Win The Battle of Conflicts Within: Ways of surviving the Tsunami of mind

8

Preface

Violent Cyclone of Sufferings

Human mind can be ideally happy, in continuum, when all its desires are fulfilled and when one’s life attains a zero-agitation state. Desires, longings or thirsty tendencies multiply according to geometrical ratio: two to four, four to sixteen, sixteen to two hundred ffty six (16 x 16), and then infinitude! Such is the arithmetic of our sensuous hunger. But, alas! The desires can never be satiated totally, and this perpetual incompleteness makes us miserable, injecting the pain of void in our veins. Even in dreams! We may have fabulous wealth and ineffable power, yet depression, turmoil, worry, angst and unclassified emptiness do not leave chasing us frantically. Therefore, it is essential to discriminately understand the infrastructure of melancholy, grief, unhappiness and frustration (cumulatively known as Klesha). The equation of happiness and unhappiness is pivoted upon the ratio of non-attachment and intense desires!

Every elemental existence in the world is changing every split second. The only unchangeable phenomenon is the process of ever-and-ever change! Leaving other aspects apart, our mind, ego and the so-called intelligence are also undergoing rapid alteration.

We are unable to stop quivering of an electron, what to talk of the worldly systems or nature’s wheel of whirlpool! The platform on which the life exists is revolving whereupon we creatures are dancing. Both are mobile – the stage as well as the actors. Non-stationary! Upon that, the future and purpose of all this melodrama is ambiguous, unknowable. Now, it is pitch darkness. Now, it is brilliant light! In a moment – a soothing melody; the other moment it is ear-piercing screeching agony and clutter of irritating drumming! And, dance! We have to, because this is the modus operandi of passion and attachment; tantrum of ‘sensuous excitement and pleasure’. So is the magnetic force of desires and mélange of ignorance: the cosmic illusion. Confused, confounded, bewildered, stunned we go on living like vegetable or, at the most, like a dog: hounding, searching for something rotten to eat, wrapped in sensuality, fighting, snarling, barking, and howling! And in the end, when death knocks at our door, we turn to be empty, trembling, unfulfilled and absolute broke. We had all the luxury but no cognizance of the Self, no dispassion, no discriminative power to sort out the real from the unreal; resultantly, we convolute in the sludge of our private, personal hell, sinking in the mire of agony, fear and a total loss.

What a life!

Then, what shall we do?

Is there a way to fulfillment?

How to dance in symphony?

The key to such and similar questions lies in our own personality, in our attitude towards life; nowhere else! Distinctive characteristic – the wholeness of being – is a dynamic system which acts through mind, intellect and ego as well as the physical form. The personality, thus structured as a complex mechanism, synchronizes with the environment: the social, emotional, natural and intellectual set up in which a person exists. In other words, every person possesses a unique personality – being the only one of its kind, driven by the totality of thought-complex and bodily system; every person has different methodology to deal with his or her own world; some psychologists opine that this uniqueness represents an expression of unconscious mind through the conscious mind. It is the striking quality of each person. The ego plays a vital role in such an expression which awakens the sleeping desires.

Structure of the Ego

The ego develops in the field of unconscious mind but remains activated in the region of conscious mind. It is helping as well as, at times, antagonist, too. It creates instinct within for our survival to motivate us for defensive mode and worthy activities, but if the ego goes berserk and surges in rage, it may create hellish hot situation for us.

The ego and unconscious level of thoughts construct our personality. The ego is an alert and awakened factor of our mind-thought-complex. We become happy or unhappy because of our ego. All our activities, actions and fruitions thereof can be understood with respect to ego.

If we are able to develop an emotionally stable, tranquil, calm and middle-path-walker ego, our road of progress towards happiness and peace gets facilitated. It becomes a thoroughfare.

Almost all religions, faiths and philosophies had been preaching, since millennia, to get rid of worldly illusion and to weed out rampant desires so that happiness and bliss could dawn at the dark horizons of human life; that is, to walk on the illumined path of self-knowledge. But the more we walk in this realm, the more we are hindered in evolving our being. Wars, conflicts, human agony, terrorism, selfishness, corruption, deterioration of environment and karma of negativity seem to be incessantly increasing. The nature has very kindly bestowed us unrestricted freedom to think, to express and to act: liberty of thought, speech and action! No other animate being enjoys such a boon of boundless faculties. But, we the humans forget that with this freedom come immense responsibilities also. Regretfully, we utilize our right of freedom – in positive or negative manner to fulfill our desires – but generally we do not abide by moral accountability of our actions. We have to be immensely responsible towards the society, Nature and the Self-being. Consequently, not doing so, we mostly remain in a state of turmoil and void, insufficiency, unsatisfied, unstableness, alarmed, frightened and unfulfilled.

