The power of mind

What is not seen is ‘talked’ so much! What is seen can have multiple ways of looking at it. It can be described in so many ways. But what cannot be seen has imagination—the imagination which goes beyond the very perceptual reality through which we understand things.

So ‘what is it to be spoken’ is spoken with the idea of understanding. If the understanding comes in, then the elucidation of anything can be put on papers—can be talked of. But the moment something which is to be uttered without being able to see it—or our sense organs, the very perceiving senses, cannot tap into it—is something which has amazed ‘entire human race’.

It is not something to be celebrated in terms of someone having known it, seen it, and talking as if the person has been through it, has been through all of it. And this is what we usually see today that no matter who the person is, people talk as if everything about it has been explored by them.

So as the idea of the Mind, or what we call Manaḥ or Mana, has always been meandering through, traversing through the paths and lanes and streets and corners, which has come from the vantage point of view of someone who has colored it, who has given the texture to it of its own coloring and of its own texture, but which texture and color is it is still not known, is still not discovered, is still not there as it should be. That’s why the very interpretation of ‘what the mind is’ has been passing through passages and passages without having a lucid idea of what it actually is.

So ‘mind’ cannot be imaginary. It is something which dictates us as we know it. Do you actually know what dictates you? You say, mind dictates me; mind does this and that to me.

So what is not to be seen is to be blamed or assigned some job to. Maybe it’s easier to do so, probably. “Oh, I didn’t wanna do it, but my mind led me to do it.” Oh! You didn’t wanna do it. So it means that you—the person who you are is different from that mind, isn’t it. So you know this is not who you are; you are not your mind. You want to be distinguished from your mind because you didn’t want to do it, but something led you to do it. “My mind led me to do it.” So it actually clarifies the very idea that you understand yourself as a separate being from the mind, isn’t it?

So, probably, your mind is an escape for you, isn’t it? So something goes wrong in your life, or something that you do not want to proudly present itself as someone who has done this kind of thing, and you just say that it’s not my fault; probably it’s my mind. So mind actually is a kind of a gate, ‘passage’ for you to just pass by. “I won’t take responsibility. I don’t want to take that ownership.”

What we are talking about here is only this. You have these waves on the surface. And these surfaces where you want to walk on—these surfaces, these waves on the surface are nothing but the emotions. It’s just that there is a wave of emotions which you cannot handle. But emotion can actually be tangible in the form of anger, the agitation within, the irritation within; the upheaval of emotions makes us act in a certain way. There is some sensation in the body, there’s some knot in the body. So this can be tangible. So ‘mind’ is presenting itself with the passages of these emotions, and these passages of mind are emotions. If these emotions are to be tackled, the mind will be subsided.

But my—the Manah, the Mana what you call, has a good friend called Prāṇa, what we breathe in. If one comes to a certain degree of alignment, no emotion can dictate our lives. No emotion can be so overwhelming to make us behave in a certain way which is not true to ourselves.

An authority figure—who is supposed to be the parameter for the people to follow by a certain sect, is known to be a master, as a guru, or a philosopher. Or let’s say a person of authority in the field of physics or any other subject—their mind we always see as something much more stable. Most of us are not able to kind of know what it is, and we do not need to know what it is. We do not have to know what it is. It is just there’s something that you have not seen, something that you cannot see. That’s why it is expanded. That’s why it is so much elaborated upon.

So the only emphasis shall be the emotions with which you carry out your life. If the operation of your life has the backing of stillness, if the emotions can be tackled, then the mind cannot traumatise or cannot be euphoric.

So it doesn’t matter whether you are passing through the passage of trauma or triumph, or you’re passing through a euphoric sense of being; that’s perfectly all right. But the moment you are able to have the ‘clarity’, when the clarity dawns on you, ‘mind’ takes a backseat.

Mind creates upheaval only in doubt and confusion. In the absence of clarity, ‘mind’, or what you call the emotions through which it works, can play some level of havoc, can play havoc, but apart from it, it cannot. The moment you have the understanding with you, the moment you have the clarity within you, the moment you have that level of dealing with the situation and people around you, you do not need to focus on your mind much. Because your mind, because if I’m saying my mind, I don’t know what mind is, but let’s say, my mind, which is nothing but the very fleeting waves just surfacing on the seashore and receding back again. And the wave again looks very huge from a distance as if it’s gonna come and take us away into it, but still remains to be the wave again. So these waves which encircle different layers of emotions and reach up to you and try to crash into you, as if your existence is taken away into these waves, are just a figment of imagination, nothing else. Most of us, what we are grappling with is ‘these heaps of emotions’. And these heaps of emotions—which we cannot take control of, we succumb under the pressure of them—usually are termed as the work of mind.

So what happens here is that the mind is not something to be deplored and become scared of—‘mind’ is nothing as such. In fact, the best thing in the world, the best thing ever happened is ‘human mind’.

