Mind is the key to Happiness

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Dear Members,

 

We all know from our experience that no two persons

are identical in their thoughts, their likes and

dislikes, reaction to situations and so on. What is

the reason for this diversity?. If we examine the

composition of a human being we find that he is made

up of three components. The first is the outer,

physical body consisting of skin, muscles, bones,

blood and the like. Then there is the mind, which term

includes the intellect. The third is consciousness.

The physical body is made up of the same chemicals in

all human beings and so it cannot be the cause of the

difference in character between one person and

another. The consciousness is the same in all. We thus

see that it is the mind that is the cause of

diversity. According to our scriptures the mind

performs four functions. These are

 

(1) Evaluating the pros and cons of any situation,

 

(2) Ultimately coming to a decision on what is to be

done,

 

(3) Storing the experiences and

 

(4) Identifying actions, thoughts, etc as one’s own,

in the form ‘I am doing this’, ‘I did this’, ‘I am

happy’, ‘I am sad’, etc.

 

The manner in which these functions take place can be

explained by taking an illustration. I am walking

along the road and I see at a distance a person whose

gait seems to resemble that of a certain friend of

mine, named Raman. I begin to debate whether the

person I see at a distance is Raman or not. When he

comes nearer and I am able to see his face clearly, I

compare it with the memory of the face of Raman stored

in my mind. If I find that the two tally, I decide

that he is Raman and I greet him. It will be clear

from this example that my decision and subsequent

action are governed by the memory of the face of Raman

stored in my mind. To generalize, all our reactions to

various situations are governed by the impressions and

experiences stored in the mind. Every action performed

by us and every thought that arises in us leaves an

impression on the mind. We do not of course remember

all our actions and thoughts, but all of them leave

impressions. These impressions are what are known in

our scriptures as samskaras or vasanas. It is these

that decide how we react to particular situations. If

the actions and thoughts are good, they leave good

impressions and these will make the person act in a

manner that contributes to the good of others and

ultimately to his own good. Bad actions and thoughts

leave bad impressions and these will make the person

act in a manner that causes harm to others and

ultimately to himself also. It is because of this that

we are instructed by our scriptures to always do good

deeds and think good thoughts and to refrain from all

evil acts and thoughts. When a person acts in a manner

beneficial to others, he feels joy at having made some

one else happy. Selfishness, jealousy, anger,

haughtiness and other such negative attitudes and

emotions arise from the evil impressions left by evil

thoughts and deeds. A person who is jealous, selfish,

angry or haughty cannot be happy and he himself is the

person who suffers most from such evil traits. On the

other hand, a person who always harbors goodwill

towards others will himself be always happy. Every

individual is born with the impressions, both good and

bad, which he had accumulated by his actions and

thoughts in past births. When he dies, the impressions

gathered in his mind go with him and will be present

in his mind in the next birth. When a person dies, it

is only his physical body that is cremated. His mind,

which is called the subtle body in the scriptures,

goes to other worlds and then comes back again to this

earth in another body. Whether a person is born as a

human being or as an animal, bird and so on depends on

the impressions of his actions and thoughts left in

his mind at the time of the death of his previous

body. Even those who have been born with bad

impressions can, by their effort, erase those bad

impressions and create good impressions by their good

actions and thoughts. This is what our scriptures

exhort us to do. The ultimate goal of human life is to

go beyond the cycle of repeated births and deaths. The

essential requisite for this is the purification of

the mind. A pure mind is one which is free from

cravings for worldly pleasures. The Upanishads say

that the mind itself is the cause of bondage which is

the root cause of all sorrow, as well as of liberation

which is a state of supreme bliss. The mind becomes

the cause of bondage and consequent sorrow when it is

agitated by desires. The same mind, when freed of

desires, is the means to liberation. The secret of

happiness thus lies in ridding the mind of all desires

and elevating it by fixing it on the contemplation and

worship of God.

 

There is an episode in Srimad Bhagavatam which

illustrates vividly how haughtiness leads to downfall

and suffering. Once the cow-herds of Gokula went,

along with Lord Krishna, to a place called

‘Ambikavanam’. Having bathed in the Saraswati River ,

they worshipped Lord Siva and His consort Goddess

Ambika. They passed the night on the bank of the

river, praying and fasting. Suddenly a python appeared

and began to devour Krishna ’s father Nandagopa.

Hearing Nandagopa’s cries the cowherds rushed to his

rescue and belabored the python with firebrands. In

spite of severe beating the python did not release

Nandagopa from its hold. Krishna then went and touched

the python with his foot. At once the python changed

into a very resplendent Vidyadhara (a semi-divine

being). The Vidyadhara told Krishna “I am a Vidyadhara

by name Sudarsana. Being endowed with extraordinary

beauty and wealth, I was very haughty. Once, in my

haughtiness, I ridiculed some great sages of the

Angirasa line for their rather ugly looks. The sages

cursed that I would become a python. You have now

saved me from the effect of the curse”. By being

haughty because of his beauty he became a python which

is a very repulsive creature. The lesson we have to

learn from this story is that if a person is haughty

because of his beautiful looks, he will be deprived of

his beauty and will be born as a very ugly creature in

his next birth. The story of the curse making the

Vidyadhara a python is only another way of bringing

out this truth. Extending this logic, it follows that

if a person is haughty because of his wealth and

therefore treats the poor with contempt or misuses his

wealth to harm others, he will be born as a beggar in

his next birth. If a person is haughty because of his

learning, he will be deprived of learning and will be

an illiterate person in his next birth. The lesson

therefore is this. Never be haughty because of your

wealth, beauty, learning or other accomplishments, but

cultivate humility. Be kind and considerate to others

who are less fortunate than you and do all that you

can to help them.

 

Thus we find that the only way to get better births in

future and to attain liberation ultimately is to

strive hard to discard all evil traits which one is

born with and to make the mind free from desires.

These can be achieved only by the grace of God. The

cultivation of intense devotion to God is therefore

the prime requisite for the attainment of happiness.

 

Chant the Mahamantra Nama kirtan :

 

Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare

Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare

 

Regards

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