Mind Management and What Stands In Its Way
Ramji and I were talking about a statement Shankara made with reference to Vedanta and self-inquiry – basically, he said that it is all a setup. A way to fool the mind into doing something useful. That can be a confusing statement, looked at from the perspective of a genuine inquirer. It seems to trivialise the whole process of inquiry, which most of us know that if we are doing it right, is not easy. What did Shankara mean, and if that is true, why bother? We might us well just go off and enjoy ourselves and forget about all the hard work! Well, firstly we know that we bother because the hypnosis of duality, ignorance of our true nature, causes suffering in the form of mental and emotional stress and anxiety. And this makes enjoying ourselves – having joy in ourselves – elusive at best and downright impossible at times.
It is suffering that drives the mind to seek solutions. There are not many available in mithya, the apparent reality. I have been having some wonderful discussions with a psychologist about what she calls the ‘psychology industry’, and it is mind-blowing what goes on there. Most people who seek therapy don’t want to be helped, they just want quick fixes. And if the therapist dares suggest, even in the most indirect way, that they need to be objective about their own minds, he or she could land up in front of a disciplinary panel threatened with malpractice. Maya is indeed a wonder. It’s no wonder we all must be so PC and ‘nice’ if we want to avoid blowback karma.
While I am all for being kind and considerate, someone once said that being nice is the last resort when all else has failed. And I believe that very often ‘niceness’ is a compensatory response when we are not willing to be authentic and honest. It is often a cover for passive aggression, which is the other face of niceness. The fact is, self-inquiry takes guts and honesty to be ‘real’, which is not always nice. This is why the qualifications for it are so important – more on this further on.
All the same, while therapy is in no way equal to inquiry, it has its place to prepare the mind for inquiry, providing some dispassion and the ability to be honest has developed. There are not many people who are qualified to make much progress even with that model. We are the lucky ones who have found Vedanta as we have in our hands the keys of the Kingdom – the only way out of the hypnosis of duality. Self-inquiry is no trivial matter. It is hard, but it is a life saver.
That said, what Shankara meant by his statement that it is all a setup is that you are, and have always been, free. You cannot gain moksa because moksa is your true nature. And if you think that studying Vedanta is the way to go – you are simply adding a more refined ignorance to your ignorance. The truth is that the methodology of Vedanta as a means of knowledge to remove ignorance is just that – a means to an end. It is not the end. But to ‘get there’, where you know that and live it, is the crux of the matter. So here we are, in satsang.
I asked you in my introduction to the Newsletter this week to share with us tonight what, if anything, prevents you from experiencing the bliss of Self-knowledge, consistently and naturally. Not when or if moksa obtains, sometime ‘in the future’. Right now. I spoke about how outer circumstances are ideally incidental to our wellbeing., and should not have the power to throw us off course. But that is not always quite so simple, given the ever-changing nature of the field of life, the complexity of the body mind system, and the fact that everything we experience is just a thought in the mind.
Nothing we experience is ever truly due to an ‘outer’ circumstance but an inner subjective response to outer stimuli. Many things can and do impact the body which challenge our peace of mind, and vice versa. How we see life is how we experience it. Our lives are nothing other than a field of experience that intersects with and is inseparable from, the field of life. There is always something going on in the field to torture or challenge us. Life is relentless, Isvara never stops coming at us. How do we meet it so that we do not get thrown about?
Take for instance, here in Spain, it’s such a beautiful place. A paradise, you could call it. But the scorching dry heat has arrived, without mercy. With it came an invasion of nasty biting insects which drive us nuts on a daily basis. If that’s not enough, we have loads of lingering dense clouds of desert dust blown in from Africa that have settled in and seem to have no intention of leaving. The concoction of dust and pollen coats everything, stings our eyes and sinuses, irritates our lungs. The locals call it a ‘Calima’, which sounds just like calamity…and it is. It feels like the hungry desert is coming for this place!
I am sure you are all similarly challenged by what life brings your way daily, aside from the usual slings and arrows of fickle fate. So, how well do you live with the daily pin pricks of life? If the scripture does not help you here, what use is it to you? That’s the million dollar question, isn’t it? Are you waiting for the time when you ‘get it’ to have a good life? That time will not come. It’s now or never. If you think you still need a lot of work and therefore cannot take a stand in Awareness as Awareness right now, forget it. You are not listening because there is nothing wrong with you. Take heed from Shankara’s statement. You are always the Self. Nondual vision, if it is firm, changes how and why we contact objects, which will not be for happiness.
