5. Choose The Self Or Peace And Not The Mind

Every moment we have the choice to believe what ever comes into our mind and to either rejoice or suffer or to shift the attention to the true Self. This awareness of the Knower of the mind assists us in making that distinction and in living in the peace that is forever shining.

Transcript

Podcast by Sri.

Use the self or peace and not the mind and its thoughts.

We've been discussing in the last few podcasts the eight steps to self-realization or enlightenment.

Now we're on the fifth step.

Last time in the fourth step we discussed how to be aware of the mind and the self and know the difference between division and oneness.

So from that talk you got a keen awareness as to what is mind and what is self.

This is a very necessary step for the one who's practicing for the Sadak,

For the yogi who's practicing yog-sadhana.

This the first thing that you're aware of when you close your eyes is that the mind thinks,

The mind generates thoughts,

That's its functioning.

And as we've said so many times you can't stop the mind from thinking just like you don't want to stop the eyes from thinking or the ears from hearing.

In the same way the mind is a sense that generates thoughts.

So there's no problem with that.

The only problem comes in when you,

The knower of your mind,

The knower of your thoughts,

Begins to believe that you are limited by these thoughts.

You become mixed or identified with the thoughts.

So the knower,

That which is being known or the process of knowing,

And the object,

Or that which is known,

The thoughts,

Becomes mixed up together.

This is called Sanyog,

The mixture state.

Because of this you forget your true self and you believe yourself to be limited to being a body and a mind with this personality,

With this life experience,

With these credentials,

With these achievements,

With these failures.

And your whole life is based on what you think.

If you think happy thoughts you feel happy.

If you're sad you're thinking thoughts that make you feel sad,

Then you're sad.

If things go according to your preferences you feel good.

When things go not according to your preferences you feel bad.

I'm sure everyone has observed this.

It's most apparent at the times when you're feeling fine,

Everything's okay,

And then somebody tells you something or you get some information and all of a sudden you're feeling bad just because you heard something.

There's a story that's told about this.

It's called The Cat in the Head.

And how this story goes is that someone goes on a trip and leaves their precious pussycat with their friend to take care of for them.

And she feels very secure in having her friend watching her very precious cat that she loves so much because she knows her friend will take good care of her cat.

So then she goes on her journey,

Which is going to be over a month's time,

And each day she communicates with her friend and the friend says,

Oh,

No worry,

Your cat is fine,

Being fed,

Doing just fine.

And she feels good.

And then one day a notice comes from the friend and says,

I'm very sorry to inform you,

But something happened and your cat has died.

Your cat's no longer with us.

Now this lady goes from feeling fine having a great trip to now feeling sad and grieving and getting mad at her friend for maybe not taking proper care of the cat,

Mad at herself for leaving her cat,

And so on and so forth.

So we can see that just with this information about the cat no longer being alive,

The lady begins to suffer.

So now this goes on for a few days and then the friend writes back and says,

Haha,

Just joking,

Your cat's fine.

And now the lady sees that how this thought,

The cat was dead,

Created a certain reaction in her chit or in her mind and then in the feelings,

Which is really not separable.

The mind and body is considered one unit in the yoga science.

And then with the information that the cat's really okay,

How that space changed.

So the cat is in the head.

The thought is in the head.

So any thought that you have is in the mind.

And when you're asleep at night in deep sleep,

You're fine no matter what is going on in the life.

So we can see from this that the problems really only exist on the level of the mind and the thoughts.

This often comes up,

And I've heard the question asked many times,

How do I know if my guidance is from my knower,

From the self,

Or it's from the mind?

And we can say that if you ask that question,

You're already living from the awareness of the mind,

Because the mind is the questioning state.

As the self just is,

Just like the water just is.

And then when a bubble or a wave arises,

When a thought arises,

It can believe itself to be separate,

But it's really the same ocean water.

When a thought or experience occurs,

One believes that to be separate from the self.

So this idea of the discrimination,

The vivek,

Between what is self and what is mind is a necessary step for the practicing yogi.

However,

We will come to see through the sadhana that it's one space,

It's one reality.

There's only oneness.

So there's really no division between the mind and the space or the self.

But first you have to make that distinction in order to become aware that the bubbles and the waves are just the ocean water,

The thoughts,

The mind is only the self.

So for the one asking that question,

Am I being guided by my mind or by the self,

This can be answered in different ways.

One way would be to say it's all self,

Only self can do everything,

Because the very light of the self reflects in your mind and then you begin to say I am,

I am this person.

So nothing can be done without the reflection of that light on your mind and on your body.

