self-esteem, self-satisfaction, self-worth, self-glorification; ego etc. When pride becomes excessive, it is “Mada” which is sign of the pre-dominance of tamas and rajas and results in delusion, egoism, ignorance and deep attachment. The baneful egoism generates actions, desires and pains. Ravana & Kaikeyi from epic Ramayana and Duryodhana from epic Mahabharata are glaring examples of excessive pride. Pride nullifies the fruit of our good karma. Pride makes us loose a correct perspective of things. Pride earns us many enemies.
 
On the other hand, humility, Modesty or Namrata (in Hindi), is the virtue which expresses low self-preoccupation and is opposite of Pride. When we perform duties as a service rather than a favor to the God and to the people around us, we cultivate humility.
 
Bhagavad Gita has listed humility or absence of pride as first virtue (13.7). Swami Vivekananda argues that the concept of humility does not mean "crawling on all fours and calling oneself a sinner." According to him, each human being the Universal, recognizing and feeling oneness with everyone and everything else in the universe, without inferiority or superiority or any other bias, is the mark of humility. 
 
When the yaksha, the divine being asked Yudhishthra, the eldest Pandava brother, “destroying what does one becomes dear”; to which, Yudhishthra had replied by killing pride one becomes dear. Pride keeps us on lonely island. One is unapproachable when he builds strong notions about him and around him.
 
Categories of pride:
Lord Buddha categorized pride into seven forms:
  1. Pride by judging others - By comparing oneself with the people around, one become either too arrogant or too shy, depending upon one’s false judgement about others as well as oneself.
  2. Pride by creating Split Personality - Unless one accepts his own weaknesses and limitations, pride will keep him in illusive state. He would pretend to be nobler & wiser than others so that others regard him in high esteem. 
  3. Pride of Superiority – when one is applauded for his abilities, he falsely thinks that he is superior. But he is aware of his dark corners. The tumour of pride penetrates deep within us when we live a thoughtless, ego obsessed life.
  4. Pride of thinking ‘I’ – Bondage with non-real (mortal) is the cause of re-birth. Bondage is due to ignorance which thrives on ego or false “I.” This “I” conceals itself in our senses, concerned only with satiating its appetite.
  5. Pride of Conceit – When one falsely presumes superiority and develops intolerance. .
  6. Pride of success even for wrongful deeds – It is wrong to conclude that success is meritorious and failure is condemnable. Deeds are faulty when intentions are wrong. So intentions are more important.
  7. Pride of lowliness – When one derides oneself, “he is senseless.” Many of our life’s valuable lessons were blossoms in the shower of failures. When we learn from our failures, we convert them into successes.
 
Grades of Pride:
In Hinduism, different grades of pride are denoted by various nomenclatures viz. Abhiman (Conceit, Vanity, and arrogance), Ahankara (Egoism), Darpa (Pride with arrogance) and Mada (excessive pride).
 
  1. Abhiman or Manitva - Manitva means demanding respect from others. It indicates the feelings of insecurity about oneself.
  2. Ahamkara (अहंकार) – It means “I-maker”. In Sanskrit, aham means ‘I’ and kara means ‘maker’. 
  3. Darpa (दर्प) – It is excessive pride.
  4. Mada (मद) – It means an unreasonable overestimation of one's own superiority in talents, beauty, wealth, rank etc.
 
Humility:
Humility is the virtue and opposite of pride. It is not sign of weakness but it elevates. Humility is part of the Hindu culture. Hinduism has given wisdom that every living creature has an identical soul in them. So, we are not superior to anyone in essence. In fact, everybody is constituted with same Jiva and Prakirti. All have same emotions, intellect, feelings, body etc. Some may be better in a few areas and worse in other areas.  Moreover, everyone is imperfect and commit mistakes. Hence, there is no place of arrogance or pride. The “Namaste” in Hindu culture, not only prevents spread of contagious diseases, but also signify the element of this deep philosophy. Even an old person bow down and touches the feet of the person of honor.
 
