Peace of Mind

"Dil Hai Ki manta Nahin" was an Aamir Khan, Pooja Bhatt Starr Hindi bollywood movie but here I am not going to talk about that movie. Basically this post is about how our Dil (heart)/ Mind wanders after "Things of Desire" & is uncontrollable.

Below is a verse by a poet:

"Hazaro Khawaishain Aaise, Ki Har Khawaish Pe Dum Nikle,
Mere Armaan Bahut Nikle, Par Phir Bhi Bahut Kam Nikle."

"There are thousands of desires of mine for different worldly objects & each desirous object is unique & beautiful, But Alas! neither of these desires could be fulfilled & my mind became sad & kept on weeping for these desires."

In life, we want to get every possible object of this world in our lifetime. But just see, have you got everything, whatever, your mind has thought of getting in life? As per me certainly not, as mind imagines to get everything in life but one does not get everything what is wished by the mind. It can be due to want of resources with you or to fulfill such desires are not just within your reach. So what do you do at that time? Compromise, yes, you adjust to this reality that such & such desires of yours cannot be achieved by you & you tell your mind just to forget about these desirous objects. Though you tell your mind that all these objects of desire are not within your reach but still, "Dil Hai Ki manta Nahin" & this mind still wanders about these objects & always want more & more.

In fact, nature of our mind is to crave for worldly pleasures of all kinds but constant hankering of mind about the "Things of Desire" & agony of not getting these makes the mind restless. It can cause psychological problems also & your mood may remain depressed due to this wandering nature of your mind. That's why in "Bhagwat Gita" Lord Krishna asks Arjuna to control his mind & let it not wander about worldly objects.

"evam buddheh param buddhva
samstabhyatmanam atmana
jahi satrum maha-baho
kama-rupam durasadam" (Bhagwat Gita: Chapter Three verse 43)


"Sri Krishna said: Thus knowing oneself to be transcendental to the material senses, mind and intelligence, O Arjuna, one should steady the mind by deliberate spiritual intelligence and thus—by spiritual strength—conquer the desires which is the insatiable enemy."

So if you want to have peace of mind in life, you need to control your mind & let it not hanker always after desirous objects. Best way to control your mind is to divert your mind's attention towards God or Spiritual practices like listening to devotional songs (Bhazans), reading spiritual literature, chanting religious mantras, doing Yoga etc. It is a certainty that mind finds peace in Godly practices.

Read also.............Be Calm like an Ocean

Read also.............Desire

Desire

Desire: Simple meaning of desire is to crave for worldly pleasures of all kinds. But in philosophy, "Desire" has been identified as a philosophical problem since Antiquity. As per Plato, individual desires must be postponed in the name of the higher ideal.

As per the teachings of Siddhartha Gautama (Buddhism), craving is said to be the cause of all suffering that one experiences in human existence. The extinction of this craving leads one to ultimate happiness, or Nirvana. Nirvana means "cessation", "extinction" of suffering. It is also known as "Awakening" or "Enlightenment". As per the teaching of Gautama Buddha, suffering is an inevitable part of life as we know it & the cause of this suffering is attachment to, or craving for worldly pleasures of all kinds. The suffering ends when the craving and desire ends, or one is freed from all desires.

In "Bhagwat Gita" Arjuna asks "Lord Krishna" a very pertinent question,“What makes a person do the wrong thing, even when he/she knows, it’s wrong and don’t want to do it?”

Lord Sri Krishna tells Arjuna that: It is Desire & Lust only which makes a person do the wrong thing, even when he/she knows, it’s wrong and don’t want to do it.

When we desire something then we are empowered by a powerful emotion to get it which clouds our reasoning. Our passionate desires clouds our mind and senses & it distorts our perception and reasoning. It is our relentless passionate desire to enjoy the material pleasures that it leads us to commit Sin. Desire covers our reasoning like smoke covers fire, or dust covers a mirror. Due to this blurred reasoning & our passionate hankering for desires, we do commit Sin in our life.

Below are verses of "Bhagwat Gita" in which "Arjuna" asks "Lord Krishna" about the same:

"arjuna uvacha
atha kena prayukto ’yam
papam charati purushah
anicchann api varsneya
balad iva niyojitah" (Bhagwat Gita: Chapter Three verse 36)

"Arjuna said: O Sri Krishna, by what is one impelled to sinful acts, even unwillingly, as if engaged by force?"

"sri-bhagavan uvacha
kama esa krodha esa
rajo-guna-samudbhavah
mahasano maha-papma
viddhy enam iha vairinam" (Bhagwat Gita: Chapter Three verse 37)

"Sri Krishna said: It is desire & lust only, Arjuna, which is born of contact with the material mode of passion and later transformed into wrath, and which is the all-devouring sinful enemy of this world."

"dhumenavriyate vahnir
yathadarso malena cha
yatholbenavrto garbhas
tatha tenedam avrtam" (Bhagwat Gita: Chapter Three verse 38)

"Sri Krishna said: As fire is covered by smoke, as a mirror is covered by dust, or as the embryo is covered by the womb, the living entity is similarly covered by different degrees of this lust."

"avrtam jnanam etena
jnanino nitya-vairina
kama-rupena kaunteya
duspurenanalena cha" (Bhagwat Gita: Chapter Three verse 39)

"Sri Krishna said: Thus the wise living entity’s pure consciousness becomes covered by his eternal enemy in the form of lust, which is never satisfied and which burns like fire."

