Calming a Stormy Mind

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--- On Wed, 3/2/10, Swami Sadasivananda <sadasivananda wrote:

 

 

 

The Winds of Change Though God and His Truths never change, we seem to have wandered astray, being led by the whimsical desires of infantile habits. Assuredly, this child by adoption (our ego) is habitually perverse and dangerously errant, and deserves disownment. In fact, our very liberation demands it! A great scholar of Vedanta, and devotee of Sri Ramakrishna, Swami Yatiswarananda, has stated this condition with crystal clarity:

“We all know that the ego is perverse and how it is constantly changing its center of gravity. It is now identified with outside things, next moment with the body, then with the senses or the mind. It is mad and runs the risk of tumbling down any moment. How at times it becomes too much one-pointed, centered on itself! We forget that our individual consciousness is part of an infinite consciousness; we forget that the welfare of our fellow beings is inseparable from our own; we become egocentric, selfish and mean - a danger to ourselves, to our family and society.†(1) The complete eradication of this habit, and the state of perfection that we must strive for is exemplified completely with every detail of the life of Sri Ramana Maharshi. He has made the mold, now we must cast the image in his likeness. In our

own era the winds of change blow with gale force intensity, they toss the externalized mind about like a boat on a stormy sea. With even greater force our heedless impatience impels us to seek the easy road to Realization, a way that avoids and even denies the need for a path that skillfully trains one to overcome the mind by turning within.Calming the Storm Bhagavan emphasized this clearly when He stated:

“How to transcend the mind?†The Master answers: “Mind is by nature restless. Begin liberating it from restlessness: give it peace; make it free from distractions; train it to look inward; make this a habit. This is done by ignoring the external world and removing all obstacles to peace of mind.†(2) These words of Bhagavan are in perfect keeping with the tradition of the eternal religion of India. He declares the goal, and then proceeds to show the way to get there. He reveals to us that we habitually live in the shadowy awareness of a distracted externalized mind, and that training is needed to remove these ingrained obstacles. We must begin our sadhana (spiritual practice) with an unshakable understanding that for the vast majority of us this condition,

though only a superimposition on our real nature, is exactly where we stand. We must recognize as Sri Ramana’s predecessor, Sri Krishna, exemplified to Arjuna in the Bhagavad Gita; there are enemies (obstacles), and the training of a skillful warrior is needed for victory (liberation from restlessness). So the first question for us is “Where do we stand?†Perhaps the magnitude of the grace and compassion of Bhagavan Sri Ramana is demonstrated by the fact that although his incarnation focused on revealing to us the answer to the enquiry “Who am I?â€, it was said that he seemed to like nothing better than helping to deal with the obstacles and clearing the doubts of those who came before Him. Perhaps the hidden efficacy of this fact is borne out by one of the truly essential statements of Bhagavan recorded by his close disciple Sri Muruganar:

“If we perform sadhana to the limit of our abilities, the Lord will accomplish for us that which is beyond our capabilities. If we fail to do even that which is within our capabilities, there is not the slightest fault in the grace of the Lord.†(3)The Virtue of Patience Though Bhagavan began walking amongst men now over a century past, he was very much in our modern times. Thus one of his close disciples wrote, for us to consider while we analyze where we stand, words that give a clear description of what we all face:

“This is the age of shortcuts. Time has shrunk and space more so, and the dual inconvenience has affected men's moods and temper. Even the supreme Knowledge has nowadays to be given in massive doses and has to produce quick results too, or they will have none of it…The result is that we return from the guru and his Ashram with our doubts still in our heads uncleared, and our minds, about truth and untruth, still befogged.†(4)_________________________________(1) Meditation and Spiritual Life, Swami Yatiswarananda, Ramakrishna Math Bangalore 2001, p. 241. (2) Reflections on Talks with Sri Ramana Maharshi, S.S. Cohen, Sri Ramanashramam 2006, Talk 26 p. 129.(3) Padamalai, Teachings of Sri Ramana

Maharshi Recorded by Muruganar, p. 186. (Reference is to Sri Ramana Jnana Bodham, vol. 8, verse 192).(4) Advaitic Sadhana The Yoga of Direct Liberation, S.S. Cohen, Sri Ramanashramam 2007, p. 1-2.-- Spiritual Teachings of the Masters from the East and West web site: http://www.spiritual-teaching.com