There are a large number of popular wisdom stories in Hinduism on humility & pride such the story of Sri Shankaracharya & Chandala; the story of Shabri and Sri Rama; the story of Bihima & Sri Hanuman etc.
 
Dr. S Radhakrishnan mentioned that humility in Hindu Dharma is the non-judgmental state of mind when we are best able to learn, contemplate and understand everyone and everything else. In Taoism, humility is defined as a refusal to assert authority or a refusal to be first in anything. Humility is one of the foundations of devotional life. Shri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu has said:
"Consider yourself as less important than a blade of grass. Be more forbearing than a tree. Do not crave for respect, but respect others. Always sing the praise of Hari's name.
 
We are again and again drawn to live a mundane life. Selfless work and self-observation draw our attention to real purpose of life. Self-observation brings our attention to the ‘emotional personality’. At this stage, the attitude of nobility is more important than ability.
 
Action Plan to be humble:
  1. Appreciation of Achievements of others.
  2. One must learn to appreciate that everyone is born with innate and unique abilities, so respect each other.
  3. In fact, one should realise that all the abilities are bestowed by Brahman (God).
  4. Learning is possible only when we accept our ignorance. Then, one learns through self-surrender, self-inquiry and service to all as to the divine. 
  5. As soon as one realizes that his judgements and opinions are mostly only for his own ego-satisfaction, he no more entertains such mental pre-occupations. He stays alert and responds appropriately not temperamentally.
  6. Freedom from the ego.
  7. Determine our deeds based on intentions, not on the results.
  8. Change the perception of and attitude of life.
  9. Dasya Bhakti.
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Temperament & Selfless Service

2/18/2022

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Temperament & Selfless Service
 
Temperament has two dimensions – Passive and Aggressive. Passive temperament is based on apathy and aggressive temperament is based on selfishness. Passivity makes one want to escape from one’s duties and become unproductive. Shri Krishna ridicules such an individual as a hypocrite because his passivity is not born of wisdom and absence of desire, but ignorance and fear of failure. This only leads one to live as a burden to society. Aggressiveness based on selfishness may make one successful, but not without the manifestation of arrogance and pride.
 
Hinduism preaches serving both God and humanity. Selfless service or Seva is serving or working without selfish expectation. Selfless service is the antidote to be free of both these temperaments. Service means to perform one’s duties as an offering to the God.  According to Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, the joy of giving is far more exhilarating than the joy of getting
 
Shri Krishna explained the glory of performing duties & selfless actions to Arjuna in Shrimad Bhagavad Gita as under:
1.    One should perform the allotted duty as action is superior to inaction. Desisting from action, one cannot even maintain the human body (3.8).
2.    It is better to perform one’s own duty, though devoid of merit, than the duty of another well discharged. Even death in the performance of one’s own duty brings blessedness; another’s duty is fraught with fear (3.35). It is not advisable to abandon a prescribed duty. Such abandonment out of ignorance has been declared as Tamasika (18.7).
3.    In the path of selfless action there is no loss of effort, nor is there fear of contrary result, even a little practice of this discipline saves one from the terrible fear of birth and death. Selfless actions bring purification of heart which in turn leads to fearlessness (2.40).
4.    One should perform his duties efficiently at all times without attachment. Doing work without attachment man attains the Supreme (3.19).
5.    One, who think of Me (Brahman/Shree Krishna) at all times and fight with mind and reason thus set on Me (Brahman/Shree Krishna), he will doubtless come to Me (Brahman/Shree Krishna) (8.7).
 
Hence, there are four basic principles of work:
1.    The work is more important than your opinion about it.
2.    Attempt to make your work useful to everyone (that may include yourself).
3.    Maintain your objectivity in all your work and their results.
4.      Do not hesitate to perform your duty and complete whatever you undertake.
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Indian Constitution & Hinduism

2/3/2022

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Picture
Indian Constitution & Hinduism
We are very much proud for the Indian Constitution and celebrating the Republic Day, but we never look through the Hindu Elements in Indian Constitution. Each part of the Constitution begins with the artistic picturization that traces our 5000-year-old history. The glorious history of the great India has been registered in the constitution of biggest democracy and oldest civilization of the world. Not only that it is an affidavit on Hinduism.
 