Who is responsible for such a misfortune?

How to get out of this slime and slush?

Where is immutable bliss?

Self-Attainment

Man has created such a misery for himself. Humans have themselves become the pallbearer of their own peace and happiness. Yet by way of self-attainment we can escape this bog of sludge. Self-attainment or self-realization (āatma bodh) has a vast connotation. Here we are not adopting its metaphysical, religious or supra-mental meaning because such concepts could be the cause of division, isolation or contradiction. The religion with a meaning of blinkered view divides the humanity; it can never unite. Unity of love and apathy requires an innocent thinking and stainless actions; narrow defnition of our faiths does not have that.

In the present context, thus, the self-attainment circumscribes self-evolution, enrichment of our inbeing and achievement of discriminative power to sort out the truth from the non-truth.

Satisfaction in material accumulation,

Stabilization of mind and intellect,

Creative thought-flow,

Searching meaning of life,

Sync in attitude,

Softness in manners,

Unblemished heart, like that of a child,

Sense of personal responsibility,

Enthusiasm in duty,

Absence of craving for extravagant needs,

Connectedness with the Creator.

Such a plan for self-ascent may bring an experience of bliss. The mind calms down in the transcendental state. The dreaded load of the past is taken off from head and the fear of uncertainty vanishes. A soft flow of experiences makes the mind serene: to face challenges in life, to earn life-supporting prosperity, to walk in the realm of delight, happiness, satisfaction and bliss, to get rid of clutter and prejudices, and to be liberated from fear of death: for such attainment we have to consciously make vigorous efforts!

Then, afterwards where remains a need of searching the ultimate, immutable happiness? It is in the karma, in the attitude towards happenings around us and in the vital force to do meritorious action: rightfully earn prosperity, live naturally, enjoy judiciously and withdraw from attachment intelligently!

Outside the periphery of ritualistic religious system, the Gitā is an eternal spring of knowledge which makes the personality shine, guides to succeed in self-actualization and connects one to the Absolute. The aforesaid eleven points of self-attainment are the boons of Gitā which in modern times are narrated variedly in new wrappers!

In the current era, the teachings of Gitā are urgently required for applying brakes on rampant deterioration of character, increasing crimes, violence, deceit, dishonesty glittering allurements, greed for sensuousness, crisis of faithfulness, depreciation of original love, and decadence in human relationships. Gitā can salvage the humanity and rescue intelligent species of Homo sapiens because it is a time-tested universal science of human thought, speech and action. Even after the lapse of thousands of years, the freshness of this knowledge and force of its conviction remain in the ascendant because this enlightenment is structured upon human psychology which analyses the basic organization of universal traits common to all races, countries, regions, creeds or colours. Hence these gems of wisdom are trans-global. The timeless teachings of Gitā are the essence of Vedas and Upanishads. Sri Krishna, the Narrator, is the Royal Yogi, (Yogishwar), ever established in the Yoga, hence his pronouncement is taken as the expression of the Cosmic Energy: the Truth, Immortal, Awareness, and Absolute Bliss: the Brahman; the Voice of the Creator!

This is the attainment of the Absolute through the path of self- actualization!

The Rainbow of Fulfillment

Things around us in the world do not have any quality; they do not create any characteristic by themselves, rather it is our mind (a product of our brain) which incessantly fabricates qualities of things; the brain through stimuli, relayed by our sense organs, does this magic. Therefore, we must continuously organize our experiences which flow non-stop out of the non-stable world. We must also winnow and assort input data in accordance with their utility for attaining the goal of our life. Our mind creates our world continuously, day and night, till we breathe last. At the same time our determination generates our karma. It is a tragedy that against the backdrop of our desires as well as innate tendencies, we go on searching a meaning of our coming on this planet, called earth, and in self-illusion we feel a sense of false fulfillment, in painful labour, futile attempts to engorge our wild desires; we take it for granted, though erroneously, that the aim of life is to satisfy our longings and it is the only purpose of our existence. But we forget that when we search happiness in the limited territory of selfishness, it always eludes us. A perpetual feeling of well-being and contentment can only be achieved through disciplined, balanced mind but not by an intoxicated, jumping and erratic one, always manipulating for its own agenda.

