Swami teaches... The Vedic lesson for the mind

08-02-2005, 08:22 AM

Sai Ram
Light and Love Swami teaches.... (1 -2 August 2005)
The Vedic Lesson for the Mind
"Sathyam vada. Dharmam chara" (Speak the truth; practise righteousness).
"Om iti Brahma" (Om is Brahmam). "Sathyam, Jnanam, Anantham Brahma" (Truth,
knowledge, all are Brahamam). "Ekam Sath; Vipraah bahudhaa vadanthi" (The Real
is One; the wise call it bymany names). "Ekoham bahusyaam" (I am One; let me
become many). "Eko vasi sarvabhutha antharaatma" (The One is the Indweller in
all beings) these aphoristic pronouncements acquired the form and power of
mantras spread throughout the world and generated bliss among people by raising
their consciousness.
Knowledge of all the shaastras and Vedhas Will not serve to remove the
curtain of the mind Which stands between the individual and God. This
curtain makes it appear That God and man are separate Though both are
one. Only when the mind is subdued Will God and man, Nature and God,
The Cause and the Effect become one. The Vedantic method of arriving at
Oneness by the process of Neti ("not this, not this") leads to the Atmictruth.
The "I" exists in everyone. Once you have cultivated this "Ekaatma bhaava" -
the spiritual oneness of all there will be no room for differences and discord.
In spite of training Vedic explanations before every generation, from
ancient times, the questions, "Where is God?" and "How does he appear?" have
been agitating the minds of people. The answers have been sought by different
ways of investigation, The believers, non-believers, those with doubts and
others have not been able to get clear answers to these questions. To
comprehend the truth, one should look within oneself. This cannot be learnt
from text-books or from teachers. Chaithanya (Consciousness) is there in the
mind and pervades everywhere. People are using the sense organs but do not
know the source of the power which activates them.
Chaithanya cannot be comprehended by the physical vision. It is within
everyone in very close proximity. The entire Creation is a manifestation of the
Divine Will. Prakrithi (Nature) is the manifestation of God. Human is also part
of Prakrithi and thus has the Divine power in him.
The seed of the entire Universe is Chaithanya (Pure Consciousness) what is
Sath-chith-aanandha. It grows in full bloom in the human being and blossoms
into the flower of Awareness. Thus God incarnates in human. To understand this
truth is the goal of human life. It is the mind that stands in the way of this
realisation. Thinking on the physical plane and looking at the external world,
human is not able to understand the Divinity within. However, the physical
world also reflects Divinity. There are two entities, Svabhava and Prabhaava
the former emanating from the True Inner Self and the latter from worldly
pursuits. Human forgets own true Divine nature and as consequence, is wallowing
in troubles and tribulations, reflecting animal qualities in his/her actions.
Human life today is riddled with many problems. People are confused as to
what they should believe and what they should reject, what they should do and
what they should eschew. They believe in the unreal and has no belief in that
which should be believed. The reason for this is selfinterest.
It is only when human behaviour is reformed that the world will get
transformed. The process of change has to begin in human's minds. Thoughts lead
to action. And actions account for the state of the world. When the thoughts go
astray, the actions also are improper. The state of the world, good or ill,
depends on the behaviour of individuals.
Unity in a family is the basis of unity in society. Though there are lots
of common features among mankind, people are not able to visualise their unity,
but promote only their differences. The cause for the lack of peace in the world
is the absence of harmony in thought, word and deed in each individual, which is
reflected in the lack of unity among different individuals. Spiritual values
have been given up, resulting in the turmoil that we see today.
To live in the world completely free from troubles is not possible.
Recognising the difference between good and bad, you have to lead a balanced
life. Happiness and misery are inseparable twins which are inextricably linked
to each other. One is the beginning and the other is the culmination. Beginning
and end go together. Only the Divine is free from a beginning, a middle or an
end, but in worldly affairs, everything that has a beginning, has an end. Grief
is not something which someone thrusts on you from outside. Troubles and
difficulties are not imposed on you from outside. Grief and trouble arise in
the natural course of things.
In creation there are many things which are naturally bad. Out of these bad
things, good emerges. When one desires something, the desire is associated with
aversion to something else. Human's life is bound up with likes and dislikes,
with good and bad thoughts, with union and separation.
Hence samsara (worldly life) has been compared to a vast ocean on which the
waves are constantly bringing about union and separation. Life is full of
trials. If these difficulties are not there, life will have little value.

Human existence can become meaningful only when, human at the very outset,
recognises the nature of the mind and bases the actions on that understanding.
The mind is subtler than the subtlest entity. There is no end to the waves
arising from the ocean of the mind. The five elements, the five lifebreaths,
the five sense organs, the five sheaths are all based on the mind.
The mind is responsible for differences in opinions, likes and dislikes, and
diversity in attitudes. The world is perceived through the mind. The world is
permeated by the mind. Without the mind there can be no world and no
attachments and hatred, no joy and sorrow. Human can achieve nothing without
the motive power of the mind.
People do not realise today the prodigious powers of the mind. The powers of
the mind are indescribable. In one moment it can encompass the universe. In
another moment it can be a total blank. The mind is the cause of both good and
bad.
It is because the immense power of the mind is not recognised, human life is
ruined. By belittling the mind, human is dehumanising himself and behaving
either like an animal or as a demon. In the worldly life usually human gets
puffed up with pride on the basis of own wealth, physical strength, scholarship
and position. Hatred and attachment is plunged human today in misery.
As the mind is the root cause of all this, human has to go beyond the
natural infirmities of the mind to the Over-mind to be able to recognise
Divinity. To experience the great fragrance emanating from Nature, its unity
with the Divine has to be realised. For this, it is necessary to transcend the
limitations of the ordinary mind and proceed to the Super-Mind, the
Higher-Mind, the Illuminated Mind and the Over-Mind what is nothing more than
experience the pure Divine Self. It is in the Thureeya state - the fourth state
of consciousness beyond the waking, dream and deep sleep states. This is the
state of the Over-Mind. In that state human is one with the Divine. He has no
attributes and is allpervading. Nature is bound by the five qualities of sound,
touch, form, taste and smell (these are the qualities of space, air, fire, water
and earth - the five basic elements). With the loss of each quality, starting
from smell, a process of expansion takes place. Finally, we have Akaasha (ether
or space) which has only one quality, sound, and is all-pervading. That being
the case, how much more pervasive must be the Lord, who has no attributes.