The original Indian Constitution, a hand-written document is essentially illustrating rich religious & cultural heritage of Hinduism. Important Parts of the constitution incorporated the photographs of Hindu deities such as Shri Rama, Shri Laxman, Ma Sita, Shri Krishna, Shri Shiva etc and historically important persons & monument works. The various photographs on the parts of the constitution are carefully selected and drawn on the original constitution signed by the members of Constituent Assembly on November 26, 1949. The original of the book is kept in a special helium-filled case in the Library of the Parliament of India. The calligraphy in the book was done by Prem Behari Narain Raizda. It was illuminated by Nandalal Bose and other artists, published by Dehra Dun, and photolithographed at the Survey of India Offices.
 
Unfortunately, post first republic day, the various governments never highlighted this vision of our great makers of constitution and buried in the helium filled case and printed faulty constitutional copies disregarding very foundation of our republic. The copy of photolithographed original constitution of India is available on internet and anybody can verify the facts.
 
The purpose of this article is to highlight vision, mission and the depictions of various arts which have been part of the original constitution approved by the makers of constitution. The details are as follows:
 
  1. The intricate gold pattern on the front and back cover itself borrow from the famous Ajanta murals.
  2. Preamble – It contains pictorially traditional motifs of Hinduism such as Padm, Nandi, Airavata, Vyaghra, Ashwa, Hans and Mayur.
  3. Part I - States and Union Territories – The first part starts with a popular Indus Valley seal-mark, the bull.
  4. Part II – Citizenship - The part is represented by India’s Vedic Age. It reveals scene from Vedic Ashram (Gurukul).
  5. Part III – First page of Fundamental Rights starts with photographs of Bhagwan Shri Rama along with Ma Sita & Brother Laxman (Scene from the Ramayana of the conquest of Lanka and recovery of Sita by Rama). Interestingly, this image of Ram was used for a verdict (Ram Janmbhoomi dispute) and the court thus declared Rama to be a constitutional entity.
  6. Part IV - Directive Principles of State Policy – It includes scene from Mahabharata depicting Bhagwan Shri Krishna propounding Gita to Arjuna.
  7. Part V - The Union – It contains the image of Buddha’s Enlightenment.
  8. Part VI - The States in Part A of the First Schedule – It contains a scene from Bhagwan Mahavir's life.
  9. Part VII - The States in Part B of the First Schedule – It has scene depicting the spread of Buddhism by Emperor Asoka in India and abroad.
  10. Part VIII - The States in Part C of the First Schedule – A beautiful scene from Gupta Art is incorporated.
  11. Part IX - The Territories in Part D of the First Schedule and other Territories - It includes a scene from Vikramaditya's Court.
  12. Part X - The Scheduled and Tribal Areas - It contains a scene depicting Nalanda University.
  13. Part XI - Relations between the Union and the States – It contains a scene of sculptures from Orissa.
  14. Part XII - Finance, Property, Contracts and Suits – It depicts image of Nataraja, the dancing Shiva.
  15. Part XIII - Trade, Commerce, and Intercourse within the territory of India – It has scene from Mahabalipuram sculptures (Bhagirath’s penance and the descent of Ganga).
  16. Part XIV - Services under the Union and the States – It contains portrait of Akbar with Mughal Architecture.
  17. Part XV - Elections – It portrays Shivaji and Guru Govind Singh.
  18. Part XVI - Special Provisions relating to certain classes – It depicts Portraits of Tipu Sultan and Lakshmi Bai.
  19. Part XVII - Official Language – It contains portrait the Mahatma Gandhiji's Dandi March.
  20. Part XVIII - Emergency Provisions – The picture is on Mahatma Gandhiji’s tour in the riot affected areas of Naokhali.
  21. Part XIX- Miscellaneous - Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose and other patriots trying to liberate India from outside India have been illustrated here.
  22. Part XX - Amendment of the Constitution – The scene of the Himalayas is depicted here.
  23. Part XXI - Temporary, and transitional provisions – It contains scene of the Desert.
  24. Part XXII - Short title, commencement, and repeals – It picturises scene of the Ocean.
Hence, it can be realized that the original Indian Constitution is evidence of rich religious and cultural heritage of India.
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Soul (Jiva), its Composition & Attributes

