POWERS OF MIND
2
Please also see previous posts to maintain continuity of thought.
I did talk of the
personification of Vedic philosophical ruling that got characterized in our
great religious texts. Dasharatha and Dasaanana of Ramayana are the examples of
two extremes that portray the powers of our ‘mind’ as two opposite poles. Our
‘mind’ is the greatest friend and also the worst enemy and all of us are bound
to obey its commands. We can make ourselves by the proper use of this ‘mind’
and also destroy by its improper use. It all depends on how we use this
unlimited power given to us. All religious books through medium of their
characters explain the power of mind and illustrate the ways to tame its powers
for the useful purposes. Even the pure philosophical books like
Yogavaashishthya (योगवाशिष्ठ्य), all through their texts,
discuss the ways and designs of activities of mind and give valuable advices to
harness its powers. Vedanta is particularly dedicated to this task.
Gita, a prominent
constituent of Vedanta philosophy, if taken literally, appears to be a
discourse between the Lord and Arjuna on the battle field of Kurukshetra, and
we, the unthinking bhaktas, so blindly confine ourselves to the literal meaning,
that we never even look beyond and see the allegorical significance of the
same, at all. And those, who are a bit squeamish, don’t even appreciate the
scripture simply because that such a long discussion could have not taken place
on a battle field keeping both the armies waiting. We, like ignorant fools,
never dare come out of the rut we are placed in, by the priest class, or
otherwise, and analyze the intent of the scripture in a wiser way.
This priest class or
the self proclaimed pandits of our society, who have the authority to preach
the religion and philosophy just because of the co-incidence of their births,
have done tremendous damage to our commonly inherited great religious and
philosophical values. They introduced the rituals, traditions and endless
dogmas whereby they can rule over the Hindu society, dictate their terms and
earn their living as their privilege. If you some how gather guts to question
them or their authority, believe it or not, they would get united and have well
designed methods and measures to show you your place then and there. The
Vedantins, in fact, stand as a minority in the present Hindu society. In the
majority of orthodox Hindus there exists a vast section of people who
fanatically believe in orthodox dogmas and behave as an army of fanatic fools if
you just open your mouth against blind practices. Pained by this state of
affairs, Swami Vivekananda once commented, “Your bhakti is a sentimental
nonsense.” In another lecture he painfully further stated, “Half has been
stolen and lost; and the other half which remains is in the hands of men who,
like dogs in the manger, do not eat themselves and will not allow others to do
so....The West is groaning under the tyranny of the Shylocks, and the East is
groaning under the tyranny of the priests.” (Shylock is a character in
Shakespeare’s drama ‘Merchant of Venice’ symbolic of base materialism)
Let us come back. Gita
is not a discourse between two living characters. It is an eternal discussion
going on within each one of us. It is, however, a different issue, that we take
cognition of the discussion or simply ignore it. If we think and look at the
scripture in the light of wisdom we can visualize the truth of Gita. When the ego (Arjuna) in its
dejection sits back in the body (chariot), throwing down all instruments of
ego-centric activities (Gandiva), and when the sense-organs (the white horses)
are held back, well under control, by the pulled reins (the mind), then the
charioteer (the Pure Intellect) shall lend the ego a divine strength, and guide
it to the ultimate victory over the forces of Adharma with the help of the
dynamism of Dharma, even though the former may seem much stronger in force than
the simple-looking dynamism in the later. Most necessary condition for this
dialog to take place is that the reins of the horses of Indriyas should be
pulled back by the mind and listen to the directions of the pure intellect. If
that is done, in any field of life and performing any activity, we are guided
by the Blessed Lord and win the battle. But normally, if properly introspected,
we can easily see the wall between the mind and the intellect, and we like a
blind man run in directions that our Indriyas lead and the mind dictates.
All our actions that
make or mar our personality emanate from the tendencies we have so meticulously
and laboriously harvested in our minds. The actions are the gross extensions of
thoughts and a mind is said to be generated by the continuous flow of thoughts.
