Today's Considerations
Maharaj’s eventual focus was on what he came to see as the root source of the Ultimate Sickness, namely, the mind. He
had already tried and abandoned a religious / non-dual version of the Ultimate
Medicine and a spiritual / non-dual version of the Ultimate Medicine; he had modified
his stance regarding SELF-Inquiry and said: “You do not need to find the answer
to the question, ‘Who Am I?’” and that “It is enough to know who you are not”;
he advised seekers to stop reading the talks in the so-called "spiritual classic" I AM THAT and to listen to his later talks and to “just
give up spirituality” and to abide “normally and naturally” instead.
Seeing that the problems of humanity are all centered in
the mind, he said:
"There is no such thing as peace of mind. Mind means
disturbance. Restlessness itself is mind."
“Don’t rely on your mind for liberation. It is the mind that
brought you into bondage. Go beyond it altogether.”
"Distrust your mind, and go beyond."
“The death of the mind is the birth of wisdom.”
"All illness begins in the mind."
"There is no chaos in the world except the chaos which
your mind creates."
" . . . The mind obscures and distorts."
"Beyond the mind there is no suffering.”
"Beyond the mind there is no suffering.”
[Note the distinction between “pain”
on one hand and "misery and suffering" on the other: pain is rooted in the the
body; misery and suffering are rooted in the mind.]
His advice:
"Stop making use of your mind and see what
happens."
"There is no such thing as mind. There are ideas . . .
."
[Here the point is that ideas, concepts, notions, perceptions, values, etc. can
all be clustered into one single group or classification: beliefs; thus, it would be said here that “There is no
such thing as mind. There is only a conglomeration of beliefs; moreover, those
are not 'your beliefs' but are actually just 'their beliefs' which have been accepted
on blind faith without any logical or reasonable or objective questioning at all.”]
Maharaj:
"To know that you are a prisoner of your mind - that you live in an imaginary world of your own creation - is the dawn of wisdom."
So what was the state which ultimately freed him and led to the birth of his wisdom? It was a no-mind state:
"There is no such thing as a mind."
"I have no mind . . . ."
"Reach a state of zero-concepts."
"As to my mind, I have no such thing. There is consciousness in which everything happens."
"I find I have lost the mind irretrievably."
"As to my mind, I have no such thing. There is consciousness in which everything happens."
"I find I have lost the mind irretrievably."
Hence the title of one of the eBooks below: “There’s No Such Thing As Peace of Mind” (There Is Only Peace If You Are Out Of Your Mind).
Certain pointers offered in that book shall be shared,
beginning with this opening consideration:
Most persons will never reach a point where they are awake
enough to even ask the questions that indicate they are aware of the fact that they have no
“peace of mind” at all. Likely, though, some will eventually ask one or more of the following:
“How can I attain peace of mind?”
“Why is my mind constantly in motion?”
“Why do I start thinking about one thing and get hung up on
that?”
“Why does my mind sometimes feel as if there’s the chatter
of a thousand monkeys going on inside my head?”
“How can I purify my mind and get rid of all the troublesome
things that fill it all day long?”
“Why can’t I stop my mind at night and go to sleep and stay
asleep until morning?”
The answers will be provided in this book. Best regards on
your “journey” as you seek them.
In CHAPTER ONE of that book (entitled “MIND” and MEMORIES: When
Nature’s “Assets” Become Warped into “Liabilities”), this pointer is
offered:
“Consciousness is rooted in the Absolute. The brain is
rooted in the elements. The ‘mind’ is rooted in wrong programming and faulty
conditioning and lies and concepts and ideas and superstitions and falsehoods.
Personas are rooted in programmed minds and are sustained by the ego-based lies
and by the learned ignorance that are being taught in most modern cultures.”
Also excerpted from that chapter:
The smaller human brain, in its earlier and simpler stages
of development, allowed humans then to live as deer live today: hunt / forage /
find food for survival; interact; take actions that are self-defensive and
self-constructive; and procreate in order that the species will survive. As
more and more humans walked the planet, the simplicity of existence would be
lost as the simplicity of the brain was lost.
Complications resulted because of an increase in human
interactions (and an increase in both individual as well as tribal interests
and agendas). The brain began to evolve in order to compensate, and eventually
areas that could store memories came into being. At that point, the mind and
the brain worked in tandem and in harmony to contribute to the survival of
individuals and the species. The mind came about as “memories” began to be stored.
As a part of the defense mechanisms for survival of the species, the mind had
its role and played it “properly” (naturally) for thousands of years.
For example, if a caveman remembered that his companion fell
from a cliff and died as a result, the caveman might avoid falling from cliffs.
The original process was as follows: over a period of evolution, the brain
expanded to include a cerebral cortex and a hippocampus. Afterwards, when an
event happened (such as a human falling off a cliff) or when someone learned
something (such as, “falling off a cliff can kill you”), the brain placed the
memory of that event and the related knowledge acquisition in its “memory
files." That is all the mind was: a collection of memories filed away in
those "newer" parts of the brain.
The memory of both old and new happenings would be processed
and stored away in different areas of the cerebral cortex, or the "gray
matter" of the brain. The hippocampus would process the memories. (As a
side note in that regard, a disease receiving considerable attention
nowadays—Alzheimer’s—comes about when the hippocampus is damaged, resulting in
... what else ... memory loss. Is it not interesting that one who might have
been a fighter for years and who loved chaos suddenly becomes peaceful when the
ability to tap into dualistic memories is lost? Witness the way that the
ability to remember dualistic concepts and dogma are now the curse of the
planet, relatively speaking.)
Over a period of time, language developed which allowed
controlling men with hidden, personal agendas to dream up concepts and teach
those ideas to others who could—by that point—remember them. The overabundance
of dualistic concepts and beliefs and dogma (which were destructive and
separatist in nature) began to outnumber the earlier class of memories that
were survival-related.
It was one thing for the caveman to “feel bad” if the fish
that was going to feed him and his family that day happened to get away. Such
feelings are natural. It is quite another thing when modern persons—as a result
of living under the auspices of a warped, dualistic “mind”—truly believe that
they should feel “bad” when they do things that are also natural, such as
masturbation or fornication. It is one thing for the caveman to feel “good”
when he killed a deer for supper. It is quite another thing when a modern
person, as a result of a warped, dualistic “mind,” feels “good” if he kills
another human who has different religious beliefs filed away in the storage
areas of the brain.
Now, because of the warped dualistic “mind,” persons feel
“good” if they beat their “bad” children or if they whip a wife who flashed a
bit of ankle in public. As the “mind” formed, it allowed a class of beliefs and
concepts to be accumulated that no longer contribute to the survival of the
species but that have become a driving factor in the perversion of interactions
and the destruction of humans by humans. Dualistic thinking was born, and all
of the horrors of the relative existence began. Prior to attachment to
dualistic beliefs, early tribal fights might deal with water rights. After the
“mind” quit working in tandem and in harmony with the brain, it began to
overrule the brain. Thereafter, fighting dealt far less with survival issues
and far more with conflicts over differing beliefs and concepts.
Those fights / wars would eventually result in the killing
of more humans that anything other than natural causes: political wars;
religious wars; holocausts; the invasion of continents and the decimation of
native populations; and acts of racial, ethnic and religious genocide.
Dual-mindedness had begun, and the persons of the planet are still bound in its
grip. It is now at the root of everything called “evil,” and the accuracy of
the words of the Advaitin teacher of 2000 years ago (who said that “A
dual-minded person is unstable in all ways”) are proving to be as factual today
as in 30 A.D.
To be continued.
Please enter the silence of contemplation.
[NOTE:
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