The Training of a Seeker's Mind (Aatmbindu Upanishad)

 

Training the Seeker’s Mind 

    1 Amritabindu Upanishad accepts that freeing the mind of desire is very hard work. Much effort is needed in overcoming existing tendencies that enslave us to the mind and its desires. Every such effort is bound to have a good impact on our life. It will duly free us from the grip of sense objects, and prepare us for the direct path to God. 

     2 What is that direct path? The great modern sage Sri Ramana Maharshi would at this stage simply tell his disciples that mind is unreal, that there is no such thing! That is for the super-disciples, not for the general case which most of us fall into. There was also the recent exceptional case of Sri Nisargadatt Maharaj of Mumbai who also freed himself from his mind the moment his Guru told him he was not the mind. These are exceptional phenomena in spiritual history. This Upanishad takes a little more moderate approach, and is aimed at the common case of a man struggling to come out of desire. 

    3 The task before us is clearly to do everything in our power to resist the proliferation of desire in our mind, to keep it as pure as we possibly can from the contamination of desire. Acharyaji also mentioned to us the efforts being made by some scientists to free us from desires. They base their efforts on the theory that our mental states are due to some chemical reactions in the body which affect the mind. As a result their route to a solution is directed towards discovering a “pill” that will bring about a favourable chemistry in the body by which desires will be eliminated. That is fine in theory. In practice, this theory has only led to “pills” being discovered which boost one’s desires! For hardly anyone is interested in reducing their desires. The correct pill does not sell; it is bad for business. The incorrect pill is the one that has swamped the market! It is even called simply “the Pill”. 

      4 Vedanta, however, holds that the opposite is more true – that the thoughts we entertain in our mind actually cause the chemical changes in the body, not the other way around. For example, one who is nervous before presenting his first public speech may start to sweat under the armpits or he will have moist palms. An unexpected emotion may cause him to ‘freeze’ all action. Anger increases body heat, fear makes the face pale, and so on. The mind’s condition has a direct effect on the body. Vedanta’s “magic pill” to cure this is DESIRELESSNESS. Not only does it promise to improve our health, but it also promises to liberate us from our spiritual bondage. Acharyaji quipped, “We get two for the price of one”!