Similarly, Self-knowledge should remove most of our self-doubt, uncertainty and fear. This is huge. But though even a little Self-knowledge is enough to upgrade your personality, Self-realization is not going to change you much as a person. It doesn’t need to . Unless you are breaking dharma in some way, or need a lot of work on your qualifications. Which is why you cannot escape examining what’s in the driver’s seat of the unconscious – your likes and dislikes. Nor will Self-realization instantly resolve the karma that made you seek freedom. You still have to cope with who you are as a created being, flaws and all, and whatever is in your prarabdha karma account will play out. No way to stop that, even though Vedanta offers the way to manage everything for peace of mind.
This is where the rubber hits the road. Are you, as a created person, still your main problem? Does your confidence in Self-knowledge last as long as the satsang lasts on a Sunday, or at any other time your mind is exposed to the teachings, and then you go back being chained to the same problematic ego identity who is thrown about by life?
As a friend of mine who is going through some very difficult life karma recently said to me – you can’t outrun the jiva. She is correct. But Self-knowledge can negate its power to capsize your boat. When big or small mithya waves hit our lifeboat, it’s only Self-knowledge that can keep us on an even keel. There are therapies, practices and pills that mitigate and help. But they are all palliative. Meaning, they help with the symptoms but they do not root out the cause of all our malaise: lack of qualifications, doership, identification with the body/mind and what it experiences, insufficient understanding and non-surrender to Isvara.
Thus, whether we stand firm in the knowledge that we are the Self or not, life inescapably involves mind management. As wonderful as hearing and contemplating the scriptures is, we always come back to the basics. Which requires understanding Isvara, and examining what stands in the way of us fully appreciating our true unborn ever free nature as the Self – in the day to day living of our lives. Moment by moment, thought by thought, right now.
If not now, when? You will never be any happier than you are right now. Do you know that, truly know it? There will never be a better day than today to put Self-knowledge into practice. Self-knowledge is the lubricant that makes everything life brings to us move through us without resistance, with graceful ease. Nothing sticks to us. Is that true, for you, every day? If not, why not? This question is at the heart of nididhysana. You need to know the answer to it, and trust that the scripture has the solution. But there is still ‘ work to do’ if access to Self-knowledge comes and goes. Make sure that ‘work’ is not undertaken as a doer.
I am pretty sure that if I had to ask all of you, one by one, another simple question: do you or do you not know with certainty that your true identity is the Self, most of you would reply in the affirmative. Even though some of you may be tentative about doing so. Does anyone here not agree with this? You attend every Sunday satsang, and I am sure, are dedicated to your sadhana. Why? Isn’t it enough to know who you are and to put the nondual teachings into practice? What more can we as teachers give you?
Assuming qualifications, if you stick to contemplating the scripture and living it, you will give your mind the most noble work possible. The nondual teachings of Vedanta give you all you need to live a stress free happy life. Not a perfect life, but a fail-proof one. Yes, that is true. A fail-proof life. As a person we remain flawed, with our God given nature, when moksa obtains. But we will not fail at anything when we know our true identity is the Self. And by not failing I don’t mean as a person we achieve perfection or will always get what we want. We won’t fail because we are what we want. Striving for perfection, gain or loss does not drive or define us anymore. We stand steadfast and unchanged through the storms and the calm of life. It’s all the same to the Self.
Nobody can help you to assimilate or to live the teachings, I am sure you all know this. On this score, it is up to each one of you how happy you want to be. I would wager that the reason most of you are here is not because you are unhappy or have doubts about your true identity, nor do you have a problem with the scripture, nor with dedication to your sadhana. Maybe most of you who attend regularly don’t need teaching anymore, you just like to be part of the sangha, which is great. But If you still have trouble with applying the nondual teachings to your life at times, it is most likely because the tricky mind with its likes and dislikes blocks clear access to Self-knowledge and capsizes your life boat, dumping you in the ocean of samsara, and causing what feels like failure.
Maybe you know how to get back in the boat, but there is still an ego in the way preventing the full transference of your identity to the Self. Self-doubt and uncertainty still holds sway at times, causing confusion and agitation. This is not a fault nor a flaw in you as a person or as an inquirer. It is the way ignorance works on the mind, making it extremely difficult for Self-knowledge to obtain permanently and to be completely free of avidya, personal ignorance.
The Double Edged Sword of Certainty
Don’t feel bad about this as the other side of uncertainty is the sin of the complacency of certainty. James spoke about this – how easy it is for the ego to co-opt the teachings and seemingly confer ‘specialness’ on the ego identity, which often unwittingly, causes spiritual pride. It is hard to avoid and something we all fall into at some point, even if you are not inclined to pride and spiritual arrogance. I am not, yet in the past I have had to overcome the feeling of being different as a teacher of Vedanta. And you are. But only because Vedanta is flawless, not you. You are just a mouthpiece for Isvara.
