The Untrained Mind

 

All religions talk of the mind as the enemy and the friend. The most important problem facing human beings is the delusion and ignorance of the Reality of the world as we see it. Scientifically, it has been said that we are physical creatures which have organs of action and perception. The beauty of nature is the phenomenon of creation where a single cell is the beginning of life form. This life form for a human being is complex and species specific. Now, this gives each species some common and some unique features which are both inherited and acquired. 

Broadly on a physical plane we are as much flesh and blood as animals are and even among these we are part of the group known as mammals. The physical body made of the gross anatomical structures is given life by physiological functions which in turn is governed by the mind. This mind is in a matter of knowing the filter which sends signals to the intellect which using its power of discrimination decides what it needs to do and what it needs to avoid. 

There are reasons to believe that we need to get the mind to do our bidding rather than the mind controlling us. So why is this such a struggle and why is it so hard to control? I want to answer this question in this blog. More important than that I want to know for myself why I need to make the mind my friend and not my enemy?

The importance of control of the mind is a theme of many religions and scriptures and on a personal level this is a relentless struggle in my life. The solution of meditation is touted as the key practice to control the mind. Meditating on breath, a mathram or an object are the methods which have been advocated.  As a practitioner of Yoga I found that guided shavasana came as close to controlling the mind as possible as we were guided to relax the body part by part and and weigh it down on the floor relaxing in natural position. But soon the monkey started stirring and we were waiting for the signal from teacher for meditation to end to enable one get back to the waking state of body mind consciousness. 

The method of Passage meditation is not commonly advocated by spiritual gurus or seekers, but I recommend this method for the following reasons. The scriptures are talking of knowledge and teachings from holy books talk of concepts in verse and aphorisms which are well chosen universal truths. These affirmations are such that they have no contradictions or controversy in the affirmations. Hence concentrating on these words and bringing them into one's consciousness the undiluted wisdom guides me to take the right course of action fulfill my purpose of life. 

While there is so much in these words which are interlinked for me the verses from the Dhammapada dealing with the mind have a great amount of significance. The Twin verses in fact start with the affirmation that our life is shaped by our mind and it states that we are what we think. So an evil thought is followed by sure suffering which is as certain a wheels of a cart follow the oxen that draw it and joy follows a pure thought as shadow that never leaves it. Then it goes on to talk of how duality affects everything in life and for every good thought there is an evil thought. We see those who we perceive as our detractors as people who are attacking us, defeating us, robbing us of our name, fame and wealth and we want to hate them whereas when we stop dwelling on such perceptions and see our so called detractors as divine we stop hating them and start loving them and by doing so realise the Universal law and then all quarrels come to an end. Satan in Christianity, Angra Mainyu in Zoroastrianism, Asura in Hinduism, shaytan in Islam are all at hand in this world extremely active and ready to attack us by tempting us to indulge in over eating and laziness and indolence. Further there is the metaphor relating to the trivial and the vital. The delusion and ignorance make us think that the attractions of the world and indulgence of the senses are the most important things in life even though in our sober moments and after time passes we realise that these are impermanent and temporary. The pretence of the persons who wear the saffron robes but who have not purified their thoughts are described as unfit to wear the sacred garments. The metaphor of the rain that seeps through an unhatched hut is used to compare passions that overcome the untrained mind. 

Vedanta talks of the levels of consciousness which are the three evident ones through which we experience the world through the apparatus of body, mind and intellect. So we use our organs of perception eyes, ears, nose, skin and tongue which do the physical job of seeing, hearing, smelling, touching and tasting and the organs of action which are which are hands, feet, mouth, anus and genitals. All these are subject to emotions through the instrument of the mind and these in turn are governed by the intellect which makes choices. The waking state seems to be real but is not so as time space and causation are impermanent and relative. When we are in sleep state of consciousness we dream and the dream is as lucid and real as the awake state and we believe that to be true but realise it's false nature when we are awake. The deep sleep state of dreamless ness also seems as true as the other two but again the realisation of this leaves us with no solution but to accept the possibility of a fourth state of consciousness which is the permanent all pervading eternal state of the Self that is within all but which transcends al. Realising it and living in it's consciousness is the raison d'etre of our existence.

 

This is the real knowledge which will take man back to his natural state of Existence-Knowledge-Bliss Satchitananda. To reach that realization is hard to achieve and even though I have been meditating with reasonable regularity the consistency and control of the mind is hard to achieve. Finally, the part of the passage which I realized relating to a few recent experiences are well encapsulated in the following verse. 

More than those who hate you, more than all your enemies, an untrained mind does greater harm. More than your mother, more than your father, more than all your family, a well-trained mind does greater good.

So finally I realize that I have a long way to go before I train my mind to become one with the Self. 

That one I love who is incapable of ill will,
And returns love for hatred.
Living beyond the reach of I and mine
And of pleasure and pain, full of mercy,
Contented, self-controlled, firm in faith,
With all their heart and all their mind given to me –
With such as these I am in love.

Not agitating the world or by it agitated,
They stand above the sway of elation,
Competition, and fear, accepting life
Good and bad as it comes. They are pure,
Efficient, detached, ready to meet every demand
I make on them as a humble instrument of my work.

They are dear to me who run not after the pleasant
Or away from the painful, grieve not
Over the past, lust not today,
But let things come and go as they happen.

Who serve both friend and foe with equal love,
Not buoyed up by praise or cast down by blame,
Alike in heat and cold, pleasure and pain,
Free from selfish attachments and self-will,
Ever full, in harmony everywhere,
Firm in faith – such as these are dear to me.

But dearest to me are those who seek me
In faith and love as life’s eternal goal.
They go beyond death to immortality.

Training of the mind is the most important and hardest thing to do and I pray for divine grace to help me reach that state. I urge my readers to become fellow travellers in this journey of life and quest for purposeful existence. 

Vispi Jokhi