By practicing Pranayama, breathing techniques, yoga and pursuing knowledge over a period of time the mind stops galloping, regains its alacrity and glides into a space of dispassionate meditation and joyous living writes RAVI VALLURI.
Long ago there lived an old farmer who was barely productive. Day after day, he would sit on the porch and gaze at the farmland as his son toiled hard and cultivated the land. Seeing his father unemployed frustrated the son. He could not help deliberating in his mind ways in which his father could be of some help to the family.
Finally he gave in to the obnoxious thoughts in his mind and decided tonail his father in a coffin and throw him off a cliff. As he was about to so, he heard a knock from inside the coffin. The startled son opened the coffin and saw his father sleeping peacefully in it,and remark, ‘Throw me if you want, but save the wood of the coffin for your dire times’.
The old man was mindful and aware. The ungrateful son had a galloping mind. To me a galloping mind is one that is unable to completely focus on the task on hand. It is beset with stray thoughts, indulging in wishful thinking and day dreaming and more often than not on the negatives in life.
Vitrushna syava shika rasa jana vairagyam is an aphorism in Sanskrit which implies that a mind that gallops is an obstruction in itself.Expecting something dramatic to happen during meditation itself is a road block to the very purpose of meditation.
We hear from fellow meditators that they experienced bliss, or saw a shimmering light, felt that they could observe some celestial beings holding and touching them during the process of meditation. And then the mind starts wandering and galloping, yearning for a similar episode to encompass their being and self. Every individual has his or her own experience and no two experiences can be compared. The fundamental idea is to be in a state of bliss, not comparisons.
Meditation happens very naturally, like a person brushing his teeth or undertaking his daily chores. The mind is not in a state of agitation, hesitation, chattering or in acute sense of anticipation.
Human mind which is free from feverish desires, cravings,illusions and dreams attains poise and is in a state of equilibrium to meditate. The mind has to be free and not in fettersto slip into a state of deep meditation.
Lord Krishna says in the Bhagvad Gita, “You cannot get into Yoga(union with self) unless you drop the desires of hankerings in you.”
Meditation can be a state of deep contemplation, musing, pondering, reflection or a state of reverie. Buddha had struggled for several years to attain that blissful state of calmness.
A former colleague recently who retired mentioned during our morning walk that he was unable to sleep or rest peacefully as his mindwas cannonaded with innumerable thoughts, worries and anxieties. He was regretful of the lost opportunities and as to how the service and organization was not equitable in treating him and did not give him his due; the fact that he was barely recognized for the contributions made. The mind conveniently disowned the openings and providential circumstances which came its way.
That is the nature of the mind. It clings on to the negatives. If 80 % efficacious events transpired in our lives and there were 20% unwelcome situations, the mind focuses on those 20%. It tragically rides and gallops on those negative moments.When it is regretful and fretting it can never be in the present moment and thus cannot be happy and meditate.
A mind that gallops is never grateful nor counts its blessings. Such a mind can never be at peace or restful. The Dalai Lama, succinctly puts it that sleep is the best form of meditation. But if a person goes to sleep with restlessness, unfulfilled desires and burning ambitions, in all likelihood the mind would be tossing and turning around in the bed. The physical rest which is obligatory for recuperation and healing too may not take place, leading to psychosomatic disorders.
A galloping mind is intrinsically judgmental in nature and thereby becomes egoistical and is subsumed with prejudices. Such a mind becomes fossilized, is full of anger and continues living in the events of the past. It suffers from attitudinal problems and also from great lack.The mind is not challenged to take up responsibility and continues to postpone or delay happiness in life.
A person with such tendencies should realise and pause to think that everything in life is transitory and ephemeral. It is like one season giving way to another. The hope of spring is replaced by the simmering heat of the summer, followed by welcome rains in the monsoons which the dry lands ache for. Autumn provides us opportunities and then winter makes out a balance sheet of the assets and liabilities of work done and not undertaken. All the flavours of the seasons are an integral part of life.
A wandering mind is akin to a pendulum, swinging between daydreaming and wishful thinking, consequently landing in mediocrity and unproductive activity.
The retired colleague probed further as to whether meditation or reading would assist the mind in composing itself for a good night’s rest or sleep.
It is indeed a paradoxical situation. The mind needs to be occupied and yet be free from cravings so that it does not gallop or wander. This trait or quality can be cultivated only through the practice of vairagya or dispassion; attached yet be unattached. Be an actor and yet continue to remain a witness.
The ‘I’ factor in the mind lives in the past or future. Instead of being a repetitive parrot, it needs to reinvent and reengineer its configuration and layout. In such a situation it is fresh, polite and rejuvenated. Freshness ignites a spark to attempt for providing a new trajectory or direction in life. Politeness makes the mind humble and is propelled out of its closet to learn and it becomes contemporary to acquire skills hitherto not tried.
When challenged the mind slowly but surely stops galloping and regains composure.
By practicing Pranayama, breathing techniques, yoga and pursuing knowledge over a period of time the mind stops galloping, regains its alacrity and glides into a space of dispassionate meditation and joyous living.
