Body and Mind

It is beyond all doubt that there is an inextricable relationship between body and mind; body can affect the mind, and the vice versa. Psychologists believe that many of the sicknesses are not merely physical, but outcome of problems associated with the mental makeup. We cannot however say that all sicknesses are due to mental framework of persons; for instance if a person is diagnosed cancer or tuberculosis all of a sudden, it cannot be related to the mind of the person, or the mental problems he/she is going through. The modern day ‘saviors’ may claim that they have solutions to all the problems of the world and of humanity, but their claim has to be taken with a pinch of salt.

One of the greatest and most severe maladies of the modern age is tension; there is mental tension, and there is psychological tension. As a matter of fact, psychological tension puts stress on the mind, and that has an effect on the body. We might think that the psychological tensions are created by the world or the people around us, but if we observe the evolution of tension or stress in us, we would realize that the psychological tension too originates from the mind, and that in turn affects the body. Stress may also be the one of the most dangerous diseases plaguing the executives, beuorocrats and those men and women who had forgotten to rest. Those who give priority to their work over their bodies are bound to face tension sooner or later.

Just because there is a fountain of energy in our bodies does not necessarily mean that we have to exhaust it at will. We might realize one fine morning that the body is drained of all energy, and we might find ourselves helpless. It is like exhausting the natural resources. We realize more and more that the loss of natural resources is irreplaceable and irrevocable. The energy lost is lost forever, and we cannot hope to replace it by going through the best psychological tests and most sophisticated medication possible. Therefore it is important that we do not exhaust the energy of the physical and the mental area, but use it sparingly. The body can provide all the energy we need to turn the world upside down, but it would do it only at its own time and its own place.

While trying to make the best of technology and modern advancement, humanity has forgotten to relax; most of the people who run from pillar to post to make both ends meet know only one thing for sure, that they have to struggle hard to make a living; they cannot afford to relax, because that would mean they cannot have a bank balance at the end of the month. We are stuck with the idea that every family should have a bank balance for future, and for unforeseen expenses, or for any eventuality. We are almost sure that we cannot be happy without money kept in reserve for emergency expenses, but the fact is quite the contrary. When we have some money kept in the bank to manage the unforeseen expenses, our options in times of emergency are limited. Think of the possibilities when there is no ready-made answer.

When the mind is calm, then the body is relaxed. It is not too difficult to check if my mind is overly preoccupied or calm. I can stop all the work I am busy with for a minute, close my eyes and observe my mind – listen to the self-talk that is going on. What are the thoughts which flood my mind just now? I can observe the thoughts as they come one by one in the screen of my mind. That will give me a clue as to what I am obsessed with. Or another exercise, when I am drinking a cup of coffee, I should be able to really taste the coffee and the sugar; if I gup it in a few minutes, and don’t even make out if it was sugar or salt that was added to the coffee, then I am sure my body and mind are tensed. I need to find some ways of bursting my stress, so that I may enjoy life and all that it presents to me and to others.

Beyond Body

If there is one thing in human beings, which can be considered the center of all good and evil, it is undoubtedly the physical body; all that men do may be ultimately linked to some aspect of the human body. There is another element which can predominate if the physical needs are fulfilled: the mind looks for avenues to satisfy. The last element that we may think of is the spirit or the soul. But I am baffled at thinking the most complicated mechanism that God has created that it would take quite a few millennia for the human mind to just comprehend the intricacies involved with this, leave alone recreating it.

There is such an amount of energy stored into the human body that we seldom realize it; at moments when we least expect, this energy may flow out, even without our realizing it. We often hear of unimaginable things done by feeble and fragile persons; at the spur of a moment, their bodies become a store house of energy which is beyond human comprehension. We cannot explain this phenomena in human logic; it is something which is a blessing of nature (or call it God). But at the same time, the body is also the cause of much of the evil we see in the world. If only we had no bodies, life would be so very different.

The two elements which dominate the media in today’s world are violence and sex, and both are involved with the physical body. Both last only for a short while and the pleasure or the pain involved with these acts are just momentary. Even before we realize that something had happened, the harm is already done. There are several ways of looking at the double-edged sword that media thrives on; remove these two elements, and the entire media, especially television and cinema, will fall flat. But what makes the human mind to seek after violence and sex, not only in literature and in silver screen, not to mention the cinema.

