28. Is it a Monkey Mind …….. Really???

http://www.speakingtree.in/public/spiritual-blogs/seekers/self-improvement/is-it-a-monkey-mind-really-323323

For all the crazy things that put us into trouble or make us unhappiness the blame is put on the mind. Amazingly for all the reasonable things which bring peace and make us happy it is the same mind which is responsible. The mind is always jumping from one topic to another and sometimes it wanders aimlessly and for doing all this we brand it a “Monkey Mind” Well, maybe there are reasons for calling it so, since it does not listen to anyone and does all the decision making by itself.

The mind has in it the memories and feelings, consequently it has its own likes and dislikes. These likes and dislikes are deep hidden in the memory since many many births; they resurface again and again when they are refreshed. Embedded in those likes and dislikes could be the downfall or ascent of an individual. Our past karmas could be the architect for the mind to pamper the likes and rebuff the dislikes. Seriously then mind is a puppet in the hands of karma which decides if the sprouted new thought is good or bad for it. This could be the reason for some thoughts to bring smile on our face the moment it appears while some make us miserable as it may hurt our ego.  

Our five senses evoke the memories of time long past, even those buried deep in unconscious part of our mind to stir us emotionally. They invoke in us the desires, anxiety, intentions, temptations, the feelings of love and hate, the feelings of euphoria and despondency. When we stir our consciousness, the impurities otherwise settled at the bottom rise to the surface and muddle our thinking. At this time, the mind acts as monkey. To have coherent thoughts we must prevent ingress of thought through our senses. It would help us keep calm and concentrate on whatever we are doing. In all it is our strong hold on likes and dislikes which make our life miserable, in such a case why should we blame the mind? We humans are fortunate lot to have a master over the mind called Buddhi (Intellect) which is the faculty of discrimination. All we need to do is use the intellect in making friendship with mind instead of calling it a “Monkey”. 

If mind is given the status of a best friend it can help us focus transforming the work we do into an art of excellence. A work becomes an art of excellence if there are no distractions while doing it. Concentration is achieved if there is a calm mind without distractions and such a mind can easily apprise us of our goals and clarify to us the priorities. It is the calm mind which can provide a relaxed body. A friendly mind does not conspire with the ego to snub the intellect, it make way to deliver clarity in every thoughts. With a clear thought the work we do is highly appreciative. With work which is of high quality there is union with the Divinity. In other words, to ensure the union with Absolute (Yogah) the work we do has to be excellent (Karmasu Kaushalam) and for the work to be excellent our mind has to be cool and friendly. ……………Am I right?????

27. Mind not just Monkey; its Drunken Monkey bitten by Scorpion.......

http://www.speakingtree.in/public/spiritual-blogs/seekers/self-improvement/mind-not-just-monkey-its-drunken-monkey-bitten-by-scorpion-245043

There are so many living beings spread out on this planet earth, each have a different perception on the subject that their mind receives from the senses on the outside world. No two minds agree to the same extent as there always will be some degree of change in the bandwidth of thinking. Even the same individual may project different thoughts about a subject depending on the mood and attitude at the time of perceiving a same subject. Hence many scholars have said that Mind is a Monkey. 

Swami Vivekananda feels that a monkey is restless by his own nature. As if that was not enough, if some street urchin feeds it with an intoxicated drink and to make the things even worst and suppose that intoxicated monkey steps on a scorpion and get stung just imagine the way the monkey might behave. This is how our mind behaves when it becomes emotional be it happiness or remorse.


To keep a clam mind it is necessary to have a control on the breath, so says  Patanjali Yoga Sutras. Mind and Breath are like a see saw plank pivoted on the single source called Consciousness. To catch hold of the mind which is like the monkey as mentioned above the control over the breath will help.

Many litterateurs have poured out on this subject, and many breathing techniques have been taught but to clam the mind it is never possible with our mind looking always at the outer world and sense expecting joy from them. It is easy to say that we have to turn inward, but the big question is, is it possible for the mind to remain calm while the outside world is luring the senses?

