Mind! Present moment! Bliss! – Part 1🔗

I welcome you all with my love and respects.

Today's topic for discussion is Agam (mind), Igam (Present), Sugam (Bliss). We are in such a situation that we have to understand these three words deeply. What is meant by Agam? Where is Agam located? Where is the source from which Agam is created? Asking all these questions, if we can search for the form, source and the reality in Agam, then truly, Agam will reach Igam completely and finally merge with Sugam.

Until we start our search, Agam i.e. our mind makes us dull and dizzy. But if we start searching for its location, if we can try and find its depth, then by nature, it will fall into the Igam i.e. present moment and give us the state of bliss or the Sugam. Until we start our search, Agam will stay behind the screen and keep torturing us. When we start the search it will end in Igam and gives us the Sugam or the bliss.

Ramana Maharishi (an enlightened Master of the twentieth century from Thiruvannamalai, in southern India) says beautifully in a song, Manathin uruvai maravadhu usaava, manam ena ondru illai, undhipara. If we start searching for the location and the place of our mind, the depth of our mind and go more deep into this search, we will be down to the present moment and thus experience the blissful state.

What is mind? Mind is nothing but a collection of past memories and expectations or anxieties about the future. Mind is a grouping of the past memories and imaginations and expectations about the future. If we can stay without our past memories and our future expectations for a minute then we can go beyond our mind and reach the state of bliss.

Some people even come and tell me :Master, is it possible for me to go beyond the mind and stay in the state of bliss? It is possible for enlightened people like you or it is possible for people who can afford to spend time for this. How can I do it? Understand that even before starting the process of trying to stay in the present moment and even before starting to proceed, we decide that our life is over and we cannot do it. That is the reason why, most of us don't achieve anything in our lives.

A small story.

There was a Zen enlightened Master. He and his disciple went to a river to take a bath. The disciple accidentally fell into the river and began screaming to the Master for help. Without making any attempts to help him, the Master stood on the shore and said: You stupid fellow, stand up, help yourself. The disciple screamed again: Master, this is not the time for your philosophy. First save my life. I am drowning. First save me then you can teach me philosophy. Please save me. Again the Master said: You idiot, you can save yourself. You don't need my help. The disciple cried: Master, I am drowning, please save me. There reached a point when nothing else could be done. The Master screamed at the top of His voice: You stupid man, get up! Hearing the Master scream, the disciple stood up. He just noticed that the water in the river was knee deep! He understood that the water was just knee deep after he stood up. Not knowing the depth of the river, he was under the imagination that he was drowning. By his imagination and illusion, he was just drowning himself into sorrow by drowning in the river.

Truly most of our problems are just knee deep. Even in our lives, the moment we just stand up courageously, we will know that whatever we think as hurdles in our lives which cannot be crossed are just up to the knee level. Whatever we think as sorrow, or as problems, or as impossible ones is all so small in size. They are similar to the insignificant knee level water. Similar to the disciple who fell in the river which was knee deep and was struggling to stand up; we also struggle in our lives. Even if we get the simple and ordinary clarity in our life, that's enough. We will be able to stand up. The truth declared by all the people who have stood up in their lives is that all the problems in our life are just up to our knee level.

Not only one enlightened person from each religion, but all the enlightened people, sages and ascetics from all the religions declare that this world is blissful and this life is blissful. We can run and operate our lives beyond all the sorrows. It is enough if we get the confidence that we can run our lives beyond sorrow. It means that we have won fifty percent in our life. Nothing else needs to be done. We just have to achieve the maturity to be in the present. We need the stable ability and the courage to be in the present moment, without being pulled by the past memories and the future expectations. This is enough to change the direction of our life.

A beautiful Sufi story.