The answer to that question is not too difficult to find; there is something so very basic and fundamental to the human psyche, and it is related to the fact of our bodies, the perishable entity of our selves. It is just an external layer, which undergoes decay once the hour comes, and then the soul is freed. That is the notion which is proposed in the Second chapter of Srimad Bhagavad Gita. It is only the soul which is imperishable. But it would be dangerous to think that the body is just a dispensable entity, because it is in and through the physical body that the human person is to find his/her own path to salvation.

How do we explain the craving for the physical pleasures, and what is its function in a person? Is it possible to forego the physical realities and live in a realm which is above all speculation and imagination? The mind and the spirit cannot be duped as easily as the human body could be, and that is the reason why often we find people seeking to end their lives, because they feel with the loss of the battle on the physical grounds, their lives have come to an end. They cannot think that there are two other layers which can be the center of their existence. The body is a wonderful creature, and it is only who has understood the nuances and the science of it, can really enter into the world of the inner spirit!

Harnessing psychic power – Preparation

Going through some of the websites about psychic power, I realize that there is a sea of information on the topic, and many of them are categorized under the “new age” topics, as if taking a dip is something new to this age. No, it is not; it is as old as many of our civilizations. Even today in the remote corners of the world, we see men and women who are masters in harnessing the power of the human psyche, but this art had taken the form of a cult, and so traditions have not handed over the ancient wisdom to the subsequent generations. That is the reason why many of us find it hard to even understand that there is a tremendous power locked up deep within ourselves. Once we believe in the power, which we can name it also a spiritual power, we are ready to prepare ourselves for a dive.

One of the finest ways of preparing ourselves to harness the psychic power is to become familiar with ourselves, our bodies and the operation of our minds. Needless to say, most of us do not know our bodies sufficiently well. How many of us know where all we have moles in our bodies? Where do we have cut marks, and what are the distinguishing marks in our bodies? Believe it or not, we are all too shy to look at our bodies, like some of the ancient saints who refused to look at their genitals, for fear that should remind them sinful thoughts. If we are not familiar with our bodies, then it would be hard to harness the power locked deep within them.

This implies that we observe both the internal and external form, shape and texture of our bodies; it would take days to really explore the different parts of our bodies, and understand the complexities they impose. There should not be anyone who knows my body better than myself. We can practice a closer familiarity with our bodies, when there is a pain in a particular part of the body. Instead of saying my body aches, can I specify where exactly it aches? Instead of saying my body aches, can I specify that it is the second vertebra which is paining, or that the seventh? This implies a closer scrutiny of what is happening within our bodies. Once we start narrowing down the pain or ticklish feeling, we will get used to them.

The second thing that requires tuning and training is the human mind, and one of the excellent book which may help us to acquire the basic tenets of mind reading is Echkarte Tolle’s The Power of Now. It is a wonderful book which helps us to discard the many misconceptions and prejudices and help take control of the mind. If we can freeze the processings or the “noise” of the mind, then we would be in a better place to enter into the dynamics of it. But to freeze the thoughts which endlessly pour into our mind, it would take quite an amount of time and energy, but the trouble is worth. If we can enter into the “thoughtless” stage of the mind, which opens up for “silence”, we are entering into the domain of the divine, and that is also the domain of immense psychic power.

Focusing and concentrating on what is happening in me and around me is yet another important requisite in order to harness the psychic power. It is only the persons who are aware of how the body or the mind or the spirit is operating can really evaluate their operations. We need to listen to slightest noise that our psychic self makes; we should focus on even the slightest movement of our hearts, so that we may be able to harness what lies beyond promptings. One of the easiest ways of arresting pain or infirmity is to recognize where it is starting from, and where it is leading one to. Most of the doctors cannot diagnose the disease and so would require many tests, before they could make a few assumptions, often they also could go wrong. Once we are sure of the movements of our bodies, and know how to bring the mind to the stillness, and know how to focus and concentrate, then we will be able to enter into the actual harnessing of it.

Silence of the Spirit (3.c)

The modern world is so frightened of silence, of the outer silence, and all the more the inner silence, of the heart, of the soul! The noise around us some how make us think that we are safe and secure, and nothing untoward could happen to us, but the fact is far from it. We are most often so frightened of the "noise" outside, that we have to subdue it with out iPods, or MP3 players, or the FM radio, attached to our cellular phones. I find the trend contagious, and more and more people are attracted to this menace of running away from 'noise'.

