30. Advantages of Transcending beyond the Realm of Mind………….

http://www.speakingtree.in/spiritual-blogs/seekers/self-improvement/advantages-of-transcending-beyond-the-realm-of-mind

A Spiritual seeker with a little knowledge of the scriptures knows that he is not the body or the mind but the Self. The enquiry of the self leads to a series of thought process in his mind. “I am neither the Senses, nor the Mind and Ego; I am beyond all that I am Pure Consciousness.”  So the body and mind is not what we think we are, other living beings like animals do not have a thought to transcend beyond the mind and this is how we humans are a shade better than them. The true potential of human beings is not in the power of mind but in the thought to transcend the mind and reach a higher state of Pure Consciousness. This is the state in which we are aligned with divinity, the source from which we descended. We are in chaos until we reach this state; the mayhem is between what we are and our true nature. This rift is the cause of the stress and strain in us. Once we are aware that we are that Pure Consciousness we are not inclining to judge our past and worry about the future. Thus we automatically become stress free.      

By not venturing a lot into the past and future if we do our duty (Karma) of today we are entitled to enjoy every moment and will reap the benefit of the present. Our mind is tensed and confused when the work of the present is compared to the past or is worried about the work of the future. Our mind is what we are. Our attitude determines the altitude of our presentation in any chosen field. If we are proud of doing a great work, we are also guilty if the work done is shabby. The feel of guilt and pride are like the two sides of the same coin.

In Bhagavad-Gita Lord Krishna explains to the whole world a secret of how “to live with the mind and yet to transcend it”. The secret of Karma Yoga is that it teaches how to perform action rather than to tell what attitude one should have while performing it. It is not right to avoid action but we have to adopt the right attitude to perform it.

An example will make us understand better. Let us say an archer aims his arrow at the target. When he aims at the target without any expectation in his mind just for the fun of it the arrow reaches the desired destination. The whole act is so natural. But when the archer’s mind is fixed on a gold medal then the game becomes a stressful. An unknown fear creeps in to his mind. His mind is no more fixed on the target completely. While one part of his mind is drawn towards the medal to be won, the other part is trying to aim at the target. This is where the mind is in duality. There is a gold medal at stake and his mind is now more concerned with the praise that he is going to get if successful than the target. In such a situation his talent suffers. There is division, confusion and affliction in the mind. This is the nature of our mind. Instead of being in the present it swings either to the past or into the future but it fails to understand that to live in the present means to enjoy what is served to the extreme. Expecting the results of action means to swing to the future that is yet to come.

Lord Krishna says, “Sacrifice the fruits of your action to Me.” Thus the fear and tension of the result does not hamper our performance. Fear and tension are for those who dwell in the mind by carrying their ego into every action they perform. They are slaves of their own egoistic mind. We should practice detached attachment for this is the only way to attain consistency and contentment. The world which we are living offers us variety, novelty and diversity but no stability. We can see that wherever there is stability there is consistency contentment and this makes us look for a stable life rather than seeking pleasurable pursuits. Thus surrendering the fruits of our action to the Lord in the way of "Iswararpanam" (offering to Absolute) by just thinking "Na Idam Mama" (this is not mine) is the right way. This is eternal TRUTH.

29. Edgy Mind is one of the reasons to create Phobia in us…..

http://www.speakingtree.in/public/spiritual-blogs/seekers/self-improvement/edgy-mind-is-one-of-the-reasons-to-create-phobia-in-us

There is no object or a thing in this entire universe that can induce fear in us if we are not mindful of it. It is our edgy mind that projects the fear of an object. There is no ominous situation in the environment which should cause fear in us, yet we cannot free ourselves from fears, negative feelings, and uncertainty. This is one of the influences of phobia. Phobia is non objective reality.

It is true that we are afraid of death which is inevitable. We know that it snatches away all our earthly desires, affection, ownerships. But the fear of what happens after death is the false fear which hunts us and makes us look ungainly. This fear of imagination takes away passion to live a happy life when alive.

Fear is based on something that we predict may happen in the future, it is clearly a mental process which attempts to foresee the future, the reason of fear is a projection of our mind. For instance, we may be afraid of falling, but once we fall, we are afraid of hitting the ground, once we hit the ground, we are afraid of a worse injury, once there is a worse injury due to fall, we are afraid of the pain and the consequences of not being able to work for some days or become disabled etc, etc., So we can conclude that fear is always based on something that which has not happened yet. Hence it is more of a fantasy of our mind rather than fact.
 
When these fantasies go out of control it grows into something called phobia, it only means that the mind is needlessly exaggerating the situation. In such circumstances our mind is off the track and starts to view a cat as a lion. The remedy to phobia is not medication it is important to back the edgy mind to normal by calming it down through meditation or being extrovert or social with all.

Two commuters sat in a compartment of a train; one was an elderly person and the other a young handsome man. Just to start up a conversation, the young man asked the elderly man,
 
“What’s the time, sir?”

The elderly man with a frown face responded: “I know this is how you youngsters start it all. I will tell you the time and as the train moves along, you will start talking on politics then the discussions will move on to movies. You name some stupid flicks and talk about the hero and heroine. Then after that topic is over you talk of share market. And then you would like to share breakfast with me. This will get us to become friends. That is not all; by the time we reach our destination we would become extremely close. Then naturally, I would invite you home for a cup of coffee. You would come to my home and meet my daughter. And then you would propose to marry her”.

The young man was baffled did not utter a word.
 
After a little pause, came the final punch from the elderly man, “Let me tell you frankly now itself that I am NOT going to give my consent to the marriage!”

Young man who was cool all the while wanted to pull the leg of the elderly man so he asked the reason for his non-approval to marry his daughter.

Much to the irritation of the young man, the elderly person replied: “How could a man with good sense give his daughters hand to a man who doesn’t even own a watch?”

This is in fact the way our mind behaves if it is afraid of false fears based on sheer doubts, suspicions, assumptions, hypothesis.……etc., etc.,

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.