Meanders of Mind
Psychologists and writers have analysed the meanders of the human mind in various ways. For spiritual scientists mind it remains the subject of their primary concern on which they have based many of their treatises which delineate the fact that one of the chief characteristics of the mind is its constant and ceaseless thought process. The stream of consciousness of ideas keeps flowing like a cascade which abounds in various thoughts. And evidently, it is not the quantity but the quality of thoughts that is the sole determinant of its state of purity.
Health experts truly believe that our body is what we eat, and in the same fashion, psychologists have aptly proven that we are what we think.
The spiritual practitioner has made many strenuous efforts to tame the galloping horse of mind in a slew of uncommon ways. A number of hermits bid adieu to the crowds of people living in the towns and villages and take refuge amidst the thicket of the forests so that they can divert the course of their mind, which according to the great psychologist Sigmund Freud works on the pleasure principle and hungers for the exterior beauty and superficial bliss to experience and hold the object of desire till it reaches that saturation point from where it starts craving for some new object. This relentless process of liking and disliking by the mind does not let a man heave a sigh of relief, and consequently, he is, to, a large extent, bereft of inner serenity and tranquility. Mahatma Budh, while addressing many of the congregations of his disciples, would often admonish them to get liberated from the clutches of the mind as it is a dense tree laden with the leaves of countless desires. Many other religions, like Buddhism disseminate the same gospel message of desires being the root cause of all our suffering.
Bridling the horse of mind running amuck after worldly gratifications is indeed a Herculean task for the ordinary people who, unlike a few sturdy seers and saints, cannot abjure the paths of transitory pleasures. Such people of our ilk have a very deformed and defiled thought process that makes us feel jealous, hate others, harbour vengeance and amass worldly assets in a maddening proportion. The actual spiritual beings, while living a common life with common people have been most befittingly trying to hammer down the message that it is not always necessary to roll one’s fingers on the beads of a rosary while sitting in some shabby and rickety hut in the secluded mountains. One can train one’s mind to rise above the pursuit of transient joys and bubble glories. There is undoubtedly a clamouring need to reformat our entire thought process, which is abjectly afflicted with the disorders like cupidity, jealousy and hatred. Working meticulously and sedulously on one’s thoughts, one must feed one’s mind the amount of right kind of quality thoughts and put a very watchful and constant check on the negative thoughts that subvert the relations with other fellow human beings and sabotage the inner equanimity.
About attitudinal changes as a gateway to a fulfilling life, another great American psychologist William James has rightly remarked in his famous book ‘The Principles of Psychology’ that one can alter one’s life by altering one’s attitude. Therefore, the mind certainly does not require to be suppressed with the treatment of an animal; instead, it is only with wisdom and continuous self-counselling the fact can be recognised that human desires are endless and can never bring everlasting pleasures. The eternal bliss can be experienced only by those who conquer the mind with the invincible power of spiritual wisdom, as rightly said by Guru Nanak Dev Ji, ‘ Mann jeetay jug jeet’. One who conquers the mind conquers the world.
(The Writer, based at New Delhi, is an acclaimed spiritual healer and the founder of Ekashrushti by Shruti.)