Today as I come to realize the two layers of reality that I have fathomed, and now stand at the threshold of my being, what I become more and more conscious of the endless silence beckoning me to jump into the deep. The silence may be deafening, and it may even be dangerous, because it may make me come face to face with the reality of my being, but that is what I feel will make me authentic, to own up what I am without hiding anything of my past or present. I stand before the silence of my spirit, not knowing what is in store for me and how I am going to face it, but face I will.

Going beyond the layers of the body and the mind, today I wish to sink into the silence of my soul, of my Being; that is where I am sure I will encounter the Lord of my soul, but when I stand before my authentic self, what more would I need. I know for sure, that the other name of my Being is God! When I behold his beauty and splendor, I know I would recognize my own image on him. It is this silence which can give me a foretaste of living an authentic life, in communion with my being. The nagging doubt plagues me often, but will I be ever be able to be in touch with my Being all the days of my life?

As I behold the serenity of the silence of my soul, I realize that everything I have received from the world is rubbish in comparison to the precious jewel of this eternal silence; I would like to savor the sweetness of this silence, even as I sit quietly, firmly grounded on the earth I have been born into, establishing myself on the frameworks of the mind, I know I will get the glimpse of this silence at sometime or the other; if not immediately, at least in the not so distant future. To go beyond name and shape is something that is very challenging and difficult for me, but when I come to experience silence, I cannot hold on to the values of the world. I submit myself to go beyond name and shape in the presence of the limitless silence.

I have been taught many things wrongly from my childhood; even my faith had been misrepresented to me. I had been taught that I can taste of eternity only in the next world, but here I am at the threshold of eternity, a slice of eternity offered to me on a platter. When I enter into the eternal silence, am I not entering into the world of eternity, and that is where God dwells, that is where all the righteous and saintly persons and creatures live; even the music, I presume is, composed of silence! So are the Alleluiah and Sanctus! I know as I enter into this silence, I am entering into an altogether different world, the world where all of us are permanent citizens, for that is where we all belong to!

Sane Soul-mates (3.b)

Sometimes if we are lucky we may come across men and women who had managed to remove the obstruction which prevented them communing with their spirits directly and spontaneously. These persons may not be very difficult to identify, because even the ordinary persons would be able to take note of the glow surrounding them. They would radiate such a spiritual aura that anyone who comes in contact with them would experience the power of their spirit communication. Even if there is one single person in a thousand, the community is sure to experience the power of the soul, of the spirit, and they would be able to guide the community to greater spiritual heights.

One such person that the Indian sub-continent had witnessed some years ago was the Mahatma, Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi of happy memory. If he was spectacular in nature, then we have the tribal leaders of Sidu Kanhu brothers, and each state would be able to identify such persons still living or dead. Even if they are dead, their spirit would be alive and active in a society. Today I would like to bring before my eyes one person who had remarkable ease to speak through his spirit. Gandhi was not merely a political force, who fought for the independence of India, but he was also a spiritual force, who taught the noble ideals of ahimsa (non-violence) and satyagraha (search for truth), and thanks to his contact with his spirit, today India can boast of relative peacefulness.

I would like to consider the kind of qualities which mark the people who have access to the well-springs of their spirits, and are able to affect the world they live in : fearlessness, certain amount of daring spirit; no one can harm them, neither death, not killing, they can defy any human power; conviction which spring from life experience: they would stand by what they are convinced of, and no one can turn them from the path they have chosen; spiritual power: these people go beyond all that is material and human, and they put their trust in a power which is lasting, eternal and transcendental; people of the heart: unlike the people who are guided by their heads (logic) these people are guided by their hearts, instincts and inner dynamism.

I can also think of some persons who enter into this spiritual realm, when they are subjected to certain unique kind of experiences. I remember one of my very senior friends narrating to me about her younger brother, who had been informed by the physicians that he would live but for one more month – he had reached advanced case of cancer and there would be no remedy for it, but bear with it until the last day! But this man, I was told wished to defy the impending death by being happy, spending his time in the hospital as joyful as he could, cheering up his other companions and family members… and when the month has passed, I hear that the person has not died, and instead there is a great improvement in his disease… this man was able to frighten cancer, and that is the power of his spirit!

If I am not able to live by my spirit, then I need to take a good look at the four characteristics of persons who live by their spirits: fearlessness, conviction, spiritual power, heart-centered! I would like to ask myself what makes me fearful, why am I afraid of living by my convictions, what makes me give up the spiritual power and seek material and worldly power, and why do I resort to the head instead of the heart? I am also aware that I am not going to change into a person animated by the spirit all of a sudden; I will not become like Mahatma Gandhi or Sidu Kanhu over night; it would take me some years before I can live by my heart spontaneously, without anyone telling me, or myself being aware of it! But my long journey can begin today!

