How to find peace - 1 : Sri Swami Chidananda
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Saturday, January 29, 2022. 06:00.
1.Introduction :
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1.Introduction :
The mind is but a reflected consciousness. The seeming intelligence, power and perception of the conscious mind are only a borrowed light. The real source is Atman, not the mind. Just as the body is inert, the mind is also inert. The mind is highly subtle matter; nevertheless, it is matter as distinct from spirit. Ultimately all wisdom, knowledge and power derive from spirit. A mirror catches the direct light of the sun shining in the sky, and the mirror becomes so powerful with light that it can brighten a darkened room. Seemingly the light comes from the mirror, and yet there is in reality no light in it. The same is the case with the mind.
Whatever power the mind is manifesting, it does not ultimately belong to the mind as such, but the Atman that is beyond the mind. That is the true source of light and wisdom. Vedanta has the term “reflected consciousness,” so mind is understood as only shining with borrowed luminosity. You are a radiant centre of pure spiritual consciousness, and that is your “true face,” as they say in Zen. What was your face before you were born? What was that faceless face when this face did not exist? You are a mass of radiance, and that is your eternal countenance when no name, no body, no form and no face existed.
How then can one invoke these deeper powers beyond the mind? The most important insight we get from Vedanta in this matter of tapping the inner source of strength, power and peace is what is called atma-bhav. This term means “to abide in the Self, to be aware of yourself as the Self”—not as the little, ineffective, limited human individual subject to so many stresses, worries and problems. Through atma-bhav one is grounded in this inner attitude that, “I am the eternal spirit; I am Atman; fire cannot burn me; water cannot wet me; weapons cannot injure me. I am the unborn, eternal and permanent.” To always be firmly based in this truth is strength. It gives us power over the constant assailments of the mind, which subjects us to so many negative moods and tendencies. If you want to triumph over them, be based in this unshakeable position of strength in Self-awareness. Abide in Self-awareness—atma-bhav. Be rooted in this awareness, and do not allow the erroneous consciousness of your apparent human personality to hold you down. This is a sadhana that you must keep up, because through long ages we have somehow or another got into the habit of being only in this little human consciousness.
This limited body-consciousness dies hard, so Vedanta suggests keeping up a continuous current of affirmation of our true identity. It is not an affirmation of a condition that does not exist at present and which would need sheer force of affirmation to be brought into being. On the contrary, one is emphatically affirming with great faith a condition that is never changing and beginningless. It has been covered over by an erroneous consciousness and wrong identity, but it hasn’t got to be re-created—it has instead to be uncovered and brought into manifestation.
To that end, Vedanta and its great exponent Sankaracharya have shown us the way of absolute affirmation of the truth of your Reality. This affirmation creates atma-bhav. At present, you have got the feeling that you are this body with an age, height, weight, shape and so on. But no, this is not what you are. This is what you think you are, and this is what you appear to be to others. But what you truly are is something tremendous, and if you begin to affirm that and feel that and be that, then all weaknesses and fear will vanish. From the insights of yoga and Vedanta comes this great revelation to us: be your true, glorious Self and you shall overcome everything. Atma-bhav arouses the higher awareness of your true imperishable nature, your real spiritual identity. This should be supported by the fire of meditation, but moment by moment affirmation does not require any special place or time. You can live constantly with affirmation, and you can make it a way of life. As I said, the old thing dies hard, so you should give this higher consciousness great support. You should try to bring this affirmation into your daily life and activity, strengthen it every day, and give it an unshakeable base.
That unshakeable base is daily meditation—going into the silence, and in that silence evoking the inner centre of your being. These periods of daily meditation not only become a sound foundation of continuous affirmation, but meditation also becomes simultaneously the wellspring of peace. In the period of meditation, the mind recedes into a state of rest. The consciousness is lifted up from the mundane world and enters into a state of quiescence. There you have peace, and the more you cultivate this inner state of meditation, the more peace comes into your being. If you continuously keep on with this practice of meditation, day by day inner changes are brought about in the brain and nervous system. Gradually the entire nervous system becomes more calm, relaxed and serene.
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Next -2.Overcoming Restlessness :
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