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Harih Om Tat Sat. Harih Om Tat Sat. Jai Guru. Jai Guru.
I thought of explaining one important point today. It is again about the mind. In the sixth chapter Krishna says:
We are born with a body and remaining in the body our mind starts developing and growing. It is for the growth of the mind that we have a body and five senses of perception in it. When the senses begin to interact with the objects, it is a very slow process when a child is born. I think for the child it is primarily touch - the skin, secondly taste – tongue, suckling, then sound - ear, gradually eyes and nose.
While the five senses begin to work and interact with the objects, their imprints are getting formed inside. That imprint formation is the beginning of the mind. As many imprints as are formed within the body, so much will be the measure of the mind. After enough data are collected, the mind can think independently and produce its own ideas helped by the intelligence. So, the mind gets imprints of the objects through the senses. They are sifted, compared, contrasted and developed into knowledge and memory by the intelligence.
When the body grows older and older, you will find the potential and function of the mind invariably reduce. How much it will reduce and how much will remain favorable is a variable factor. Now keep this in your mind. Now what I want to say is:
praśānta-manasaṁ hy-enaṁ yoginaṁ sukham-uttamam |
Normally the mind collects the sensory data and it starts becoming denser and denser, getting more and more stressed up. We only care to collect data through the senses. But the entire data are formed on the mind. So we don’t directly deal with the mind with a view to build up its strength, its potential, its flexibility and a number of other qualities. So, the mind remains uncared for. To change this fate and make the mind more and more useful, benevolent, qualitative, sensitive etc. is the task of spirituality is what I feel.
By spiritual understanding, spiritual introspection, spiritual analysis, what takes place is the mind’s quality or qualitative enrichment goes on increasing. In this process, meditation has an important part to play.
Meditation is the occasion when you sit, close your eyes without any physical activity including seeing and hearing. Then you get an opportunity to delve into your mind, know what it is, how it is etc. Familiarity with the mind is important. Then we shall try to build the mind qualitatively. When you start building the mind qualitatively, there is a marvelous effect, you cannot imagine.
Normally the mind is agitated. The agitated mind will become peaceful and quiet. The purpose of meditation is to make the mind peaceful. What is meant by peacefulness? It will not be disturbed by its thought process. It will not be disturbed by the thoughts arising in the mind. This is the magic. Mind thinks but the thoughts don’t disturb the mind.
Normally everybody complains “My thoughts disturb”. That is because of a delusion and ignorance. If you have a good and qualitative mind, when the thoughts arise in it, why should it be adverse to the qualitative enrichment of the mind? But it happens. This is the condition or conflict that you have to resolve by meditation and introspection.
Helped by meditation but primarily guided by introspection, if you reach a stage of praśānta-manasaṁ hy-enaṁ, the mind becomes peaceful, not agitated, not tensed, not stressed up. Who will not like a peaceful mind? I always say spirituality is very pleasant because it makes your mind more and more soft, thin, light and delightful. The test of spirituality is whether it is able to do this. So, by the practice of spirituality partly by meditation and for the major part spiritual introspection, that introspection infuses and instills various benefits to the mind qualitatively.
When this process goes on and the mind becomes quiescent, the mind becomes peaceful, then Krishna says that peaceful mind is approached by praśānta-manasaṁ hy-enaṁ yoginaṁ sukham-uttamam, the uttama sukha , the sukha not arising from the perishable objects of the world and even the body and the senses but the sukha arising from something entirely different, something that is present in the body but not material or energial. So that sukha is arising from the soul, praśānta-manasaṁ hy-enaṁ yoginaṁ sukham-uttamam, it is called uttama sukham. Don’t ask any further questions. You know what is sukha and this becomes uttama sukha because it is belonging to a lasting character, uniform nature and only related to your own within. No conditioning from any other factor.
Upaiti śānta-rajasaṁ brahma-bhūtam-akalmaṣam. When you go on practicing spirituality, the rajo-guṇa becomes lesser and lesser, sattva guṇa increases, tamas also decreases. So the rajo-guṇa having attenuated, have become lesser and lesser, brahma-bhūtam-akalmaṣam, you get a sukha arising from Brahman, arising from consciousness, arising from Chaitanya. Akalmasham, it will not have any kind of a stain, blemish, scar or anything else. It is a blemish-less sukha. But it depends upon your effort, partly by meditation and mostly by introspection. When you try to evaluate life, understand what life is, how interactional it is, what are these interactions, where shall I look to, to improve my interactions shall I look to the objects, my senses, or my mind.
Yoginaṁ sukham-uttamam upaiti śānta-rajasaṁ brahma-bhūtam-akalmaṣam. When the sukha becomes pure, it becomes inner, constant, thinner and thinner, lesser and lesser strain is there, it becomes natural for you, then that is arising from Brahman. What a wonderful statement! So, what all of you should try for is first and last a peaceful mind. Do not have a bothered mind. How to make the mind peaceful? That becomes your question. Every ounce of spirituality is meant to make the mind peaceful, peaceful, peaceful, peaceful! When the mind becomes peaceful, Brahma sukha starts approaching that person. You don’t have to struggle and get at it. It becomes available to you like a perennial fountain from the earth. This kind of a spirituality is something very pleasant and easy. It is beautiful and nice in life, for life.
Harih Om Tat Sat. Jai Guru. Jai Guru.