San(ct)ity of the Spirit (3.a)

The essence of my reflection, meditation and contemplation today, as I venture into deeper waters of the world of the Spirit, is taken from the sacred scripture of the Hindus, the Bhagavad Gita, chapter 2, verses 16 to 21. These words spoken by Lord Krishna, addressed to his disciple Arjuna, who refused to fight the battle against his kinsmen, have words of wisdom. Each verse of this excerpt is worth spending ample time with, because what I find here is the essence of all religions and spiritualities, and if I am able to enter into the deeper realization these words can awaken in me, then I would look at reality with different eyes, and I cannot be the same man I was yesterday. The Gita invites me to enter into deeper waters to find the meeting point of my Spirit with the Eternal Spirit.

The invisible Spirit (Sat, Atma) is eternal, and the visible world (including the physical body) is transitory. The reality of these two is indeed certainly seen by the seers of truth. (2.16) The Spirit (Atma) by which all this universe is pervaded is indestructible. No one can destroy the imperishable Spirit. (2.17) Bodies of the eternal, immutable, and incomprehensible Spirit are perishable. Therefore, fight, O Arjun. (2.18) One who thinks that Atma (Spirit) is a slayer, and the one who thinks Atma is slain, are both ignorant. Because Atma neither slays nor is slain. (2.19) The Spirit (Atma) is neither born nor does it die at any time. It does not come into being, or cease to exist. It is unborn, eternal, permanent, and primeval. The Spirit is not destroyed when the body is destroyed. (2.20) O Arjun, how can a person who knows that the Spirit (Atma) is indestructible, eternal, unborn, and immutable, kill anyone or cause anyone to be killed? (2.21) [trans. By Ramananda Prasad, http://www.gita4free.com/english_completegita2.html].

What Lord Krishna refers to the Spirit is the very same one that all human persons possess; there are some who believe that animals and plants do not have Spirits, and that is a contestable issue and I am not prepared to enter into that area. But the spirit that I am privileged to have a peek into during the moment of ‘stillness’ between the noisy moments of my mindscape, is the same one which is present in all people, great or small, rich or poor, men or women. My spirit is part of the Eternal Spirit of the creator, sustainer God, and during the time of creation I am breathed into my body this life spirit, the birthless, deathless spirit. In other words, I see my life on earth as just one tiny phase in the life of the universe.

Unless I remove the obstruction created by the body and mind, I will not be able to see my spirit, and this spirit will be powerless under the shadow of the body and mind, and that is why I had tried to clear the layers of the body and the mind, so that I may have a clear look at the spirit. Some might prefer to call this soul, but I would love to call it spirit, because soul is something of a spiritual jargon, while spirit is a common word denoting a higher power, accepted by all religions, including the animistic and pantheistic ones. If everyone around me also possess the same kind of spirit which is animating and activating me, then how can I harm another person? When I harm a person, am I not causing damage to his/her spirit too?

Here I encounter a problem: the spirit is indestructible, and so when I try to harm a person, I can harm only his/her body, and I cannot do anything to the spirit. And when I try to kill a person or murder my rival, ultimately I lose the battle, because I will never be able to subdue his/her spirit, and it is only a coward who will try to harm the body and not the spirit. And that is precisely what Jesus had told his disciples : “And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell” [Matthew 10:28]. There are several men and women down the centuries who are proof to this, and as I contemplate their lives, I become more conscious of the power that is deep within me, in the form of the Spirit!

Slipping into Stillness (2.c)

All these years I had realized that one of the most difficult battles to win for a human person is with one’s own mind; it may be easier to control one’s body, but not so the mind. All the rishis and munis, who had resorted to the Himalayas to enter into austere tapasya were doing just one thing : to remove the opaque sheet of the mind that prevented them from encountering their Being, the Lord of the Universe. What I think, Lord Buddha did at the shade of the bodhi tree was also precisely the same, to bring the mind under his control, not consciously though, but through awareness of the interplay of thoughts, and distancing himself from them. Even if I begin a non-stop tapasya in order to control my mind, I may hardly pass the test even at the time of my death! This is a lifelong test, and very few could be said to have passed the test.

