21. Mental Discipline can assist a Seeker to achieve Bliss..!

http://www.speakingtree.in/public/spiritual-blogs/seekers/science-of-spirituality/mental-discipline-can-assist-a-seeker-to-achieve-bliss

Every living being has a mind which is connected to the outer world through the five senses. We humans are fortunate to use the mind to connect the inner world as well. How can we utilise this facility that is been bestowed only specially to our species? Are we different from animals and birds that also have a mind like us? Yes, it is an extra gift from Absolute given to us through which we can know about our own mind. Sri Sri Sankara says to get a human birth is very difficult; hence it has to be utilised in such a way that it assists the seeker to achieve the much sought blissful state. It is the mind which can bind us or liberate us. To use the mind for liberation instead of getting entrapped in the cycles of birth and death we need to know what mind is. Is there any benefit in knowing our mind? Yes, by knowing about the mind we can observe the way it behaves and it is easy to identify the spot that need modification. This modification can prepare the mind to assist the seeker to excel further spiritually.      

Initially when we all were kids our mind was open and was willing to seek answers. As we reach certain age this mind became a little rigid and lost its zeal as it accommodated prejudices, dogmas and opinions. To live in a society our mind has to transform and that is how life goes on, but can the mind remain as it was in our childhood? 

In our childhood it was innocence and not being aware of outer world that could be cited as the reasons for the mind to remain open, but as we reach adolescence automatically the mind starts to go wavered. It is necessary to keep the mind open even in this stage of our life and further till shedding of mortal coils. Is it possible??? Why not???

An open mind is one which does not approve what every the ego acknowledges instead it inquires about the experiences. By doing this the open mind turn into a rational mind and does not incline to superstitions and false concepts. It neither contradicts nor accepts any experience without clarity. Here the mind discriminates the happenings without falling prey to the likes and dislikes. The discriminative mind realizes that the end result in game of life is “Love-all” since it is the play of duality; every gain is inevitable without a loss and every loss in inevitable without gain. But in the middle of the game there was an illusion of scores shifting sides, which depended on craving and desires which in turn exists due to parting of knower and the known. The discriminative mind therefore is ready to abandon sense gratification which avoids falling to emotional traps created by wantons.

Attachments have its roots in sense gratification. A dispassionate mind helps to restraint from those objects which draw the senses strongly towards them. This does not mean that it is indifferent to objects but enjoys the experience they provide but do not crave for them. Such a mind takes the fortunes and miseries in life as they come and will never go after fortunes or try to avoid miseries. This is mental discipline which brings in equanimity, the BLISSFUL state. And Blissful state is to align with what you really are.......What say????

20. Blissful State from Transcending Higher Mind to No-Mind!!!!!

http://www.speakingtree.in/public/spiritual-blogs/seekers/science-of-spirituality/blissful-state-from-transcending-higher-mind-to-nomind

This is in continuation of the earlier blog on “http://manonuga.blogspot.in/2014/09/19-spirituality-helps-mind-to-excel.html”

Spirituality helps us to excel our mind from the lower to higher level. Staying in this higher mind will take us nowhere; hence we have to advance from this higher mind state to No-Mind state. This No-Mind state is a state which is experienced as inner peacefulness in stillness, eternal blissfulness that cannot be put in words. This stillness is achieved through meditation. 

Meditation is not an act of sitting in a particular pose with closed eyes, but it is the feel of No-Mind state. In this state the present attitudes and past tendencies of our mind are cleansed. This is a state which is similar to that is in our Deep Sleep, but in Deep Sleep State we are unaware of the Bliss we experience due to ignorance. Becoming aware of this state while we are awake is the purpose of meditation.    

The essence of meditation is to get aware of “I am not Mind” state. When this awareness goes deep in us then a moment arrives where it is silence, mind is not stirring, a moment of stillness. This stillness will let us understand our existence and the purpose of our existence. This is the state when we are aligned with Absolute Consciousness (Brahmatattva).   

