LIFE OR LIVING?
The content of mind is thoughts. Bhagavan shows us that, “Mind is only a bundle of thoughts”. Its domain, field of activity, is time, space and causation. Its veritable mode of operation is in cause and effect. In general, this means all forms of dualities and pairs of opposites like good and bad, right and wrong, beginning and end. It is the power of the mind that projects the seer, the seen and seeing. However, the real nature of the mind is subtler than ether, and hence, inscrutable. That is why no one, except a jnani, is able to exactly understand what the mind truly is. The Sanskrit word for man is manusha, meaning, one who possesses a mind. The scriptures, sages and saints, while proclaiming that the mind is a non–existent phantom, in the same breath, also confirm that it has alakilaa atishaya sakti meaning that the mind has immeasurable, infinite and wondrous power. (Consider : is it not the mind that has taken man to the moon?)
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The mind and body are merely offshoots of the imperceptible, motionless Self which is Life itself. This life is the white screen on which the moving pictures of the body and mind come and go. They are the play of one’s modes of living. Let us remember here, the guiding counsel of a recent saint, “Life is more important than living!”
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In our daily existence, we experience waking, dreams and deep sleep. In our waking and dream states, our body and mind, the two offshoots of the Self are there. In deep sleep, they are not there, but, one continues to be alive! That is, life is there, but not the aspects of living. The Self is there, not the body and mind! Experiencing this Truth in our life is the first, sure step towards unravelling the mystery of our Being!
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To have a quicker and clearer understanding, we should notice the fact that in the realm of the body and mind, additions, subtraction, changes, alterations, coming and going are there. While the body grows, decays and dies, the mind is subject to ignorance, knowledge, change and alteration. The Self, the ever-existent principle, is not touched by those changes of body and mind.
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Right from one’s birth, through growth, illness and old age, one’s feeling of oneself as ‘I’ remains unchanged. The body and mind change. But the feeling of ‘I’ never changes! No addition, subtraction or alteration is ever possible or felt in the Self. For it is achala, motionless, and aruna, the sole solid solitary being.
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Let not your attention be on mere living. Let it be on life itself. Never lose yourself in what you were or how you should be. Always BE AS YOU ARE. This is the fundamental teaching of Bhagavan.
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