Conversation of Lord Sanatkumara & Narada Part 2

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Continuation of the Narrative;

 

Narada: These unconscious impressions in the mind seem to be completely autonomous. Is there any rule governing how and when the subtle impressions of the past arise?

 

Sanatkumara: Contemplation awakens these subtle impressions. Without thought as an instigating factor, they cannot become active. The law is simple: Similar attracts similar. Nothing is totally unconscious. The unconscious mind cannot function if part of it is not conscious in some way. Therefore, your conscious thinking, which you may call contemplation, triggers corresponding samskaras, subtle impressions of the past, which, in turn, affect your samkalpa and your conscious mind, as well as your speech and action.

 

Beyond the conscious mind, all other principles-such as samkalpa, the unconscious mind and, ultimately, this power of contemplation-gradually become more subtle. For a novice, it is hard to work at the level of contemplation. In this context, contemplation means to dive into the depths of your thinking process. You must aim to penetrate the nature of the unconscious mind.

 

Contemplation prevents the unconscious mind from controlling the conscious mind. However, it is your samkalpa shakti that makes contemplation effective. This power of decision is more powerful than the unconscious mind.

 

Remember, Narada, all the subtle impressions of the past stored in the unconscious mind lie dormant there. Unless something awakens them, these samskaras have no power to affect either your determination or your conscious mind.

 

First, you make a decision and then based on that, you contemplate. Implementation of your ideas comes later. Contemplation is far subtler than actually performing a task. Before executing a task, a decision has to be made. That process of deciding is affected by your previous experiences. Before the force of contemplation triggers the power of determination and reaches the conscious mind, it awakens the unconscious material. Thus, in a sense, the unconscious and the other faculties of our inner being such as the power of determination and the conscious mind-become active simultaneously. Therefore, Narada, from the very beginning contemplate on the principle that is contrary to your negative samskaras.

 

Because it is hard to penetrate these subtle layers of our being in the early stages of our sadhana, it is advisable to fill our contemplation with Brahman consciousness, while simultaneously working toward self-transformation and self-improvement.

 

The power to contemplate on truth, which is conducive to peace and happiness, springs from the knowledge of the truth. Unless we know the antidote for the negative samskaras, we cannot begin to contemplate such principles. Therefore, knowledge is subtler than the contemplation itself. I am not speaking of intellectual knowledge, but of self-revealed, intuitive knowledge. This knowledge does not come from books, discourses, or reasoning. You maintain Brahman consciousness by keeping the highest goal in mind throughout your study of the scriptures, through your discourses, and in your reasoning. As a result, the lower knowledge that you gain through worldly sources becomes a means of gaining the knowledge of the highest truth.

 

Narada: All these years I thought that I had a goal. I believed that the way I was studying and teaching was a definite method of suadhyaya, self-study.

 

Sanatkumara: Your studies and teaching activities were a means of entertaining yourself, of gaining recognition, of finding some intellectual satisfaction, and of keeping yourself busy and earning a living. Such studying and teaching is mere action. No one can achieve freedom through action.

 

 

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