My personal feel is that unless the Yama (Social Ethics) and Niyama (Personal Ethics) are practiced to perfection my Mind cannot go inward. Enjoy the outside world but do not get involved in their whims and fancies. This was the reason for Sri Sri Sankara to give the seeker the prerequisites qualities that has to be developed called Sadhana Chatushtaya (Four means of practice) namely:

Viveka (Discrimination of Real from Unreal)

Vairagya (Detachment from Sense Objects)

Shat Sampatti (Collective group of necessary Six Virtues)

Mumukshuttva (Immense desire to achieve Eternal Bliss)

Without the knowledge of these it will be hard for the Mind to go inward. Just concentrating on the breath will never help, it will only clam the mind until that process is taken up and thereafter for some time. Hence we can see many who go the workshop arranged by the great masters yet fail to retain the same relaxed and clam Mind even after the workshop. Once the session is over and when they head back to their office or their work place the stress and strain is back again, they have to go to the session when it is organized again. There is no use of being clam and compose for a certain period of time, if one has decided to be free from anxiety he has to pluck it out from its root and throw it away. Sri Ramana Maharshi gives the analogy of the dove in the hunters net as to the calmness of the mind while meditating. The dove caught in the net remains still and once the hunter releases it, it will flutter.

 How to keep the Mind calm always?

Simplest way is just make the Mind aware of the difference between the Eternal Bliss got from the Inner Self and the momentary happiness got from the Outer World. Make the Mind understand this it is important by taking it into confidence and treating it as a friend. Do not impose strict rules and shake it up by frightening or threaten it about the consequences thereafter. This helps us to relate with Mind in a better manner and get a positive response from it to some extent…… Am I right???? 

26. Message I got from my Grandfathers Groundnut Field ……….

http://www.speakingtree.in/public/spiritual-blogs/seekers/self-improvement/message-i-got-from-my-grandfathers-groundnut-field

I was ten years and studying in fifth standard when I had been to my native place, Gauribidanur 76 kms from Bangalore in my summer vacation. My grandfather had an acre of wet land and he used to grow groundnuts in it. The land was close to Uttara Pinakini River which had its source in Nandi hills. Every summer holidays we (me and my Akka/Diddi) would love to go to the place, though now there is no river and the sand mining mafia is illegally supplying the demands of the concrete jungle in Bangalore.

On one such occasion my grandfather took me to the farm land where he had the groundnut plants, they were small about two months old. I observed that my grandfather was plucking the plants; I was surprise and asked him why he was doing so. He said, “I am just taking off the weeds (kale) that are grown not the groundnut plant.” That was the first time I came to know about weeds. He further explained, “These weeds absorb all the nutrition from the soil required for the groundnut plant. It is necessary to pull them out every now and then.”  I asked him, “Thata, in the first place why did you sow the seed of that weed?”  He laughed and said, “No farmer would sow those seeds.”  I was surprised “Then how would these weeds grow?” I asked. “They sprout from the soil and grow all by themselves, but if we do not weed them out they out grow the groundnut plants and will reduce the yield” he said.           


If I introspect the words of my grandfather now, if I am the Kshetra (Field) and Kshetragna (owner of the field) is the Absolute. He would always want superior thoughts, words, and deeds to sprout in the field as my grandfather wanted only groundnut plants to grow. Inferior thoughts, words, and deeds are like weeds that grow by themselves from prakriti (Maya), no matter how much I try to control them, they always germinate. It is important to regularly weed them out every time they grow. Those inferior thoughts devour the vigor that my Consciousness emits for the nourishment of superior thoughts. If I do not constantly examine them they may prosper one day and subdue my superior thinking. Dealing with inferior thoughts as soon as it is obvious is the key because with very few it is manageable. If would be difficult to handle them if it completely takes over as my grandfather told weeds would consume the groundnut plant. Once the weeds (inferior thoughts) have taken over my groundnut field (superior thoughts) it is going to be a back-breaking and painful process to uproot when they are more. Not that it cannot be done, but it requires lots and lots of effort and pain. It is wiser to pluck the first sign of a weed.


With very few or no inferior thoughts, I can align my Individual Consciousness with the Absolute Consciousness and ask for the organic manure called the “Dhi Shakti” (creative power) and with the use of my intellect I can use it to cultivate superior thoughts, words and deeds that come about through me ………..  Isn’t it?

25. Our THOUGHTS have capacity to alter Our HEALTH!!!!

http://www.speakingtree.in/public/spiritual-blogs/seekers/self-improvement/our-thoughts-have-capacity-to-alter-our-health-20835

On an average we have about 60,000 thoughts in a single day!!!!!

All philosophies endorse the importance of good thoughts and warn about the consequences of thinking bad. We need to understand the difference of good and bad thoughts. Definition given to good thoughts is that “Good thought is the act of affirmative thinking and using of intellect to reverse the damaging effects of negative thoughts and get rid of depression, unhealthy feel.”  