1. The Gitâ declares

In this way, always keeping the mind in balance, the yogi practicing the control of thoughts enters the eternal peace which has its abode in My nature, and such a yogi attaining the ultimate bliss is liberated totally.

The final target of complacency is the freedom, the Moksha, the Nirvāna, release from bondages, dispassion and eternal tranquility. The Gitā meticulously takes out the embedded thorns from the human mind. This knowledge cuts the complex knots of our subconscious existence. Such tumors are painful albeit we might have taken them as benedictory. The light of Gitā ushers into such a path by walking on which we can survive the tornado generated by the Tsunami of our mind. In spite of this, it is your decision as to which policy you do adopt: benevolent or non-moral. Yet what hinders you to stride along some distance on the pathway of the Gitā?

This is a pristine experience, not a ritualistic practice! This is an absolute awareness, not merely dry informative data. By the Realization of the Self we may ultimately be granted Freedom.

2. The Gitâ Opines Assertively on the Issue of Awareness

Superior is Knowledge-sacrifice to Sacrifice-with-object, O Parantapa! All actions in their entirety, O Pârtha! Culminate in Knowledge.

Knowledge is more spiritual and Sâttvik than all the rituals. To burn ignorance in the fire of knowledge is known as Gyân Yagya. We destroy the knots of our unconscious by the awareness of the truth; then only we may enter the Kingdom of Eternal Peace. Such awareness trickles down from the spring of Gitā.

In the present book, along with Gitā Gyân, the principles of psychology and general science have also been assimilated. Where does lie the root of our unhappiness, although we are well-off materially? How to come out of this ditch? As spiritual as well as practical answers the chapters to follow have been structured upon Meditation, Energy of the Cosmos, Pathway to Enlightenment, Ultimate Freedom, Dimensions of Unhappiness, and other peripheral regimen. It is hoped, fresh perspective will make some newer ideas to sprout in the mind of the reader. It is a well-established fact that a tiniest change in life begets a commendable success in due course. Try to make a subtle change today. It may rise to be a colossal Himalaya of ascent after a few years!

We have learnt in this lesson:

Desires as well as scenario of the world go on changing every moment; obviously, to satiate the desires is an impossible equation.

The secret of our contentment and complete gratification lies embedded in our personality as well as our view point.

Peace and happiness can be attained only by training our ego to be worthy of our existence.

By self-attainment or by real gain of advantage, we may search for a satisfied state, tranquil happiness, stability, fulfillment, un-spoilt mind and the meaning of our life.

We may survive unscratched from the onslaught attacks of modern absurdities, by practising the wisdom of Gitā.

To keep a critical balance of mind in all ups-and-downs in life is possible only by the unadulterated wisdom.

You can live a superior life than what you are living now! Think!

Listen to and follow what Sri Krishna said:

For a self-disciplined yogi, there exists an absolute freedom prevailing in his life; such yogis can never be in bondage by anger and unsatisfied longings; they control their thoughts from going haywire, and ultimately realize the Brahman.

The Gitā (5:26)

Introduction

The Divine Song of Action

One must contemplate and thoroughly refect upon the teachings of Gitā; then other treatises of knowledge are not required because the Gitā has been directly narrated by Lord Krishna Himself.

Mahabharat, Bhisma Parva 43 (1)

The Srimadbhagwad Gitā is a divine poetry in which love, devotion, action, grace and philosophy of life as well as creation have been harmoniously synthesized. This is an art of living and a science of fulfillment. It has been accepted and lauded by all: both from east and west:

Comparatively, our modern world and its literature appear to be insignificant and of little worth.

Henery Thory

It is an experience as if a Kingdom is addressing to us; nothing is small or superfuous, rather all is grand, serene and immutable …!

Emerson

The Gitā is a bouquet composed of the beautiful flowers of spiritual truths collected from the Upanishads.

