Discipline fosters awareness

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Arjuna speaks

Mind is wavering, Mind is wandering

Mind is so powerful, Mind is so strong

Controlling the Mind in my view, O Krishna

Is as futile as trying to stop a gust of string wind

Krishna speaks

No doubt, O Arjuna

Mind is wavering, Mind is wandering

And this Mind is hard to control

Yet, practicing this control with a touch of non-attachment

Is what makes this happen for you and all

Bhagawad-Gita (6:34-35)

Mind

In previous columns, we talked about the general structure of our personality. We are all multiple individuals inside this one physical body, and I call it “multividual.”

Multividual and nonvidual are not really recognized English words. I am merely using these to express certain ideas.

I am using multividual and nonvidual as expressions of certain ideas.

What makes us become a multividual and how do we bring the individual out in front of being multividual? We are made of a physical being and mun (mind).

Mun is a Sanskrit word (sounds like bun) and describes the wandering and wishful mind. Mind in my view is what creates multiple individuals. Mind and Desire form a composite to give us these multiple personalities.

This needs to be understood clearly. Mind is the master for most of us – as we are – and to stay sane we need to control this mind. Otherwise, it will drive us insane. Not only do we need to control this mind, we actually need to watch it, all the time. We have to find the best in this mind and try to put that best forward as our personality.

A Good Person

We started by asking a question in the first column: What makes Batman a Batman? This is the key to being a good person. We bring the best individual from our multividual in front and call it Batman. The other individuals are still there and ready to come in front. We have to keep this good individual in front all the time. Goodness has to be maintained by practice and discipline. An effort is needed. Gandhi had to practice to be Gandhi all the time. His “experiment with the truth” was an ongoing process.

This is true for all of us. Practice and Discipline are what keep us where we are, but we do slip at times. A side trip is possible and we may not be caught.

I have a good friend in his 60s who is well-respected. He was an editor for a newspaper, a decent person and deeply religious. He is a very open person. One day we started talking about how the mind functions. We all get junk mail in our e-mail inbox, including unsolicited invitations to porn sites. Mind knows that no one is watching. My friend was saying how tempting it is to click on these unsolicited sexy e-mails.

The mind is ready to slip all the time. A rein has to be kept and alertness is needed. This happened to President Bill Clinton. He was caught, but there are many others who have got away without getting caught.

A good person comes back to baseline and starts again. Goodness has its weaknesses as well. A good person is afraid to do something bad. He or she does not want to hurt anyone. A good person builds a cage around himself. It is the golden cage that glitters, but it is still a cage.

Nonvidual

Practice and discipline are required for increasing the range of awareness as well.

As the awareness deepens it becomes easier to stay a good person.

The slippery slopes seem to decrease in frequency and steepness. By and by, the Mind is stepped aside. The real master starts appearing on the scene.

The idea is to go beyond the mind. This is hard to comprehend because most of us feel that mind is who we are and goodness is the ultimate goal. Freedom from mind is not familiar ground. No mind is not in our thoughts.

The journey of awareness tries to reach these new grounds. The essence within us is beyond mind, and once that essence is known, the rest becomes easy. The bad is not a possibility in this situation.

As the badness disappears, goodness disappears as well. There is just Isness (essence) there.

This is what we want to aim for in these columns. Practice, Discipline and Self-Control are means to help us on the way. Once we know the real self, call it soul or call it Atma, these means become meaningless.

Dr. Krishna Bhatta is a physician in Bangor.