So it is self doing everything.

However,

When the mind comes in and believes itself to be separate from the self,

The mind believes that I am this individual body and mind with my ideas and my thoughts and forgets itself the source,

The pure being,

Then the mind takes charge and the mind decides based on its samskaras,

Based on its past experience,

Based on your ideas and beliefs and trainings,

Desires for happiness,

Desires to not have any unhappiness,

This is the functioning of the mind,

It just works that way.

So the decisions now based on desire,

Based on craving,

Based on need,

Based on not feeling satisfied with yourself will be those that come from the mind.

So to allow the self to decide means to put your attention on the knower,

Not to use the mind to create a decision,

But to just sit and know the knower and the body will still eventually begin to move,

Go in the direction that it needs to go into.

The thinking is secondary.

So this is our topic for this podcast,

Choose the self or peace and not the mind or its thoughts.

So when you know that the fulfillment,

The peace,

The self is who you are already and the mind becomes mixed with that self and believes itself to be the one in control and you've become aware that the way your life has unfolded for however many years you've lived now is the mind has not brought your total satisfaction and your total peace.

You have glimpses of it,

You have moments of it,

You go on a vacation,

You feel good,

You're working,

You feel a struggle,

You feel anxious.

That's the way the mind and the feelings function.

What you the knower is forever free,

Is forever uninvolved with the mind.

So as the one who's sifting out the self from the mind,

You observe your mind and know that to be mind.

As we said in the last podcast,

To be aware of what is mind and what is self,

What is oneness and what is division.

So to be aware that the mind divides,

The self never divides,

The self is not divisive,

But the mind divides.

So now you choose the self.

So a particular situation is going on in your life and the mind is struggling,

Is thinking of all avenues,

All possibilities,

Pros and cons,

Ways to communicate,

Ways to interact,

To try to get what you want.

You know that's all mind.

Someone else comes to you and is mad at you possibly or talks to you about difficulties in their life and their struggles and there doesn't seem to be any solution on the level of the mind,

You know that's all mind and there's no solution because the ultimate solution doesn't really exist on the level of the mind.

The mind can't even know the self.

It can only be purified through meditation.

So you want to purify your mind,

Your intellect,

So it can be settled,

Bring more sattva,

Bring more light into the mental functioning so that your attention now can go to the source.

We talked about that in terms of klisht and aklisht,

Vritti,

That you want your vrittis,

The waves to return to the source,

To be aklisht,

Not painful.

So we bring in the mantra,

Amaramham madhuramham,

Pure,

Free forever.

Those are aklisht vrittis.

They're vrittis,

They're waves of perception that bring you back to the knowing that you're the pure consciousness and the wave is not separate from the ocean,

The wave is not separate from you.

So when you choose the self you choose peace because the self is forever peaceful,

Forever undivided.

It's not that the self is the doer and makes the decisions for you,

That's another misnomer because the self doesn't do anything.

The self just is pure,

The closest comparison would be to the sky but it's actually more subtle than the sky.

The very space or akash,

The subtlest of the subtle,

The finest of the fine.

That self is the radiance,

The self-effulgence that you are.

And then if it operates through an unpurified mind the results will not be that which which you want for liberation or for self-realization.

You might get money,

You might make friends,

You might get credentials,

You might achieve things but you won't be satisfied fully,

You won't have that direct experience,

The atma sakshatkar of who you are.

You remain an individual in a world of ups and downs,

Of struggles and joys.

So by placing the attention on the knower,

The one that was there in deep sleep,

The one that's there in the waking state even though there are thoughts now,

The one that's there in the dream state where the imagination can create anything,

We know that the waking state is not so far from that dream state.

It's the same imagination imagining itself to be right,

Imagining this person to be this way and that person to be that way,

And my life to be this way,

Not to be that way.

So now we wake up from the waking state,

That wakeful dream now becomes the fourth state which is the source of your power,

The source of your liberation,

The source of who you are.

So choose the self,

Choose peace which is forever fulfilled,

Which is one without a second,

Which is right now,

Here and now in this eternal presence,

Rather than believing that your mind will bring the solutions.

Your mind has to decide in order for you to feel okay.

Instead of that,

Allow the self.

The mantra of the whole says this so beautifully,

Which is Om Poor Namada Poor Namidam,

That that Om or that oneness is full and complete as it is.

Nothing can be added to it to make it any more,

Nothing taken away from it will make it any less because you are that porn,

That fullness,

That brahm,

That absolute bliss,

Consciousness,

Pure,

Free and forever.

Om Shanti Om Peace.

May this peace be with you always.