Page 22 - Dawn of Reality an Exposition of REALITY AT DAWN of Sri Ramchandraji Maharaj

helps us to realize our highest self. So it is not every evil alone that proceeds from the mind but also every good. Hence those who condemn it in the bitterest terms have no justification for it at all. It is really only due to the defective moulding of the mind, and what is actually required, is not the crushing or the killing of the mind but merely its proper training. The mind is like the pendulum of a clock. A clock goes all right so long as the movement of the pendulum is regulated. If it is disturbed the clock is out of order. Similarly for this human clock it is necessary that the movement of the mind be well regulated and adjusted. The methods to mould the mind and regulate its activities are also very simple. Really we have spoiled the mind ourselves by allowing it to wander about aimlessly during leisure hours. The practice has continued for years and it has now become almost its second nature. If we now try to control the mind by putting it under restraint we meet with little success. The more we try to suppress it by force, the more it rebounds and counteracts causing greater disturbance. The proper method to control the activities of the mind is to fix it on one sacred thought just as we do in meditation, and dispel from it everything unwanted or superfluous. In course of time after constant practice, the mind gets disciplined and regulated and much of the inner disturbance is eliminated. The best course to free you from unwanted ideas is to treat them as uninvited guests and remain unmindful of them. They will then wither away like un-watered plants and ultimately the same sacred thought will remain predominant. The only way to accomplish it is, therefore, meditation under the guidance of a capable master. By constant practice in meditation the mind will become calm and peaceful and the unwanted ideas will cease to trouble you. I often hear beginners complaining about the wandering of the mind during meditation. From the very first day they expect that during their practice at meditation the mind should remain at a standstill but when they find different ideas and thoughts haunting their mind they feel greatly perturbed. I must clear it to them that it is not the suspended condition of the mind we are striving for in our practice, but only the moulding of its multifarious activities. We do not want to stop its normal working but only to bring it to a regulated and disciplined state. If the activities of the mind are stopped from the very beginning, we probably do not stand in need of practising meditation at all. Meditation is the only process to achieve that end. Concentration is its natural result in due course. The proper method is to meditate all along remaining quite unmindful of the foreign ideas and thoughts coming to our mind during that time. Mental struggle to keep off the unwanted ideas often proves unsuccessful for it causes a strong reaction which is often impossible for man of ordinary capabilities to overcome and which is sometimes likely to result in serious mental disturbance or even insanity. It may be possible for those who by leading a life of celibacy have gained sufficient ojas (lustre) to cope