The Mind As A Mirror
Everything Is Correct But Nothing Works
The fate of too many people on the planet is such that they are correct about everything, but nothing works. For example, someone gave you and your four siblings a wonderful car. You don’t know much about the mechanism of a car but since you are morally very astute you distribute one wheel each to your four siblings and keep the steering wheel for yourself. (Everything is correct but nothing works).
Your Perception Of Life
There are many people like the one stated in the example. They get up at the right time, eat the right food and pray a number of times in a day, but still nothing works, because they haven’t understood the fundamentals of how the human mechanism works, If you don’t even understand how (what you call) ‘myself’ happens, you will never understand how everything else happens, because your entire perception of life is happening through this mechanism.
Everything that you have ever experienced has happened only within you. If you did not have eyeballs, you wouldn’t see light. If you did not have an eardrum, you wouldn’t hear sounds. So, it you do not understand how this piece of lite happens, maybe everything that is happening to you is distorted. When everything gets straightened out, it is said you are spiritual.
Mystics And Mistakes
There are only two kinds of people in the world – mystics and mistakes. If you perceive everything the way it is, you are labelled a mystic. If you don’t perceive life as it is, obviously you are a mistake! Right now, your experience of life is essentially the way it is projected in the firmament of your mind.
The Analogy Of A Mirror
Let’s use the analogy of a mirror here. If you had a mirror at home that changes shape every day, it would be useless. That is why there is a simple definition of yoga and it is ‘if all the modifications of the mind are flattened out – that is yoga.’ It means you immediately see everything the way it is. If you see everything the way it is, you will see the oneness of existence.
Look At Things Just The Way It Is
Another problem is having a mirror that remembers. Let’s say your mirror at home retains just ten per cent of everything that it reflects -it would become useless in a very short while. Hence, for a mirror to be useful, one thing is, it must be perfectly flat. Another thing is, nothing should remain on it, Only then, it will show you things just the way it is. This is the same with the mind. And this is all we have to do – a little bit of work to flatten the mind and ensure nothing of the past remains. So when it looks at something, it just looks at something!
As of now, the moment you look at something or someone, a thousand things of the past immediately start to run in your mind. If you learn to look simply, without even recognizing whether this is a man or woman, tree or animal, soil or rock, if you simply learn to look, you will see everything just the way it is! Just bring this into your li1e never look up to anything, never look down on anything but see everything just the way it is.
Look Up To Everything!
If you are not capable of simply seeing everything the way it is, at least look up to everything that is around you – man, woman, child, animal, insect, inanimate things. everything, including what you are stepping on. If you have the capacity, look down on everything. This will also work, but it is a very hard path. If you want to feel pleasant and be part of a social situation, looking up to everything, is the best option.
If you look up to one thing and look down on another, you will divide existence within yourself. In this state of fragmentation, your own mind will get fragmented. Suppose you have a broken mirror, if you see one reflection, it will look like many. In this state, you will never see reality the way it is.
‘Chitta vritti nirodha’ means it is not a fragmented mind throwing up a thousand things, every moment. It is simply showing you what is there, without prejudice, without the influence of past impressions, without the karmic stuff, without genetic influence, but simply seeing everything as it is. So, till you come to that place, it is best to look up to everything!