"tasmat tvam indriyany adau
niyamya bharatarsabha
papmanam prajahi hy enam
jnana-vijnana-nasanam" (Bhagwat Gita: Chapter Three verse 41)

"Sri Krishna said: Therefore, O Arjuna, in the very beginning curb this great symbol of sin (lust) by regulating the senses, and slay this destroyer of knowledge and self-realization."

"evam buddheh param buddhva
samstabhyatmanam atmana
jahi satrum maha-baho
kama-rupam durasadam" (Bhagwat Gita: Chapter Three verse 43)

"Sri Krishna said: Thus knowing oneself to be transcendental to the material senses, mind and intelligence, O Arjuna, one should steady the mind by deliberate spiritual intelligence and thus—by spiritual strength—conquer the desires & lust which is the insatiable enemy."

From the above verses of "Bhagwat Gita" it is very clear that it is the individual's Desire, Lust & constant feeding of one's senses that a person commits sinful activities. Due to such constant craving for desires, one's intelligence gets covered with ignorance, just like a mirror is covered by the dust & one is not able to see the things in right perspective. So we should not constantly hanker to satisfy our desires, rather we should control these desires.

You, yourself are responsible for your Misdeeds

In this world there are many people who have a perverted thinking & they do not want to be responsible for their actions. Such people go on doing bad things in life, harming themselves & others in society, yet not feeling themselves responsible for their such actions. Either such people do not know at all how & why they are doing wrongful actions/misdeeds or they think that some invisible force is getting done all such sinful actions through them & many of them call such force as Satanic force, Devil force, Evil force etc. etc. In fact such people do not want to be responsible for their misdeeds & just want some excuse to put the blame on somebody else or on some invisible force.

All such thinking of such people is only perverse thinking which does harm only to such people. Sometimes such people even say that God is responsible for their such misdeeds & make God as responsible for their sinful deeds & quote the below words in support of their belief :

"I know what is right, yet I feel no urge for the practice of virtue, I know even that which is unrighteous; yet I am unable to recoil from it. I do as I am prompted to do by some unknown deity installed within my heart."

The above is the view point of bad people in society who do not want to take any blame for their misdeeds/sins due to ignorance & such view point of theirs is altogether worth dismissing.

Now here below is the right perspective with respect to the commission of sins as per "Bhagwat Gita".

In "Bhagwat Gita" Arjuna asks "Lord Krishna" the following question:

"arjuna uvacha
atha kena prayukto ’yam
papam charati purushah
anicchann api varsneya
balad iva niyojitah" (Bhagwat Gita: Chapter Three verse 36)

"Arjuna said: O Sri Krishna, by what is one impelled to sinful acts, even unwillingly, as if engaged by force?"

"sri-bhagavan uvacha
kama esa krodha esa
rajo-guna-samudbhavah
mahasano maha-papma
viddhy enam iha vairinam" (Bhagwat Gita: Chapter Three verse 37)

"Sri Krishna said: It is lust only, Arjuna, which is born of contact with the material mode of passion and later transformed into wrath, and which is the all-devouring sinful enemy of this world."

"dhumenavriyate vahnir
yathadarso malena cha
yatholbenavrto garbhas
tatha tenedam avrtam" (Bhagwat Gita: Chapter Three verse 38)

"Sri Krishna said: As fire is covered by smoke, as a mirror is covered by dust, or as the embryo is covered by the womb, the living entity is similarly covered by different degrees of this lust."

"avrtam jnanam etena
jnanino nitya-vairina
kama-rupena kaunteya
duspurenanalena cha" (Bhagwat Gita: Chapter Three verse 39)

"Sri Krishna said: Thus the wise living entity’s pure consciousness becomes covered by his eternal enemy in the form of lust, which is never satisfied and which burns like fire."

"tasmat tvam indriyany adau
niyamya bharatarsabha
papmanam prajahi hy enam
jnana-vijnana-nasanam" (Bhagwat Gita: Chapter Three verse 41)

"Sri Krishna said: Therefore, O Arjuna, in the very beginning curb this great symbol of sin (lust) by regulating the senses, and slay this destroyer of knowledge and self-realization."

"evam buddheh param buddhva
samstabhyatmanam atmana
jahi satrum maha-baho
kama-rupam durasadam" (Bhagwat Gita: Chapter Three verse 43)

"Sri Krishna said: Thus knowing oneself to be transcendental to the material senses, mind and intelligence, O Arjuna, one should steady the mind by deliberate spiritual intelligence and thus—by spiritual strength—conquer the lust which is the insatiable enemy."

From the above verses of "Bhagwat Gita" it is very clear that it is the individual's Lust & constant feeding of one's senses that a person commits sinful activities. Due to such involvement in lust, one's intelligence gets covered with ignorance, just like a mirror is covered by the dust & you are not able to see your face properly in it. When one's mind and intelligence becomes covered with the dust of lust & sensual activity, then his/her thinking becomes perverted & that person makes God or some invisible force as responsible for his/her sinful deeds, which is not correct. Let's be very clear that we all are responsible for our own deeds/misdeeds & in no case you can put blame of your deeds/misdeeds on any other person; human, divine or any other invisible force. Let's take responsibility for our own actions & let's not do anything which shall harm others in actions, words or deeds.