But I have nothing to worry, because having even a momentary glance of the Eternal is worth a million, for even a tiny fragment of eternity is equal to the largest section of it, and by partaking of the eternal, I become part of what I partake, and I would not want anything more. It is possible that after weeks of practice, of observing the mindscreen for a few weeks as an external viewer, I may be able to find a few seconds of quietness and stillness, and the mind may be back to its play soon. But those couple of seconds can do me a lot more good than all my mindgazing, and that is what I am going to do today: to catch my mind off-guard at different moments of the day.

I am not going to venture into doing something which even seasoned saints and sages have not been able to achieve after decades of their sadhana. I would do something which I can reasonably attempt. Starting from the beginning of the day, I am going to pause for a minute, say at every 30 minutes or one hour, to find what my mind is busy with, and will spend about five minutes observing it each time. Without entering into the scene, I would drop in as if I am walking into the cinema hall at different moments to see what is going on. It is rarely that I might find the mind preoccupied with the same thing, but what it is preoccupied with may give me a clue to what matters the most in life for me.

The exercise itself is not an easy one, because once I quieten myself each time, I have to close my eyes in order to slowly focus the attention on the movements of the mind. It is like focusing of persons through the lens of a video camera. I may not be able to find what the mind is busy with at the beginning, until I have narrowed the focus to the endless stream of thoughts. Here I am expected to move above the physical (and physiological) reality, body sensations, feelings… Thus if there is tension or disturbance in the body, that is not going to let me concentrate or focus on the mindplay. Thus, I need to relax and make my body comfortable before I enter into this realm.

I realize one of the most difficult aspects of this exercise is to separate myself from my thoughts; I am so mixed up with my thoughts, to distance myself from the mind’s game is tough; but as Tolle assures, with practice I may be able to experience the stillness, at least in bits and pieces. Even these bits and pieces of stillness can give me enough spiritual nourishment, enough to last a life-time. Let me savor the sweetness of these few seconds, for these are the greatest privileged spiritual fruits that the season of Lent can bring to me, and help me take a peek at what great treasures are there for the people who can persevere. When I realize that I am able to experience at least a few seconds of stillness within, then I know that I am ready to enter into the third phase of my inward journey!

Play and Pause! (2.b)

Eckhart Tolle is one of my favorite authors, and his seminal work The Power of Now put me in an altogether different mental disposition. I began to look at reality of the mental magic with a different perspective, thanks to Tolle’s inspiring words. Today I am going to put into practice something of what Tolle has recommended in his book, The Power of Now, because that would be the gateway to enter into the third phase of our inward journey, to the Spirit. I have already relaxed my body, and have become conscious of the magic and miracle that the human mind is capable of, but beyond these magic and miracles is another realm of the mindstream, by which I mean an endless flow of “noise” which can obstruct me from reality, and entry into the core of my being.

I would like to become conscious of how my mind works, because most often I take this for granted. I seldom pause for a while to realize what my mind does and how much of control I really have on my mindstream! I sit quietly in my room or any place where I feel comfortable, and close my eyes if that helps me, and remain still for a while. Then I begin to become conscious of what my mind is preoccupied with, without trying to control what it thinks. I will be an external observer, as if I am watching a movie of what is happening on my mindscreen. I would not make any value judgment if what the mind is thinking about is good or bad! I just observe the mind’s movements for about five minutes.

I realize that there is no better non-stop chatter-box on earth than the human mind, my mind. It moves from one thought to another, sometimes coherently, some other times incoherently. Sometimes it projects thoughts which are meaningful, some other times, sheer meaningless, useless thoughts. There are socially acceptable thoughts and other times, socially unacceptable thoughts. But I begin to realize as I witness this great drama, or movie on the mindscreen that most of the time my mind is busy and occupied with things which do not necessarily concern me, and things which I do not wish to be associated with. But do I have a choice? The moment when I try to make a value judgment, then I am only giving more power to the mind.

One thing is clear for me, so long the mind is busy and occupied, I have no access to my spirit, where I can encounter the Lord of my heart. The mind places a opaque film between me and my spirit, my Being, the really Real. Most often I become involved with the mindstream, and react to what goes on inside the mind, and it would be shown in my body response. When my mind imagines pleasant things, then my body is relaxed, but when my mind imagines and projects violent objects or events, then my body is tensed and stiff. Tolle suggests that I distance myself from my mind; I am not my mind. I remain outside of the mind, and just observe what goes on within, and there would be moments when I might experience absence of thoughts, and they are moments of ‘silence’, and they are the moments when this opaque plate is removed and I have access to reality.

