• Table of Contents
  • Ways into Silence by Swami Veda Bharati
  • Joy of Giving and Sacrificing by Swami Rama
  • Sangha Practice for the Next 3 Years by Swami Ritavan Bharati
  • Saumya Mantra Explanation
  • Advancing Guidance in Yoga Sadhana by Swami Ritavan Bharati
  • What is AHYMSIN by Swami Ritavan Bharati and Shi Hong
  • Vision for the Next Three Years, Part 1 by Swami Ritavan Bharati
  • AHYMSIN Executive Committee 2019 – 2022
  • Mind Mirror by Dr. Vijay Dhasmana
  • Guidelines for 3 Year Practice by Swami Ritavan Bharati
  • 2019 Sangha Gathering Slideshow by Jay Prakash Bahuguna
  • Working Groups Report by Sonia Van Nispen
  • What Is a Sangha? by Spiritual Committee Members
  • Shivaratri Manasa Puja by Swami Ritavan Bharati
  • What is Shivaratri? by Pawan Mishra
  • 2019 Events and Beyond
  • Full Moon Meditation Dates
  • Location of our SRSG ashram
• AHYMSIN Newsletter Archive

Mind Mirror

by Dr. Vijay Dhasmana

[This is a transcript of a talk given by Dr. Dhasmana at the 2019 Sangha Gathering at Swami Rama Sadhaka Grama on 1st March 2019.]

Thank you, Swamiji and all the guests here, for inviting us. When he was praising us, actually we do nothing there. Enjoying. We simply follow among the blessings which were taught by Gurudev. Whenever we had some difficulties, when he was in his physical body, we used to go and ask him and he would say, ‘Beta, do what is right.’ Beta means son. Do what is right. He was praising me that I am very good at administrating whatever. Good administrator should have, as much as what I have learned from, again, I learned so many things [lost audio] guidance from him. In my philosophy, nothing moves in that campus without his approval, even today. To be put administrator, you have to be a patient listener, you have to take quick decisions, you have to keep your door open, you have to sort out many issues, many problems, internal problem and external problem. Since morning I am a bit low and I know what is happening with me. I had very good sleep. I did not have fight with my wife in the morning. So, while coming back to my office, one thought came in my mind and that thought is still I’m trying to remove that thought. But still it is there and I can feel it.

Whatever I am going to share with you, my experiences, especially about mind is based on my own experiences. I have read some books, some literatures, but unless you experienced yourself, unless you analyse yourself, unless you try to find out what exactly is happening with you, let me tell you whatever happens outside, that should not matter to anyone of us. But exactly [what] is happening within us, that should be a cause of concern for all of us. And we must try to look within, we must try to analyse what exactly is happening.

Mana eva manuṣyāṇāṁ kāraṇaṁ bandha-mokṣayoḥ. Mana eva manuṣyāṇāṁ, the mind of these human beings, kāraṇaṁ bandha-mokṣayoḥ, is the source is the reason for all bondage and miseries. Mind. This monkey mind, jumping all the time and monkey, a drunkard monkey, that is our mind. Right now, sitting here you can go on the top of Eiffel tower, just by sitting here. You can visualise what you are doing, mind can go there.

A person, Mr. Ajaya Gupta sleeping in Chicago in his bedroom crying there, suffering from fever, remembering Gurudev. Gurudev in his ashram makes a telephone call to him. ‘Beta, son, don’t worry you will be alright by tomorrow.’ What is that? Gurudev sitting in his bedroom in the seventh-floor apartment in Delhi. You cannot see outside from that room where he used to live. The moment I used to park my car he would tell the cook to open the door, Vijay is there. Just to give you a few examples. The mind. He was connected with the universal mind all the time. He was connected with the universal consciousness all the time. He knew what is happening to his disciples, what the needs of his disciples were, and he used to address those issues. I am sure many of you have such kind of experiences with Swami Veda.

What exactly are we? You can touch yourself, this physical body. You can feel, see with your own eyes. The outermost layer is our physical body which we can see, we can touch, we can feel. Annamaya kosha made of food, water, air also. Then we have another layer, Pranamaya kosha which is made of five pranas: the breathing body. Breath we cannot see, but we can feel. Then we have the mental body. We know mind is there. Something is there we cannot see. We cannot touch it, but we know. And then there is bliss.

We are a body which is active in this world through our five cognitive senses and five active senses. We have a mind, and we have a consciousness. Some people call it soul, some people call it atma, some people call it consciousness, but that is the main source of energy. The mind and body, they both are connected by breath. What happens in death? The moment breath goes, no matter, your dearest one, the family people say, ok, now last rites. The mind gets energy from where? When we are in deep sleep, then the mind comes very close to this centre of consciousness, soul, and gets energised. There is another method, and that is meditation. If you are a good meditator, you don’t need to sleep. Sleep is not required because mind is constantly getting charged.

