Mind – How to control it

II

By communion with Naam, attention would rise above the plane of senses, purifying the mind. It would no longer be defiled by the external impressions gathered through the outgoing faculties. By listening to the Sound Current ingrained and accumulated impressions of previous births are burnt away. What is the criterion of a pure mind? There are no more mental oscillations; instead there is steadiness. By constant remembrance of the Lord, all the worldly impressions are nullified. In such a state of equipoise, Naam can be developed. Consequently, mind would be cleansed and be able to adore the Lord in the true sense. It is only a question of stilling it.

Bhai Nand Lal¹⁰ says,

A Perfect Master is a sovereign remedy for the mind.

The earlier discussion was concerned with the malady affecting the mind. How a Perfect Master can consolidate a scattered mind is explained now:

An Adept in Spiritual Science brings about concentration of mind through His charged attention. A glance of His Grace is sufficient to emancipate us.

So the company of a Spiritual Adept is indispensable. The Master now says that Divine Music is reverberating within you; commune thou with It. Mind would, consequently, be purified and be able to sing the praise of the Lord. Once you think of something that will be ever before you, only then mind is cleared of its defilements.

So, the first step is the association of an Awakened Person; and the second is to commune with the Word within, a Real Satsang. Both the steps will help in the stillness of mind and its purification. One would understand the significance of adoring the Lord and reap the fruit thereof.

In the association of a Saint, if the mind is engaged elsewhere,

says Kabir,

the condition of such a man is like a raw coconut which cannot be dyed by any colour.

Swami Ji¹¹ also says,

Go and sit in the company of a Great Soul with a receptive mind. Listen to Him with rapt attention.

For a moment cut yourself off from all sides and wash away all worldly thoughts; only then will you derive benefit from the charged atmosphere. Such a Satsang is worth one thousand Satsangs heard with scattered attention. So attend a Satsang with undivided attention: Then only can you take full advantage of it.

Guru Amar Das now gives out His personal experience of how He controlled His mind:

Self-knowledge dawns through the guidance of a Godman; only then can the soul enter the True Home. Oh Soul! sky is thy dwelling place; but alas! thou are trapped by the bondage of matter.

All Great Souls have said that, before attaining the Kingdom of God, you would be blessed with self-knowledge through the instructions of the Master.

The Upanishads also state

Know thyself.

Guru Nanak has said,

Nanak, without self-analysis, the miasma of delusion does not disappear.

Christ has said the same thing:

Know thyself.

Unless we realise the self, the mirage of the outside world does not disappear. All Saints have stressed this point. Its secret is self-analysis, which means self-realisation by liberating the soul from the clutches of the mind and senses. How can you know the Lord without knowing your self?

The first question which all Great Souls have placed before us is self-knowledge. Self-knowledge precedes God-Knowledge. This can only be attained by the practical guidance of a Spiritual Adept Who has analysed His own self. What does He enjoin upon us? Shake off the mortal coil and rise above body consciousness. There are various sheaths covering the soul – physical, astral, causal, and great causal. As the soul transcends the limitations of the three bodies – physical, astral, and causal – one gains self-awareness, cosmic awareness, and super-cosmic awareness respectively. By rising above the causal body, self-knowledge dawns, and one is nearer to the Reality and knower of it.

How can the mystery of knowing thyself be solved? Through the Grace of a Godman you can have experience of self-realisation and thus enter the mansion of the Lord which is the True Home of the soul. You may call It Sach Khand or Sat Lok which is immune from the haunt of dissolution and grand dissolution.

Having experienced this, Guru Amar Das explains:

Oh mind, get intoxicated with the Elixir of Naam and glorify the Lord.

You (mind) have had a taste of sensual and worldly pleasures. Now you experience the bliss of Naam and differentiate between the two. You will find that there is no comparison between the two. Naam, the Elixir of Life, is far more blissful than the insipid pleasures of the world. All Great Souls have commended it. Guru Nanak said the same thing when He went to the Mughal Emperor Babar. He was taking Indian hemp, an intoxicant, and offered it to Guru Nanak also.

Guru Nanak said,

Oh Babar, the intoxicant you are taking would produce but a passing inebriation and momentary forgetfulness. I have that intoxication (of Naam) with me whose effect is felt all the time. The intoxication of Naam, oh Nanak, works around the clock.

Shamas-i-Tabrez¹² has also mentioned of this state of intoxication.

I am the fountainhead of Eternal Bliss. If, after my death, manure is made of my body, and if that manure is scattered in a field where wheat is grown, the cook and bearer of chapatis (bread) made of that wheat will dance in ecstasy.