I am quite used to star-gazing, and today I am going to do mind-gazing, observing my mind, all that is going on in it, without forcefully trying to enter into silence. As I become conscious of the thoughts from outside, the thoughts subside by themselves, and I may be able to enjoy absence of thoughts for just a few seconds, but if I continue to mindgaze regularly, these moments of ‘silence’ may gradually increase, and in this most precious moments I may become one with reality, divinity, and am not touched or disturbed by either pain or pleasure. It is at this moment that I become truly a child of God, experiencing the godliness that I received at the time of my birth. Once I begin to taste this precious moments of ‘silence’ I would be prepared to give up anything in exchange for it. I am slowly moving close to my being.

Mind Matters (2.a)

Today I am going to contemplate on the wonder of the human mind, that most intricate machinery, which is far superior to any machine we can conceive. And every human person is endowed with this miracle-machine from birth, and we carry it with us until we breathe our last. God has created the mind in such a way that it is not something palpable, and is not one of the body organs. This makes a great difference. If it were one of the organs, then it should also be “transferable”, and I would not have been surprised there would have been ‘mind transplants’ possible, and God’s wonderful creation might have been subjected to commercial venture.

Let me look around me, even as I sit quietly inside my room, my living room, or office, taking a good look at the different things neatly arranged; the table clock, pile of papers, the telephone, pen, pencil, stapler, paper weight, the computer, compact disks, the electric light, fan, the almirah, books, the wall calendar… It would be quite impossible for me to enlist all of them. There are so many things around me that most often I take them for granted. As I take a good look at all of them, one by one, I shall try to imagine the wonder of human mind which has conceived this, and given shape to it in this form. For instance, I look at the book; the creation of paper, printing technology, the labor of several people, of packaging, the concept of language… it is mind-boggling to even imagine the way how human mind has given expression to this great wonder.

The mind makes use of the human body to give physical shape to whatever matters; but let me also consider some of the evils that the human mind has conceived and given shape to – the weapons of destruction, the arms and ammunition, gun powder, guns, the bombs… instead of helping create humanity had also made use of the mind to create means of destruction. Everything that is evil in the world is naturally the fruit of human mind, just as everything noble and beautiful are also conceived by the mind. Behind every attempt to destroy the fellow human being, there is a tendency to be self-centered, to make sure that the fittest survive (I remember Charles Darwin’s theory of ‘survival of the fittest’).

Apart from the beauty in the world, which is the work of God the creator, if there is certain order, discipline and beauty in the human society, it is thanks to the ingenuity of the human mind. We know how to organize the numerous things in our rooms, in such a way that when I enter the room, I find it cozy and comfortable, I can locate the things which I had filed some days or months ago, I can have the joy of having all the things I need within my reach. I did not need to learn interior designing, in order to organize my living or office room. The human mind is capable of providing all the necessary data in order to make something beautiful. Is it not a wonderful thing to be able to bring order and discipline in the midst of chaos and disorder?

If I have to understand how the human mind is complex, then I need to open up an electric or electronic appliance, and see the different circuits and components inside. For the most part, I don’t understand how these are made, assembled, and the human mind is also capable of improving on them, fine-tuning them, and reproducing as and when required. From where did the human persons get the idea of venturing into the field of creating useful tools other than the one that the benevolent nature supplied? I spend time wondering at the greatness and uniqueness of the human mind, which has no limits. What does my mind seem to tell me here and now? Let me listen to it, and it may have something to tell me!

Minding the Machines

My cousin sister was proud to show to me on the webcam the different gifts her friend had sent for her from Germany, which included some silly items as a nail-cutter, and a Swiss knife (why does she need a Swiss knife, anyway?). She was overjoyed that he had taken the trouble to send them across through a common friend, who was coming from there. Earlier she had told me about the laptop which he had left behind for her, when he packed his things to leave for Germany for the next five years. Why would he need a laptop in Germany; he would as well purchase one on reaching there, and it was given to my sister, who was more than overjoyed to receive it!

Now she is online often during the day and even night, most probably chatting with him over the net, sometimes even neglecting her responsibilities; but that is not my business to ask her if she is wasting her time with the laptop with internet connection and webcam facilities. The modern electronic gadgets are a big blessing to humanity, but they can also become a big hindrance to us, who are not fully conscious of their utility. When we begin to give them more importance than they deserve, we are bordering on viciating from the purpose they are made. The sooner we realize it, the better it is for us to save ourselves from insanity.

