Mind : ( 24/10/2012. )

We are always in a state of mood, as we call it, either elated or depressed, on account of getting influenced by factors beyond our control. It is something like floating on the surface of the ocean and being tossed up and down, hither and thither by the violent waves, having nothing to say in the matter. This sort of life cannot be regarded as satisfying, because to be entirely in the hands of fate and chance occurrences would be a perpetual dying rather than a real living. Most of us are in such a helpless condition, as it were, that we have to take into account everything that takes place outside without having any say in the matter. This is the life of slavery. A slave is one who has no personal say in anything. Whatever he is ordered to do, he has to do, and his life depends not on himself but on something else. Whatever changes may take place in that ‘something else’ will also be the corresponding change that takes place in one’s own self. This is not a life of freedom,...

Today we—men and women, humanity in general—have become accustomed to believe the great ideology that a machine is an indispensable appurtenance of human life. We cannot do anything without the assistance of a machine. This shows the subsidiary character of man in comparison with the gigantic operative mechanisms that he has considered necessary not only for his satisfaction, but even for his existence. He manufactures arms, not perhaps obviously for an immediate satisfaction, but for a security in regard to his own existence. Even his existence is controlled by a machine. He cannot be sure that he will be here for a few minutes unless a machine operates around him; and a machine need not necessarily be a typewriter, a printing machine, a motorcar or an airplane. Now trying to bring our minds to the very concept of mechanism, which is a way of thinking, rather than an object visualised with our eyes. There is a philosophy which sometimes goes by the name of ‘mechanism’. We ...

We are unhappy for one reason or the other. Though the cause of the unhappiness may vary from one person to another, the consequence is the same. People may die for various reasons, but the result is that all die. The consequence is uniform: no one is happy, whatever be the cause behind it and whatever be the ultimate reference we make as to the originating factor of it. We cannot be slavish in our conduct of life and at the same time expect to be happy. A slave cannot be happy because slavery is selling oneself out to something other than what one is. We have sold ourselves, as it were, entirely into the hands of factors which we regard as more real than what we are endowed with in our own selves. This is a life of dependence, not a life of independence. Sarvam paravasam dukham: Whatever is dependent is a source of misery. Whatever be the extent of understanding of this situation of ours, it is not enough to solve the problem in which we have been involved. Our dependence is ...

MIND : A careful isolated analysis of the sense powers and our ambitions is a proper preparation, ethically and morally. We should not think that morality is a kind of imposition that is inflicted on us by society, though many people are sometimes under this impression. One may think, “What is this stupid thing called ethics and morality? Is it a kind of torture inflicted on us by society? Why should we not be free to do what we want to do?” It is not just a social imposition on us. Morality inflicted on us from outside will not stand long. That is why there are rebellions. It must be a spontaneous morality of the yogi which he wants to observe for its own sake—merely because morality is in consonance with reality, and immorality is in dissonance with reality. Whenever we are in conformity with Truth, we are supposed to be moral, and we should not think that society is inflicting this upon us. Why should they inflict upon us a punishment to be in consonance with Re...

MIND IS THE THOUGHT-FLOW IN US : ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The quality, quantity and direction of the thoughts in an individual determine the type of "flow" in him, and consequently it alone decides the worth, the beauty and the effectiveness of his personality as expressed in life. All the psychiatric treatments done today are attempts to jerk the thought-flow of the patient into a rhythm.But the valleys cut by the long periods of wrong flow have created disturbing patterns of thought-gush in the subject, and he has an irresistible tendency to dash back into the old familiar stream of thinking and living. A spiritual  seeker, to begin with, must therefore learn to initiate new and healthier channels of thought in himself and thereby, on the whole, etching vividly the desired scheme of a spirituality conductive mental behaviour. Continues....   

ALATASANTI  PRAKARANA :  ( On quenching the fire brand ) :- MANDUKYA UPANISHAD- Chapter-4. Karika slokam -27. "The mind does not ever touch or enter into a casual relationship with any external object in any of the three periods of time.  How can the mind be ever subject to delusion, as there is no cause ( external object ) for any such mental mischief."