HOW TO GUIDE ACTIVITY
Activity itself is expression. The finest thought in man’s mind is a form of mental activity. Life is composed of activity, activity, and activity; but how to guide this activity, how to control this activity into useful channels, until even control is not required anymore, until that activity becomes completely spontaneous, which is the best form of activity?
When we talk of activity, it does not only mean physical activity. Physical activity is an expression of thought-activity, and thought-activity is the reflection of that which is un-active.
There are three aspects of man. The outer aspect is the physical body, the inner element is the mental body, and of course, deeper down is the spiritual aspect, the changeless that governs all change. Man, as well as the entire universe, is governed by specific natural laws and natural factors. Through meditation, we are trying to give the inner Self the entire scope to reflect in its full glory to the mind and through the mind to the body. That is the end and aim of all religions.
The end and aim of all religions are to find out how to unfold that changeless quality which underlies all forms of activity. When we find the secret of that, when we can draw forth from the changeless storehouse of all energies into our minds and bodies, then we have discovered the secret of life and successful living, good living, truthful living. Then we will live life as it should be lived.
BODY, MIND, AND SPIRIT ARE A CONTINUUM
The prevention of this is the mind. I have always said that the mind is a very cunning animal. Why should it be a cunning animal? Why should it have the impurities in the mind that stop that beautiful light from filtering through? The body might have its importance for the purpose of expression, but the mind is even more critical because if we study natural laws, we will find that the process in everything is the same, from the subtle to the gross.
The mind is subtler than the body, but there is no dividing line. You cannot find a dividing line between night and day. You could sit outside and watch the sun going down and try to perceive where the night starts, but you will not be able to perceive it. The transition from mind to body is subtle because it is a continuum.
We are trying to bring that eternal, changeless quality within us to the changing qualities of the mind, and by bringing that force, by bringing that power of light into the mind, the mind becomes appreciative of that force. In other words, that which has remained so unconscious to us becomes conscious and more and more and more conscious, so the ninety percent of the dormant mind is enlivened. And enlivening the ninety percent of the dormant mind, it reflects on the ten percent conscious mind.
THE EXTENT OF THE MIND IS AS VAST AS THE UNIVERSE
When a person has higher values in life and develops virtues in his daily activity, truthfulness, honesty, and sincerity, then be sure to know that the light within is filtering through more. And the more light filters through, the more these virtues develop. The mind is such a cunning animal that you cannot destroy it. The mind is unbeatable, and the extent of the mind is not limited to our little physical bodies only, but the scope of the mind is as vast as the universe. Here we have a paradox that the eternalness, the everlastingness, the immortalness of the Spirit is there, yet with it, there is also the eternalness of the mind.
The mind is a superimposition upon the eternal Spirit. Fire can never exist without its heat. The mind is the heat of that fire, but through various processes, intermixing, interchanging, and interpenetration of many factors, the mind becomes clouded. And it is because of the clouds of the mind that the pure light does not shine through.
NOTHING IN THIS UNIVERSE IS EVER DESTROYED
Through meditation, we are trying to blow away the clouds. Blowing away the clouds does not necessarily mean eradicating them, but we use the same clouds as an instrument whereby the clouds refine themselves. The cloud is not destroyed, but that cloud can be made to pour itself down as health-giving water. The cloud is not destroyed; it is only changed. The cloud that becomes very dense naturally would disperse itself in the form of rain. So, there is no destruction. Nothing in this universe is destroyed – it only changes form. But by conscious effort, conscious living, and wanting to live a better life, we change the form of what is already there. And we can change the form to greater usefulness because it is the same energy that is activated, the same energy. It is the same electric current that produces coldness in a fridge, that gives warmth or heat in a stove, but how to use it depends on us.
MAN HAS THE POWER OF DISCRIMINATION
Physiological and biological, an animal and a man are made of the same components; the only difference is that man has the power of discrimination. Man loses out because he does not use his God-given power of discrimination. Because of the power of discrimination, being there and not using it to its total value, discrimination becomes indiscriminate. And it is this indiscriminate-ness within us that gets us wound up, that brings the cloud denser and denser and denser until the sight of the sun is entirely lost. Through meditational and spiritual practices, we refine that cloud. We change that cloud into other forms where the light can penetrate.
We cannot destroy the mind because the extent of the mind is the extent of the entire universe; there is no separation. Your mind cannot be separated from another mind. Your power of thinking can assume an individuality but, in the completeness, in the entire context of the mind, there is no separation, and you are connected to me and I to you and all of us.
Every grain of sand is connected to us because everything is alive. There is nothing inanimate. Whatever seems inanimate to us also has life because Divinity is life, and its expression or manifestation also has to be life. When it comes to action, real action, spontaneous action, and good action can only develop if we refine the mind, and by purifying the mind, we refine discrimination. Then we know the value of discrimination. Then we can discriminate between what is good and what is not good, not only for ourselves but also for those around us, and it is only the refined mind that will be able to have accurate discrimination.
MAN HAS THE ABILITY TO EXPERIENCE AND BE PURE CONSCIOUSNESS
The clouded mind might think such and such an action could be correct, but a clouded mind is an imbalanced mind. And believe me, that ninety-nine point nine, nine of the world’s people are in a state of imbalance. Proper balance only comes when body, mind and spirit are integrated in a manner where every action of theirs is done as a totality, when differences cease when we stop saying, “Ah, this is the body, and this is mind, and this is God.” When we reach that stage of refinement, and when Divinity shines through us, we cease to see separation.
We might start with separation, but that is not the end. We lose all sense of alienation, and then we say that Christ’s consciousness, God’s, is here and now. In every word we speak, in every deed we do, we are just instruments expressing that Divinity.
These stages are there. This separation is necessary, and I think it is said by Christ to the common folk, that “Pray ye to thy Father in Heaven.” He said that to all, and that was a dualistic conception. He said that to people who could not understand the oneness of the whole universe. That was a stage, a step. But to his closest ones, he said, “I and my Father are one.”
Man has the ability within him to aspire to that. If that pure consciousness is omnipresent, then it is here and now and present in everything. Despite whatever religion he follows, man can be led systematically to that area of pure consciousness, where he will first experience pure consciousness in duality. Then he will share that pure consciousness in oneness, and then he becomes pure consciousness.
… Gururaj Ananda Yogi: Satsang UK 1977 – 11