I see this tendency to be complacent and the identification with certainty in other teachers and some inquirers. A level of smugness sets in because Vedanta is the King of all teachings. There is nothing like it. But the problem is, if it is your ego that is certain and feels powerful, you have missed the mark, which is the true meaning of ‘sin’, or ‘failure’. Therefore, along with the supreme self-confidence that is the effect of Self-realization, what must be present for true liberation for teacher and student alike is genuine humility. And by that, I mean the kind of humility that surrenders everything to Isvara, without a shadow of a doubt. Such a mind claims nothing even though it knows it is everything.
Self-knowledge does not confer specialness. Being the Self is ordinary. And it does not confer omniscience, either. Though you know the essence of everything is you, there will always be something you don’t know as a jiva, even when you know for sure you are not one. In mithya, nothing is certain. In fact, if you are certain about anything, you are probably wrong. It has been said, and I agree with it, that the greatest sin in life is certainty, because when we are certain of anything, we cannot accept being wrong. Pride and arrogance are at work (rajas and tamas) and have blinded us.
This is what all wars and all manner of human aggression and greed is based on since time immemorial. People who are certain they are right and will stop at nothing because they believe they have the right to impose their ideas on others. Mithya certainty cuts out discrimination and dispassion. It puts an end to accommodation, co-operation, and compassion. It is the ultimate pursuit of a point of view based completely on the idea of separation, fear and desire. Certainty is a sin in mithya because by its very nature, anything can be true or false, depending how you look at it. Nothing in mithya is real, so what do you base certainty on?
Only Isvara is omniscient and knows all the factors in the field. We cannot have the mind of Isvara as a jiva, enlightened or not, and we don’t need to know everything, thank goodness! Imagine what hard work that would be. Isvara has our back. Yet, the irony is that if you look at mithya through the eyes of satya, there is only certainty. It is true that nondual vision makes you clairvoyant because you see everything with crystal clarity. That is why, when Self-knowledge obtains and vanquishes all doubts about everything, particularly self-doubt, someone who is ignorant of the Self may mistake your self-confidence for arrogance. It looks like arrogance, but it is far from it.
There is nothing like the supreme confidence of nondual vision. It’s not black and white. It is colourless because the Self simply sees what is without adding to, subtracting from, or seeing separation in anything. There is no longer a subject/object split because there is no longer avidya in your mind. Such a mind never confuses the subject with the object because the nondual mind knows that the world is there because I see it, not the other way around. You have no problem with the world anymore. The deluding power of Maya, which reverses the truth duping you into believing you see the world because it is there, is no more. That is called moksa, freedom from the limiting power of Maya, duality.
Only Self-knowledge stands on its own and cannot be argued with. When nondual vision is active in the mind, it is like a laser cutting straight to the truth. If the mind finds an argument with what is, you can be sure that is the litmus test revealing that Maya and avidya are back again. Simple! You can track yourself on this and it will never fail to reveal where ignorance lies. Of course the ego does not like it to hear this, but what a relief it is when you know. Just leave it all up to Isvara and the scripture. No need to carry anything. It puts an end to all arguments and the need to be right, permanently. It’s not that you can’t be right about anything in mithya, you just know it’s all relative, so what difference does it make? None. Who cares?
Ok, great news. But you are here because nididhysana is still in play, and there is work to do on rendering binding likes and dislikes nonbinding. So let’s take a quick look at what that entails.
Qualifying the Mind: The Key to Non-Duality
In Brief the Values and Qualifications for Self-Inquiry
This may be old hat for many of you, but it is surprising how often a problem with values and qualifications keeps even advanced inquirers stuck. As you all probably know, the entry level qualification, even before any of the others, and that starts off the search for meaning for most people, is the realization has finally dawned on you that life is zero sum. You have come to understand that there is no point to chasing, and no joy in, objects. That nothing brings lasting happiness or satisfaction. In fact, chasing objects (which is anything known to you), be they material, a relationship or an experience, is the path to dissatisfaction, keeping you stuck not wanting what you have and wanting what you don’t have. Binding likes and dislikes, doership. Zero karma yoga, lots of stress, zero true satisfaction.
Though this stage can be ‘the dark night of the soul’ for some doing battle with the habitual mental/emotional programs run by the demons of fear, self-doubt and lack, it is a good sign that you are ready to find answers to life’s most existential questions. However, as much as the ego will resist, there are several more essential values and qualifications required for inquiry into nondual wisdom, which if not present, must be understood and developed.
In Brief, the Main Values and Qualifications
1.) The deep value and desire for liberation – mumukshutva. Is it all-consuming, middling or piddling? If liberation is what you are truly after, it has to be all-consuming. No fine print.
2.) Faith in the teachings, which requires the value of humility to surrender your own ideas, pending the outcome of your nondual investigation into the true nature of life.
3.) Nondual discrimination based on the identity between the changeless (Consciousness), and the changing (the person/world), which requires the value of freedom from bondage to the ego identity – i.e., all objects.