For the uninitiated, having round the clock internet connection is a dream come true, and they may give up regular exercise of body and mind, skip meals, cut short rest in order to drown in the limitless ocean of the internet. They may not mind losing their sleep, and losing their way in the highways of the sites, only to realize here on the net, one desire leads them to another, and they are initiated into a vicious circle, and later find that it is not easy for them to free from this circle. The same is also true with any sophisticated electronic gadget; one of the biggest craze today seem to be for cellular phones, which have all and more than what an ordinary person would require.

So for we had been talking in terms of "need" of these gadgets, and squeeze ourselves in order to purchase them; today they are no more needs, but "necessity", which cannot be dispensed with. But how can I go around without a mobile phone, because my friends want to be in touch with me all the time! This is their theme song; I should be available to all those who require my help! Is this a fact or a mere imagination? What were we doing before the advent of mobile phone boom in the country? Were we not in touch with the people who needed our help and assistance?

In the modern times, the human persons have too many masters; there were times when we were masters and today the roles are fast reversing, and if we are not careful then the machines will give marching orders to us, and we too might follow their order blindly. Today the machines seem to have far more capacity to compute, calculate and process the data than a normal human mind can, but that does not make the machines superior to human persons; there is a danger today facing humanity to give more importance to mindless machines than human persons with mind and souls. If this danger catches up with us, then even God may not be able to save us from this peril!

Subduing the Bull within

If I were to evaluate my performance as for as self-control is concerned, I would not be able to give more than 40 points out of one hundred! I understand that the points gained are rather low, which means in self-control, I am below average, and yet I might look quite in control over what is happening to me. It is difficult to assess how one is in control over one’s feelings and emotions, both positive and negative, because there are hardly any external criteria to evaluate a person; all the vital criteria are experienced interiorly. Therefore one might seem quite in control over one’s emotions, but in fact might be quite out of control regarding emotions.

Therapeutically several ways of approaches are suggested to achieve self-control, and one of the very ancient techniques is deep breathing. Often we breathe from the upper part of our chest, and seldom does the air go deep into our lungs, and come out. When we begin to breathe deeply, consciously taking the air inside, letting it rest inside the lungs for a second or two, and again consciously letting it out, we become aware of what is happening not only to our body, in our body, but also in the mind and the spirit. At that moment we become a third person, standing outside of our selves, and observing what is happening to our bodies, minds and spirits. This is a magic moment, when we are able to pick up many of the things which we would otherwise not be aware.

I am reminded of this anecdote which is told of in the context of the means of achieving self-control. Johny had been notorious in losing temper, and so his mother had taught him to take deep breath, close his eyes, and count slowly one to ten, whenever he would feel angry. So whenever he felt angry, he would close his eyes and start counting, and it was expected when he finished ten, he would be quite sober to take control over himself. But one day Johny returned home from school with a swollen face. When his mother asked what had happened, Johny said: You had told me to count one to ten, but Paul’s mother had taught him to count upto five, and so after completing five, he smashed my face and ran away!

That was only an anecdote, a joke, which should not be stretched beyond its length. But deep breathing can really help us get in touch with our inner self. Associated with this is meditation! Here by meditation I mean to imply, calming and quieting the mind. Eckhart Tolle would say in The Power of Now, that if we are able to overcome “thoughts”, then we are very close to the divine. The moments in between two thoughts is a sacred moment, and by placing ourselves as a third party, we may be able to stretch these moments, and meditation may help us achieve this. Like all disciplines, meditation will also need to be cultivated.

There is no quick solution to achieving self-control; one may have to undergo long hours of sadhana, discipline in order to bring an absolute unison between the body, the mind and the spirit. This has been one of the most often sought after salvation for many a rishis and munis. For the persons who had achieved perfect self-control can achieve anything they would wish. There is nothing impossible for them; even what is impossible becomes possible to them. It is possible that external reality has not changed much, but their minds have been moulded in such a way that they find it easy to accept whichever means takes them to perfect union of body, mind and spirit.

Fear Factor (2) - Enemy within

On several significant moments of life, I have realized that I have been let down by an arch enemy, who has been following me wherever I went, whatever I did: myself, my inner self, my conscience, my mind, or my spirit! I may have a dozen names to describe how frightened I am to myself. I am not afraid of anyone on earth as I dread my inner self. It is paradoxical and even ironical to realize that I am afraid of myself, the one I know like the back of my palm! It really sounds ridiculous, but that is the fact! I cannot trust myself, I cannot believe in self, and I cannot predict how I would respond to a particular situation! I am so very unpredictable that I am frightened of myself!