There was a Sufi enlightened Master who was doing penance in a forest. A disciple went to visit Him in the evening. He chats with him for a long time. Suddenly he realizes that it is dark. The disciple was worried as to how to go back. He said: Master, I will have to walk for about ten miles to reach the city. Please do something and show me the light to go back, so that I can reach the city safely. The Master said: Don't worry, keep this lantern light with you, it will show you the way as you walk and you will be able to cross the forest and reach the city safely. The disciple was puzzled and said: Master, this forest is about ten miles long; you are giving me the lantern light which will throw the light rays only for ten steps. How will this lantern light show me the way for ten miles? Please show me a way through which I will have light for ten miles. The Master replied: Don't worry; this is the magic lantern. Take this in your hands and move on, you will see the light for all the ten miles. Listening to this, he took the lantern light and proceeded towards the city. After he walked ten steps, he could see the light for the next ten steps and so on. Peacefully and comfortably he reached the city. The disciple was thinking that the Master had done some magic, that’s why the lantern showed the light for ten miles. But truly, there was no magic. The message from the above story is that we should not club and combine all the problems in our life and see it in one shot. Most of us are trying to see the light in the whole of the ten mile forest at one shot. Similarly, we club all the problems in our lives and see it as a whole and try to find the solution at once, at the same time. In one moment, at the instance, like instant coffee, if we want to solve all our problems, will that happen?

Let us begin to confront our problems, minute by minute, one by one. Confront just the problem which we are facing now. Let us not burden our mind with all the problems. Let us not put our mind in sorrow, Let us not see our entire life as a burden. If we bring all our problems and all the matters to be solved within our eye sight and see it at one shot, we will portray our whole life as a big burden. But if we can see one problem at a time and solve the problem as it comes and if we can live our life in the present, our life will become free, complete, joyful and blissful.

The moment I say live in the present, the doubt which arises in most of our minds is :If we live just in the present, then who will solve all our problems which we may have to confront tomorrow?

Let me tell you a small example to make this clear. All of us have lived for a particular number of years in this world. Has any one of us lived without problems? No. We are living in this world even after having faced and solved many thousands of problems. Say for example, someone is fifty years old and they were able to face all the problems in their life for the last fifty years and were able to live beyond all the problems then they are living in spite of all their problems. Already, our mind has got used to confronting all the problems in the last fifty years. Can’t it face the problems for the next fifty years? Definitely it can, now it has got the experience of facing all the problems in the last fifty years.

If we see our lives, failure is not a problem. But the problem is the fear of failure. Also, facing a misery is not a problem, but the anxiety about facing a misery is the problem. In our everyday life, due to the anxiety about facing a misery, fear of facing a problem, we create major sorrows in our lives.

Understand this clearly, whether we realize it or not, accept it or not, we have strong mental energy and mental strength. If this mental energy and mental energy is spent for fearing about the future, then we will start creating such problems for which we fear with our imagination power. The reason for this is that we have the mental energy to do what we think. Unconscious mind has unlimited power. If there is some fear about something or some worry about the future which is clinging on to us, then please be very clear, that we are not just worrying or fearing about it, it means that we have already started working towards creating the ground for the happening of that event which we fear about.

For example, if we fear about a business or a financial loss, the moment we face that fear, let us not think that we just fear about the future event which may happen. We are actually creating the mental setup, which will create that particular event which we feared about. A student who fears that he might fail in the exam will definitely fail. There is no other way out. But even if he passes the examination, he will not get the marks in accordance with his education, with his intelligence and ability. The moment any anxiety, any fear, any worry in life comes up in our mind, we will start creating the event for which we were scared or worried about.

As an example, let me tell you an incident which actually happened. A few days ago, a middle-aged woman was scared that someone had applied some black magic techniques on her. Due to that fear she was suffering from some diseases, physical problems and mental problems. Distressed she came to see me. I gave her a mala (a string of beads which are made of red sandalwood) to wear around the neck and the yantra (a copper plate with a mystical diagram drawn on it for protection) and consoled her saying: Don’t worry ma, all the black magic problems which were working on you are now gone, you are relieved of it, nothing will work on you from today. After a month she became completely alright and there was no problem. She came and asked me: Master, what magic did you do? I am now completely alright. You have some miraculous powers. Please tell me what magic you did. I told her: I did not do any magic. Earlier you had the belief that you were being tortured by black magic and now you believe that you not affected by black magic. That’s it and nothing else. As long as you had the belief that you were possessed by some black magic, your mind was showing everything as black art and ghosts The same mind that made you believe that you were affected by black magic shows you the clarity that it is not true that you were affected by black magic. The belief may be due to going to temples or meeting some spiritual Master. Please understand that it is the clarity which has to happen in us.

There is a beautiful proverb which says: Anything which is negative has got no other power other than the power of our belief over it. It could be any thing negative like evil spirits or death fear or fear about life or fear of ignorance or any other fear or sorrow. The ghosts or evil spirits will have an effect over us based on our belief over it. As high as our belief is, that high would be its effect over us. The moment we stop believing it, then by nature it cannot rule us. Anything which happens in our life is based on our past memories or future expectations. If we can just seize the past memories and future expectations, the ignorance which is there in us will fall down without any base similar to the tree which has no strong root.

