The Moksha Gita : Swami Sivananda // Commentary : Chapter 6.1. - Swami Krishnananda

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Tuesday, March 21, 2023. 06:30.

The Moksha Gita : Swami Sivananda

Chapter 6: The Nature of the Mind - 1.

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1. The Guru said: The Mind has the power of creating or undoing the whole universe in the twinkling of an eye. Slay this mind through Vichara (enquiry), destruction of Vasanas and control of its fluctuation.

The power of the mind is indescribable and unimaginable. The greatest Siddhis and Riddhis are all the effects of the working of the highly purified mind. Terrific powers and psychic abilities are the expressions of the mind when it nears the All-powerful Consciousness which is the very existence of Power itself. There are beautiful stories in the Yogavasishtha which illustrate the existence of the dreadful powers of the mind. Mind is a crude form of the Chit aspect of the Reality. The Chit-Shakti of Brahman alone appears as the mind. The purified mind has all the powers of Iccha, Jnana and Kriya which are the three aspects of the Supreme Shakti. The mind is more powerful than all the weapons of the world put together; it can do and undo things in a moment, for it is consciousness in its essence. All Yogic powers are due to the expansion of the mind in the higher and subtler regions which are swayed over by it by being included within the domain of its activities. When the mind reaches the highest state of conscious expansion or the Brahmakara-Vritti, then the goal of thought is near the reach. That is the glory of the majesty of the Self!

This Supreme State is reached through Vichara or enquiry and control of the fluctuations of the mind. Vichara or investigation into the reality behind the universe is the second stage in the development of spiritual consciousness. Such a thorough research into the hidden mystery lying as the back-ground of the universe compels the mind to desist from its terrible expansion into the Vishayakara-Vritti which beholds the external world with its innumerable functions. The hydra-hooded dragon of the mind flaps its mighty wings of lust and hatred, emits the fire of craving to protect its ego, beats the tail of self-assertion and devours the knowledge of the Truth. It can be shot dead by the gun of penetrating discrimination loaded with the explodent of burning dispassion for the three worlds. Protracted Sadhana alone can slay the evil mind and make the Jiva regain its lost Independence.

2, 3. Mind is a bundle of Vasanas (subtle desires). Through Vasanas bondage is caused. Destruction of Vasanas will bring freedom. The mind will attain quiescence like a gheeless lamp if the Vasanas are destroyed.

The mind is not an impartite substance. Just as cloth is nothing but a bundle of threads, the mind is nothing but a cluster of Vasanas or past impressions and subtle desires that persistently lurk within the sub-conscience. When the threads are pulled out one by one, where is cloth at all? When the Vasanas are burnt with their seeds the mind vanishes into the Immortal Seat of Brahman. The Upanishad says, "when the senses do not work and stand together with the mind, and when the intellect is still, that, they say is the Highest State". The daily selfish actions of the Jiva add to the stock of these Vasanas and thus the embodied existence becomes unbroken, and the wheel of birth and death rolls on ceaselessly. The emptying of these Vasanas demands a twofold counter-activity by the Jiva. The first one is to stop the adding of newer Vasanas and the second is the destruction of the existing ones.

The first purpose is served by beholding the Self in all beings, by rendering selfless service to other fellow beings, by devotion to the Deity and by severe concentration of the mind. The second one is effected when the mind is completely thinned out and when the Self is realised.

When the threads of Vasanas are destroyed the cloth of the mind also disappears from existence. The Ambrosia of Brahman is drunk deep. The soul is drowned in the ocean of joy. The Wisdom-sun rises and the Immortal Life is lived. The Divine Existence, the Almighty Satchidananda is attained.

In this state supreme silence alone is. The mind becomes quiescent due to the exhaustion of Prarabdhas even as a lamp unfed by oil gets naturally extinguished. The zenith of being is the cessation of thought, change and action. It is a getting of everything at once, the living of the infinite life, the highest freedom, the most supreme blessing, the greatest happiness and limitlessness of Knowledge which is not a possession but an existence, not a means of Knowing but the very being of Knowledge-Absolute.

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To be continued

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