Great Souls have made an attempt to describe that bliss by comparing it with worldly pleasures. But there is absolutely no comparison between the two. The bliss of the pure wine of Naam – Water of Life – is far more exhilarating than the mundane sensual pleasures. There are no parallel examples to describe that state.

Guru Amar Das now says:

Oh mind, you are conversant with sensual enjoyments, now you experience the intoxication of Naam and see the difference between the two. Lord is the bestower of all comforts, by uniting with Whom all the desires emanating in the mind would be fulfilled.

He says that the Lord is the ocean of all comforts and giver of happiness. What would be the effect of establishing a communion with Him? At present, various desires crop up in the mind, but none of them appear to be fulfilled. But with God-Realisation one becomes a Conscious Co-Worker of the Divine Plan, and nature automatically works to one’s advantage. This leads to the purification of one’s mind. Nature will be at the beck and call of such a person.

Patanjali¹³ goes on to the extent of saying that a yogin, if he so desires, can create a world of his own. What is, after all, this world? It is a mere projection of the Divine Will. By communing with it one would become His Conscious Co-Worker. A thought has a tremendous force. As you think, so you become. On the one hand there is Divine Bliss, while on the other are sensual pleasures. We have to choose between the two. We are ignorant of the laws of nature. There is an Elixir of Life in it.

I was a lowly person, and it is through the Grace of my Master that I have attained this status.

Guru Amar Das says that at one time, He, too, was working at the plane of senses, but now He has attained the zenith of Spirituality with the Grace of His Master. He admits of a great change in Him – a change that even a ruffian would admit if he followed the Path. That is why Guru Amar Das pays a high tribute to His Master. God-Power is extremely subtle and always chooses a Human Pole to work in the world. You may call Him polarised God or the Word made flesh.

The greatness of the Master lies in rescuing us from the mighty maze of mind and matter.

The Master’s hand is God’s hand, though seemingly He may appear to be a human being, because God-Power is working in Him in fullness. Before one finds a Master, one is steeped in worldly pleasures. It is the Master Who, by infusing His own Life-Impulse, makes one rise above body consciousness. Wherein lies the greatness of a Great Soul? He is a liberated being and can liberate us. He is not affected by the world’s glamour. By practising the Word made manifest by Him, one can rise to any heights. The great Sage, Balmik, the author of the epic Ramayana, was once a highway man. What a man has done, another can do, of course, with proper help and guidance. Every Saint has His past and every sinner a future. One does not become a Saint overnight.

Having merged with the Absolute, Saints are granted Divine Commission and sent into the world to help the world-weary souls. Some are awakened by birth, while others attain perfection over here. There is no difference between the two as the same God-Power works in both. They manifest Themselves in various forms according to the needs of the time and clime.

Freed from the prison of the mind, I have now grown wise.

Guru Amar Das says that at one time He was completely lost in the world of senses, but with the Grace of His Master, He was now enjoying Life Eternal. By practising the Word, He was no longer swayed by feelings and emotions. Ganka, a prostitute, was transformed in a moment by a single glance of Grace from a Godman Who came to take shelter just to escape a heavy downpour of rain that overtook Him on the way. A spiritually charged person is far above the world of senses. He radiates rays of Spirituality and whosoever comes within His aura, automatically imbibes His spirit currents. A very sight of such a Person purifies the mind, and one begins to see things in their right perspective. A change like this was brought in the life of Guru Amar Das when He came into contact with His Master and He, therefore, testifies to this and glorifies His Master for His greatness. Whosoever came by Spiritual Riches, he did so only when he came into contact with a Great Soul, whether we may know of it or not is a matter of fact. But it is certain that a change like this could not come without the magnetic influence of such a Personality for that is the law of nature.

God Himself ordained that no one could even conceive of Him except through a Satguru.

None can realise Him save through a Perfect Master. This is a fundamental principle. How can one grovelling in dust on his own trans-humanise the human in him.

Further, Guru Amar Das explains:

From hemlock I have grown into a sandalwood.

He says that He was an abode of all kinds of wild desires which had now left Him altogether; instead He was now full of fragrance. Every thought has its own colour and smell. A lustful man, for instance, emits a foul smell like the one from a herd of unclean sheep. Similarly, one who is swayed by anger smells like a smoldering fire of dirty rags. A Godly man radiates a gentle aroma like jasmine without the use of any scent. All beauty and glory lie within. A mere touch with the hem of a Godman is enough to transform a person. Many persons were cured of their physical ailments by touching the garment of Jesus. The scriptures all the world over have glorified Real Masters and not the so-called teachers. One may succeed in deceiving one’s own self for all his life and others for sometime, but the All-Seeing God cannot be deceived.

The Power within,

my Master used to say,

is infallible.