12/24/2021

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Soul (Jiva), its Composition & Attributes
 
God, the universal consciousness along with Souls, the individual consciousness and Matter form an organic whole of the Universe. According to the karma, Jivas get material embodiments as per divine will.
 
Every thought (मनसा, Mansa), every word (वचना,vachna) and every action (कर्मणा, Karmna), good or bad, just goes down and becomes fine, and is there stored up as Samskaras, the impressions and create Karmic account. These impressions of past Karmas cause tendencies and desires. The fulfilment of desires leads to enjoyment and lack of fulfilment leads to sufferings. The cycle of pleasures & pains goes on and Jiva is caught in cycle of birth and death, to reap the fruits his own actions through enjoyments and sufferings. Hence, we become slave of situations. In case, we take decisions based on qualities of soul viz. Love, peace, Happiness, Knowledge, Power, Purity and Bliss and believe the situations are creation of past karma, negative decision and behaviour shall be avoided as a result karmic account or samskara will not be formed.
 
Composition of Jiva:
Jiva in bondage is composed of three bodies’ viz. Causal Body (Karan sarira, innermost), Subtle Body (Sukshma sarira or Linga-sarira, middle) and Gross Body (Sthula sarira, outermost). The details are as under:
  1. Causal Body - Blissful sheath is called as causal body (Karana sarrira). The causal body is merely cause or seed of subtle body and is characterized by ignorance. It contains the impressions (Samskaras) of experiences of past lives and current life.
  2. Subtle Body – Physiological, emotional and intellectual sheaths form the subtle body (suksma sarrira). The subtle body is composed of five subtle elements viz. subtle elements of five organs of perception, five organs of action, five-fold vital forces (Prana), Intellect (Buddhi) and Mind (manas, thoughts). The subtle body grows and develops through egoism, attachment, love, hatred etc.
  3. Gross Body – The physical mortal body (the skeletal sheath) is the gross body (karya sarrira).

Attributes of Jiva:
  1. Jiva is “Svayamprakasa” which means that it shows others and knows itself.
  2. Jiva have attributes of Dharmi-Jnana, Chetanatva (sentiency, perception or feeling), Atmatva (soul nature) and Kartrtva (agency). These attributes are similar to Isvara. Jiva differs from Isvara and matter in the attributes viz. Anutva (atomic nature), Sesatva (being an accessory), Adheyatva (supported-ness), Vidheyatva (dependence), Paradhinatva (subordinate status). Anutva does not mean atomic size but atomic nature. Atomic nature indicates only indestructible individuality and restriction of size which is applicable only to material substances.
  3. Jivas are countless quantitatively.
  4. Qualitative difference - According to Ramanuja and Nibarka, Jivas are qualitatively same. But according to Madhva, Jivas are intrinsically different in spiritual essence as these generate dissimilar and even opposite kinds of results and character patterns. It is this difference that accounts for the performance of actions leading to the accumulation of different types of karma patterns by each Jiva, leading to variations in enjoyments and sufferings and character traits in his life in Samsara. That basic or innate nature will persist in the state of liberation also. In Advaita, Jivahood itself disappears in release when the Jiva realizes his identity with Brahman.
  5. Gradation in capacity - Ramanujacharya, Nimbaracharya and Madhvacharya maintain the doctrine of Taratamya or gradation in capacity of Jivas. The doctrine of Taratamaya easily leads to what is known as Traividhyam or distinction of Jivas in Samsara. Jivas are of three grades viz. Nityasurs, Muktas & Baddhas as per classification done by Ramanuja and as per
  6. Nibarkacharya, four grades viz. Nityamuktas, Muktas, Mumuksus or seekers & Baddhas as under:
 
