Shreeji Maharaj once asked Muktanand Swami how many thoughts he had in his mind. Muktanand Swami picked a hand full of dirt and said that he had as many thoughts as the grains of dust slipping from his hand; that is the mind is full of thousands of thoughts that are difficult to control.
It is said that he who controls the mind has conquered the world. This is because it is the mind that is the main obstacle in realising ourselves as atma, it prevents us from enjoying the peace and bliss of God from within and in receiving direct inspiration from Him.
We often do the bidding of our mind rather than what God wants us to do. Even in bhakti we conceive in our own mind methods of devotion and we make judgements as to what is and what is not righteous rather than receiving guidance from God in every thought, word and deed. The sadhak who has subdued his mind and receives constant unbroken inspiration from God has reached the pinnacle of devotion.
It is absolutely necessary to have a serene and tranquil mind in order to apply ourselves to God. Pappaji was once sitting with devotees, a sadhak asked Him what he was thinking at that moment, Pappaji answered that he was not thinking of anything. This is what Pappaji described as Brahm Sushupti. This is where there are no thoughts of coming, going or doing without any reason. Pappaji had said that He lived in that state of constant of euphoria [Supreme Fragrance of God, A Brahmin Trance, Section 2]. So how can we attain that form of euphoric state?
Stabilising the mind
- We should learn to live in the here and now (present) rather than in a dream world of thoughts, especially when the mind is idle. If we fill-up the mind with numerous thoughts the mind becomes unfocussed, unsteady and full of anxiety; it cannot stay in God.
- Lack of concentration is akin to a mirror that is covered with dust; the image is distorted and diffuse like a mind full of thoughts. Whereas a clean mirror reflects the light perfectly. In this way with a clear concentrated mind our activities cannot impact on our mind (that is, there is no impression on our chitt, the emotive mind).
- Shreeji Maharaj has advocated ‘concentrated vision’ [Vach. Saranpur 2)] as a means to focus the mind. This we can achieve by maintaining full concentration on every activity that we undertake no matter how trivial, from getting ready in the morning to eating and drinking to other mundane tasks where the mind would normally readily wander. We have even seen Pappaji do the same whereby He would carry out insignificant activities with great concentration.
- This concentrated vision can be achieved by keeping the focus of the eyes immediately in front of us on the object that we are interacting with. If instead the focus of the eyes merges with our thoughts (characterised by our eyes becoming vacant) then we will enter that dream world of thoughts. By keeping our eyes relaxed, but focussed on our immediate vicinity then the mind cannot drift.
Remembering God in all our activities
- Once the mind has been stabilised, we can practice Pappaji’s brahmsutra, “Do not keep the mind full of thoughts, do not keep the mind empty, instead constantly do Jap-Yagna.” With a steady mind we can then focus the mind on God whilst doing mundane activities by constantly reminiscing “Hai Pappaji, Hai Maharaj… Swaminarayan…” according to our own methods and inclination. With time we will begin to experience the presence and bliss of God within us (as per article Anand ma Raho [1]) and start to receive inspiration from Him.
- However, there are times when we have to undertake a task that demands our full attention, that is, where we have to apply our mind on an activity completely such that we cannot easily keep our focus on God as well as carry out the task. On such an occasion we need to apply Pappaji’s brahmsutra, “First remember God and then act.”
- If we pray to Guruhari to accompany us and guide us in that activity, then He will do so and He will inspire us during that task. This way we can keep the mind detached and also we will not be responsible for the result or outcome of that task, as such we can remove the burden of that task from our mind and be carefree. Once the task is done we can fall back into murti as per the bhajan ‘Ugati Prabha e’.
The ultimate stage
- If we are to reach the ultimate stage of param bhagvat sant, then actually there should be no question of falling back into God’s murti after undertaking an activity. We should progress spiritually to the level where there is no risk of becoming engrossed and attached to an activity from which we have to draw back.
- To reach such a level we can follow Swaroopanand Swami’s example of how to engross the mind in Maharaj’s murti during any activity so that the activity itself does not exist:
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- Maharaj questioned His senior sadgurus as to how they carried out His commands. The sadgurus described their own methods as to how they undertook their tasks whilst remembering God. Swaroopanand Swami said, “When I look at the task to be done, the object disappears and only your murti is seen.” Maharaj asked him to clarify what he meant. Swamiji explained, “Just as a lemon is placed at the tip of an arrow then wherever the arrow is turned, only the lemon is seen, similarly God totally resides in my focus and so wherever my focus is directed, there God is seen”. Maharaj told the other sadguru’s to keep Swaroopanand Swami’s company [Swami ni Vato Chapter 3.7]
In such a high spiritual state, we would always have the vision that no matter who may say anything, good or bad, those words are spoken by Maharaj Himself. No matter what situation we may encounter good or bad, that prasang is carried out directly by none other than Maharaj.
If it is a bad situation, then it is how we maintain our composure, how we keep our faith and maintain our refuge in Maharaj and do not take offence of others that reflects our status. If it is a good situation, then it is how we imbibe the virtues from that incident and improve ourselves that helps us to continue to progress.
When the mind ‘sees’ that everything said and done is Maharaj Himself then this is the ultimate stage. To reach such an elevated status, first the mind has to be conquered. It must be made calm and tranquil so that it can be applied to God. There may be many approaches and techniques to do so; we have to find those that suit us. With constant practice and prayer to Guruhari for His grace we can definitely achieve this goal.
[1] Anand ma Raho, S Gandhi.