Please remember that the Mind is not a biological organ in our body. It is
generated the same way as the current is generated out of electrons by a
difference in their potential or the current in the water when it is moving
from a higher platform to lower one. Nevertheless, it happens to be a cause and
dynamism behind all activities, whether they are physical, mental or even
intellectual. The psychological researches also show that the Individual minds
are some way related to some unseen total or Universal Mind. The frenzies and
revolutions are caused by a typical thought-flow in the total (Universal) Mind
and every individual gets unknowingly affected. Some thing happens in Delhi , and suddenly the whole of India
If our minds were
isolated entities, one there and another some where else, scattered all over the world with no
connection between the two, then how would it be possible for my thought to
reach you? In the ordinary cases, it is not my thought that is reaching you
direct; but my thought has got to be dissolved into ethereal vibrations and
those ethereal vibrations go into your brain, and they have to be resolved
again into your own thoughts. Here, when dissolution of thought takes place, the
resolution of the same thought occurs at the other end. It is a roundabout
process. But in telepathy, it is direct, no dissolution and no resolution. Yogis
call it a continuity of mind. The mind is universal. Your mind, my mind, all
these little minds, are fragments of that Universal Mind, little waves in the
ocean; and on account of this continuity, we can, if we have the control over
the mind, convey our thoughts directly to one another.
The laws of Karma,
therefore, first of all involve individual mind and then the Universal Mind. I
don’t reap the fruits of only my own actions and the same thing is applicable
to you too. All of us are bound to face the reactions of total karmas. Our good
deeds and thoughts make the overall world good and vis-à-vis. If we don’t go by
this logic a number of aspects will remain un-clarified. Swami Vivekananda says:
“Just as every action
that emanates from us comes back to us as reaction; even so our actions may act
on other people and theirs on us. Perhaps all of us have observed it as a fact
that when persons do evil actions, they become more and more evil, and when
they begin to do good, they become stronger and stronger and learn to do good
at all times. This intensification of the influence of action cannot be
explained on any other ground than that we can act and react upon each other.
To take an illustration from physical science, when I am doing a certain
action, my mind may be said to be in a certain state of vibration; all minds
which are in similar circumstances will have the tendency to be affected by my
mind. If there are different musical instruments tuned alike in one room, you
may have noticed that when one is struck, the others have the tendency to
vibrate so as to give the same note. So all minds that have the same tension,
so to say, will be equally affected by the same thought. Of course, this
influence of thought on mind will vary according to distance and other causes,
but the mind is always open to affection. Suppose I am doing an evil act, my
mind is in a certain state of vibration, and all minds in the universe, which
are in a similar state, have the possibility of being affected by the vibration
of my mind. So, when I am doing a good action, my mind is in another state of
vibration; and all minds similarly strung have the possibility of being
affected by my mind; and this power of mind upon mind is, more or less,
according to the force of the tension whether it is greater or lesser.”
Let us conclude. Flow
of thoughts generates a mind and the mind dictates our actions. Individual
minds how ever individual they may be, they are part and parcel of Universal
Mind and so are the actions (Karmas). Each action affects the world, and each
one of us is affected by the actions performed by the others. We are socially
interlinked and reap the harvest of our total actions together. This truth was realized
by our ancestors, sadly though we have forgotten the same. Vedas declare:
वसुधैव कुटुम्बकम THE WHOLE WORLD IS
ONE FAMILY
It is neither justified nor logical to have divisions
after divisions. So, Let us seek the wisdom in the following lines of
Tagore:-
Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high
Where knowledge is free
Where the world has not been broken up into fragments
By narrow domestic walls
Where words come out from the depth of truth
Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection
Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way
Into the dreary desert sand of dead habit
Where the mind is led forward by thee
Into ever-widening thought and action
Into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country awake.
Where knowledge is free
Where the world has not been broken up into fragments
By narrow domestic walls
Where words come out from the depth of truth
Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection
Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way
Into the dreary desert sand of dead habit
Where the mind is led forward by thee
Into ever-widening thought and action
Into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country awake.
YADURAJ SINGH BAIS
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