That which separates you from God is mind. The wall that
stands between you and God is mind. Pull the wall down through Om-Chintana or
devotion and you will come face to face with God.
Western doctors know only a fragment of mind. The afferent
nerves bring the sensations from the periphery or extremities of the spinal
cord. The sensations then pass to the medulla oblongata at the back of the
head, where the fibres decussate. From there, they pass on to the superior
frontal gyrus or superior frontal convolution of the brain in the forehead, the
supposed seat of the intellect or mind. The mind feels the sensations and sends
motor impulses through the afferent nerves to the extremities—hands, legs, etc.
It is a brain-function only for them.
It is only the Yogins and those who practise meditation and
introspection that know the existence of the mind, its nature, ways and subtle
workings. They know also the various methods of subduing the mind.
Mind is one of the Ashta-Prakritis. “Earth, water, fire,
air, ether, mind, reason and egoism—these constitute the eightfold division of
My Nature” (Gita, VII-4).
Mind is nothing but Atma-Sakti. It is brain that wants rest
(sleep), but not the mind. A Yogi who has controlled the mind never sleeps. He
gets pure rest from meditation itself.
Heart is the seat of the mind; so, the mind came out when
the heart burst out. In Samadhi, the mind goes to its original seat, i.e.,
heart. In sleep also, it rests in the heart with a veil of ignorance between it
and Brahman) (Aitareya Upanishad, 1-3-4).
The individual mind is connected with the cosmic mind.
Cosmic mind, Hiranyagarbha, superconscious mind, infinite mind, universal mind
(Avyakta, unmanifested Avyakta) are synonymous terms. Different authors have
used different terms. Do not be puzzled. Do not be confused. It is Sabda-bheda
only.
The minds of those who are attached to A’s mind are,
therefore, connected, in turn, with the minds of those who are hanging on B’s
mind. In this manner, one mind is in touch with all minds in the whole world.
This is the Vibhu theory of mind of Raja Yoga.
The idea of ‘I’ is the seed of the tree of mind. The sprout
which first springs up from this seed of Ahankara is Buddhi.
Mind is the most important Tattva of Linga Sarira. Linga
Sarira is the astral body or Sukshma Sarira that is linked to the physical body
through physical Prana. It separates itself at death from the physical body
There is a difference between Linga Sarira and Antarvaha
Sarira. Linga Sarira is astral body with seventeen Tattvas, viz., five
Karma-Indriyas, five Jnana-Indriyas, five Pranas, Mind and Buddhi. Antarvaha
Sarira is very pure. It is full of Sattva. It is free from Rajas and Tamas. It
is with this body that a Yogi passes from one body to another
(Parakaya-Pravesa). Lila, through the grace of Sarasvati, came out of the
physical body and travelled to higher worlds with this Antarvaha Sarira. You
will find this in the Yogavasishtha. Sri Sankaracharya, Raja Vikramaditya,
Hastamalaka and Tirumular had Antarvaha Sarira. With the help of this special
kind of pure body, they passed into the bodies of other persons. A Yogi with
Antarvaha Sarira has Sat-Sankalpa or Suddha Sankalpa.
Mind and matter are two aspects as subject and object of one
and the same all-full Brahman, who is neither and yet includes both. Mind
precedes matter. This is Vedantic theory. Matter precedes mind. This is
scientific theory.
There are several zones or slices in the mental body just as
there are various compartments in the brain for particular types of thought.
During intense anger, the whole mind is suffused with the black hue of malice
and ill-will, which expresses itself in coils of thunderous blackness, from
which fiery arrows of anger dart forth, seeking to injure the one for which the
anger is felt.
Every man has a mental world of his own. Every man entirely
differs from another man in mode of thinking, temperament, taste,.....Even the
lines of the palm will differ. No two leaves are alike. Variety is the beauty
of creation.
Mind is very mysterious. So is Maya, too.Even an infinitely
superior mind is yet a mind and of the same mould as any man’s.
Mind is nothing but a collection of Samskaras, a bundle of
habits, a collection of desires arising from contact with different objects, a
collection of feelings aroused by worldly botherations, a collection of ideas
gathered from different objects. Now, these desires, ideas and feelings
constantly change. Some of the old desires and feelings are constantly
departing from their storehouse, the mind, and new ones are replacing them.
