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Sakthi-Gita is a simple and quick means to achieve the
purification and freedom of mind.
Always aim at complete harmony of thought and word and
deed. Always aim at purifying your thoughts and everything will be well.
—Mahatma Gandhi (1869 - 1948) There is only one goal, one
target, one destination, one achievement in all spiritual practice,
and that is purification of mind. Religious practices also aim in purification of the Mind
which can only open the
door to Self realization or God to be in God conscious state.
It is a notion of many of us that doing penance, Meditation, chanting God's
name (Japa) , observing fasting, rotating rosary beads, observing simple or
body torturing rituals one can attain Self-Realization or Godhood. But many are not able
to achieve God or Self Realization in-spite of many years of spiritual
practice.
Where is the problem? Is it in the technique? The fundamental
problem lies in not understanding what all these different practices
are meant for. All spiritual practices are meant only for purifying our
mind. Any spiritual practice that is done without understanding the
basic principle "Purification of the Mind" is a waste. One can enjoy few
benefits out of the practice but not the ultimate goal. Example if fasting
is not done without understanding the basic principle of mind purification,
it will give benefits like weight loss or fat lost from the body. However if
done with the intention of mind purification then both the body and the mind
are purified. It is a pity that we keenly follow the advice of spiritual
masters of any tradition but seldom realize what the advice is meant for.
Without understanding the means, all attempts will be futile in achieving
the goal. People switch over to different techniques and spiritual masters
because they find fault in the technique or the master. The fault is in us
when we do not attempt to purify the mind. Let me give a great experience
from my own life that will help you to understand the simple truth that if
we perform an action without understanding the purpose of the means to
achieve the goal, all our actions bear no fruit but are left with frugal
benefits.
A real life incident
"If a man points at the moon, only an idiot looks at the finger”.
- Sufi quote
My Aunt’s son, my
cousin, was very poor in studies. My aunt requested me to teach the 12 year
old boy every day one hour English subject. On the first day I
asked my cousin to read a chapter from his English text book. To my surprise
he was not able to read anything other than two words “The” and “And”. I was
very upset and closed the book and as a joke asked him to read at least the
name of the book. It was shocking to know that he could not even read the
heading “English book for seventh grade”. Though it looked like a
punishment by commanding him to write 100 times the word “English”, my
intention was to help him to at-least remember the word “English”.
After a few hours later in the day, when I met him I gave him a piece
of paper and asked to write the spelling of “English”. He wrote the
alphabet “E” and could not complete the rest. I was literally angry and was
also surprised how he cannot remember the spelling of “English” even after
writing it 100 times. I suspected that he did not write 100 times and
so asked him to show his note boo. He had literally obeyed my
instructions by writing the word “English” 100 times.
Now analyze this situation. My cousin though obeyed my instruction of
writing 100 times "English", why was not he able to reproduce it?. Is
it lack of memory or concentration?. You would laugh at the way he
accomplished the goal without understanding the purpose of performing the
means. Instead of writing down the word “E.N.G.L.I.S.H.....E.N.G.L.I.S.H......E.N.G.L.I.S.H......E.N.G.L.I.S.H”
100 times , he wrote E.E.E.E.E.E.E.E.E for 100 times and then
N.N.N.N.N.N.N.N. for 100 times then G.G.G.G.G.G.G.G for 100 times,
L.L.L.L.L.L.L. for 100 times and the rest of the alphabets 100 times.
He has completely misinterpreted my message to teach him. He has not
understood the purpose of the practice of writing 100 times. Even if
he did write mechanically , he would have got it. Since he did not
understand the very means of getting the knowledge, the act he
performed was useless. This is how in life we persist in repeating the tasks
and end up in failures and never learn the mistakes. Most of us
do spiritual practices and rituals without understanding the intention
behind it. Overtime then the rituals not only become meaningless but also
degraded to mere superstitions. When younger generation
questions us about the rituals we are unable to answer them and instead we
brand them as disobedient.
Method to purify the mind
Using Gita and Mahabharata , we would discuss the means to purify our mind.
Please click here to continue to read Mahabharata and Gita.
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