Guru-Power is All-Knowing and does not grant Inner Access unless one is found fit. One cannot by wisdom and cunningness deceive that Power. One may talk as much as one may like and make a show of practising rites and rituals, but one cannot without purity of heart enter within.

Human birth is a rare privilege and one must make the most of it.

This is what every Saint has emphasised from personal experience. The greatest advantage that we can have is to realise the self within. This is the be-all and end-all of human existence. Is not flesh more than raiment and life more than flesh?

We must know how to save life that is dearer than pranas, vital airs, which are sustaining the body. Self-realisation and God-realisation come before everything else. On the contrary, we are engaged in useless pursuits of the world.

What does it profit a man if he gains possession of the whole world and loses one’s own soul.

Weeping we came into the world and weeping we go. Death does not spare anybody, and death knows no calendar. Why not make hay while the sun shines. To fall from the top rung of the ladder is a sad fall indeed and often proves fatal.

There is a great gulf between a man and an animal. A man is gifted with the power of discrimination. He can judge right from wrong and is free to choose between the two. The Vedic Rishis always prayed:

Lead us from darkness to Light, from unreal to the real, and from death to immortality.

One can achieve this and much more in human life:

By a great good fortune thou has got a human birth; this is the only opportunity for thee to contact the Lord, all else in the world will avail the naught, seek ye the company of the Saints and learn to commune within.

Human birth is a rare privilege to which one comes by an immense fortune. He is the roof and crown of creation and has great possibilities in him, which he can develop to any extent he likes. He can become really great in the human life if he realises himself and the God-Power in him. The human spirit is of the same essence as that of God. It is a pity that one with blue blood in his veins has chosen the company of mind and matter and is dancing in tune with the senses. Hence, the Master emphasises on this point. Now the question arises as to how one could get to the crest-jewel of his life.

The Eternal Life which thou seekest so much, you can have it (the Holy Word) from some Saint.

Guru Arjan¹⁴

What is Ram Naam? It is the All-Pervading and All-Pervasive Power of God. To get to this Power we must leave all else and seek the association of some Saint; for all else in the world is naught.

Christ says:

Leave everything and follow me.

Lord Krishna advised his warrior disciple Arjuna¹⁵ thus,

Leave all the philosophies aside, take refuge unto me, and do what I bid you to do.

So, we have to understand all values of life – social, ethical, and spiritual. All around perfection is the goal of life, and it is the highest education that one must take to. No one wants us to leave our hearths and homes and go into the wilderness. All that is required is to give some time to Spirituality which should take priority over everything else. The riddle of life has got to be solved one day and the sooner it is done the better it would be for us herein and hereafter.

Therefore, the Great Teacher says:

It is in the fullness of time that one meets a Perfect Master.

What does He do?

He links us with the Power of God.

Thus, we see that one comes across a Purnapurush, or Teacher of the highest grade, only when one is destined as such. And when we meet such a Teacher, He puts us in tune with the Holy Word and we begin to practise the same. As Guru Arjan says, this All-Pervading Power can only be had from a Word-Personified Saint, for Satguru is the Manifested Pole of Sat or Truth and revels in Truth and can make us do likewise:

The whole world is in deep slumber; and we, too, are asleep; how can one who himself is asleep wake us up?

A Liberated Soul alone can liberate us. One has to go to a Liberated Being, take counsel from Him, and by working out His behests, gain liberation for himself.

Those Who have communed with the Word, Their toils shall end, Their faces shall flame with Glory; not only shall They receive salvation, but many more shall find freedom with Them.

Nanak

(English version of one of the Master’s – Sant Kirpal Singh Ji’s – Satsang talks in Hindi at Sawan Ashram, Delhi.)

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Explanation:

10) Bhai Nand Lal : A devotee of Guru Gobind Singh and a great Persian scholar and poet.

11) Swami Ji : (1818 – 1878) : Swami Shiv Dayal Singh, the Great Saint of Agra. He revived the teachings of the Masters like Kabir and Nanak.

12) Shamaz-i-Tabrez : A Great Saint of Persia. He was the Master of the celebrated Maulana Rumi.

13) Patanjali : The father of the Yoga System. His Ashtang Yoga, the eight fold path, is the first major attempt to co-relate the many available avenues into a single coherent system for the spiritual reintegration of man.

14) Guru Arjan : Guru Arjan Dev, the fifth Sikh Guru who compiled the Adi Granth.

15) Arjuna : One of the five Pandava princes to whom Lord Krishna gave out the divine discourse known as the Bhagavad Gita – the Song Celestial.

Note:

The texts hosted under the Button ‚Sat Sandesh‘ are transcripts of the texts published in the original, official Sat Sandesh booklets.

These texts – as they are, for example, Satsangs published also in books or otherwise – can diverge from the versions published elsewhere.