Aditya, Monday, July 4, 2016 11:21 pm

Richness of the Mind

Knowledge of truth, leads to Moksha (lasting happiness) for the person who is ‘ready’ to receive that knowledge. But ‘ready’ means what? ‘Readiness’ (adhikaritvam) in terms of how rich you are! (The text Tattvabodha teaches us). Great – I have a house, well paid job, 2 cars and a healthy pension fund. No, this is not that kind of richness, this is richness in terms of your personality. Your virtues. Your mental qualities. This is a richness of the mind. There are 6 of these qualities we should aspire to cultivate (called ‘shamadi-shatka-sampattih’): mind control, sense control, practicing your duties, forbearance, faith, concentration.  Let’s see the first 3….

1. Mind Control (Shama). First we need to define what is ‘mind’. Mind is an instrument by which you can do things. Like what? You can think, you can visualize, you can dream, you can understand, you can question,  you can experience, you can feel happy, sad, anger, love, confusion, etc. It’s a pretty amazing instrument, no? Vedanta calls the mind an ‘instrument’ (karana) very deliberately. Why? Because any 'instrument' is used and is under the control of the user. And who is the user of the mind? You, the person, the individual (Karta). You use your mind to do all those things listed above. Ok, so what ? Well…here’s the key question for you to think about: (a) should the instrument control the user, or (b) the user control the instrument? a or b. Hmmm…not sure? Let me re-phrase the question: should (a) The driver control the car; or (b) the car control the driver? It’s obvious – (b). The driver (user) controls the car (instrument of the user). If not, then I would want to turn left, and my car decides to turn right and I’d never reach my goal/destination. Point proven here is this: A user must control the instrument in order to achieve a goal, not vice-versa. Therefore I must have level of control over my mind (thoughts) in order to use my mind properly to do what I want it to do. For example, if I decide to read a book for 30 mins, I should have a level of control over my mind/thoughts in order to achieve this to stop the mind from getting distracted. This is called Shama. This is also connected to your strength of will power. Tapas (religious disciplines – fasting, silence, puja, getting up early following routine) helps in cultivating Shama.

 

2. Sense control (Dama). What are the senses? Eyes, Ears, Nose, Tongue, Skin. These senses are physical instruments (bahya-karana) which enable you to experience colours, sounds, smells, tastes, and touch. And again, you/the person are the user of these sense instrument (indriyas). So just like we said above, any instrument must be under the control of the user. So to, these physical senses must be under your control in order to accomplish what you wish to. E.g. your tongue says “ I want coffee”. Therefore you go and buy coffee. Fine, simple. But then your tongue says 15 mins later “I want more coffee”, so you buy more. Again after 15 mins it demands more. So you buy more….ermm…do you ? Will that work? No, you’ll be sick. Any excess is not healthy. So there is a point where you’re tongue may say: “I want coffee”, but you have to say: “No. No more coffee”. This ability to say ‘no’ to a sense craving is very important. Its free will. Its control of the senses, called ‘dama’. How to gain this? Tapas = Deliberate denial of something you want every now and again. It’s very good practice. That’s why we follow ‘Ekadashi’ – fasting for a day every few weeks. Not excessive denial, but occasional is very healthy.

 

3. Practicing your own duty (Uparama). There are 2 types of duty (dharma): Universal  (Samanya) Dharma and Specific (Visesa) Dharma. Universal Dharma is made up values all people should follow regardless of who or where you are: non-violence, humility, truth, compassion, giving (Gita Chapt 13.7+). Specific Dharma is not to be followed by everyone regardless of who you are. It is specific to you and you’re situation. Specific to your status in the society, in family, amongst friends, etc. For example, duties of a child are different from the duties of a parent. They are not the same. Duties of a doctor are not the same as duties of an accountant. They are not the same. So Uparama is a value for performing your duty in particular situation, not doing someone else’s duty. This is referred to as ‘Sva-dharma’ in the Bhagavad Gita. A major part of the Gita discusses this exact point: Arjuna is asking Krishan “What is my Sva-Dharma (specific duty) in this situation ?”. And there is a huge discussion by Sri Krishna on this. What is you’re duty? You must use your intelligence and common sense to work this out depending on your situation. Depending on your environment, your education, your skills, your abilities, cultural norms, societal norms. You must think. Be sensitive and alert to your environment. It’s not easy! But it does create a very refined and subtle mind which is what you require to assimilate this wisdom and live happily.

Shama, Dama, Uparama – if you can earn these, you are rich and ready for Moksha!

Om

Aditya, London.

(adig_85@yahoo.com)

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