Let’s say you have a Ferrari with you. You have a Ferrari, or you say you have some swanky aircraft. You can just fly her anywhere in the world, but you are not a pilot. But someone has gifted you an aeroplane, someone has gifted you a Ferrari. Do you want to, do you want to demean the person who has gifted you that? Or, we human beings, who have got this immense level of imagination power, it is our willingness that has got us where we are today; it is because of the mind where we are right now. You are able to watch me on your phone or wherever you’re seated in another part of the world, far away from where I am, far away from where I am, just because of the evolution of our lives, and it is the mind.

So can we say that the level of unbridled, unbounded exploration of what we are capable of is the work of the mind? But, unfortunately, the same unbridled potential of what we are capable of and what we could be, what we could be capable of, is being demeaned, belittled by few surfaces of emotions that we cannot deal with. Is it fair? Is it fair, do you think so? Is it a fair deal? Just because you cannot drive a Ferrari, you cannot take the aeroplane off the ground, do you want to be derisive about the person or about what has been given to you? Do you want to make disparaging remarks about what we human beings have been equipped with? Is it fair?

So it is the mind that has got you at such a higher level of sophistication of technology, the luxury around you. Look at where you are seated or a couch where I’m seated comfortably. It is because of ‘human mind’. We say mind because we don’t have any other words. Or say brain. You can see your brain because ‘brain’ can be seen. Okay this is, this is the back side of it and it is shown—this is the brain and & because it is seen. But it is just ‘instrument’. But ‘instrument’ without current is of no value. Since we have this willingness to do whatever we want to do with the immense level of imagination which is totally unbridled, can go any distance from where we are and if we cannot handle it, no matter how tragic the life becomes and how triumph could be felt by it, it is only the perceptual understanding of what we have come to know about the mind. So whatever you read about the mind is just one theory or one colouring, a texture one has given to. No big deal about it.

So ‘mind’ is a fantastic tool. A tool should be used; it should be used to upgrade you. It should not be crippling to you; it should be enabling you. It’s the most ennobling experience to have this level of perspicacity and this absolute level of keenness. Perspicacity is only with us as human beings, is ‘only with us’. Others have been just given a software; they are just operating their life based on what has been installed into the system. The other species are in tune with the cosmos, with the ‘Nature’—we are the ones who are out of tune, out of tune absolutely. That’s why we are ‘scared of mind’ because we are out of tune. And this out of tune is poised enough to help us ascend beyond the ‘life & death’. That’s why we have that power. That’s why we have the mind, what we call “the mind”. But other species, rest of, rest from us have not been given that privilege. They are just operating based on the instinct in-built within them, but we are not them.

So here mind is a limitless, timeless reality—limitless and timeless reality which can tap into everything and tap and do anything unknown. But it loses its rays somewhere, but that is a matter of spiritual talks. But, here, as we are trying to confine it within what we are capable of, it is the mind because of which we have all the luxuries of life, isn’t it? Someone built an aircraft; you can just fly any distance. Just within 24 hours you are in different geographical locations. You can communicate with anyone and everyone in the world just by a flick of a few fingers. Everything is possible. It is quick because of the level of keenness with mind—can have, because of its power. And I think it is something to be absolutely proud of because we have something within us which can be unbridled in such a way that it will open up the limitless possibilities of what a celebration of a ‘birth of a human being’ can be!

So anything that is powerful is not seen, is never seen, is invisible. Just so you can see my hand, my fingers, maybe this is very mighty—I can knock someone else down like this. But what operates this one? Can I live without this? But what about…? This is not visible. I can feel that I’m breathing in, but I cannot see it. But if this one goes away, this is of no use; this ‘might’ is ‘of no use’.

So what is not to be seen is not to be blamed, absolutely no; please don’t do that. It’s just that few people—since they do not have a particular way of handling themselves, the emotions run them. That’s a problem. Maybe the hormones within it play their roles, and they have no control over them. The imbalances of hormones within the system creates that emotional upheaval, and they succumb under the pressure of it; that is it. And they say, oh, my mind is bad, or mind is this or that; no, it’s not like that. It’s ‘just a few changes’ in the ‘lifestyle’ could actually make one person behave in a very calm way, in a very harmonious way. You can deal with any situation in a much better way. One doesn’t have to be violent and create drama and trauma around it—absolutely not needed, absolutely not needed. It is just that the potential of a human being can be only measured by the level of his attentiveness, as simple as that.

This mind is so powerful that even three-point-few-seconds of absolute concentration can bring ‘so much’ of ‘information’ of many, many lifetimes. What we shall be focusing on is attentiveness. Attentiveness is consciousness. The more attentive we are, the more conscious we become. Consciousness is a state, state, is avasthā. Attentiveness requires ‘to be present’. Attentiveness is more of a process that we engage in. And this attentiveness does not have the baggage of ‘the history’, does not have the baggage of conditioned pattern. As long as the conditioned pattern dictates and rules you, you have the same pattern of behaviour over and over and over again. That’s why life around you or life as it is for yourself seems very heavy—why? —because the same patterned condition comes back on you, catches up on you, and there seems no way out to grow out of them. But the more attentive you become; you will see that the mind is your best friend. Mind is your ‘best friend’ you can ever have! This is the reality because with this power you can just turn anything around in your life.

