Mind

[Gummuluru Murthy]

Subject : The mind

The worldly I is used here, this being the parabrahman that resides in
 me + all the upadhis that were added on to become the worldly I.

I feel the direction of the mind is the biggest hindrance in our not
recognizing the Self. As Sadananda pointed out in his posting on
[Re: Desire for salvation (Re: who am I ?)], even when one sits at the
 meditation seat for contemplation on the Self, the mind sometimes wanders.
 I assume this is partly because our sense organs are directed outward rather
 than inward, and the perceptions of the outside world picked up by the sense-
 organs are collected by the mind. While the sense-organs and the mind explore
 the outside world, the I, the paramatma, the Nirguna Brahman is inside us,
 willing and ready to be realized. Thus the mind and the sense-organs with their
outward direction inhibit the Self-enquiry. Sri Sankara in Sivanandalaharii
 [verse 20] implores Siva to accept Sankara's mind [hRdayakapimatyantachapalam]
 as a gift and tie it tightly under Siva's control. Unless the mind and the
 sense-organs
 are inward directed, there can be no realization of the Self. Is this one of
 the
reasons why Self-enquiry is so difficult?

I have another related question to the learned members of the Group.  What
about mentally challenged humans (for e.g. people with Down's syndrome
or other what we call "mental dis-orders") ? Are they also under the
influence of maya? How difficult is it for them for Self-realization?
They may not have realized the Self, but they might not have been deluded
or mesmerized by maya either. In that, they may have an advantage.

These questions arise only in a world created by maya [Maya-kalpita desa
kAla kalanAvychitra citrIkRtam as Sri Sankara put it in DakshiNamurthy
stOtra]. In the framework of ultimate Reality of the Nirguna Brahman,
creation does not exist, and these questions are mute. The worldly
I likes to put these sentences to keep reminding myself that we are
indeed in a world created by maya. I would like to see any thought in
two frameworks, one attached to the illusory world, and the other
attached to paramatma. I do hope that learned members of the Group
do not get offended by seeing these two sentences at the end of each of
the postings.

Regards
Gummuluru Murthy
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Adau ante ca yan nAsti vartamAnepi tat tathA

                                ...  GaudapAda in mAndUkya kArikA

What did not exist at the beginning and what is not going to exist at the end
is as good as non-existent even in the present.
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