1. Sri. R. Bharat

Dear Rev. Guide, brothers & sisters,

My humble Pranams to all of you. I am here to present the seminar on the topic “Mind can be known by Mind & Divinity can be known by Divinity”. This is my first & a sincere attempt & I beg your pardon if there are any mistakes in my presentation.

As far as I understand the given topic, there are 2 aspects here. One, the Mind can be known by Mind & the other one is Divinity can be known by Divinity. The first question that I put to myself is that whether is it possible for the mind to know divinity. When I contemplated over this thought, I found that it is almost impossible for the Mind to know the Divinity. Divinity alone can reveal it to us. Master has conveyed the above point in the following ways.

1. Prayer: Sign of Devotion

Oh Master

Thou art the real goal of human life.

We are yet but slave of our wishes

putting bar to our advancement.

Thou art the only God & Power

to bring us up to that stage.

The third sentence of the prayer confirms the point that Divinity alone is the means & not anything else, not even mind.

2. Meditation on the Divine light without luminosity- An impossibility for the human mind to comprehend. When we study the above points, it goes to show the helplessness of the mind to know the divinity. So we need to have this helplessness along with the restlessness to reach the Goal of complete Oneness with the Master/Divinity. I would also like to mention one of the extract from the Master’s book here, which I thought, was relevant.

“Divine help does come, no doubt, but only when the supreme is convinced of Devotee’s earnestness of purpose” (IB – Pg: 30 2005 edition)

As I understand the above statement, first we should feel the helplessness to know the divinity. How do we feel this helplessness? Before this, first & foremost thing, we should fix our Goal which is complete oneness with God/Master. Unless & until we fix the goal, we will not be able to feel the helplessness. Then once we realize that it is not possible to achieve the goal with mere self-effort, we come to know our inability to know the Divinity & then we feel this helplessness. This leads to our dependency on the Master & as it increases, it gradually reaches a stage of complete surrender to Him in Toto. This is what it means when the Master mentions “Devotee’s earnestness of purpose” as per my understanding. Once we have this earnestness, then we will get the Divine help. As Master says in one of the messages, “ When we have played our part fully well, the ultimate cannot fall short in playing His part. That is the Justice of Divinity”. As I understand, one should never forget his duty. What is our Divine Duty? We must be in His remembrance all the time. As Master says we have to treat all actions & work to be part of divine duty entrusted to us by Him. So, when we have done our duty, Divinity will surely play Its part and that is the Justice of Divinity.

“Mind can be known by Mind”

Now, I would like to draw your attention on the first aspect of the topic i.e., Mind can be known by Mind. What is this Mind? Where from it has come? Master says, “Mind developed after energy descended from its center for the formation of the world. Alongside the mind, wrong thinking also developed, but they hold God responsible for all these miseries, pangs & suffering of the world.” (SDG-150 – 2005 edition)

Mind by nature is very pure & there was no question of the control of mind when we came into existence. But we have made it monkeyish by our own impure thoughts & actions. We give wrong suggestions to our mind. Now comes the question, what makes us to give such suggestions? Master has clearly said in one of his messages that it is the environment that creates such circumstances to have such ideas. But in order to avoid such impure inputs we cannot go to the hills or forests where we have a conducive environment. Instead of making our external environment conducive, we have to make our inner environment clean & conducive for a mature meditation. As a Grihastha, we are responsible to attend to our worldly life as well as the spiritual life. Such a one is a true saint.

I would also like to share one more point on the state of our monkeyish mind as explained by Swami Vivekananda in the following way. “Imagine a drunken monkey sitting under the hot Sun & has been bit by a scorpion.”