You know, we all look for happiness outside, in the worldly things. Good house, good car, good wife, good husband, everybody is looking for these. Not happy with the relationship. But actually, that is the wrong way of searching for happiness. There is no permanent happiness outside. It is all temporary. Circumstantial. Husband shouts at wife, wife shouts at husband, you shout at your friend, with your colleague, all bad people. So, happiness is not outside. To achieve that happiness is our birthright. To be free from all pains and miseries. And for that we have to analyse our minds, we have to understand our mind, what exactly is happening. I can tell you anything whatever happens with our physical body it happens at a very later stage. It has already happened at the mental level. Now, for all common man or people like us, it is an obstacle. But for sages, it is a vehicle for them to reach to the higher level. For the mental energy.

What is mind, what is brain, and what is our nervous system? Brain is like a bulb. Nervous system in the body, like wiring, and the energy in those wirings is the mind. Vast part of our mind we do not know about that mind. We need to understand this mind in totality. How to do that? One important is, this mind belongs to us. We don’t belong to mind. The problem is when we start our mind to completely capture us. That is the problem. So, we have to learn to capture our mind. Look, you are my mind, you have to work as per me, as per my instructions. It happens other way round. It is my mind, it has to be under my control. And if it does not happen, then many problems start. Mind is functioning, but it derives its energy from the centre of consciousness that we call soul, we call atma. From that point the mind is getting its energy. That is why I said in meditation, meditation, the mind is getting energy from the centre of consciousness, from the soul.

Tip of the iceberg. Only that part is known to us, and only that part is trained in this world through our education system whatever we learn in the society. The vast part of mind is under the water. Under the water means it is not known to us. And our purpose should be to make that unconscious mind conscious through meditation. So, we have more space. That mind which is not expanded yet through meditation, we must expand that mind.

This is like our mind ripples. Thought process going on. A bucket of water which is muddy water, can you see at the bottom of the bucket? No, but you can see at one point of time when the mud settles down and the mud will only settle down the moment water is stable, calm. Same thing is happening with our mind. So many thoughts, so many things are happening. In meditation, that is what we see. What are the problems we have created for ourselves? Because so many things are happening at the same time.

How this mind works. And Gurudev was the first Yogi who described mind in a scientific manner. It has four departments. Mind, which is called lower mind, I am using the word is lower mind. We have buddhi, the power of discrimination; we have a centre which can discriminate what is right and what is wrong. That is why Gurudev used to say ‘Son, do what is right’. Who will do that? That department. Otherwise this manas mind is just like a receptionist sitting in our front desk passing information, getting information. That is the role of this lower mind, manas. Buddhi, which discriminates, which decides what is right and what is wrong, is our advisory board, our advisor, which advises us what should be done, what should not be done. Chitta, storehouse, where all the information is kept there. Sweet, bitter, whatever, all information is stored in our chitta. And there is one more part of the mind that is ego, ahamkara, which feels I am the boss.

Suppose we are walking in a street, suddenly our eyes see something there. The information is captured by eyes, and the eyes because that lower mind, our senses, passing information getting information and passing that information inside. Now that information will be processed, citta will tell us what exactly the eyes have seen, what is that. Chitta will say this is a big bull which has big horns, very dangerous, kills you. Buddhi will tell us don’t go there. Ahamkara will be very scared. This bull is going to damage me, create problem for me. The message will come to the feet, don’t go there. But how long does it take? Very fast. This whole process.

So, if we really want to think properly, what is to be done? Your mind, whatever is that receptionist sitting on the front desk must be guided by buddhi. There has to be harmony between our mind and buddhi. And this ego needs to be guided by our storehouse. If this whole process is in harmony, our mind will not be disturbed. We will be able to take right decisions, correct decisions, appropriate decisions.

The biggest problem if we know that something wrong is happening with me. You know blood pressure is where? Here. When Gurudev allowed scientific community to do experiment on his body, he was the first Yogi who subjected himself to scientific community in 1968 in Menninger Foundation, USA. He allowed scientists to do experiments on his body, his mind, his physiology, body physiology. He said seventy to eighty percent of the diseases are psychosomatic which originates in the mind. Can you imagine just twenty percent diseases and how much money billions of billions of dollars is spent by pharma company? Eighty percent of the diseases can be controlled by ourselves if our mind is at peace. Seventy to eighty percent of the diseases. And out of those twenty, twenty-five percent of diseases, some of it is accident which is beyond our control. So how to know if we know that seventy to eighty percent of the diseases can be controlled, so that nothing happens to us, so how to train our mind, how to do something with this mind which is always jumping, so many thoughts are coming. Mind is not rested. How to do it?