But what am I afraid of, and why should I? The answers for these two questions are not as simple as the questions may sound! I may liken my innerself to a most sophisticated database, which processes every proposal I make in the light of the past experiences, correlates to them, and provides me an alternative that I should choose. Invariably the self would not permit me to choose something that is not in the database, but only that has been earlier registered. In that case, if I venture to choose something new, the mind puts a sense of fear, and later this is converted to guilt, leading to half a dozen ill-feelings which prematurely kill life spirit in me!

The fact is, before I begin to be frightened of others, however powerful they be, I am frightened of myself, and it would require far more courageous and energetic affirmation to convince one's inner self and come out to face reality! The enemy outside of me is not as horrendous and fearsome as the one inside of me. But is not there a way to free myself from the fears which may paralyse me for eternity, and face life as it comes to me? Of course there is a simple way, if we are prepared to give a try! Dissociate oneself from the chains of the past, and one is free from the fears which had kept oneself under control for years.

But why should our inner selves take refuge in the past experiences, be they positive or negative? The answer is rather simple: the self has to have certain anchor points, where it can place itself, when there are external attacks, and most often the past experiences provide such anchor points; these are so-called secure, safe-zones, but one may forget that in the long run these anchor points may become our chains. Dissociating oneself from the past experiences may not be as simple; but one may surely try to become conscious of what the past experiences could do to one's present.

Anyone who is frightened of one's inner self is sure to end up with defeat, because even the worst coward can defeat the most ferocious hero who has been defeated by own's own inner self. At the same time, even the best of external enemies cannot defeat the one who has freed himself/herself from the clutches of the inner self. Is it hard to dissociate ourselves from our past? It should not be, because unless we dissociate ourselves from the past, we cannot authentically live the present; anyone who has not left behind the baggage of the past, cannot taste freedom, happiness and peace.

Name the Devil!

Let me acknowledge I am notorious for not remembering names, even of people who had been interacting with me for days and months. And to be frank, I don't make any serious effort to remember names of peoples. And what is strange, I can remember the names of some people, without any effort, even after our first meeting, I know the name of the person, and can remember even after weeks and months. That only shows how my mind works! Surely the mind captures and registers the names of only the persons who really matter to me! Not any Tom, Dick and Harry, or any Mary Kutty, Sonali and Rupali! The mind has its own logic, some times quite queer and wierd, but that is how it works!

I know how important it is to name persons and things. Names represent the person, and his/her identity. To remember the name of a person is to say that I care for him/her, and if I don't or can't remember a person's name, that simply shows that person does not much matter to me (at least in the same way as I matter to him/her)! If naming matters greatly in human relationships, it matters all the more in handling what goes on deep within! A person who can name what goes on deep within, also knows how to manage life, its tough storms and thunder, rain and shine! But it is an art to really name the intricate play of reason and feeling, which incessantly run on the mindscape.

I had said in my earlier blog that fear holds the key to the downfall of many of our dreams, to the destruction of all that we are capable of! When fear takes charge of my being, I become just a victim of all the persons and situations around me, a helpless victim, who has but no control over anything whatsoever. I had also said that one way of overcoming the imposing power of fear, is by recognizing it attempting to cripple my life little by little, and that will lead me to defeat fear! But still one may not be too sure that the fear has left him/her for good. There is a way to make that sure.

If I don't stop with recognizing fear, but attempt to name each one of them, that is where I not only exorcise fear from my inner being, but also remove it from its roots. That is the way to make fear powerless, that is the way to cripple fear, before it cripples me. Most often fear exists in us in a nebulous way, and it is hard to really hold it. The moment when you thought you had caught hold of it, it slips from your hand, and you are caught chasing the wind uselessly. But wait for the fear to approach you, and don't go in search of it! It will knock at your door when you least expect it; if you are prepared to tackle it, then you will catch it before it enters into your room.

Put that label, which best fits the fear that is attempting to overpower you, and stick it on to it, and your job is done. You can then rest in peace, for there is nothing more that you need to do. It works like a magic; fear will depart you the very moment it is named and labelled. By naming it, you have exerted power and control over it, and it cannot chase you any longer. You are the master of the situation now, and it will do your bidding, whatever that may be. From that moment onwards, fear will fear you, and will even run away from you, for fear you should put it to shame. Be bold enough to bid a joyful farewell to fear, for when fear departs from you, the doors of happiness and peace are opened wide for you to enter!