the expansive mind

i know its been almost a month since i blogged anything. my swamiji was here in Malaysia together with his disciples and what can i say, it was celebration of sorts for all of us at the ashram here in PJ and also for all the devotees who thronged from far and near to see him. we also pulled off a half day mega event which saw a strength of 800 participants much to swamiji's delight and my relief! my mind is obviously not expanded enough to imbibe the whole of swamiji's vision and teachings because he had anticipated this crowd while i just worked hard hoping the crowd would come. and the crowd did come making our whole effort so worth our while and it was a power packed session. for those who attended and listened intently, the take come would have been clear... the mind is wide and expansive.

swamiji says, we view the entire petronas twin towers through our little beady eyes. (my eyes are a little bigger) and the entire picture of all its might and glory gets embedded in the seat of our minds. we can now describe each of its detail, the steely magnificence, the height, the width and its breadth. now imagine...how wide is our mind? we are capable of imagining a lot more in this mind of ours apart from the magnificent petronas twin towers. take the himalayas now. the snow capped peaks of the himalayas are all so clear in our minds the moment our eyes makes an impression of it. our mind is actually so so powerful and big. it has the capacity to retain and to reproduce what we see and think of.

swamiji says think of the ganges. the ganges water flows with all the mud and the filth and the muck. he says our mind is like that too. we are actually pure too but we have so many constrictions in our mind. we have desires, we have expectations, we have attachments, we have greed, we have possessiveness, we have hatred, we have fear. drop all of them swamiji says. drop your desires. drop your expectations. eliminate fear. practise detachment. learn to love wholesomely and wholeheartedly.

swamiji says think society. have a societal dimension, swamiji says. he says the moment we walk out of our house, we walk onto the road or the pavement that is built by the society for our convenience. dont you think we owe it in us to give back to society what society gives to you? he says, you are part of your family and your family is part of the society. and the society is part of the country. learn to think society. expand your mind to include the whole world in your mind. be tolerant of society. be loving to society. think nationwide. inculcate national feelings. love for the country, love for your society, love for your family should only be secondary as compared the broader picture.

swamiji says the mind is such a beautiful thing. the beauty of this mind is that it can be happy with all the material objects. and yet this mind can be happy with NOTHING too! lets us all be happy with nothing because at the end of the day we have nothing on us and with us. we came to this world with nothing and we will leave with nothing too. lets train our mind to be happy with NOTHING. understand that happiness comes from within and not from some material object outside. our mind has got the huge potential to generate this happiness and wholesomeness without anything tangible and that is what we have to strive for.

recently, i lost something very dear to me and i was devastated. i almost lost my mind thinking about it. i still do think about it every now and then because i cannot believe that it is gone from me. but it is foolhardy to hang on to possessions and think that it is yours because then attachment and desire set in and before you know it possessiveness has already reared its ugly head and all this can only result in hatred and fear and jealousy. it is a difficult process to train the mind to just look within for all the happiness it needs. but i have started my journey. may i be able to draw the strength and inspiration from within me to succeed. at the end of the day, you are your own master and only you can do it! the mind is BIG enough to heal, to create, to forgive, to forget, to play, to laugh, to sing, to dance, to cry, to rejoice and to do whatever else that you so desire! Jaigurudev!