There is an interesting story about the mind in the great work Yogavaasishta composed by the great sage Valmiki. The story goes like this: There was a man in a formidable and desolate forest.. He, striking his back with iron rods by himself, crying and running fell into a well with a hidden mouth. Then after sometime he got up from the well and went into a thorny forest. There also, beating himself often, running and laughing, he went to a cool forest of plantain trees. Departing from that in a moment, beating himself often and running away he fell in to the same old well. Sage Vashista asked him, Who are you? What is this? Why do you run in vain? The reply came very promptly: I am nobody. I do nothing. You are my enemy. Having been seen by you I am lost. Then laughing, he gave his limbs all round. Sage Vasishta told this story to Lord Rama and concluded saying that, There are many men like him still living. The forest is there even today. Rama asked him, What that great forest is and what is that they are intent on doing? Vasishta replied: In this great forest of worldly existence, minds indeed wander about. They are led by me, by discrimination, to supreme tranquility. Some, by disregarding me, fall down into hells. The forest of plantation is heaven. The affliction by sorrow is the thorn. I am lost thus what was told is the lamentation of ego. Crying is natural for mind while abandoning enjoyments. The joy of one who has acquired discrimination and who is giving up the characteristic of the thinking mind is the laughter. The beatings are the blows of fancies or imagination. They are indeed caused by oneself. The mind is reduced to the state of bondage only by its own net of impressions of thoughts just as the silk-worm in the cocoon confines itself by bonds with ease. So contemplate this excellent story of the mind with your mind itself, be firm in abandoning thoughts. The multitude of our mental impressions is two-fold, good and bad. The river of mental impressions flowing through good and bad channels should be directed to the good path by great human effort. But in due course we have to abandon even this stream of good of mental impressions. We are bound by our own thoughts and by Sankalpa meaning will or intention we have to conquer ourselves. This is the secret of the mind and thought power. Equipped with the modern psychological tools, we come to the same conclusion as is being revealed by Sage Vasishta. Stress reducing techniques, positive thinking, reasoning, scientific proof for the necessicity to keep ones cool are all explained in detail thousands of years ago! (Note: The English translation of Yogavaashista verses by SAMVID is used here) Yogavaasishta is a great Sanskrit work consists of 64000 lines or 32000 verses. It reveals the secrets of mind and thought power very beautifully with excellent stories. |