Mind is not only made daily, but always made. Every minute,
it changes its colours and shape like a chameleon. It is very Chanchala
(wavering) and Asthira (unsteady)—(Gita, VI, 26). Mind is constantly changing.
You are gaining new experiences daily. Your beliefs and conscience of 1932 and
the faculty which judges right from wrong will change in 1942. The mind evolves
through experience. The world is the best teacher or Guru.
Antahkarana is a term used by the Vedantins to include mind,
Buddhi, Chitta and Ahankara. Manas, Buddhi, Chitta and Ahankara are only
Vritti-bhedas or functional aspects of the mind. When the mind does Sankalpa-Vikalpa
(will-thought and doubt), it is called Mind; when it discriminates and decides,
it is Buddhi; when it self-arrogates, it is Ahankara; when it is the storehouse
of Samskaras and seat of memory, it is Chitta; also when it does Dharana and
Anusandhana.
Who gave coolness to water, warmth to fire, motion to air?
These qualities are their very nature. Even so, mind has got its Svabhava of
running towards objects, Buddhi of determining, Ahankara of self-assertion and
self-identification, Chitta of thinking (Smriti) of those objects which are
identified by Ahankara.
Thinking, planning, feeling, knowing are the various
activities that are going on in the mind. Sometimes you plan. Sometimes you
feel. Sometimes you try to know. Sometimes you think seriously. Sometimes you
will (volition). Volition brings all the mental faculties into play. You must
be able to know by introspection what exactly is going on at different times in
the mind.
Heart is the seat of four Tattvas—Prana, Mind, Ahankara and
Atman. According to Vedanta, the seat of mind is the heart. Ajna Chakra, which
consists of two lotuses and which is tentatively situated in the space between
the two eyebrows, is the seat of mind according to the Hatha Yoga School.
Mind has various faculties and centres and operates through
corresponding physical centres in the brain. Mind, Buddhi and understanding are
in the Linga Sarira; but they operate through corresponding centres in the
physical brain. The brain is not mind as the Westerners think. Mind has its
seat in the physical brain. It gains experiences of this physical universe
through the vibrations of the brain.
Jagrat, Svapna and Sushupti. The seat of mind in deep sleep
is heart. In dream, the seat of the mind is neck. In waking state, the seat of
the mind is the right eye or Ajna Chakra.
Mind can do only one thing at a time. It is finite
(Parichhinna). It is Jada. It is the effect (Karya) of Sattva Guna. It is
Vinasi (perishable). It is Chanchala (ever-fluctuating). It is a bundle of
ideas, Samskaras, habits, impulses and emotions. It borrows light from the
Adhishthana (the underlying substratum), Brahman. You can control the mind. The
thinker is different from thought. There is no functioning of the mind in deep
sleep. You always say, “My mind”, as if mind is one of your instruments just like
your walking-stick or umbrella. Therefore, mind is not the self-shining Atman.
Even in cases of delirium or in cases where there is
paralysis of the mental functions, where a man loses his memory and other
faculties partly or wholly, ‘He’ remains. The ‘I’ exists (Aham Asmi). The mind
seems to be as much your property and outside of you as the limbs, the dress
worn or the building you dwell in. Therefore, mind is different from ‘I’.
Mind gropes in darkness. It forgets every moment. It is
changing every second. If food is withdrawn for a couple of days, it cannot
think properly. There is no functioning of the mind during deep sleep. It is
full of impurities, Vasanas and Trishnas (cravings). It gets puzzled during
anger. In fear, it trembles. In shock, it sinks. How can you take the mind,
then, as the pure Self?
This physical body is the mould, as it were, made by the
mind for its own enjoyment, for its outpouring of its energy and thereby
gaining different experiences of this world through the five avenues or
channels of knowledge, the five Jnana-Indriyas (organs of knowledge or
perception).
When the mind is turned to a particular thought and dwells
on it, a definite vibration of matter is set up and often more of this
vibration is caused, the more does it tend to repeat itself to become a habit,
to become automatic. The body follows the mind and imitates its changes. If you
concentrate your thought, the eyes become fixed.
The eyes which represent the windows of the soul bespeak of
the condition and state of the mind. There is a telegraphic instrument in the
eyes to transmit the messages or thoughts of treachery, cunningness, fraud,
pure love, compassion, devotion, depression, gloom, hatred, cheerfulness,
peace, harmony, health, power, strength and beauty.
