Imagine that you own a
house in another city where you do not live. This house is kept vacant under
the care of some part-time person hired by you. A very good friend of yours
want to visit that city. You offer him your house to stay and write a note to the
caretaker to allow him there. He goes there and presses the doorbell. A hefty
fellow comes out and stares at him. Your good friend gives him your note. But
he tears the note into pieces and barks at him to get lost as that house
belongs to him and he does not know who you are. It turns out that your house
has been taken over by a local hooligan in your absence and you have no control
over him.
This is the situation of
our mind. We have left our mind unattended for a very long time. During this
time, thoughts prompted by nasty desires have accumulated and taken control of
our mind. Now when we want to entertain a spiritual thought in our mind, it is
not allowed to enter, and we don’t seem to have any control over our mind. Even
worse, we don’t have control over our senses which are continuously tempted by a
variety of things and beings in the world. No amount of collecting spiritual
thoughts and attending Satsang seem to help.
To cope with such a
situation, we need to start with strengthening our Intellect, which will work
like a tiny hook (ankush) used to control a huge elephant. Intellect can
be strengthened by reading/listening works of higher values, including
spiritual texts, and reflecting on them through sincere inquiries. As the
conviction on higher values in the life deepens, intellect gains power. With
this subtle power of intellect, we need to train the mind slowly by instilling
new habits. We may use WOOP (make a Wish, visualize the Outcome, identify
Obstacles and Plan ways to remove the obstacles when they appear)
technique, among others, to achieve this. Simultaneously, we need to gradually withdraw
our senses from their objects of temptations. This practice must be carried out
consistently according to one’s capacity. With time we will gain control over
our mind and senses. We can, then, direct them towards our intended goals in
life.
Watch WOOP explanation
No comments:
Post a Comment