A small story:

There were two kings who were enemies to each other and lived in neighboring countries. One day they happened to meet in a forest. They both had gone for hunting in the forest. Nobody else was there except the two kings. The moment they met each other, a lion appeared there. As soon as the lion came there, one of the kings attempted to run. Then the other king asked him: Do you think you can run faster than the lion? The king who attempted to run said: It’s not required that I should run faster than the lion. It is enough if I can run faster than you, because the lion will catch you.

Like the king in the story who thinks it is enough if he runs faster than the other king, similarly even in our lives, it is not required to solve all the problems. It is not required to cover up everything. It is enough if we can do whatever is required for now. It is enough if we can make this day happy. If we think that we will be happy after solving all the problems in our life, we can never be happy. Just make this day happy. The moment we run our life based on the Igam (present moment), then the bliss will start flowering in us.

The art of living in the present is explained by Patanjali in the eight steps. We have started our discussion with the first step of the eight steps called Iyamam. There are five parts in Iyamam. They are: Ahimsa Sathya Asthaeya Brahmacharya Parikrahaya maha. We discussed about two parts of Iyamam called Ahimsa and Asthaeya in the last section. In this section, we shall see the other parts.

Next we shall see about Sathyam (truth and honesty). What is Sathyam? Sathyam as thought by most of us means speaking the truth. Thiruvalluvar (an enlightened Master who wrote the great book, Thirukural) gives a beautiful explanation for Sathyam.

This is a beautiful explanation for Sathyam. The above verse means that: Truth through words includes those words that do not cause harm or does not insult or disrespect others.

Only in the language Tamil (One of the languages spoken by the Dravidians in South India), there are three words to indicate Sathyam. They are Vaaymai, Meimai and Unmai. Vaaymai means holding on and following the truth through the mouth or verbally. Meimai means holding on and following the truth through body or physically. Unmai means holding on and following the truth through the heart.

Sathyam does not mean just speaking truth through words. Speaking the truth through the mouth alone cannot be considered as truth. Truth has to be followed at all the three different levels. Being truthful from the heart means living our life with a clear flow of thoughts and not being a hypocrite. It is knowing what our thoughts are, knowing how to treat someone, knowing how the relationship between us and someone else should be, the way our life should be run and coming to clear conclusions and following the same. That's what is meant by being honest from the heart.

There are two kinds of relationships. The first one is where one always thinks :’How would someone be useful for me?’, ‘How to exploit him?’, ‘What to get from him?’ All these questions are asked if we lead a selfish life. That is we are bothered about our benefit alone. The second kind of relationship is where we ask these questions: ‘What can I do for him?’, ‘What can he do for me?’ This is a business. The first kind of relationship is really terrible and selfish. The second kind of relationship is a business relationship. The second kind of relationship is okay. The third kind of relationship is when we ask: ‘What can I do for him?’

For the people who belong to the first category, truth will never appeal to them. Such people, like blood suckers will just think as to what they can take from others. They will never think whether they can contribute something towards the well-being of someone else. This is one kind of mental setup. The second category of mental setup is based on business, as to what one can get from someone else. That at least is okay. There is nothing wrong in that. Socially it is good. But the mental setup which can completely change our life comes when we think: ‘What can I do?’ The moment we think what we can do? Unmai (truth) will start flowering in us. That is following the truth at heart level will start flowering in us.

Next is following Vaaymai (truth through the mouth, i.e. through our words). I need not have to explain much about this. All of us know about this. Truth through the mouth means expressing whatever we are thinking as it is. Understanding what others say as it is, without adding any juice to what others say and also expressing what we think as it is, is called Vaaymai.

Let me tell a small story to explain Vaaymai.