He who thinks that he can hide his thoughts is a dunce of
the first water. His position is like that of the ostrich which, when chased by
the hunters, hides its head underneath the sand and imagines that it cannot be
seen by anyone.
The primary cause of diseases which afflict the body is bad
thoughts. Whatever you hold in your mind will be produced in the physical body.
Any ill-feeling or bitterness towards another person will at once affect the
body and produce some kind of disease in the body. Intense passion, hatred,
longstanding bitter jealousy, corroding anxiety, fits of hot temper actually
destroy the cells of the body and induce disease of the heart, liver, kidneys,
spleen and stomach. Violent fits of hot temper do serious damage to the brain
cells, throw poisonous chemical products into the blood, produce general shock
and depression and suppress the secretion of gastric juice, bile and other
digestive juices in the alimentary canal, drain away your energy, vitality,
induce premature old age and shorten life. If bad thoughts are destroyed, all
bodily diseases will vanish. Purity of mind means healthy body. Therefore, be
careful in your thinking, in the selection of your thoughts. Always entertain
noble, sublime, loving and kind thoughts. You will have harmony, health and
beauty.
Pain is evident so long as you connect yourself with the
mind. There is no pain in sleep. If there is an inflammatory swelling on your
back with throbbing pain, you do not experience any pain at night when you are
asleep. Only when the mind is connected with the diseased part through nerves
and thinking, you begin to experience pain. If you can consciously withdraw the
mind from the diseased part by concentrating it on God or any other attractive
object, you will not experience any pain even when you are wide awake. If you
have a powerful will and strong Titiksha (power of endurance), then also you
will not experience any pain. Pain is in mind. Atman or spirit is Anandasvarupa
(full of bliss).
With the majority of mankind, the mind is greatly under the
control of the body. Their minds being very little developed, they live on
Annamaya Kosha mostly. Develop the Vijnanamaya Kosha and, through Vijnanamaya
Kosha (Buddhi), control the Manomaya Kosha (mind). The Vijnanamaya kosha is
developed by abstract thinking and reasoning, by systematic meditation,
Brahma-Chintana, study of the Upanishads, Yogavasishtha and Brahma Sutras. When
you have controlled the mind, you have perfect control over the body. The body
is only a shadow of the mind. It is the mould prepared by the mind for its
expression. The body becomes your slave when you have conquered the mind.
MIND, PRANA AND KUNDALINI
The Pranamaya Kosha (vital sheath) is more subtle than the
physical body. It overlaps the Annamaya Kosha (physical sheath) and is more
extensive than it. Manomaya Kosha is more subtle than the Pranamaya Kosha and
more extensive than the vital sheath. You have to touch the body of another man
to have a physical influence over him. Whereas you can stand at a distance and
by mere ‘passes’ you can impart your Prana to him; because, Prana (vital) is
more subtle than the body. You can influence a man mentally through thought
even though he lives a thousand miles away from you, because mental force is
more subtle than Prana.
By Pranayama (control of Prana or restraint of breath), you
can also increase the mental energy and develop thought-control and
thought-culture. This will help concentration and meditation. This will make
the mind steady. This will remove Rajas (passion) and Tamas (inertia). This
will burn the dross in the mind.
By Pranayama, the mind gradually moves from the gross to the
subtle. It, therefore, exercises a wholesome check upon sexual irritation. When
some evil thought disturbs your mind, at once take to Padmasana or Siddhasana
and do Pranayama. The thought will leave you immediately.
“Aharasuddhau Sattvasuddhih
Sattvasuddhau Dhruva Smritih
Smritilabhe Sarvagrantheenam Vipramokshah.”
“When the food is pure, the whole nature becomes pure; when
the nature becomes pure, the memory becomes firm; and when a man is in
possession of a firm memory, all the ties are severed.” (Chhandogya Upanishad,
VII—xxvi-2)
Food plays an important role in meditation. For purposes of
meditation, the food must be light, Sattvic and nutritious. The body is
Annamaya (made up of food). Bhairavi Chakra is in Annamaya Kosha. Bhairavi
Chakra is Maya. Light Sattvic food, such as fruits, milk, etc., takes you to
Vishnu Chakra and thence to Nirvikalpa state quite easily.