  1. Nityasuris or Nityamuktas – Jivas which are eternally free ones such as Adi-sesha (serpent bed), Garuda (mount of Sri Vishnu), Visvaksena (chief office of Sri Vishnu), Sudarshana (principal weapon of Sri Vishnu) etc. These jivas have never been in the bondage of karma and samsara, and always been in attendance of God.
  2. Muktas – Jivas which are liberated ones. These Jivas are evolved through all forms of bodies, at last come to the stage of human birth, and eventually attain salvation through concentrated spiritual disciplines, surrender to the divine and divine grace.
  3. Mumuksus or Seekers after liberation – those who are striving for it.
  4. Baddhas or Nitya Baddhas– Jivas who are oblivious to spiritual values and are wallowing in worldliness, are in bondage. They are open to three gateways of Naraka – sexuality, anger and greed. The conceit of ‘I’ and ‘mine’ indulgence in activities arising from fraudulence, cruelty, greed, pride etc. resorting evil company. Having missed the opportunity for higher evolution in human birth, they come back to this world, and get embodiments in animal bodies or among the most undeveloped species of mankind. But those, who gradually evolve, experience births and deaths, according to karma, until they eventually gain salvation at the maturity of evolution.
 
According to Madhva, gradation and the classification each Jiva results from the uniqueness of each Jiva. As a reflection of Brahman every Jiva has in him a modicum of Brahman’s essential features – Sat-Chit-Ananda. But due to their own intrinsic capacities, they share these characteristics in varying degrees only. They all alike have a dependent existence, but their capacity to know vastly varies and their joy much more so. In the state of bondage, the differences in nature of Karma clouding them can easily account for this variation in their intelligence, joy and misery. Madhva classified Jivas in three types viz.
  1. Mukti-Yogyas – Jivas who are receptive to spiritual values, and through repeated embodiments they evolve into better and better person, and finally through concentrated spiritual disciplines and God’s grace gain salvation. They gradually regain their full share of consciousness and bliss when by purifications and the grace of God they become eligible for liberation.
  2. Nitya-Samsarins – Jivas who delight only in worldly values and feel no need for ethical and spiritual life. Reaping the fruits of their own actions they pass through births and deaths eternally.
  3. Tamo-yogyas – Jivas who are positively evil in nature, go on degenerating more and more by their indulgence in evil actions, until the accumulated load of sins finally leads to eternal perdition (punishment). Their capacity of consciousness and bliss is completely effaced and reduced to inertness characteristic of material substances.
 
According to Vallabhacharya system, the classification of the Jivas is according to their varying capacities. The main classes are: Maryada, Pusti and Pravahini, and these have distinct goals to attain at the end of their evolution.
 
  1. Maryada (living within prescribed discipline) and Pusti (highest type in spirituality who receives grace of God) Jivas are of divine nature, and their evolution is towards the Supreme Purusottama whom they are bound to attain in course of time. These Jivas stick to the Vedic disciplines or the path of Yoga or Jnana. Maryada Jivas are at best motivated by the desire for moksha or release from samsara and mergence in the Impersonal Aksara, and they depend on the effort they put in. for them; devotion is only means for this.
  2. Pusti Jivas, devotion is both the means and the end. He practice devotional disciplines but it is more as an expression of his innate inclinations and not as a condition for securing His grace. The purpose of Jivas is the service of God and the Pusti Jiva fulfils this by shunning even Moksha or freedom from transmigration and preferring the service of the God. He becomes eligible for infinitely superior form of Ananda, namely Brahmananda.
  3. Pravahimi Jiva whose inherent nature makes them love the life of Samsara, and they eternally go round and round in cycles of birth and death. Some of these may be only Ajnas (ignorant) Jivas who are tied down to the life of Samsara by bad association, and these may turn to the life of righteousness and piety when they happen to have the association of the good. But the others among them are Durjanas Jivas who are positively evil and wicked and are doomed to eternal darkness.
 