But how do we, how to become more attentive? How to be more present at this point in time? That shall be the talk of discussion. That shall be the matter of concern to you, not the mind because the more attentive you are the more controlled your mind is ‘in any way’, but you do not have to control your mind. But that requires scraping off, scraping off the very layer that has got so much cemented. And if you are able to scrape it off one by one and this scraping off is nothing, this rubbing off, scraping it off, peeling it off, the taste and the preferences, the liking and disliking, what you call that very disposition, the nature, the world that we have created around us, if this is scraped off bit by bit, day by day, bit by bit, day by day, there could be some possibility of greatness in your life as well.

And it begins with just ‘few disciplines’: just with lifestyle changes, a lot could change. In fact, ‘change’ in food habit’ could change your life, yeah, exactly, very simple. The way you take ‘bath’—that could change your life, exactly. At a specific hour, in a specific temperature, yes, it can change a lot about you. Drinking water could change your life. It sounds so—”what is this, so simple?”—but it is the truth.

So who is ‘making’ your mind? Ask this question right now to ‘you’; maybe, who knows, mind will come revealing to ‘you’. What is ‘making’ your mind right now? How are you behaving? The way you are right now, observe yourself. What draws your attention most of the time is actually who you are. Anyway, let me know: How, what would you do, what would you do if you have everything in the world and if you could do whatever you’d like to do? What would you do—that’s who you are! If you are given everything in the world that you would like to have, right now, be in the place where you’d like to be, to have everything just the way you would like to have in your life, the people, the situation, everything is just the way you would like them to have—that defines you, the character who you are.

So, if you are given everything, would you be the most harmonious person in the world?

Probably yes, probably no. If probably ‘no’, it means that there’s a lot to be done. There’s a lot, a lot to be done. Maybe just a one percent, not even one percent, of the entire population of the human race would be most harmonious human being, the more warm and cordial human being, given that they have everything whatever they would like to have in their life—the people, the situation, everything just the way they would like them to have. Probably not. Not even a percent. That’s the reason why the same volume of people are ‘suffering their minds’.

So here is a parameter for us, for all of us. If we could be equipoised, given the fact that we have everything and everyone under our control, just the way we would like them to be, it means that if we are harmonious under those conditions, it means that we are elevated; mind is not a problem, mind is my friend. But if not, better that people do not get what they want in their lives. Otherwise, they want to create hell lot of nonsense around them. The world will be a horrible place to live in! Horrible place to live.

So the point here is the ‘scraping off the preferences’ of yours day by day, bringing more focus, attentiveness to what it is at this point in time, bringing your presence right here and behaving, behaving. If I could just give a clue to you as this talk ends right here, just give one clue right away, because ‘solution’ is much more important than just talking about problems. Just one thing, not more than one! If you could behave better than the situation that you are in but anyway how would anyone know whether I am behaving better than my situation. There could be a talk on that as well. But if you are under a situation, a specific situation which makes you feel very vulnerable, but, in that, in that position of yours, under that pressure of vulnerability, if you are behaving ‘much more’ better—you are becoming a better version of yourself. You are making the best use of your mind, and you will have the blessings. You will have ‘the people and situation’ in the future; ‘they are in the making’. As you behave better than the situation that you are in, if you could only ensure this one thing in your life, all the greatness that you seek right now as I speak these words—are ‘in the making’ for you. This is the truth!

So, if you could just ensure one thing—are you behaving better than the situation that you are in? Yes, or no? If you are, you are doing something really great. The whole universe is proud of you. Everybody is proud of you. Few people who could be very jealous of your greatness—that’s a different thing. But mostly you are making a great, you are making a great deal out of your anointing. You are growing out of your situation, certainly. So, if you could just ensure this one, your mind is the best friend.

So always ask yourself this question: are you behaving better than the situation? And if you are that, then your mind, in the coming time, is gonna be your best friend. It’s gonna help you.

So mind is right now—right here, right now—how you’re perceiving right now, what you are perceiving right now. And that is creating your destiny as well.

So create a better version of yourself by behaving better each time with every situation. That’s the power of mind.

So ‘mind’ cannot be imaginary. It is something which dictates us as we know it. Do you actually know what dictates you? You say, mind dictates me; mind does this and that to me.

So, if you are given everything, would you be the most harmonious person in the world?

So always ask yourself this question: are you behaving better than the situation? And if you are that, then your mind, in the coming time, is gonna be your best friend. It’s gonna help you.

So mind is right now—right here, right now—how you’re perceiving right now, what you are perceiving right now. And that is creating your destiny as well.

So create a better version of yourself by behaving better each time with every situation. That’s the power of mind.