A negative thought develops pessimism which is unfavorable to one’s mental health and adds to stress. We are unaware of the fact that negative thoughts have physical manifestations on our health. Feelings like fury, uncertainty, worry, envy, greed etc can trigger aches, pains, or illness in the body and also slow down our recovery from diseases.

Pregnant women are advised to read inspirational and motivational literature to enhance good thoughts so that there is no place for negative thinking. The good thoughts particularly at that time will help develop the personality of the child in the womb, since it is aware of the thoughts of the mother.    

Laughter is the best medicine. So let’s keep smiling. It is contagious and spreads positive energy. It requires something like 42 muscles to frown but only 17 muscles to smile. Like wise science has made research in the ill effects of negative thinking, For example: a person who has jealous nature is easily affected with acidity problem. People who are adamant in behaviour are susceptible to jamming of joints, arthritis etc. this is like an indication of their non-flexible behaviour on their body which restricts their movement. Problem of indigestion could have its roots from not accepting the change, new ideas, people, or situations in our life.

It is better to start good thoughts instead of thinking to stop bad thoughts. Always we have to think of the consequences of a thought like: will it yield good fruits or bad, and then decide to apply and implement it. If we don’t like an idea that crops up we have to search and seek the opposite of it.

Instead of thinking of something as a mistake we can think of it as an opportunity for improvement. It may seem like a silly little play on words but it’s a huge difference in approach and attitude in how we think about things. 
“To think bad thoughts is really the easiest thing in the world. If you leave your mind to itself it will spiral down into ever-increasing unhappiness. To think good thoughts, however, requires effort. This is one of the things that discipline - training - is about.” - James Clavell, in his novel “Shogun” 

24. Free Your Mind from Desires but HOW???

http://www.speakingtree.in/public/spiritual-blogs/seekers/self-improvement/free-your-mind-from-desires-but-how

We try to convey our thoughts through words but it is not always possible to convey all that we have in our thoughts through words.

Words are sounds to express our ideas. If I mention the word “Dog” all those who are listening will get the memory of that animal. There are few words which do not bring the same familiar thought in all as the word “Dog” did. These words which when expressed bring different thought in every individual and hence we find difficulty in understanding them, one such word is “Conscious.”  

We see through our eyes but all that we see does not get registered in our mind, and to perceive what we see we have to be Conscious. The thought that sprout after perceiving a thing can affect our emotions or will power. Therefore Conscious is of threefold nature and our mind is total aggregation of Conscious grouped under Thought, Will Power, and Emotion. We are always experiencing Conscious in our wake stage.

If this statement is to be believed it is so in animals also. Even they have thoughts, emotions, and will power, if so how does our mind differ from that of animal mind?

No two individual will react in a similar way to perceptions, but two animals do normally react similarly. One can easily make out the difference of individual reaction in the human world than in the animal kingdom. Animals react differently within the limits of instinct while humans react according to their material or intellect or spiritual needs. This is the vast difference.

We humans are divine beings and our mind is a glimmer of our own spiritual being. It is this mind which gives us the sense of “I-ness” and uses the sense-organs to perceive the world and make us attentive to our emotional nature and of our ideas. Without it a person is unable to desire for pleasant moments in future or forget his past unpleasant events. Having said that if one observes our mind has more thoughts of future than the thoughts that make it brooding over the past.

So now we can pinpoint the mind to be thinking of future due to desire that has its tentacles gasping and controlling the mind and corrupting the otherwise pure faculty of Conscious. So what is this mind then? 

It is colorless pure and unpainted canvas, being merely “Conscious” but is colored by the alterations that it constantly undergoes by the cause of the limiting thoughts or feelings or ideas on which it is dwelling. While some of these color painted are from past lives, some are new colors of present life. Hence we are told first to free the mind from desire which color canvas of our mind with brushes of senses.   

Is it possible to keep the canvas of mind pure and prevent the desire from excreting pressure on senses to paint on the canvas? 

YES..... If so, How??

Mind is a one of the conscious principle among the unified hormonal trinity namely Atma (Soul), Buddhi (Intellect) and Manas (Mind). Therefore it has three features: the Will Power feature (Soul), the Emotional feature (Intellect), and the Thought feature (Mind). 

