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Harih Om Tat Sat. Harih Om Tat Sat. Jai Guru. Jai Guru.
Today I thought I would speak something about Self Realization and how it relates to our mind and mental functions - the structure of the mind, character of the mind, behavior and also interactions. In our whole life, mind is the sole focus. Unfortunately, people don’t know.
Our personality is complex. It is rather a composite one. In the composite personality, our body is only an external, gross counterpart. It is necessary to know that the whole body is a matter-energy aggregate; there is nothing but matter and energy. Being so, our body is inert, I-N-E-R-T or insentient, I-N-S-E-N-T-I-E-N-T. Our eyes, ears, nose, skin, tongue, all these are producing sensations for us. But they cannot independently produce sensations. Every sensory organ has to be animated and activated by the inner being or inner personality. That personality consists of mind, intelligence and ego.
So, every action is possible only because the mind animates, inspires and instigates the senses. So, as I always say, an action is initiated by the mind. While the action is on, the sensory organs cannot disconnect themselves from the mind. So, the action actually rests on or subsists on the mind. Thirdly, when an action is terminated or concluded, the termination and conclusion are also because of the mind. And the whole process is registered in the mind, not in the body.
So, you tell me, is not all action, similarly all activity resting upon the mind? Is there anything besides the mind? Your body is what the mind recognizes and cognizes. Everybody says ‘I have a body’. Body doesn’t say ‘I have a mind’. So, our mind is the sole focus in our life. Unfortunately, this is something nobody knows about. Even if seldom one knows, that person is apt to forget it rather than remember it sensitively. In such a background, I am reciting a verse from Vivekacūḍāmaṇi, the last composition of Sankara, where he speaks about what is this Self Realization.
You go on meditating, meditating, meditating, but by the mere meditation will you be able to realize the Self? Even if you realize, will the realization last for the 24 hours of the day? This is a very significant question which should be raised by every seeker but seldom one does it.
Sankara says, yathā yathā pratyag-avasthitaṁ manaḥ. Yathā yathā - To which extent, to what degree the mind becomes pratyag-avasthitaṁ. The mind is normally associating with the senses; it goes out. The senses are only an outgoing organ; it has no other capacity. So, when the mind associates with the senses, it always issues forth, goes outside. Now that mind is made to recede or withdraw from this process of outwardliness.
Yathā yathā pratyag-avasthitaṁ manaḥ. So, make the mind rest on the Self. Let it not have that outgoing propensity. Make the mind inward and rest on the Self. To which extent and to what degree you are able to do this, that will determine your Self-Realization.
If you consciously persuade the mind to turn back from the outward objects and restfully remain in the Self within, to which extent and to what degree you are able to accomplish this, tathā tathā muñcati bāhyavāsanām, the mind will abandon, eschew, relinquish, renounce, bāhyavāsanām - the tendency that drives it outwardly. It will learn, it will also have the capacity, it will also have the inspiration and compulsion to leave the sensory objects. Are you not leaving it every day when you sleep for seven or eight hours? It is not something alien to the mind. It is within the capacity and regular habit of the mind.
Niḥśeṣamokṣe sati vāsanānāṁ. As long as you are making the mind rest on the Self, so long the mind will start renouncing the desires for the external objects. The desire, the fascination, the greed for the sensory objects will dwindle and decline.
Niḥśeṣamokṣe sati vāsanānāṁ. Gradually if the effort is continued, all the desires will vanish. You will get redemption from all the desires and fascinations for the external objects.
Ātmānubhūtiḥ pratibandha-śūnyā. When the mind becomes pure and it becomes free of external unnecessary desires, mind you, to live in this world you need not have a desire at all. How many lakhs and millions of creatures are there in the world? Except the human, does any one of them worry about life and foster desire? Certainly not. But they have lived as long as we have lived, even more.
Niḥśeṣamokṣe sati vāsanānāṁ. When you reach a stage where you are free from desires, the mind is free from the constriction called desire, when that freedom is had,
Ātmānubhūtiḥ pratibandha-śūnyā. The Self-experience you have will not be restricted to meditation and absorption. It will extend itself throughout the activities and interactions that follow.
Now the question arises, are desires necessary for life? If you ask me - No. Suppose you desire something, will you have it? Suppose you want to have a house, you desire a house, will you have it? Everything in life follows effort. And effort is the means to achieve any end. If effort is the means, think of the effort, make it and finally you get what you want. Where is the question of desiring? Work on needs and requirements! You have hunger; therefore, you eat. You have food; therefore, you are able to relish a meal. Is it the desire to be hungry that makes us hungry?
If you have a certain worth, merit, skill and potential and this is required by the society in one way or the other, then you will be driven there, you will be taken there and you will work. Suppose you have no skill or your skill is not a need of the society, I think you will not be employed at all.
Vedanta is a science in which you logically and rationally examine matters and arrive at propositions and conclusions. So, where the mind is freed from all kinds of constriction including desires, then the Self will be constantly felt. Because the Self is no other than the mind’s own essence, the consciousness that animates and activates the body. So, what you require is a peaceful and a composed mind and a sensitive and attentive intelligence. The Self is always present, everywhere present, in everyone present. So, there is no dearth or increase in the presence of Self. What is required is a right apprehension or comprehension of the Self and make that comprehension live through your life.
Harih Om Tat Sat. Harih Om Tat Sat. Jai Guru.