According to the Advaita system of Shankaracharya, Jivas are all similar in their nature and realize their identity with non-dual Brahman ultimately. Ignorance is the cause of bondage, and liberation is attained when ignorance is removed irrespective of whether the body is alive or not. There is no necessity of physical body for attainment of liberation. The body will fall only when the prarabdha karma of the current body is exhausted. But Ramanujacharya does not accept that an embodied person can be liberated. For, according to him, the cause of embodiment is Karma. 
 
When jiva is suppressed by ignorance, its Dharmabhuta-jnana is contracted. When Jiva is liberated, he continues to maintain his individuality, his Dharmabhuta-Jnana expands and becomes merged in that of God.
 
 
Reference: Bhakti Schools of Vedanta – by Swami Tapasyananda, Sri Ramakrishna Math, Chennai.
 

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Mind that Matters

12/17/2021

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Mind that Matters
As per modern science, brain is the most important part of the human body and functioning of its various parts have been identified. But science of Hinduism has also deeply probed into the mind. Mind is invisible to both the eye and the modern instruments of observations. It is not even made of the brain substances. Though it is an invisible substance, its activities can well be perceived. It is according to Hindu philosophy, a subtle and rarefied material.
 
Mind is a bundle of thought and Man is the product of the sum total of his thoughts. There is a world as long as there is mind. The world ceases to exist as a separate entity when the mind is annihilated. Thoughts are live vibrations. Each thought is a magnet and pulls in its like. Mind is full of energy. It is the author of all actions. The body is only the instrument. Lack of understanding of the inner structure of human is the cause of woes and suffering in domestic, social and political spheres.

Mind takes the form of the thing thought of. The whole universe has its existence due to the presence of the thought behind it. So, we say that in the mind both the external and the internal worlds are held and conditioned. The mind acts as a medium of communication between soul and matter. Man, who has the right mastery of the mind will have a mind full of peace. The mind has to be calmed and for that all sadhanas have to be performed systematically in the kriya manner and method.

The realization of the spiritual unity everywhere is affected by the cessation of all thoughts, or in other words, the utter annihilation of mind. The human in every one is to die, so that divine shall be revealed. This can be done through meditation, which neither means holding the mind in a negative dreamy state, nor on vague abstractions, but necessitates a continuous flow of thought towards the ideal, without any break and with a harmony between reason and emotion.

Genesis of Thoughts:
The mind constitutes the subtle body in every creature and does not die with the death of the body, but goes on along with the soul into another physical body & take re-birth to work and gather further experience through the medium of a subsequent body more suited to its purpose.

In subsequent birth, every child brings with it impressions from past lives in the form of tendencies, which can be classified partly as moral and good ones and others as evil or immoral. The latter are the kleshas (afflictions, poisons) which ought to be modified and sublimated. The problem that one has to face is how to change an undesirable trait of character or how to cultivate a good habit in place of a bad one.
​

These tendencies create constant impulses in mind to trigger thoughts and in turn actions which may be negative or positive. The negative thoughts cause Kama (lust), krodha (anger), lobha (greed), moha (attachment), mada (over pride), matsara (jealousy), swartha (selfishness), adamber (hypocrisy), anyaaya (injustice), ahankara (false ego) etc. The positive thoughts cause truthfulness, self-control, purity, dominance over the senses, simplicity, devotion, service, generosity, equality, tranquility etc.
 
Impulses repeated from an idea. Ideas repeated become an act. Actions repeated become character and character repeated molds the very creator of habit. A word is a vehicle for the thought to express itself. A noble and God like character is not of accident or a chance, but is the natural results of continued effort in right thinking.
 
These negative thoughts and feelings close up the channels of the body and mar the life forces in their flow. If the mind is not properly trained, the gross body will suffer from innumerable diseases. These are devils which crush the mind and injure the body. Poison and secreting cells are developed by them. The free circulation of blood is disturbed.
 
