There is a basic truth about your personality, about your life, about your being, which you ought to know but which perhaps eludes you often.
You are essentially a mental being. The physical nature of yours is but superficial. It is external. The external, the superficial, now eclipses the essential. Under this eclipse, most men fail to notice the essential. The few who notice it do so but vaguely.
This is a fact. A truth. A feature of nature. It is not to be questioned or reasoned upon. It is there for you to detect and then act upon.
The essential and the superficial, both, have their specific powers. Whatever powers are there for the superficial part, the body, are to subserve those of the mind. The superficial itself exists for the sake of the essential. The essential, namely the mind, has got limitless powers. It can create. It can sustain. It can also dissolve.
That is what it does in respect of the thoughts, emotions, sentiments and the like which you experience from time to time. Are not these a regular series of creations, preservations and dissolutions?
Recognize then this mighty potential of your mind, the essential part of your being. Seek refuge under it always. Whatever comes to you, whatever tries to blow you off, put you down, dishearten and depress you, seek its redress in the mind itself, in its powers alone.
We often dispose off the game saying that time heals. But have you ever thought if there is anything vital and real like time at all? Is Time a thing concrete or factual? If at all, it is sheer phantom of your mind, of the mind of all. Its existence is in the imagination of your mind. Mind creates time, makes it pass off, in the same way as it does the thoughts and emotions that arises in you.
The power you ascribe to Time is really not its. It belongs to your mind, the creator of the Time itself.
The mind and the body, the essential and the non-essential parts of your being, have only one source. This source is within them both. It is at the centre. Nay it is the centre itself. As the kernel and husk of paddy are both born of and shaped after the same power and source within, the mind and the body are born of and shaped after this centre within them both. First recognize this truth and keep it in your memory always.
Mind is nearest to the Centre, to the Self within, to the Almighty. Hence it reflects the maximum of Divinity and its Powers. The unphysical mind has powers which far transcend those of the body.
Look at the gross, physical elements and their powers. Water washes. Wind blows. Fire burns. Earth decays or powders. The mind is unlike these elements. It is beyond them all. It has a superfine nature. So its powers too are superfine.
It does not therefore wash, nor burn, nor dry, nor decay or powder. Yet it digests. It assimilates. It dissolves, that is the right expression to be used . In its own mystic nature by its superfine powers, it absorbs and dissolves everything that comes to it. Whether it is sorrow or happiness, doubt or question, fear or threat, if allowed to hold on to the bosom of your mind, it will be comforted and put to rest eternally.
This innate power of the mind is the one truth which I would like everyone to recognize and keep in mind constantly. Whenever you need, seek refuge under It. Rely upon it. It will never fail you.
As long as you live so long will the mind be with you. Can you think of your existence without the mind? There may be times when the body keeps away and yet you live. But at no time does the mind keep away and you live. Mind, I said, is the essential part in you because without it the body cannot thrive. Body is superficial because without it the mind can thrive. It does too.
We often feel sorry on one account or another. Disappointment, doubt and the like also come to us. Besides, a number of other sentiments and reactions. But nobody knows how to meet them and work his way amidst towards success and fulfillment.
For facing any crisis, for resolving a problem, for outliving any habit, for gaining courage and likewise for everything else, the power you have to make use of is your own mind's, none else.
Whenever you feel agitation, confusion or dismay, be patient. Remain calm. Have reliance. Absorb the reaction to yourself, to your mind. Ask the mind to treat and cure it. Cling to the conviction that there is no greater consoler and curer than the mind within.
Mind is truly the creator of the universe. It is its sustainer and dissolver too. That which people call God is the Cosmic Mind. The mind which every one has is a minute part of the whole cosmic mind. Yet it has cosmic powers as far as the individual's life and needs are concerned. From your mind proceed all the urges and powers you need, the inspiration for doing good and for bad, the will to achieve anything you aim at.
The mind does its work by itself as well as through the body and senses. In all actions that you do, the mind is the supreme cause. Even when the body is injured the suffering is of the mind. So too the joy and delight belong to it. Everything is its creation. Every outcome falls back on it.
But man does not know this fact, this truth. That is how he often feels helpless. The remedy then lies in recognising what you fail to notice now, so far. Know the mind's status in the scheme of your life and actions. It is the cause of all, the experiencer of all, as the curer and consoler of all.
If you realise this, with that your difficulty dissolves. You will no more feel a sense of loss or diffidence. Whatever problem or misery faces you, you will be able to bear and resolve it patiently and well.
Rely therefore, O man, on yourself, on the mind in you and its powers to do and undo everything. Know it to be the real healer in you at all times. Be relieved and remain peaceful and stable.
[First Published in Vicharasetu Jan 1971]