There was an farmer in Punjab, in India. He was very proud and egoistic that he owned a large acreage of land. For some reason, he went to America. There he met another farmer. The friendly conversation began among them. Punjab farmer was constantly boasted about himself and said:, Our land is called ‘land of five rivers’. We are doing agriculture three times more than what is being done here, The American farmer did not speak much. He was very simple. Slowly the Punjab farmer spoke about his vast agricultural land. He started talking about his vast agricultural land. Finally, the American farmer asked the Punjab farmer: How much land do you have? Punjab farmer answered that he had about 10 acres at the front of the house and 10 acres at the backyard. He was very proud while declaring this. Having 20 acres of land in Punjab is a big thing. The Punjab farmer asked the American farmer: How much land do you have? The American farmer replied: For me? After having breakfast in the morning, if I start my tractor and go around my land, I would be able to reach the end of my land only during sunset. Punjab farmer could not bear the answer and so he said: Oh is that so. I also had a tractor like that. But it was worn out and would not run properly.

Since the mind of the Punjab farmer could not accept the size of the land of the American farmer, he was blaming his tractor. That is, not understanding something which was told in the same manner as it was intended to be conveyed, doing jugglery with the words, is false. Not doing such jugglery with the words, understanding the words in the same manner as it was intended to be conveyed, and expressing the answer or the explanation to such an understanding accordingly, is called Vaaymai. Not only we are expressing the truth, but also being on the same understanding and taking the direct meaning of the other words is called Vaaymai. We speaking truth, but not being on the same understanding with what others say is not called Vaaymai.

Next is Meimai. Meimai means following the truth physically i.e. through the body. This is something very important which all of us should know. If there is Meimai in our lives, we can solve any problems in our lives. Only when Meimai is missed, all problems begin. The root of all sorrows is because of missing Meimai. Meimai means following the truth through the body. The courage to live the way we think is right and apt for us, is called Meimai. We might wish to be a doctor, we are clear that we can take up that only. But if we take up the engineering profession for the sake of our parents, then what do you think will happen? Our whole life will become a lie. Using our body for the reason for which we want to live and using our body for achieving what we wanted to achieve, is called Meimai. Courageously living the path which we want to live is called Meimai.

Most of our lives, we wait for the acceptance and certificates or praises or recognition from others. To get such recognition we even change the direction of our whole life. For the words which others utter towards us, for the acceptance from others, we don't hesitate to change the direction of our life. That is the biggest problem. Truly, all the sorrows in our life are because we do not live based on this truth (i.e. truth through body). The courage to live completely the way we think as right is called Meimai.

Let us see a small incident which happened in the life of the great scientist Albert Einstein. If we listen to this incident then we will understand the truth in Meimai. He was a great scientist of the last century. Nobody else could go beyond him in the field of physics. He is still considered to be the greatest scientist of the century. Though he is not there today, all his principles are still alive and being used in different ways by others.

When Albert Einstein was in his death bed, his assistants and students were around him. They asked him: Sir, if you take the next birth, what do you want to be born as? The moment this question was asked, everybody thought that Einstein would want to be a great scientist. But much to the surprise and shock of everyone, he answered that he wanted to be a plumber in his next birth. Everyone was surprised. They asked him: Why sir? Are you not fulfilled being a scientist? Being born as a scientist and having earned so much of praise and recognition, why do you want to be born as a plumber? Einstein replied: All my life from my childhood, I always dreamt of becoming a plumber. I dreamt of working for a few hours and then having fun and enjoying the rest of the time. Since my childhood days, I dreamt of being a plumber. Due to some circumstances in the place where I went for a job, my boss beat me and I escaped from him and started studying. Since I had to live amongst the scientists, looking at them and observing them, I got inspired to compete with them due to jealousy. I studied hard, became a scientist and achieved everything. Of course because I was a scientist, I have earned wealth, recognition and social status. Even after achieving all these, I feel that I have lost my entire life. So if I have a chance to take the next birth, it will be enough if I have the freedom to live my life the way I want and feel the fulfillment in such a life.

Truly if we see, whatever we think as big things in our life and are running behind it, like may be, money, recognition and social status, the moment we achieve these, then we will know that there is no juice in our life. Until we acheive these, we won't understand. Because Einstein achieved all these, he says: There is no juice in whatever I achieved, at least had I lived the way I wanted, I would have felt the fulfillment of having lived my life. He also said beautifully: If we have achieved the fulfillment of having lived our life, even if we happen to die in a platform, we can leave the body courageously with the complete satisfaction of having lived our life and thus can face death boldly. But instead if we don't have the fulfillment of having lived life, but have earned the wealth, recognition and social status, even if we die in an upscale hospital, we will have to struggle while leaving the body. Looking at the way some one has died, we can come to know the way he must have lived. The nature of his death will show the nature of the life he lived. Had he lived with complete fulfillment, then he will leave the body with complete satisfaction. But had he lived without fulfillment and lived his life in a dull way, he will struggle to leave the body at the time of his death.