4.) Nondual dispassion or surrender of results, as well as likes and dislikes, which requires the value of surrendering doership for peace of mind above all else – i.e., karma yoga.
5.) Discipline, the value of committing to and sticking with your sadhana, and forbearance, enduring life’s ups and downs, managing likes and dislikes, which requires the value for accommodation to others and what life brings to you.
6.) Control of the senses and the organs of action, which are all primed by your likes and dislikes and the desire for reward, be it food, sex, sleep, entertainment or anything else. And also very importantly, control of speech.
7.) Good karma, or grace. This is earned, not a given.
You should all be very familiar with the qualifications required for self-inquiry. If you are not, you need to be. Copy the qualifications as set up by the scripture, or in James’ recent book, and track yourself on them. It is almost guaranteed that wherever you consistently slip up, breaking dharma and not putting the teachings into practice, there will be a failure in values and/or qualifications that need work. Or, it will be a weakness in the application of karma yoga. If it is, take a look at the entitlement behind unexamined and active likes and dislikes. They are almost without fail the culprits behind residual doership and mental agitation.
See where you fail to manage rajas and tamas to keep them in balance with sattva. Where you allow rajas to run away with the mind, tamas to dive deep into indulgence and denial, or sattva to confer spiritual pride. If none of those are the problem, how consistent are you with devotional practice? If you are not, the childish ego is probably responsible. Maybe you think you are good with all of the above. But discipline is essential to gain control over the mind, which often operates independently from the conscious self, the doer-enjoyer entity. This is because most of our conscious volition is run by unconscious programs – i..e, the Causal or macrocosmic Unconscious.
As our most powerful tool, the mind influences every aspect of our lives. Conflict frequently arises between one’s ingrained habits (likes and dislikes) and one’s will, leading to inefficiency, uncertainty and mental emotional disturbance. Unwanted, involuntary thoughts can stealthily invade the mind, leading to distraction, agitation, and an inability to observe, listen, or act effectively. These thoughts can induce aggression, fear, regret, depression, and loneliness, confusing the doer-enjoyer, who may then erroneously blame itself. In addition, most of us have our own resident internal judge and jury in the form of the voices of diminishment, or aggrandizement. Inflation or deflation – the ego makes use of both to keep control.
Is stopping the mind the solution? Thoughts are running all the time, and they are not the actual problem, though the type of thoughts we allow to dominate the mind can be. When the mind is dominated by negative thoughts like complaints, comparison, bitterness, worry, hatred, or feelings of persecution, it cannot harness the benefits of Self-knowledge. The ancient yogic discipline of chitta vṛitti nirodha addresses this issue. While “nirodha” is often translated as “stopping thoughts,” in Vedanta, it refers to disciplining or directing thoughts rather than stopping them entirely.
To value a controlled mind is to understand the way the mind thinks and to bring it in line with the way the Self would think if it was a person living in the apparent reality. It means that although the mind is capricious I need not fulfil its fantasies, yield to its caprices, or give in to negativity. It means that I am the boss, not the mind. But to get there, we need to understand the four different ways of thinking, three of which are necessary to understand and master if we want to prepare the mind for Self-knowledge.
Four Types of Thinking:
1) Impulsive. Unexamined thoughts born of instincts dominate the mind. I do what I feel without thinking about it.
2) Mechanical. Thoughts of which I am conscious but have no power to control because they are produced by binding vasanas.
3) Deliberate. Thoughts subjected to discrimination that are accepted or dismissed with reference to my value structure.
4) Spontaneous. Without evaluation my thinking automatically conforms to universal values and my actions are always appropriate and timely. This kind of thinking only applies to those for whom Self-knowledge has destroyed binding vasanas and negated doership.
The Role of Discipline in Vedanta
Vedanta as a means is ultimately a throw away, once it has done its job. But if you want to benefit from Vedanta, discipline is crucial to manage involuntary thoughts. There is no fast track or short cut to freedom. Forget about it. While involuntary thoughts will arise and we cannot stop them from doing so, they should only be allowed to continue with our conscious permission. You do not have to entertain any thought – you do can train your mind to say no. Many involuntary thoughts are benign, but many are not. And disturbing thoughts and emotions can and will hinder the assimilation of the nondual teachings. Without the discipline of focusing the mind and avoiding disturbing involuntary thoughts, Vedanta remains merely academic.
Many seekers attempt to attain Self-knowledge without first mastering the mind, and even if they become enlightened, they might not fully benefit from their realization. Freedom is not that free. Thus, learning to manage involuntary thoughts is critical. Next time I teach on Zoom, I will address the major universal mental and emotional blocks and inherent biases that make up our seemingly unique personalities.
Sundari
