POWERS OF MIND
1
1
Previous References:-
Second Post : Three Layers of Personality and Happiness
Third Post : The Passage to Endless Strength and Courage
You must read the
above pages before you read the following to get the full picture.
We have discussed the individuality consisting of three personalities
and their ranges of activities followed by the resultant out-puts in terms of
conditions enforced and contents blessed. These personalities are based on the
three basic constituents of our beings; and they are body, mind and intellect,
grossest to subtlest, in that order. Our gross body is made up of physical body
and the Pranas. The five fold faculties (पञ्च प्राण), which
correspond to the five physiological systems detailed by the biologists,
represent the Vital-Air-Sheath. The five faculties (Pranas) comprising this
sheath, are:-
(i) Faculty of
Perception (प्राण):- that controls the five-fold perception, viz., seeing, hearing,
smelling, tasting and touching.
(ii) Faculty of
Excretion (अपान):- That controls the throwing out or rejecting by the body of excreta
such as faces (excrement), urine, sperms, sputum,
perspiration etc
(iii) Faculty of
Digestion (समान):- Is that which digests the food received by the stomach.
(iv) Faculty of
Circulation (व्यान):- Is the power by which the digested food is distributed to the
various parts of the body through the blood stream.
(v) Faculty of
Thinking (उदान):- Is the capacity to entertain, absorb and assimilate new thoughts.
This capacity helps a person to acquire knowledge and educate himself.
The physical body contains ten important organs (five organs of action
and five of perception). They are popularly known as Karmendriyas (कर्मेन्द्रियाँ) and Gyanendriyas
(ज्ञानेन्द्रियाँ). I don’t have to
go into details of these as this is a basic observation and knowledge of even
mediocre people. These total ten Indriyas (organs) are governed and regulated
by the mind (मन). This Mana or mind is the most important factor controlling every thing
connected to our individual world of experiences.
The human personality is defined by the quality and the texture of the
mind and the intellect. The religion helps man to rehabilitate his personality
by chastening the mind and educating the intellect. By improving the state of
his mind and developing a sense of subtler discrimination man enjoys a happier
and more harmonious relationship with the ever-changing phenomena of the
external world of things and beings. For this reason the whole religious
literature of the world, the volumes of different scriptures, the preaching
imparted and directions given by all the sages and saints over the entire past,
one way or other, only try to examine and explain the methods and manners
related to chastening of this mighty factor called MIND or (मन), and
sharpening the regulatory device in our constitution, called Intellect (बुद्दि). This
chapter is going to deal with these two, but, of course, within the limits and
the abilities of the person behind this key board. I must confess that this is
going to be a difficult and all encompassing topic, so please cooperate.
Mind (मन)
Since, the mind controls all ten Indriyas, it is considered in our Vedas
as the king of Indriyas, the head of all heavenly dwellers, the Indra (इन्द्रियानाम राजा सः इन्द्र राजा). If you go through the Mantras portion of the
Vedas (also known as Samhitaas), you will come across many of these mantras
invoking Indra. The Upanishads are said to be the culmination of knowledge and
therefore are the main scriptures dealing with the Vedanta. (Vedanta = VEDA +
ANTA, where the word Veda means knowledge or wisdom). The Vedas are also called
Shrutis. Literally the word Shruti means “what is heard”. In Hindu tradition, a
category of sacred writings understood to be the direct revelation of Eternal
Truth. The Vedas are said to contain four parts, and they are the Samhitaas,
the Brahamanaas, the Aranyakaas and Upanishads. These revelations in each part
of the above category are termed separately. For example, a revealing verse in
Samhitaa is called a mantra while the same in the Upanishad is termed as
Shruti. The other Vedantic scriptures are Brahmasutras and Gita.
The Upanishads are the explanations of highly evolved and enlightened
Rishis. These Rishis some times were approached by extremely dynamic, curious
and receptive disciples, may be at their aashramaas, to get enlightened into
the realms of Absolute Truth. There, they were not only explained the Absolute
but also the methods and means to reach that state. The Mana or mind, as of the
necessity, was considered a major role player in that voyage. These discourses
(mostly one sided) became the contents and themes of Upanishads. The Shrutis or the revelations by the Rishis,
available in these sacred books, are very precise in nature and condensed with
compact wisdom. I shall take such Shruti declarations later, but here we are
discussing the mind or mana. Let us examine how a Shruti advises the aspirant.
The Shruti says, a seeker of absolute truth must
discipline his mind and its ten extensions first, and then only strive for
truth. In due course, the truth will dawn in his bosom. And in cases these ten
Indriyas and the mind are not properly disciplined and educated, the mission
will be a race against impossible, and will cause irreparable damages.
A Rishi might have whispered above stated advice in to the
ears of the obedient disciple. The disciples, those days,
approaching to a Rishi, were far better equipped in the field of
astuteness and sincerity than the pseudo-intellectuals and self
proclaimed mahatmas of our time. They possessed clean minds,
were ready to obey and came tothe Rishi with receptive intents,
with un-deterring determination to seek the Truth. The things are
different these days. Most of the saffron clothed men these days
became saadhus as they are incapable to do any other useful work
to maintain their livelihood (नारि मुई गृह सम्पति नासी, मूंड
मुंडाई भये सन्यासी).
