In the previous episode, we had witnessed the commencement of a very important passage of conversation between Sage Kapilaachaarya and his mother Devahooti. As Devahooti raises her biggest concern with regards to the knowledge of enlightenment and spiritual development, Sage Kapilaachaarya doesn’t give it off straightaway! He first starts from the scratch as to how to condition the mind and make it ready to receive the knowledge that is required to attain Moksha. Yesterday we had witnessed Sage Kapilaachaarya’s accord on why should we condition our mind. In fact, in the subsequent Yuga, Bhagawan Krishna outlines a big framework in his Bhagawad Gita about the importance of our mind and how to bring it under control. We’ve witnessed a glimpse of it yesterday as well.
Now moving on into this important discussion, we had finished yesterday’s episode with a set of questions that are unanswered still. We’ve to now witness the answers for those questions today as we move forward. To remind our readers of the questions, here we go: 1. Why does our mind accumulate these bad and negative emotions and thoughts? 2. Is it only by cleansing our mind that we would be able to rise up our spiritual level? 3. Why can’t we try and rise up with the exisiting state of affairs? 4. If at all we’ve to cleanse, how do we cleanse the mind and make it devoid of all these negativities? Let us start answering each of these four questions one by one as follows:
To answer the first question – Why does our mind accumulate the bad and negative emotions and thoughts? The important answer for this question is that, our mind “carries forward” our “Vaasanas” from our past births. In other words, our character is primarily based on what we were in our past births. For instance, if we have a “Vaasana” towards money and materialistic luxuries, all our actions, thoughts, etc. would only be directed towards fulfilling all of these materialistic pleasures only. In another case, some people might have a “Vaasana” towards the people of opposite gender, and subsequently their actions would be directed towards fulfilling that desire, come what may! Thus on an overview, our mind is always “filled” and “enriched” with our Vaasanas that we’ve accumulated over innumerable births. Subsequently, our thoughts, emotions, actions, etc. are directed only according to our Vaasanas and it is very difficult to break this chain!
This answer brings us to the discussion for the next question – Is it only by cleansing our mind that we would be able to rise up our spiritual level? My answer to this question is “Yes”! If we’ve to progress spiritually, our mind should compulsorily be cleansed. This is because, even if we have the interest of making spiritual progress, our “Vaasanas” would keep pulling us down every now and then! Even if we have that will-power to sit and meditate, for instance, thousands of thoughts would run through our mind as we sit and close our eyes! As a matter of fact, whether we like it or not, most of these thoughts would be in line with our Vaasanas. As our thoughts keep surfacing up more and more, it becomes very difficult for us to stay focused during the time of meditation. I’m sure, some of our readers might have had such experiences as well.
Again, this answer brings us closer to the next question – Why can’t we try and rise up with the exisiting state of affairs? In fact, this question is an ally to the previous one – The straightforward and blunt answer to this question is that, our Vaasanas are extremely powerful in nature, which in turn reflect in our thoughts and emotions as well. Hence, in order to defeat this powerful entity, we need to put in an “extraordinary” effort. This now brings us to the answer of the fourth question – If at all we’ve to cleanse, how do we cleanse the mind and make it devoid of all these negativities? The simple answer is to keep trying our best everytime to come over it. Everytime we fall down, we’ve to get up and start moving! There’s no alternative to it. For instance, if we sit to meditate and if we feel that we’re getting pulled into our negative thoughts, we should try and become aware of it as quickly as possible, re-start our focus and keep moving on. The more we show the resolve to focus, the easier it is for us to come out of our Vaasanas.
In fact, this is the main reason, why we perform certain austere spiritual practices. For instance, why do we emphasize that we’ve to keep chanting our “Mantra” every time? The main reason is that, if we’re continuously chanting our “Mantra”, our mind will start gradually moving away from our “Vaasanas”. As we’re trying to focus on the “Mantra” that we’re chanting, the mind slowly starts to calm down. Of course, the power of the “Mantra” would also aid our cause! It is to be understood that every “Mantra” has its own power and significance. The power of the “Mantra” will have a significant impact on our body’s metabolism as well and this is scientifically proved! As our body metabolism gets streamlined, slowly our mind would also fall in line with our body’s metabolism. As our mind gets streamlined, slowly our Vaasanas would also start decreasing. As this process continues, at one stage, our mind would completely become free of our Vaasanas and we would attain a state wherein nothing in this world would tempt us into fulfilling worldly pleasures and we would would enter into a complete state of “detachment”!
Having said thus, many of us might have a bigger doubt – Is this possible or not? The answer is, “Yes! It is possible!” There are people who have done this and have been successful as well! Of course, it would require tremendous effort and resolve from our side. This is a great challenge that lies in front of us, given our various commitments that we have in today’s scenario! Are we ready to take up this challenge and resolove? Let’s ponder over it for today! We shall wait till the next episode to continue with Sage Kapilaachaarya’s accord! Stay tuned! 🙂
The Indian Dharma 