World of Mind:
Though the mind seems to exist in the body or the world, in the real sense, the body and world exist in the mind. The real universe is the occasion of the reaction of the mind and the mind is a mixture of actions and reactions. We generally note that it breaks into two and one half of it stands alongside as the witness, while the ‘other half’ goes on functioning. We have to master the lower mind with the higher mind. To conquer the mind is to conquer the world, since the mind and world are but the observe and reverse of the one and the same thing.
 
Attributes of Mind:
Mind is like sea which is sometimes turbulent, sometimes calm and sometimes silent. Sometimes, it experiences tsunami. Ripples in the sea are like thoughts in mind. When no ripple, no thought.
The mind is collective essence of the five elements (prathivi, jal, vayu, akasha and agni – solid, liquid, gas, space and energy) and compound of three attributes - tamasic (lethargy, dullness), rajasic (activity) and sattvic (rhythm). Mind is the receptacle of senses & factory of thoughts. The three states, instinct, reason and superconscious, (i.e., the unconscious, conscious and superconscious states), belong to one and the same mind. A man works the predominance of one guna alone at a time. When one guna is in play, the other two are at rest. It is thus a man is sometimes found to be dull, sometimes active and sometimes well-balanced. The tamasic nature in man is to be combated and conquered by a rajasic nature and this, in turn by a sattvic nature. And this sattvic guna also is to be dissolved and transcended by us to be ever in perfect unity with the universal consciousness. It is of the highest importance to make the mind lose itself in the infinite.

Functions of Mind:
Mind has four functions – thinking or knowing (Manas), likes or dislikes based on past memories (Chitta), discrimination & decision-making (buddhi, intellect) and I-ness to control other functions (Ahamkara). A man’s will-power is his power to deliberately wish and decide how to act. Passion are strong feelings of likes and dislikes, which rush like an unexpected flood and excite men and women to certain actions, making them to lose control of mind and body. Passions arise from lust, desire, hope and delight in things out of hatred, disgust, fear and anger. Passions are blind. Through will force, the mind and senses can be curbed.
 
Heaven & Hell in Mind:
The strength of the body depends on that of the mind, whose strength, in turn, depends on that of the spirit (Atman). Happiness proceeds from neither woman nor wealth, but from mind. Later the soul is the enjoyer.

Anger, envy, jealousy, malice, worry etc., should not find lodgment in the mind. These are devils which crush the mind and injure the body. Poison and secreting cells are developed by them. The free circulation of blood of the body and mar the life forces in their flow. On the contrary, love, the divine treasure in one and all of us, finds no obstructing reactions anywhere and it expands our little life by remolding the human in each and fashioning every one of us into a child of light (the light of sacchidananda).

We make our heaven or hell on earth by our petty desires and demands and what we do here makes or mars our hereafter. The mind that pursues the steps of its own whims, fancies and caprices is caught in its own cocoon of desires.