And
with the prevailing
traditions in our country, such
people do get not only a
better living while doing
nothing, they also get a
respectable status and some
times abundant of luxury and
wealth.Shankara once warned
about such saadhus and said, “These typicaly shaved heads,or long
dangling hair, the orange coloured cloths and variety of make-ups
all over the body, adopted by these people, O Fool, even having all
seeing faculties intact can’t you see that these are only for the
purpose of easy livelihood :-
जटिलो
मुंडी लुन्छित केशः,
काषायांबर
वहुकृत वेशः,
पश्यन्नपि
च न पश्यति मूढो,
उदर
निमित्तम वहुकृत वेशः
.
The Vedic days were over and the Truth became more and more difficult to
seek. The minds of the people were not as pure and receptive as of the ancients.
The ego started dominating the three personalities. The Shrutis in that ambiance became too dull and
ineffective. Even the aspirants started enquiring for the easier and
entertaining ways to wisdom. The same trend continues till date, nay, it has worsened.
Now, most of the people think that by a magic touch of some so called Mahatma
or Saadhu, they will get rid of all the sins they have committed and will turn
virtuous, in return of the money they had offered. They want short cuts where
no effort is needed. My teacher in his first letter to me very strictly stated,
“If you think by a magic touch somebody is going to make you spiritual, you are
dreaming. Religion is not cowards...” So it is. But during the age of epics and
puranaas, though the condition was not as bad as of the present, but needed
different and easier ways to contemplate on the philosophical dictions. It was
for this reason the later thinkers and philosophers decided to change the
tactics. To
The Rishi said: A seeker of absolute truth must discipline his mind and
its ten extensions first and then only strive for truth. In due course, the
truth will dawn in his bosom. And if these ten Indriyas and the mind are not
disciplined and educated properly, the mission will be a race against
impossible, and will cause irreparable damages.
How should an epic poet and a Hindu-philosopher-thinker deal with this
idea? We must remember that the idea was to be wrapped by an appropriate and
attractive story-cover, keeping the intent of the gift inside it. This was to
be done in such a way that an intelligent seeker can discriminate and grasp the
essence of it and at the same time it should sooth the hearts of the people who
are not so sharp in the realm of introspective thinking and intelligence. The seekers
of the later times were, thus, required to be advised in great details about
the possibilities of nuisances that could be sustained by this mighty MIND. Let
us examine here the advice of the Shruti in the contents of Ramayana.
The poet-philosopher of Ramayana to depict the aforesaid idea first
created two opposite characters with the base word दश meaning ten. The first
character is Dasharatha who represents the first segment of the Rishi’s advice.
Please make a note of the beauty and the characterization of the poet. A Ratha
meaning chariot is being driven by ten horses. A normal chariot will be driven
by only two or four horses and never by ten, but in Vedic literature the number
of horses pulling the chariot was always symbolic. The chariot of sun is said
to be driven by seven horses and those seven horses represent the seven colours of spectrum.
The ten horses in Dasharatha symbolize the ten Indriyas. Naturally, the poet
made no mention of the horses separately, but in the name
On the other hand as a
contrast to the first character, the second character of the epic is Ravana,
the ten headed Asura (दशानन), created so to depict the other extreme
possibility of Mana. Dashanana, naturally has a different psychological
constitution that could represent the darker and dangerous aspect as against
that of Dasharatha. Here also the word Dash or Ten represent the same number of
Indriyas, but instead of showing them as horses, they are portrayed as heads. This
way of portrayal, which is so popular among modern cartoonists, shows that the
Indriyas acting like heads are very much independent in their nature and
subsequently are stubborn, indiscipline, turbulent and recalcitrant. About the heads, there
is a popular saying that each head has a peculiar tendency totally different from the
others (मुंडे मुंडे मतिर्भिन्ना), and therefore, in the present context, all
of them face in ten different directions and have different likes and dislikes.
Their contradicting motives, intentions, and cravings are bound to create
confusions in the individuality. Incoherence created by pulling or pushing of
these ten Indriyas in divergent directions, destabilizes the whole purpose of
life. Also, in the character of
Isn’t the depiction wonderful? Two psychological ends are brought to life
and a grand epic is written by the master for the successors to enjoy, learn
the values of life and also to investigate and find the sacred gifts of the
Rishis so nicely placed in the text of the epic-characters. There are various
other psychological and philosophical ideals or views personified and became
living characters in the same masterpiece. The numerous stories contained in
bulkiest books called puranas also do illustrate some or other ideal or
ideology or Vedic truth, and that could easily be unwrapped and found by any
diligent seeker. Even the portraits of deities like Vishnu, Brahma, Shiva,
Ganesha, Lakshmi, Saraswati, Parvati, Durga etc, are also wrapped so that they
contain abundant of philosophical gifts for us, left by the masters of yore. Do
we care to open the wrappings and ever see the beauty of the ideas hidden there
in? No, never. We appear to be content with the visible and overt covering,
enjoy it, and curse those who even try to delve deep in search of the inherited
treasures in those wrappings.
Even if I wish, I cannot explain every Puranic character in the way I
did here about the two character of Ramayana. That will be a voluminous work,
which I cannot afford to do on these pages. I have some other plan for this
blog. So, I humbly request you to do that yourself. Or get guidance of someone
who is conversant with such analysis. This essay is still incomplete but has
already covered space of over a thousand words. So, here I end the present
discussion, and hope to come back soon with the subsequent information’s on the
present issue.
Good bye. Good Luck.
Yaduraj Singh Bais
http://yaduraj1.blogspot.in/2013/07/its-never-late-contemplate-on-values-of.html
Second Post : Three Layers of Personality and Happiness
Third Post : The Passage to endless Strength and Courage
Exclusive piece of writing
ReplyDelete