HARMFUL FOODS
Different foods produce different effects in different
compartments of the brain. Spiced dishes, sour things, black gram, onions,
garlic, tea, wine, fish, meat, mustard oil, etc., excite passions and emotions
and should, therefore, be avoided. They should be particularly avoided by a
Sadhaka. A Jijnasu (spiritual aspirant) should strictly give up meat, fish and
alcoholic drinks as these make the mind coarse and produce excitement in the
mind. Heavy food brings Tandri (drowsiness) and Alasya (laziness). Tea should
be given up. It destroys Virya. Sugar must be taken in moderation. It is better
if it is given up.
FOOD ITEMS HELPFUL IN MEDITATION
Milk, fruits, almonds, sugar-candy, butter, green oats,
Bengal oats (Chenai) soaked in water overnight, bread, etc., are all helpful in
meditation. Thed, a kind of Kandamula found in abundance in Brahmapuri,
Vasishtha Guha and other parts of the Himalayas, is very Sattvic. It helps
meditation. My friend and spiritual brother Swami Purushottamanandaji used to
live on that for some days when he was at Vasishtha Guha, fourteen miles from
the reputed Rishikesh. Sunthi-Sevana (taking powder of dried ginger) is very
good for aspirants. It can be taken along with milk. It refreshes the mind and
helps digestion. Yogins take it very often. Triphala water also is taken by
Yogins. It removes constipation, cools the system and stops wet-dreams.
Myrobalan or Haritaki (Harad of the yellow kind) can be chewed by Yogic
practitioners very often. It preserves semen and checks nocturnal discharges.
Potatoes boiled without salt or roasted in fire are very good.
Evolution is better than revolution.
What is wanted to support the body is energy. If you can
supply the energy from any other source, you can dispense with food entirely.
Yogins keep up the body without food by drinking nectar. This nectar flows through
a hole in the palate. It dribbles and nourishes the body. A Jnani can draw
energy directly from his pure, irresistible will and support the body without
food. If you know the process of drawing the energy from the cosmic energy or
solar energy, you can maintain the body with this energy alone for any length
of time and can dispense with food.
ATTACHMENT BRINGS BONDAGE. Attachment is death. Attachment
is the root of all evils.
WAKING STATE, A LONG DREAM
You dream that you are a king. You enjoy various kinds of
royal pleasures. As soon as you wake up, everything vanishes. But, you do not
feel for the loss because you know that the dream-creatures are all false.
Similarly, even in the waking consciousness if you are well established in the
idea that the world is a false illusion, you will not get any pain. When you
know the real Tattva (Brahman), the waking consciousness also will become quite
false like a dream. Jagrat state is only a long dream (Dirgha Svapna). The
state of waking consciousness does not exist either in dream or sleep.
Therefore, it is illusory. Reality always exists in all conditions or states.
Wake up and realise, my child!
Sankara observes that the phenomena of duality caused by the
action of the mind are present in the waking and dreaming states only, but
absent in deep sleep state. In waking and dreaming states, there is the play of
the thoughts (and the simultaneous occurrence of names and forms) and hence the
world as well. In dreamless sleep, there are no thoughts; and hence, there is
no world too. We taste the nature of absolute bliss in dreamless sleep, where a
man is cut off from the distracting world. It is the mind (lower Manas) that
creates differences, distinctions, duality and separateness. If this mind is
destroyed by increasing the Sattva and Ahangraha Upasana, then you will feel
oneness everywhere (Sarvatmabhava). This needs continuous and strenuous efforts
on the part of the Sadhakas.
Be conscious. Be conscious of the night as well as of the
day. First, you will have to get consciousness, afterwards control.
The first foot of Omkara is Vaisvanara, whose region is the
waking state, who
has objective consciousness, who has seven limbs and
nineteen mouths and who enjoys gross 1 The seven limbs are: (i) Heaven (is His
head), (ii) Sun (is His eye), (iii) Wind (is His breath), (iv) Akasa (is His
waist), (v) Water (is His pelvis), (vi) Fire (is His mouth)
and (vii) Earth (is His feet).
2 The nineteen mouths are: Five Jnana-Indriyas, five
karma-Indriyas, five Pranas and four Antahkaranas (Manas,
Buddhi, Chitta and Ahankara).