As long as we are identified with the mind we are far away from the Absolute which is one and only without a second. The very moment we detach our self from the mind we are aligned with Absolute and this is what is explained in Upanishad as “TAT TVAM ASI”. To achieve this state we have to get the permission of none. It is our right, privilege and healthy choice. If we are not ready to surpass the mind, no amount of study of the scriptures, hearing to discourse, and spiritual practices will be of help, because we will still be following our own mind. “Never follow me with your mind”, say ancient sages. 

The direct experience of that Truth which goes beyond everything is more than the known and the unknown. As long as our mind is functioning the direct realization of Truth is not possible. Still the mind's functioning and become aware of THAT Absolute. This stage of mind transcending is the highest form of evolution.

With the help of spirituality one can excel from lower mind to higher mind and once in the state of higher mind we need to evolve to the state of No-Mind. This can be understood in this analogy, suppose a person is walking barefoot in a garden. He steps on a thorn glass and a small piece of it get stuck in his foot. Now he looks for the means to get the thorn piece out of his foot isn't it??? 

He fortunately finds a thorn with a pointed end. He succeeds in getting the embedded piece of thorn and is relieved. Now what does the person do with the thorn???? Will he keep it with him or will he discard the thorn also???? Obviously he throws away the thorn he used to get the pierced piece of thorn. Yes, after the task of getting the thorn in the foot is accomplished there is no use of the thorn. So it makes sense for the person to discard the thorn he used as well.

Likewise we use the higher mind to correct and mould the lower mind and once this task is accomplished this higher mind has to advance towards No-Mind state for eternal Bliss. 

19. Spirituality helps Mind to excel from Lower to Higher Level.

http://www.speakingtree.in/public/spiritual-blogs/seekers/science-of-spirituality/spirituality-helps-mind-to-excel-from-lower-to-higher-level-31446

According to Upanishad mind is twofold, while one is higher filled with purity, the other is the lower filled with passion, emotion and desires. Spirituality is one of the means to make this twofold into one Sattvic mind so that it will let us have peace and allow us to meditate. It is through the higher mind that we will be able to control the lower mind which is engrossed with passion, emotion and desires.

Lower mind that is filled with desire, passion and emotion creates irrational resolve, impractical sense and ego and all these three forms a triangle and work in collaboration.  Mind is just a flow of uninterrupted thoughts and of all these thoughts “I” ness is the source and it if the first to develop in the mind. While the intellect is the one which forces us to identify our mind with our physical body.

Higher mind is one which is essentially very simple, bright, aware and enthusiastic. It usually observes and gives a response free from conditioning with truthfulness and frankness. By this approach it indicates that it is immense with peace within itself. Thus this mind enjoys the splendor & harmony of nature and goes deep into the problems of life and solves them.

Once our higher mind is awake then alone it can understand our problem and then it becomes easy for it to work and discover that the basic problem is baseless presumptions about oneself. It clearly visualizes that due to the ignorance of self there is presumptions about oneself & the world at large. This presumption in turn focuses to the single most effective cause to bring about various expectations and all the connected problems that we may experience in making a success or failure in the venture. True knowledge of oneself from the higher mind reveals that it is important to achieve something which is steady and not to go behind some transitory success which is subject to change at different time & place.

Higher mind brings bliss by making others happy without distinguishing between man and animals. It boosts the person not to miss any opportunity to serve others and rebukes him on transgressing the freedom of others and imposes his ideologies on others. The mind which works in this manner is called as a pure mind. It is indeed a great advantage to have such a mind as knowledge comes easily with least possible efforts to those who posses it. And also it is indeed a joy to tell or teach about any subject or topic to those people as they will pay their entire attention to the subject and would love to go deep & unfold the mysteries of the subject.

Just as a diamond cuts a diamond the higher mind of a person which is immersed in the virtuous path should correct and mould the lower mind. Lower mind can be rendered pure through right virtues, pure actions and constant association of the wise. Being truthful and practice of pure compassion work in purification of our lower mind.

Higher mind is always inclined to virtues, and crave for knowledge and is dispassionate towards unwanted and unrelated subjects. With these attributes it is plentiful, has sovereignty and freedom hence it has mastery over all.