Matters of the mind

Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa said: “Bondage is of the mind; freedom too is of the mind. If you say ‘I am a free soul. I am a son of God who can bind me’, free you shall be.”

Right said Thakur, an enlightened being who was born with a mortal body like all of us!

When I first heard this, it had to be repeated umpteen times to wedge open the door of my reservoir of ajnana. The quote addressed the mind.

Before we read an Oasis article, our mind concocts its content and a compelling story from its title. With early involvement of mind – a subtle entity associated with each Jiva with an ability to expand beyond the brain folds to the faraway horizons, it functions to make us aware of the world and its myriad of experiences.

Our state of (un)happiness can be attributed to the mind as a result of our actions which shape an outcome. Tracing backwards, our actions are due to words that we speak, arising from our thoughts that we generate from an intent due to our hardened principles or belief system. Only when all are in total synchronisation, as expounded in our scriptures termed kaya-vaacha-manasa, it results in a blissful feeling for the Jiva who is involved throughout.

An understanding of the mind functions provide better clarity. Our scriptures are rich in references to mind as Antahkarana encompassing the four critical functions: Manas cognises everything it receives as inputs through our sense organs; Buddhi the intellect to power the ability of discrimination; Ahankara to power the ego-sense, and Chitta the storehouse or memory.

Mano moolam idam jagath: Mind is the root for creation and cosmos, without which we do not perceive anything. The scriptures mention ‘man will realise Himself once he relinquishes his mind principle’. We learn from Bhagavad Gita that even Arjuna prays to Krishna – I am unable to live with this wavering mind; it is dangerous and overpowering.

An unwavering mind when it achieves equanimity guides us to the stable ground of self-realisation. We need to invest in mind control through unselfishness and meditation techniques to help us progress in a spiritual path. I conclude this write-up with utmost humility, and in a lighter vein – “Those who mind don’t matter, and those who matter don’t mind.”