Let us know our minds

Every individual is supposed to have Body Mind and soul.. Modern science has made deep study of the body. Hence we know quite a lot about it. Medical science has found cures for many deceases of body and made our life much better.

How about mind ?. Here also psychologists have made some progress. Still mind appears to be mysterious. It is now well known that many deceases of physical body ( almost 80% ) have their root in the mind.

Let us look at this from a different angle.

Our Yogashastra calls the mind as our” Sukshma Sharir”.It is a very very fine body. 

“ Man Eva Manushyanam Karanam Bandh mokshyoho. “ is what is said. This when translated means “It is our mind which is responsible for our getting bound to the cycle of birth and death or getting liberation or what is known as Moksha.”

Mind is also a gate way to heaven or hell.Hence proper taming of mind and control over it is very very important. 

Mind  is unseen and can not be touched. How ever Just as our eyes, ears are a part of us performing different functions, so is mind ! It helps us in thinking,decision making and keeping memory. This is what our conscious mind does. At subconscious level it performs number of other functions. 

Let us realize that WE ARE NOT MIND ! We are the soul, Atman who possess physical body and mind.You may call it as manomay kosha. Just sit in meditation for ten minutes. Observe various thoughts arising in mind. These thoughts generate feelings. Who is watching the thoughts and who is experiencing feelings?.It is our soul, Atman.

How do we take care of our organs like eyes, hands, legs etc?

We protect them from hurts. If these are hurt, we apply medicine and take due care. Let us say we are walking on  a road where there are gusty winds blowing and lot of dust and fumes etc are there in the air. We protect our eyes. If possible we change the road. We get many disturbing negative thoughts through different media like TV, news papers etc. We should try to avoid these as much as possible. 

Our minds also get hurt a number of times due to several reasons. Do we take care of it? Mostly not. Our mind is open for hurts. If somebody says very harsh unjust words to us, we get offended. We have thoughts of anger, hate, revenge etc.

 If we lose some valuable thing or suffer loss in business we have thoughts of grief, disappointments, anger etc erupting in our mind.

These thoughts generate negative feelings that hurt us so much. Arising of such thoughts is but natural. We can not stop such thoughts. However once we realize our mind as our very fine organ, we will try to control such damaging thoughts to prevent damage. Let us say that a wicked person hurt you by his harsh words and some actions, should you give him the opportunity to hurt your mind  and cause damage.?Certainly not. We should take necessary steps at practical level as required but do not get our mind hurt. 

Many times it so happens that we go on cursing him for his wrong deeds for a long time. Many times we even mull over past hurts. We have same thoughts repeated number of times- even after many years ! This is as good as opening a bandage put on a wound every day and apply salt on it! This is what we are doing with hurts on our mind. Most of the times we are not in the present moment We are in the past times and sometimes in future.This results in generating those negative thoughts. Most of them are repeating many times.

Let us firmly realise that many negative things go on in this world and people suffer. We can not be an exception to it. We have no control over people and circumstances as well as happenings.  Hence the Golden rule is

ACCEPT EVERY THING,TAKE NECESSARY ACTION, THEN  FORGET AND FORGIVE.

This does not mean be passive and do nothing, Do as the situation demands .But do not ask “Why it happened to me “Do not resent. Do your best and then forgive and forget.

In chapter two of Bhagvat Gita  Srikrishna has talked about Sthitpradnya person. With this, we  remain calm in good as well as bad conditions. A person with this attitude  is not disturbed by gain as well as loss. Such a person can sail through life and achieve great things.

How can we make our mind strong and healthy ?

Meditation tops the list. It streamlines the mind and remove number of negative thoughts.It also helps to increase power of concentration.This power of Concentration is extremely useful in achieving great things. It should be coupled with Pranayam. It has a salutary effect. Pran ( universal Pranic energy ) and mind are closely related. Pranayam is very good to eliminate decease as well as maintain good health. At the same time it also helps mind to stabilize and be strong. 

Repetition  of positive affirmations are also very useful in shaping our mind.

 Practice of Japam is also very useful.Almost all religions profess practice of Japam. It has  basically religious, spiritual  significance. How ever it is very useful to cleanse our mind and make it steady.Even one can pray God to cleanse his mind of all negativity and make it pure and strong.

A healthy, robust and strong mind will achieve wonders in our mundane physical life as well as in our spiritual path.

Our individual mind is connected to universal mind of God. Mind has  various powers unknown to us. Universal mind has tremendous potential.The very thought that our mind is connected to universal mind is very encouraging. Our many strong desired are fulfilled due to this connection.  

Let us realize true nature of our mind, its tremendous potential and tap it.

By A S Dandekar, 19/1 Rupal apartments, Phalke road, Dadar Mumbai-400014, M. 9867255452