Excerpt-Summary

Short Summary of "Consequences of time and location" in "MIND Can it be tamed?" reflections by Swami Swaroopananda

Introduction

    The seekers of India have considered human mind as a monkey. Even though man has progressed in the outer world, his inner world needs to be improved to transcend the self=limiting tendencies. Like the same key can be used to lock and unlock the door, the mind is the instrument which becomes friend if it is under-control and helps to unfold the self, or else, the monkey-mind becomes the worst enemy that locks us inside the worldly troubles. Swami Swaroopananda ji presents an investigation into the nature of the mind, and offers the reader some tips and tools to tame the monkey mind. 

    The table of contents in this book titled -"MIND; Can it be tamed?"-were: MIND; Your best friend or Your Deadliest Enemy; What is the Mind?; Mastering the mind; Influence of media; Importance of right company; Impact of diet; Consequences of time and location; Attention to actions; Contemplation; Two Strategies- Vairāgya and Abhyāsa; Attach to the Higher; Develop Contentment; No matter, Never mind. 

    In this short write-up, a small portion of this book is summarized for the reflection of the concept, i.e., 

Consequences of time and location

Different time periods of the day influenced the mind. Identification of the active Guṇa of mind (sattva, rajas and tamas) on various time periods of the day is very important in progressing of the spiritual journey. For instance, when the mind is in a sāttvika frame, encourage it to read spiritual books. Avoid worldly affairs during sāttvika hours of the mind. 

Ask yourself : what can you possibly gain from allowing yourself into the worldly affairs, which will go on- and continue going on- and continue going on. (MIND; Can it be tamed?. pp no: 17)

Instead, use these sāttvika hours to study scriptures or books that uplift for meditation, worship and so on. Use the early morning sāttvika hours to train and tame your mind. Try to regulate, give focus and direction and purify it. 

Later, you can navigate the world of activity more efficiently and effectively with a sākṣi attitude. 

Please note that 'avoid worldly activities in sāttvika hours' as mentioned before does not mean those activities should be ignored at all. The idea indicated is to find quiet time for oneself. Go to sleep early and rise before the rest of the household, and use sāttvika hours in the morning with a goal of developing oneself. 

    Prefer locations that evoke a sense of peace, harmony, mental quietude, places that engender a feeling of at-oneness. These are sāttvika. On the other hand, places that stroke your passions or deaden your sensitivity toward your fellow human beings or even animals are rājasika and tāmasika.

Opinion

Our mind is also depended on the three Guṇas namely- sattva, rajas and tamas. To perform our duties on the world, these are essential. But they should be handled with care. Our one day, credited with 24 hours, is also divided into these three Guṇas. i.e., 4a.m- 8a.m-sāttvika hours; 8a.m-4p.m-rājasika hours; 4 p.m-8p.m-sāttvika hours; 8 p.m-4 a.m-tāmasika hours.

Tāmasika hours is the time for resting our instruments- body, mind and intellect.

Rājasika hours are the time for recharging our instruments with necessary food and exercise. Now-a-days, we can do our livelihood working actions during those rājasika hours. 

Sāttvika hours morning 4-8 and evening 4-8, these hours are very important for studying the scriptures, reflection on the meaning of the Vedas indicate, for meditation on the Supreme Reality, and discussions on Supreme with wise people. For this, the location that we choose is also important. Therefore, let's choose locations that encourages us to use our precious sāttvika hours which lead to spiritual growth. 

May we improve and encourage our inner efforts to tame and uplift the mind!

Reference

Swaroopananda, Swami. (2016) "Consequences of time and location", MIND Can it be tamed?, ISBN: 978-81-7597-682-5, Reprint edition, pp:17-21

Om Tatsat Brahmārpaṇamastu

Learning for today

 Practice, Performance and Perfection; these three P-s that I learnt today which can be taken forward in my life. How? In the sense of Practice only teaches you how to perform an action perfectly. By practice only, you can make improvements in whatever action you do. It is a continuous process. So, don't be afraid to perform today for pursuing your dreams. Today is the good day to start, tell yourself. EVERY JOURNEY STARTS WITH A SINGLE STEP. Start your journey with that single step of performance. Practices as further steps. You can reach perfection.

Company of good people

 Satsang or the company of good people, what is it? what is the need of it? Many students may have this question. Mind is like a tank. ten pipes which are the 10 Indriyas are connected with that tank. When the water reaches via the pipes to the tank is pure, the tank contain pure water. Though the muddy water transferred via one pipe and reached the tank, entire tank gets polluted by impure water. The water becomes waste. Similarly, good thoughts should enter our mind and disseminate joy for all. Even one Indriya is polluted by not positive thought, the entire mind becomes polluted. So, the company of good people, reading scriptures, service to Guru, selfless deed, helping needy without any expectations; these are some of the activities that everybody who dream to develop can do. Satsang is one of those activities to be done for developing yourself. In a deeper sense the activity which provide maximum happiness to maximum people for maximum time can be considered as satsang. sataam sangah satsangah, the group of good people. this include thinking your Istadevata, meditation of form, listening to glory of mahatmas , everything is satsang only. The benifit of the association with good people is the purification of mind. Satsang is needed untill the mind becomes purified. How many time required to have a purified mind, can't say exactly, so, nirantara satsang like the continues flow of taila is better to have cittashuddhi. So we need 24*7 satsang via diverse ways.

Those who read this post, please have further explorations on satsang from Subhashitas, talks from wise people and research by your own maarga. 

Thank you. 

തീ

 തൊട്ടാൽ പൊള്ളുന്ന തീയാകണം.

The nature of everything

 It is quite easy to handle things that we met in our day to day life if we could understand the nature of those things. The basic questions on a particular subject- what, why, how, who ,which, where, when etc.- these are just keywords to get to know the nature of the subject matter. 

    Life, for me, it is just a training that should be undertaken for understanding the nature of me. Training for self-improvement at home has been paused for a while; continued at CVV from 08-Feb-2021, Monday onwards . Awaiting for the surprises as part of the training of self-improvement of life.

गणतन्त्रदिवसोत्सवः

 हृदुर्व्यामभिव्यज्यते सदा ज्ञानदीपप्रकाशेन।

मातृध्वजस्य नित्यदर्शनं मूल्यस्थापितसूत्रेण।।