The role of the mind in the Realized state

[Guest guest]

namaste.

 

We have discussed many times on this List the role and status of

the mind in the Realized state. The following is swami Muktananda's

insight into the topic.

 

 

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Question: What is the role of the mind in the realized state, and

what is the experience of the mind in that state? Do ideas continue

to come up?

 

swami Muktananda:

Even after one attains Self-realization, the mind remains alive.

The mind will never cease to exist, although its quality may change.

When the mind is outgoing and moves among external objects, it

becomes contracted. It is enveloped by impurities and becomes worldly.

In the state of Self-realization, the outgoing tendency of the mind

lessens. Instead of moving outside, the mind turns within. When it

tends outward and moves among worldly objects, it takes the form

of those objects. In the same way, when it turns within, it merges

in the Self and takes the form of the Self. Realization is nothing

but the merging of the mind in the Self. In the scriptures, this

state is called the death of the mind, but actually the mind does

not die. It dissolves in the Self and becomes one with it. The

mind's quality of mindness still exists, but it is not different

from Consciousness.

 

As long as the physical body continues to exist and we have to live

in this world, the mind helps us to carry out our mundane functions.

However, in the realized state, its nature is different. It doesn't

function as a mere mind; it functions with all the power of

Consciousness. It becomes stable and free of thoughts; it becomes

still. Unhappiness is nothing but the net of thoughts, and when we

go beyond thoughts, we experience supreme bliss. Moreover, as the

mind becomes one with the Self, it acquires the power of the Self.

Then it is able to do a lot of work. It can even transmit Shakti

through a thought.

 

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Regards

Gummuluru Murthy

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