Destroy your mind

Aug 30, 2010, 12.00am IST
LILASHAHJI.

Destroy your mind. Only then you can know Vedanta.


Vidyaranya Swami says, " Mind verily is the root of the tree of samsara with thousands of sprouts, branches and leaves. To suppress sankalpas -- thoughts and imagination -- it is essential to devitalise the mind by forceful effort and destroy it. By doing so, the tree of samsara will wither away."


Vasishtha says, "An unrestrained mind alone is the cause of degeneration while a controlled mind causes progress." Restraint of mind is the only means to control it to uproot disquietude and agitation. The mind is like a poisonous snake sitting with its hood raised in the forest of the heart. It is filled with the deadly poisons of resolves and counter-resolves. I pay my obeisance to the one who has overcome the poisonous snake that resides in the mind and liberate the mind so that it becomes free of vices. Once rid of the poison, the mind is as perfect as a full moon." The mind of an enlightened one gets destroyed while that of an ignorant one is boound and fettered, unable to experience freedom. Unless the mind is controlled through steadfast practice towards realising the Supreme Truth, it keeps wavering, flitting about without direction.


When the mind is not restrained, it develops a penchant for power and influence. The root cause of this is the feeling of imperfection in oneself. With the eradication of the sense of identification with the body, one becomes free from attachment to it, which in turn leads to the complete eradication of the sense of 'mine-ness' regarding relations of the body and the objects related to it.


How can desires stay in the mind of one who has been freed from ego and the sense of 'i-ness' and 'mine-ness' regarding the objects of samsara? His desires are destroyed like the lotus that withers in autumn. He whose desires have been eradicated is liberated. It is only those who have cultivated ways of reining in the mind and using it at will who can be counted as being wise and fortunate.


The mind is the seed of the forest of samsara. One who has destroyed this seed has nothing to fear anymore. Just as a lion roams fearlessly even in the midst of various ferocious animals in the forest, so also does he move about blissfully, free from pairs of opposites, and fearless even in the midst of obstacles, troubles, pleasures, pains, honour and dishonour.


Every one us us wants to lead a happy, blissful and peaceful life forever but unless we learn to control the mind, happiness and peace would be impossible to achieve. It is is not enough to merely listen to discourses and read scriptures for hours on end. One needs to practice what one has heard sages say. By doing what one wishes to do without a thought to whether actions are commensurate with the requirements that take one on the right path, how can one become liberated?


The one who completely assimilates the knowledge imparted by saints and scriptures, attains liberation. He becomes the master of not only his mind but of the three worlds as well.


Hence control the mind by means of the techniques imparted by great saints. If you overcome your mind, you have overcome the world because the mind alone is the root cause of all that one experiences in the world. It is only when the mind attains the state of no-mind-ness (amani bhava) that one becomes happy, blissful and altruistic in life.

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