In the above example, we are able to imagine the agony of the monkey. Now, how do we link our state of mind with the above example? We know that Monkey, by nature is mischievous which is more predominant as it is drunk, as mentioned in the above example. This monkey is made more uncomfortable by the hot Sun & beyond everything, it has been bit by the scorpion. How can it stay at one place? So such is the nature of our mind. Our Mind always wanders & cannot keep quiet. I am telling this out of my personal experience. Once when I was starting my meditation, there was a time where I had not even completed my prayer & my playful mind started wandering about. After about 30 minutes of meditation, I came to know that I was in meditation & I am supposed meditate only on the Divine light without luminosity & not on any other thought. Such was the state of my mind & the seriousness that I had during that time. I was able to overcome this only after putting sincere effort in my sadhana & support from the Master.

What is stopping us to know the Divinity?

Master says “The Sun is there but the over-cloudiness you will have to remove yourself to have its full luster.” (SDG- 151 – 2005 edition)

As I understand the above statement, we have developed lot of complexities & we got to remove them to realize our true nature, which is Divine. So, as I have mentioned earlier, due to the external environment, we have developed these complexities. In addition to this, we indulge ourselves in activities such as watching TV, reading magazines & involving ourselves in unnecessary talks, which are hindrance to our Sadhana. Before this, we should first realize that these activities are not good for our sadhana. Then comes the question, how do we overcome these hindrances? Here comes the Viveka. So, once we realize what is good for our Sadhana & that which is not good for our sadhana (i.e., Anukoolyasya Sankalpam & Prathikoolyasya varjanam), we seek the methods of overcoming them. Then we start contemplating over this idea & come to a conclusion that instead of indulging in such activities, we can feed our mind with the divine inputs by reading Master’s works, listening to His messages & contemplating over the meanings of the messages. By doing so, we will be able to stop them from further development & remove the existing complexities of the mind that we had already developed. Then we will be able to see a clear difference in the quality of meditation that we have. Only when remove the complexities, we will be able to peep into ourselves more & more and know our true nature. So, it is these complexities that are stopping us to know the divinity in ourselves & in others also.

Here, I would also like to share some thoughts out of my experience. Initially, when I started my sadhana & even before, I always used to find faults with others. After sometime, I came across the words of our Grand Master that we would not be able to find the blemishes in others unless we have them. This made me think a lot & now, the change that I found in me is that mostly when I notice a blemish in others, these words of the Master is reminded to me. Immediately, I give a suggestion to my mind that the blemish that I found in the other person is very much in me & needs to be corrected. When we study this experience, we can say that my mind could not see the divinity in him.

I was not able to express the divinity in me & that is why I was seeing the blemish in the other person rather than the divinity in him. So, unless & until we express the divinity in us completely by hiding ourselves, we will not be able to see the divinity in others. Once we realize this, definitely, a transformation in the being comes & with the sincere practice of the method given by our Master, we will be able to succeed up to his level. By doing so, we would be giving Peace in return to the Master, which is the best service that we can do for Him. The following methods were given by our Master to control our mind.

METHODS:

1. Meditations on Points A & B.

Meditations on the above points enable us to control our mind to a great extent. I am telling out of my experience that I was able to feel a lot of difference after practicing the above meditations. I felt more balanced & calm after this practice. Also, the meditations on the points A & B becomes mandatory to follow the 10 commandments effectively.

2. Cleaning:

Whatever we have acquired in our mind by our own intensions, we make use of our WILL to get rid of them. Even then we are not able to cleanse ourselves to the fullest. Here comes the importance of prayer.

3. Pranahuti

Here comes the Master’s support in cleansing our mind. When we strictly adhere to the above methods given by the Master, we will be able to discipline our mind.

“Divinity can be known by Divinity”

Coming to the next aspect of the topic, namely, “Divinity can be known by Divinity. Or in other words, We should use the Divine power for the sake of Divinity.

I understand the above statement a concept of doership. We should think that Master is working through us & not ourselves. By doing so, we would be allowing the divine power that is flowing from the Master through us to the people around & this is our Divine Duty. This also leads to constant remembrance thereby developing Love & Devotion towards Master.

My Pranams to All.