The mind and thoughts are closely interconnected by inner cosmic-divine
grids. Thoughts influence the vision, which, in its turn, affects the mind.
Thoughts too may assume good and bad forms. (This is the message of the
three monkeys pictured as one with closed eyes, another with closed ears and
the third with a closed mouth "See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil."
Today the entire environment is polluted by evil things which offend the eyes,
the ears and the tongue. Everyone should free himself from this three-fold
pollution).
Thought waves radiate very much like heat waves, radio waves, light waves,
gravitational waves, etc. They exists in spite of that science cannot discover
essence of the Divine Creation by wordly methods. The thought waves are the
cause of human's joy or sorrow, health or disease, birth or death. The whole
cosmos is made up of thought waves; hence, the scripture declares: "The mind is
at the root of the cosmos." There is no place, or form or action wherein the
mind is absent. Hence, all human's thoughts should be turned in the right
direction.
When good thoughts, good feelings and good intentions are developed, the
mind becomes pure. Only when the mind is pure, can the action be pure and the
fruits thereof be pure. Today we sow the seed of thought - karma - and reap the
fruit of action. From the seed of karma arises the fruit of behaviour. Out of
the seed of behaviour comes the fruit of character. The seed of character
yields the fruit of fortune. Thus, from thought to fortune, the chain of human
progress can be perceived. Our good and bad luck are thus linked to our
thoughts. The mind immerses human in impenetrable darkness through bad
thoughts. The same mind can lift human to sublime heights by good thoughts.

The entire human existence is based upon thoughts and their results. As
thoughts lead to actions, one's behaviour, speech and conduct affect the
tendencies of the mind and give rise to good or bad impulses.
The natural state of a human's heart is pure. But by letting in the
poisonous snakes in the form of evil thoughts, he is inviting trouble. Bad
thoughts in the mind are worse than poisonous reptiles in the house.
The refinement of life calls for continual sadhana (spiritual practice).
Without such practice, lifegets degraded. Sadhana is necessary to elevate life
from the trivial to the sublime. No one is a scholar at the moment of birth. It
is only through various endeavours that he becomes a scholar and a righteous
person.
There is a saying: "Anything can be achieved by Sadhana." Sadhana means
converting bad into good, transforming evil into virtue. This calls for the
right use of the mind as human is not aware of the potentialities of the mind.
Discharge of your duty is the daily yajna (spiritual offering) you have to
perform. That is the primary spiritual exercise. That is the penance you have
to do and that is the goal you have to keep in mind. Next one should have a
mind filled with Samarasa, a vision of equality, the conviction that
fundamentally all are same. You should try to have complete knowledge of
anything. Partial knowledge is dangerous. You should study the nature of the
heart. He has a broad vision, while human beings have a narrow selfish outlook.
You should also expand your heart - not the physical but spiritual heart. This
heart with dhaya (compassion) is Dhaivam (God). Compassion is the most
essential quality of a human being. A compassionate heart reflects divinity.
It is not easy to subdue the mind immediately. But you must begin to bring
it under control. When the mind desires something, you must immediately set the
Buddhi (intellect) at work. Why? So that the intellect may give you the proper
advice. The mind has to be taught to examine your desire, using the power of
discrimination to find out whether it is good or bad, right or wrong. Do not
wish to acquire whatever you desire. When you try to teach the mind in this
manner, it loses its potency. This Vijnaana is full of intelligence and common
sense. It is called Divine Intellectual Will. The Divine Will Power has to be
acquired by everyone. Only then, they can realise their true human nature. It
is through this Will Power that the Cosmic Divine nature of the universe can be
recognised. This Cosmic Power has to be seen with the eyes, experienced
mentally, practised through the body and made an integral part of one's being.
Develop the feeling: "I and God are one." This should not be purely a verbal
exercise. You must realise the implications of the manthra you recite God's
name or such as "Soham" (I am He) and live up to it.
There is no difference between the Cosmic Divine and the Inner Divine But
when it is experienced by the individual, it is described as Inner Divine. When
the individual experience is extended to the entire universe, it is called
Cosmic Divine. The Individual Self and Paramaathma (the OmniSelf) are one, like
the rind of a fruit and the juice inside. (Reet's compilation from, Sathya Sai
Speaks. Vol. 24."The human predicament and the Divine," Chapter 16 and "Face
the challenges of life," Chapter 18; Sathya sai Speaks. Vol. 26. "Beyond the
Mind," Chapter 20; "Thought waves make up the Cosmos," Chapter 21 and "Role of
the Avathaar in the cosmic play," Chapter 30).

Namaste - Reet