“Come to know the nature of your own Mind, in which there is no self and no other …”
~ Huang Po
This morning, I was inspired to share some philosophy from my Facebook friend Krishna Chaithanya’s page. He posted something yesterday of interest to me, but when I got there to copy it, I found myself so caught up in some of his other posts, I lost track :). This young aspirant is amazing! So instead of what I was going to post, here is what caught my eye this morning ….
Mind is just a shadow.
Attempts to catch it and control it are futile.
They are just shadows chasing shadows.
You can’t control or eliminate a shadow by chasing it or by putting a shadow hand on it.
These are just children’s games.
Ram Tirtha once told a story about a small boy who ran down the street, trying to catch up with the head of his shadow.
He never managed because no matter how fast he ran, the shadow of his head was always a few feet ahead of him.
His mother, who was watching him and laughing, called out, ‘Put your hand on your head!’
When the boy followed this instruction, the shadow hand caught up with the shadow head.
This was enough to satisfy the boy.
This kind of advice may be enough to keep children happy, but it won’t produce satisfactory results in the realm of sadhana and meditation.
Don’t chase your shadow thoughts and your shadow mind with mind-control techniques because these techniques are also shadows.
Instead, go back to the source of the shadow-mind and stay there.
When you abide in that place, you will be happy, and the desire to go chasing after shadow thoughts will no longer be there.
Bhagavan (Ramana Maharshi) often told the story of a man who tried to get rid of his shadow by burying it in a pit.
This man dug a hole and then stood on the edge of it in such a way that his shadow was cast on the bottom of the hole he had just made.
After lining it up in this way, he started throwing soil on the shadow in an attempt to bury it.
Of course, no matter how much soil he put in the hole, the shadow still remained on top of it.
Your mind is an insubstantial shadow that will follow you around wherever you go.
Attempts to eliminate or control it cannot succeed while there is still a belief that the mind is real, and that it is something that can be controlled by physical or mental activity.
~ Annamalai Swami
Final talks
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This same instruction is declared in the story of the Buddha and Muddy Waters:
Once Buddha was walking from one town to another town with a few of his followers. This was in the initial days. While they were traveling, they happened to pass a lake. They stopped there and Buddha told one of his disciples, “I am thirsty. Do get me some water from that lake there.” The disciple walked up to the lake.
When he reached it, he noticed that right at that moment, a bullock cart started crossing through the lake. As a result, the water became very muddy, very turbid. The disciple thought, “How can I give this muddy water to Buddha to drink!”
So he came back and told Buddha, “The water in there is very muddy. I don’t think it is fit to drink.”
After about half an hour, Buddha again asked the same disciple to go back to the lake and get him some water to drink. The disciple obediently went back to the lake. This time too he found that the lake was muddy. He returned and informed Buddha about the same.
After sometime, again Buddha asked the same disciple to go back.
The disciple reached the lake to find the lake absolutely clean and clear with pure water in it. The mud had settled down and the water above it looked fit to be had. So he collected some water in a pot and brought it to Buddha.
Buddha looked at the water, and then he looked up at the disciple and said, “See what you did to make the water clean? You let it be…. and the mud settled down on its own – and you got clear water. Your mind is also like that! When it is disturbed, just let it be. Give it a little time. It will settle down on its own. You don’t have to put in any effort to calm it down. It will happen. It is effortless.”
What did Buddha emphasize here? He said, “It is effortless.” Having ‘Peace of Mind’ is not a strenuous job; it is an effortless process!
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May I be well, happy & peaceful.
May no harm come to me.
May no difficulties come to me.
May no problems come to me.
May I always meet with success.
May I also have the patience, courage, understanding & determination
To overcome inevitalbe difficulties, problems & failures in life.
The more one practices, the truer this becomes! Effortlessly choose peace over struggle …. It happens in an instant if we let it !!
Namaste