We all should understand something which is very important. The most important thing which we all have to achieve in all our lives is the fulfillment of having lived our life. The fulfillment of having lived life is an important thing which we all have to earn in our lives. Whatever other things one has achieved in his life, will not accompany him at the time of his death. But the fulfillment of having lived life will change our life and the consciousness and take us towards the state of bliss. The moment we have the fulfillment of having lived life, we can understand the inner meaning of the words satisfaction, joy and bliss.

But we don't have the fulfillment of having lived life. How ever happy we think we are, we will only be thinking that we are in joy and bliss. We can never actually attain the state of bliss. The gap between two wars cannot be considered as peace. If a war ends in 1900 and in 1901 another war begins, then the time gap between 1900 and 1901 cannot be considered as peace period. It only means that during the gap, they are getting ready for the next war. Similarly, the gap between two sorrowful situations cannot be considered as a blissful state. It is we who call this period between two sorrowful situations as joy and bliss. That's all. Understand the time between two sorrowful situations or two miseries is not a joyful period. That is the time during which we are getting ready for the next sorrow. The time gap between two diseases cannot be called a healthy period. It is the time gap during which we are getting ready to be infected by the next disease. That's all.

In our life only when we get the fulfillment of having lived life and having the fulfillment of having achieved what we wanted to achieve, we can have a conscious understanding of bliss. Until then, we cannot consciously feel the state of bliss. Meimai means living life as we think it to be right, as we consciously understand it to be true and thus living life courageously. Some people come and tell me that they want to attend the meditation camps, but they are not permitted to attend by their relations at home. It is true that we have to adjust to many things in our life. It is true that we have to take care of our family.

But if there is something which will help our mental and physical well-being, only we can take care of it. Just because someone is not permitting us to meditate, if we are not meditating or progressing in our spiritual life, then if we are affected physically or mentally, who will be there to support us? May be the people around us can provide us with medication or food, but who will bear the pain? Only we have to face the pain.

That's why, however societal we may have to live our life, life as such is an individual life. Even if the trees are in a grove, every tree is an individual tree. Meimai is living our life the way we want. The courage and the confidence to live our life the way we want, will give the fulfillment of having lived our life. Attaining Meimai and being in Meimai, is the basic requirement of everyone who wants to live his life, be it a normal life or be it a spiritual life.

Next is Aparigraha. Aparigraha means living a simple life. Why should we live a simple life? As said in the first part as the quantity of maerial things and comforts increases the ability to enjoy reduces. If we stuff our tongue with too may sweets, then the tongue will lose the sense of tasting. When the body is experiencing comforts beyond limits, the body will forget the sensitivity while experiencing the comforts and become insensitive to the pleasure derived out of such comforts. It will go the state of insensitivity.

That’s why, Patanjali has devised this principle of enjoying the comforts in a proper way, and enjoying with as much comforts as is required. One more important thing which all of us have to understand is that whenever we don’t go along with the mind and whenever we say ‘No’ to our mind, and bring our life into our control, during such times, we are taking a step towards bliss. We take a step towards misery, whenever we follow the mind and say ‘yes’ to the mind. Whenever we say ‘No’ to mind it means, that we are taking a step towards bliss. If we just follow the footsteps of the mind blindly, we will not know where we are going to end up.

In Kato Upanishad, there is a beautiful comparative poetry. In our body there are five sensory organs, i.e. the eyes, ears, nose, tongue and the sense of touch. These five sense organs are like the five horses tied to a chariot. Intelligence is the charioteer. Mind is the bridle with bit and reins. If the bridle (the mind) can be handled by the charioteer (intelligence) to tackle the five horses (the five sense organs) then we can reach the destined place. But if we handle the bridle (the mind) in a haphazard way then we will reach the place where the horses (the fives senses) take us. We will not reach the place where we want to reach, but we will reach the place where the horses (the five senses) want us to reach. If we want to reach the place where we actually want to reach, then the bridle (the mind) has to come to our control. Whenever we say ‘No’ to our mind and bring the mind into our control then in all those times, we are taking a step towards bliss. Whenever we are just following the mind then at all those times, we are taking a step towards misery. Patanjali explains this through Aparigraha.