The Windows of the Mind
Will Power motivated by God is the active force available for your uplift. This is called Sankalpa Bala. Develop it by concentration and japa (chanting the Divine Name).The mind must be compelled to submit to the dictates of the will. Now, you are easily led astray by the vagaries of the mind.
That is why, I say, WATCH! ‘W’ is for watch your Words; ‘A’ is for watch your Actions; ‘T’ is for watch your Thoughts; ‘C’ is for watch your Character; ‘H’ is for watch your Heart. If the watch reminds you every second of the need to watch these five, you can be quite happy.
The mind swings like a pendulum between one pleasant object and another. To stop the pendulum, the easiest means is to stop winding. That will put an end to the swing. So too, stop encouraging the mind by following its whims and fancies. When we beat another or cause harm to him, we justify it as only right and proper; when he beats us or harms us, we revolt and call it wrong and punishable.
Everything is judged by us on the touchstone of the ego. The mind is a double-edged sword – it can save, but it can also bind. Yoga is the restraint of the waves natural to the mind. By learning and practising the disciplines of yama, niyama, aasana, pranaayama, prathyaahaara dharana, dhyaana and samaadhi (abstention from evil-doing, various observances, postures, control of breath, restraining the sense organs, concentration, meditation, absorption in the Aathma), the seeker can overcome and eliminate the mind.
When the mind is eliminated, the Reality will become patent! It is like the discovery of the lost “tenth man.” Ten friends waded across a river in floods, and when they reached the bank opposite, each one took a count and found only nine, for he did not count himself! So, they inferred that “the tenth man” was drowned and began lamenting his loss.
Then, a passer-by came along and counted them. He found that all were there; the tenth man too was there; only ignorance had kept him unrecognised. This is the consequence of illusion. Since you do not know the real nature of the Self or Aathma, you do not recognise the Self at all; when this knowledge is communicated by the Guru or scripture, the ignorance of the Self disappears.