Vacuum cleaning of Mind:
  1. Mind is a garden which may be intelligently cultivated or may be allowed to wander aimlessly. If no useful seed is put into it, useless weeds fall therein. Don’t imagine that any of the thought can be kept ineffectual. Thoughts crystalize into habits and solidify into circumstances. Good thoughts bear good fruits and bad thoughts bear bad fruits. Circumstances do not make you but they reveal you. Don’t be bundle of wavering thoughts and fluctuating sensations. Exclude doubts and fears that distract the straight line of effort. Whatever comes only test you, to measure your strength, to try your mettle. It comes only to lift you up and discipline your soul to be tranquil. Quicken your energy for the realization of self. Make your heart ever bolder and yet kindlier and gentler.
  2. Extirpate every sickly, bitter and impure thought from your mind and wash away every sinful stain from your soul. Live as finely and beautifully in private as in open glare of the world’s noon. Shake off and unload the useless baggage of cumbersome thoughts. Censor every thought of faulty nature and avoid its reactions. Constantly practice right thinking and prove to be a mirror reflecting the illumination of soul sunshine.
  3. Control of mind means really abandoning desires. The monkey-like mind will always be restless, desiring something or other. By killing all desires, ruthlessly, one controls the mind, freeing it from the surging emotions and bubbling thoughts and can attain one-pointedness of mind.
  4. Keep the sharp eyes of viveka and vichara (thoughts) wide open. At times, the man becomes poisoned in the course of his vyavahara. We can prevent the rise of evil, negative thoughts and further strengthen the good ones. The result will be that the negative thoughts will sink deeply into our subconscious mind and from this plane of consciousness still exert a strong influence on our endurance. If by discrimination we learn the basic truth that the atma (Self) and thoughts and feelings (chitta vrittis) are quite different from each other, indeed we have made a great step towards inner freedom and self-mastery and control over thoughts. In moments of surging temptation, the right thing to do is not to reason it out and struggle with it, but rather to be indifferent.
  5. The preliminary wisdom lies in selection of the best environments (Satsanga), company and associations of thoughts and emotions. One must retire periodically from the worldly atmosphere and recourse to satsanga, sadhana, reclusion and meditation. This is the spiritual sanjiva for you to revive yourself and enter the daily spiritual life again without fear. Desire is a great barrier in the path of Self-realization.
  6. The repetition of the mantra removes the dirt of the mind, such as lust, anger, greed, etc. the mantra is a spiritual soap cleansing the mind.
  7. When a balanced mind and equal vision meet all differences, kill the idea of separateness and mix with all, embrace all, love all, serve all, serve the God in them. Be self-disciplined, be simple and harmonious in thought, feelings, diet and dress. Fear none, shake off lethargy, laziness and fear.

Mastering the mind:
  1. In the Mahabharata, Arjuna finds himself in a very critical situation and informs Sri Krishna that the mind is verily restless and turbulent. It is very hard to curb, like the passing wind. The reply was that constant practice united with renunciation, can bring the mind under control. We should not allow the mind to back into vritti or modifications, nor should we identify ourselves with the thoughts that are like ripples or waves in the mind. There should come a period of calmness and tranquillity.
  2. Shree Krishna explained Arjuna in chapter 3 of Shrimad Bhagavad Gita that the senses are said to be superior to the body; but superior to the senses is the mind. Superior than the mind is the intellect; and what is superior than the intellect is He, the Self (42). Thus, by knowing Him (Brahman/Shree Krishna) who is superior to the intellect and the mind by reason, one can conquer the desires. It is difficult to conquer desire because it is of a highly complex and incomprehensible nature. But a man of discrimination and dispassion, who does constant and intense Sadhana, can conquer it quite easily (43). (इन्द्रियाणि पराण्याहुरिन्द्रियेभ्यः परं मनः । मनसस्तु परा बुद्धिर्यो बुद्धेः परतस्तु सः ॥ ३-४२॥ एवं बुद्धेः परं बुद्ध्वा संस्तभ्यात्मानमात्मना । जहि शत्रुं महाबाहो कामरूपं दुरासदम् ॥ ३-४३॥)
  3. The four paths of liberation (Nishkama Karma yoga, Bhakti yoga, Raja yoga and Jnana yoga) eliminate the negative thoughts and channelize the thoughts towards pure self (Satchitanada).
  4. The repetition of mantra removes the dirt of the mind such as lust, anger, greed etc. The mantra is the spiritual soap cleansing the mind.
  5. “Pratpaksha Bhavana” or thinking of opposite qualities, transfers the battle from conscious plane into subconscious, making the fight less strenuous and less painful so that the struggle is easily gone through and one scathes through the ordeal with no stain in his character.
  6. Upanishad teaches “yad coati tad gati”, i.e., what man thinks that he becomes.

​The person who has the right mastery of the mind, will have a mind full of peace.

Reference: Voice of Babaji – by V T Neelakantan, S A A Ramaiah, Babaji Nagaraj
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