Mind (thought feature) if influenced by Soul is Spiritual Will Power and if illuminated by Intellect it is Intellectual Will Power. If mind is not influenced by either by Soul or Intellect it is driven by the Kama (Desire) propelled by any one of the five Indriyas (Senses) to spin the web of wantons.

If one assumes that desire must let go of the mind it will never happen, but when one understands that it is mind that has to refuse abide to the pull of desire then there is a start. The next level is Spiritual Will Power feature of mind that comes into play when one realizes the necessity of freeing the mind from desire with the Intellectual Will Power.  

23. The Four Essentials and the Fifth……………!

In this modern world every thing seems to look as make believe. The ability to perceive the inner sense is lost. What appears outside is easily accepted. Wealth is appreciated but the way at which that richness is earned is not the point of view. The reality is veiled by illusion in each and every step. There is an enormous and continuous effort by the developed countries to subdue the real economy and make us believe of stability in the time of recession. Why are we cheating ourselves by becoming attracted to make believe world? Was it so like this before? 

This human mind is the one which is attracted to whatever it finds fascinating. Though the senses are the first to get notice of the facts outside our body, it is our mind which is attracted to the one that give immense pleasure to it. In a way it is the mind that is the enjoyer of the pleasure. Hence it has become a slave of it and also wants the same to be projected out. This attitude of the mind will never let the intellect to justify the pros and cons. 

This is not a recent feature for the mankind, a poet writes “A person has to have the four essentials called VIDYA (Knowledge), VINAYA (Modesty), VAK (Good Speech), VIVEKA (Wisdom), to live in a society.” After writing this verse he continues that even if all the above said four essentials are absent in him he can survive if he has VASTRA (Dress). This is Make Believe!!!!!!! Being well dressed is quite natural but doing it to impress other is not the way. 

Once a British asked Swami Vivekanand, “Why can't you wear proper clothes to look like a gentleman?” Swami Vivekanand smiled and said, “In your culture, a tailor makes a gentleman; but, in our culture, character makes gentleman.”

What was Gandhiji’s take on dressing? Was he not respected by the people across the globe? Was it the appreciation for his Dhoti or for the Vidya, Vinaya, Vak, and Vivek he had? And by that he wore on his body he could impress the whole world! We all know how his contemporaries who were well dressed behaved too. A person may impress anybody by the way he has dressed but the deep inside he will very well know that without the Vastra, which is outward attribute he is a big ZERO if he does not posses the other essential four............Right??????

22. Chanting helps to calm the Mind………!!!!

A King who was on a hunting trip found an old lamp and he rubbed it and out came a genie. The genie told the King that we would do whatever the King orders him to do but on a condition that he has to be kept always busy. If the King fails to give him work he would devour the King. King thought he can use this genie to do the endless chores in the kingdom and keep him engaged all the time. So King took the genie with him to the kingdom and asked the genie to plough fields in his kingdom, get grass for the cattle, build castles etc. The genie completed these works very swiftly and came back to the King for more work. The King gave some more tasks that the genie completed even that in no time. Now the King ran out of tasks to be given to the genie. The genie threatened that if it does not get any task to do, it will kill the King. This scared the King. Finally, the Queen came up with an idea. The Queen asked the genie to erect a pole in the backyard of the palace. Then the Queen instructed the genie to keep climbing and getting down the pole over and over again. This way, she kept the genie busy and used it only when required. Rest of the time, the genie had to climb up and down the pole over and over again. Queen saves the life of the King.

Our mind is also like the genie it is hard to keep it still. It is always projecting thoughts which are constantly doing the flip flop. To keep the mind still it has to first reduce the projection of too many thoughts, so an important and ancient method of keeping the mind still is by Chanting (Nama Japa). Chanting has the power to transform an ordinary disturbed mind to a peaceful mind. It is said that if we chant repeatedly each syllable in any chanting has its own particular vibration frequency which resonates the petals of the imaginary chakras present in our vertebrate.

Our language has also got the same syllables and every time we talk those resonances is felt but there is no rhythm and are irregular, but in chanting a Nama Japa there is rhythm and regularity. This rhythm helps mind to stay calm and thoughts are reduced, once there are fewer thoughts there is stillness in mind and a still mind is peaceful mind. A peaceful mind generates power is always happy and satisfied in its presence and not easily disturbed by the unexpected circumstances that may appear on our life path. It has the power to overcome and prevent stress and anxiety and awakens inner strength and confidence. A peaceful mind is crucial for clear thinking and to generate creativity.