The mind has three Gunas, viz., Sattva (light, bliss,
goodness), Rajas (passion, motion) and Tamas (inertia, darkness). There are
three Vrittis in the mind corresponding to the three Gunas. Santa Vritti
(peace) comes out of Sattva Guna, Ghora Vritti from Rajo Guna and Mudha Vritti
from Tamo Guna. Equilibrium or balance is Santa Vritti; anger is Ghora Vritti;
laziness (Alasya), carelessness (Pramada) and drowsiness (Tandri) are Mudha
Vrittis.
The real peace of mind does not come from outside. It is produced
in the same mind when the mind is controlled and its thoughts are checked.
Develop, therefore, Sattva Guna by Japa, Vichara, Satsanga, meditation, light
Sattvic food, Tapas and Svadhyaya.
If there is a serious determination in you to concentrate
and, if you put it into actual practice for months steadily and, if the longing
for Darshana of God or Self-realisation becomes keen and acute, then alone
think that all these kinds of thoughts proceed from your Sattvic Buddhi only.
There are two powerful instincts in the human beings and
animals too. They are the instinct of self-preservation and the instinct of
reproduction. Hunger is a manifestation of the self-preserving instinct. Lust
is a manifestation of reproductive instinct. An instinct is an involuntary
prompting to action.
Sadhakas should try to eradicate depression by prayer,
meditation, counter-thoughts of joy, chanting of Om, Vichara and singing divine
songs. Never give room for gloomy depression. Repeat Om with Bhava. Repeat “I
am Ananda-maya,” “My Svarupa is Ananda.” Depression will vanish. There are
various causes for this depression. Cloudy day, association with evil persons,
indigestion, influence by astral spirits, revival of old Samskaras of
depression—all these induce depression.
Sometimes, when the train moves slowly on the Pamban Bridge
over the sea near Ramesvaram, the mind imagines, “If the bridge gives way now,
what will become of me? I shall be smashed to pieces.” A touch of fear creeps
in. There are thousand and one ways of mental dramatisation like these. The
power of imagination plays a vital part in mental dramatisation.
When your mind is deeply concentrated, period of two hours
passes like five minutes. If the mind is distracted and wandering, half an hour
hangs on as two hours. This is everybody’s experience. In dream also, many
events that represent a period of fifty years take place within ten minutes.
Through the play of the mind, a Kalpa is considered by it as a moment and vice
versa. Time is but a mode of the mind. It is Kala Sakti. It is also illusory
like the objects.
Marichi Chaitanya, M.A., Ph.D., a Brahmachari of Rumania and
myself sat for dinner in the Kailasa Kutia, Svarga Ashram, on the bank of the
Ganga. A dish of potato soup was served. Marichi, who has no idea of Indian
preparations, took it for a soup of meat. The colour and appearance of the
potato soup was exactly the same as that of meat-soup. This is a case of
“mental projection.” Marichi projected the idea of meat from his own Samskara
within the mind into the potato-soup. Mental projections are all false.
Kalpana in the mind means mental creation or imagination.
This is the real Yogamaya. You will have to destroy these various Kalpanas.
This is the aim of all the spiritual Sadhanas. Then you will be established in
Nirvikalpa state of bliss. Pure Nivritti is needed to attain this after you
have got Chitta-Suddhi through Nishkama-Karma Yoga.
ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE POWER OF MIND
Whenever any fire-accident or any other kind of accident
occurs, how agile and nimble you are! Do you not exhibit wonderful powers?
If you get a telegram at 12 a.m. on a hot day in summer,
which informs you that your father is seriously ailing in your native village
which is twenty miles distant, at once you leave even your food and begin to
gallop. Though you yourself are not in good health at that time, you do not
mind anything as you are very anxious to see your loving father.
The mind possesses various kinds of powers and faculties.
They lie dormant. You will have to awaken them.
Vedana-Sakti (power of perception), Smarana-Sakti or
Smriti-Sakti (power of memory), Bhavana-Sakti (Power of imagination),
Manisha-Sakti (power of judgment), Ichha-Sakti or Sankalpa-Sakti (will or
volition) and Dharana-Sakti (power to hold) are the six important powers of the
mind.
A Mantra purifies the mind. Mere repetition of a Mantra,
parrot-like, has very little effect. It has some benefit. It must be repeated
with Bhava (feeling). Then it produces wonderful effects. The Mantra, unless
inspired with the powerful will-force of one’s own mind, cannot produce much
effect.
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