Swami Vivekananda

The Gitā is one of the clearest and most comprehensive summaries of the perennial philosophy ever to have been done. Hence it’s enduring value, not only for Indians, but for all mankind… The Bhāgavadgitā is perhaps the most systematic spiritual statement of the perennial philosophy. Aldous Huxley

The Gitā is the Vedânta: the essence of Vedas and Upanishads; the elixir extracted from the pristine knowledge of Vedas. In Hindu religion, it is the nuclear scripture. Through the flow of millennia, all the faiths of the world, which were subsequently founded, have imbibed several aspects of the Gitā in varied forms; the golden brilliance of the Gitā thus spread all-over the world, not remaining restricted to one religion or one geographic region. This knowledge has become an integral part of the philosophy of humanity and the human clan in totality.

In the unique dialogue of Gitā, all fundamental systems of faiths and their basic structures have been refected; it is a synthesis of universal wisdom by adapting to which a balanced way of living could be achieved. Hence, the Gitā can never be delimited within the framework of time-space. With regard to its universality, the Gitā must be understood as ‘spiritual psychology’, because innate tendency of human beings exhibits inborn leaning towards achieving divine characters. The Gitā puts forth such a device which instigates our mind to search the Reality of Existence, to comprehend the Primordial Power, and to enter the unknown dimensions of the human mind. By walking on the path enlightened by the Gitā, we become capable of strengthening our convictions and evolving our values of life; this enriches our experiences. Our turmoil and upheavals are pacified, and there comes a serene synchronization between our life-style and the existence.

Gitā’s greatness does not require any favourable judgment from us; it means, the wisdom is pre-eminently celestial and radiantly brilliant; whether we sing a song in its appreciation or not, the Gitā remains eternally graceful and elegant. Yet, in spite of this, we try to imbibe its blissful, splendid beauty in our being.

Lord Krishna Himself narrates in admiration of the Gitā:

Yogi, knowing this secret, transcends beyond the fruits which one is bestowed by the study of Vedas and from performance of sacrifices, austerity, devotion, or charity, etc. Such a yogi gets absolved from the cycle of life and death and establishes in the highest abode of the Lord, attaining the Supreme.

In other words, the Gitā recognizes Yoga as the best path for achieving knowledge. Study of religious treatises, austerity and liberal donations are also established means to gain spiritual experience, no doubt, but the one who follows the path of meditation surpasses all others; his mind achieves permanent tranquility, serenity, and equanimity. By way of meditation one gets all supernatural capabilities in unobstructed manner - without troublesome efforts, unlike other paths. The truth remains that by adopting the technique of yoga, the personality of the devotee blossoms forth and ultimately all his desires, tendencies and conceptual prejudices are melted and infused into the realm of peace.

The power of discriminative intellect expands the consciousness of a yogi. And, in the end, such an adept achieves self-awareness which is the abode of the Absolute. On the way, such a practitioner does not get entangled into agitation created by desires for fruition of his efforts.

Evidently, the Gitā is the original fountain of Yoga. It is a dynamic supporter to achieve the goal of happiness in life.

In the last chapter of the Gitā, while summing up, Sri Krishna takes Arjuna to the subtlest level of this wisdom; He says that without a thorough cleansing of one’s mind, it would be an attempt in futility to comprehend or to practise this path; it may not yield benediction to a fifthly, cluttered mind.

This is never to be spoken by you to one who is devoid of austerities or devotion, not to one who does not render service, not to one who desires not to listen, not to one who cavils at Me.

This statement points out that an intensive faith and unshakable belief is mandatory for imbibing this wisdom. In addition, there must not be any conflict or doubt in the mind of the seeker. One must be benevolent, wishing to do good, actively friendly and helpful and charitable; one must be inquisitive for seeking knowledge and a rock-believer in the supremacy of the Almighty. Only such aspirant may be totally blessed with the approbation from Above.

That man also, who hears this, full of faith and without malice, he too, liberated, shall attain to the happy worlds of those righteous deeds.

Faith is that faculty of human intellect by which subtle meanings of spiritual sagacity and Viveka could be understood. There remains no place for doubt, uncertainty or emptiness when our heart is filled with unquestioned trust and belief. The faith comes to flowering when there is a total intellectual surrender at the altar of the Almighty.

Another necessary factor includes non-resistance, lack of disgust or disliking. No hindrance should be created by our mind in the continuous flow of the knowledge; no blockade in the stream of wisdom: as it trickles down naturally, let it play freely. Then only we will be able to quench our thirst for knowledge.

In the modern context, we are subjected to slavery of absurdities around us. We feel rejected and dejected amid the explosion of our unfulfilled desires. Consequently,