If we know that, yes, there is something wrong with me, something wrong with my mind, I have to do something with my mind. The very first thing is willpower. The biggest problem with most of the people, with all of us, willpower. Very weak willpower. How to develop that willpower? Constantly we have to talk to ourselves. I have to talk myself since morning I was ‘Look, Vijay, why are you disturbed?’ Since morning I am telling myself where is that problem [that] is of that nature so I am not able to let go. Since morning I am talking to myself, ‘Look, this is not in your control.’ I am telling myself I know this is not in my control, but still, that heaviness is there. So, we need to constantly talk to ourselves. Look I am telling you, whatever has to happen is going to happen no matter what happens. There are certain things which are beyond our control. The only thing that is in our control, in my own control, is my own self. My own mind. This is applicable to all of us. So, willpower; I have to do it, I can do it, I am going to do it. You have to talk constantly to ourselves. Sometimes you have to divert your mind also. I am telling you, too much is going on, and you are not able to meditate. Music therapy plays a very important role. Some nice bhajans. You have to channelize that energy in a different direction.

Weak willpower creates all sorts of problems. Many people have this habit of condemning themselves. I am weak, I am useless, I am nothing. It creates a lot of problems for all of us. Many people do that. I can’t do this. Why? We have so much of potential within us.

This is all because of the willpower of Swami Veda. How did it happen? It is all because of his willpower. It depends on where you are diverting your energy. What is the cause? He decided, ‘OK. I am going to do this. Gurukulam for people, for students. Let them come do some meditation, do some sadhana. Let them transform themselves.’ So slowly, his disciples started joining hands with him. His willpower. His thought process. A good cause, and because there is a specific cause, a good cause, even today he is not in his physical body, the mission is moving ahead. That is the power of positive thought. Gurudev said, OK let me create this hospital in Dehradun, Jolly Grant, and he selected some people whom he has himself trained. So that the mission is still moving. We all are working together. This ashram, we have another ashram, we have hospital, different jobs but under one roof, under one umbrella, Gurudev, under the name Gurudev, under the name of Swami Veda. Because the positive thinking, the positive directions which you move, people will come with you.

We are what we think. A positive thought in us makes us a positive person and there is positive energy around. Why we come to Swamis? Because they radiate positiveness in their thinking, all the time positive. So, you want to come and sit next to them, sit near them, and you want to charge yourselves. We are very selfish. Again, selfish for good reason. You want to do something good also. Ashram has a different energy. Why? Because the thought process in the boundary is different. You cross the boundary outside you will find different energy. What is that? Again, thought process. Positive thinking changes everything. In a temple, in a mosque, in a church, the energy is different because positive energy, positive vibration, positive thought process. So, it depends on mind what kind of energy it is radiating, and it will radiate depending on the thought process. If negative thought process, negative energy. Positive thought process, positive energy.

To have strong willpower, the discipline has to be there. I think it has to be self-created. Discipline cannot be imposed. A discipline which is imposed it works for some time and then it is gone. So, it has to come from within. Look, I have to do this, I have to get up at this time, I have to sleep at this time, I have to eat this, I don’t have to eat this; if any negative thought comes I have to tell myself, remove this negative thought, think positive. So, it is for all of us to decide what kind of energy we want in our system in this complex system. It is complex but very sophisticated. Everything is synchronised, everything is working in harmony.

We are what we think. We are made of this physical body, have physical functions. Our personality is made of persona, the mask which can be removed.  A bad personality can become a good personality. A good personality can become a bad personality depending on what he is thinking, how is he acting, how is he behaving in society, how we behave with our colleagues, how we behave in our own family. Now, this personality is made of habits the moment we start repeating the same things again and again. One time we lie, second time we lie, third time we lie, fourth time we lie, liar. Once we come late, again we come late, again we come late, again we come, latecomer. This repeating, we are repeating again and again and again. So, because we are repeating one action again, same action again and again, it has become our habit. When we drive our car in highway at the speed of say one hundred and twenty miles per hour, our hand knows where is the A/C button, you don’t have to look for it. Habit. The moment you change your car, next day for some days it takes time for you to realise.

And we cannot act without thinking. A thought came into my mind, let me go late today. It did not happen automatically. A thought came into my mind first. And these thoughts arise from emotions. We are emotional beings also. And these emotions are products of the four fountains: āhāra, nidrā, maithuna, bhaya, food, sleep, sex, fear. These are the four fountains. So how to think properly, how to think in positive direction is very important. And then whatever thought process is there, how to calm down. You can look within, you can talk to your own self anytime, and you will know what exactly is happening with you.

Mind, though it looks like it is very complex, it is complex, but we ourselves can make it very simple just by talking to our own self. Consciously what are we doing, what exactly is happening? So, it has to be under my control, it has to be under your control. No outside force can control your mind. That willpower has to be within, within you. Thank you very much.

[Picture taken by Jay Prakash Bahuguna.]

Editor’s Note: