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by Jayaram V
To remain the same under all circumstances is an important virtue we
can
cultivate for inner happiness, peace and abundance. By abundance, I
mean fulfillment, the feeling of completeness or being able to be what
one wants to be. Equanimity is also an important precondition on the
path of liberation.
The human mind rarely rests in peace. It has a tendency to go out and
reach out to things and objects it likes or withdraw and move away from
things it dislikes. It also has the tendency to evaluate and judge
things, events and situations it encounters, using such means as
analysis, comparison and imagination. Most importantly it also has a tendency to
evaluate and react to events and situations
either positively or negatively according to its evaluation, resulting
in positive or negative
states of mind.
These particular abilities of our minds are very useful in dealing
with the day to problems of our lives. But if we want to move away from
our material pursuits and turn to spiritual life, they become a
hindrance. We need to rely less upon our senses and mental consciousness
and turn inward to awaken our hidden potentialities and better means of
knowing and being.
The secret to peace and inner happiness is to know the distinction
between the mind and the soul. The human mind has the natural and
instinctive tendency to react. The soul, on the other hand, has the
tendency to understand, to be aware and know by itself without the need
for the intervention of the sense organs. Our reacting nature is responsible for our
emotional states, which are referred in some scriptures as mental
afflictions. In soul there are no afflictions, but pure awareness that
is tainted neither by the impurities of egoism and ignorance nor by
attachment and desires. We should therefore stop reacting mentally to events and situations
in our lives and learn to understand, in a very detached manner, what is happening within ourselves
and outside and how and why we tend to react to different events and
situations. In that awareness we will be able to transcend our
limitations and experience the "truth hidden behind the golden
lid."
To achieve this, we have to become soul centric by rooting ourselves
in our witness consciousness and in the present moment. We have to learn to
stand apart from
our ordinary selves and look at the objective world with a detached mind.
One simple technique to start with is to become aware of our regular
breathing and learn to breath slowly. We also have to train our four
bodies (annamaha, pranamaya, manomaya and vijnanamaya kosas) and align
them properly around our inner most self. We can do this through various
techniques. We can align the physical or gross body
through yoga asanas, yamas and niyamas as specified in the Yoga Sutras
of Patanjali, the breath body through pranayama or breath control, the mental
body through meditation and contemplation and the intelligence body by
cultivating divine qualities as enumerated in the Bhagavadgita which
would lead to purity of thought, intention and purpose.
The human mind is the most wonderful creation of nature. It sets us
apart from the rest of the living creatures upon earth and helps us greatly
to cope with day to day problems. But it is also subject to several
limitations, which are responsible for our ignorance and bondage. If we
want to overcome these limitations, we have to develop other means of
knowing and awareness. It becomes possible when we begin to identify
ourselves with our inmost self and integrate the various aspects of our
being around it.
Suggested Further Reading
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* The author of Conversations
with God and other books.
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