Bait and Switch

Bait and Switch

My dear Mind,

When you become turbulent and self-conceited, you go by a fancy name called Ego. And when you are in this mode, I am really frustrated with you that you bait me about something at one time and then switch to a different thing later.

And somehow you make me believe you at first, even though I have experienced innumerable times that you will change and say something else later.

If you are shocked that I am accusing you of Bait and Switch, let me give you examples. Okay?

One example is, in the morning you tell me that I have to diet or eat healthy. But in the afternoon or evening, when I am mentally tired (again because of your ramblings!), you tell me that there is no harm in eating a Rich Chocolate or a large slice of Cake or something like that!

Another example is, you tell me that I should be generous and charitable, and in a split second you give me hundreds of reasons why I shouldn’t part with my money! You have an answer for everything, don’t you?

Here is a third one; you yourself create problems for me and then you yourself pretend to help me solve them. Talk about conniving!

Let me give you one more, and this is the Mother of all the games you play and the Machiavellian schemes you enact. You tell me that I should meditate and be quiet, but as soon as I sit down and close my yes, you lure me into thousand avenues of imagination and all the wonderful things I can do. And you do this so effectively too. But later, I don’t seem to have the slightest inclination to do most of those things. You just make sure that I don’t turn inward. (By the way, you even tell me that I should have a “holier than thou” attitude and force my Faith on others, but fortunately, I have never fallen for this enticement of yours. Sri Ramana Maharshi says that the two most important things for a spiritual seeker is to be humble and not interfere in other people’s business.)

Anyway, how do you do your bait and switch? And why do you do that? What do you gain by that? Oh, I guess this is your way to ensure that I will always be a slave to you.

I want the real SELF to rule my kingdom, but you perform a hostile take over just like a minister who is a traitor to the King, but acts like he is a kind and faithful friend of the King. You confuse and confound me with your beautiful but illusive pleasures of the world, but skilfully hide the miseries that they are accompanied with. You persuade me to do things that are not wise, using my weaknesses, which you created. After making me do these things, you yourself make me regret it. Then you yourself show me all the Scriptures and Gurus I should follow and retrace my steps back to sanity and my Real SELF. You are certainly double-faced!

In the waking state, you are very innovative; so you show me new temptations or rekindle old memories and somehow keep me entangled and occupied in illusory worlds of creative imagination or keep me constantly chewing the cud. You make me dwell in the past or project my future, instead of living in the present and let things happen by themselves to fulfill the purpose for which I am here on earth. In dreams, you don’t exert too much by using the body, but roam about in smoky scenes and weird situations and sometimes nightmares to keep me involved with you. In deep sleep, however, you want to save all the energies; so you keep quiet and rest, only to rise and shine with full speed to scheme and enjoy your plans and activities. Don’t you ever get tired of this cycle?

You think you are very smart, don’t you? But my cunning ghostly friend, your game is up! You know the saying by Abraham Lincoln, “You can fool all the people some of the time, and some of the people all the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time.” You got that?

Great Ones have guidance to help me be my SELF, but you never let me listen to them. Life smacked me once or twice to shake me up and see that you are up to no good if I don’t control you. In a way I needed those jolts, or else I will always be in the prison of darkness and delusion which you have built for me, keeping me in the shackles of unwise worldly attachments, and giving me sugar-coated poison pills of the so-called pleasures as food.

But the Scriptures and Sages have revealed to me your phony personality. They have warned me about your illusory powers and magical acrobatics. They have convinced me that you are a Thief dressed like a Policeman. They have asked me to constantly look for your source. They have advised me to scorch you by ignoring you. They have told me that you are just a dot in Space, a drop in the Sea, a wave in the Ocean. They have recommended that I use you for self-improvement and turning inward, but not for expanding further and further, forgetting the real SELF.

Finally, they have made me realize that you are Not Real, that you are a constantly changing bundle of thoughts. They have recommended that I use you for self-improvement and turning inward, but not for expanding further and further, forgetting the real SELF.

So, my dear egotistical Mind, I caution you. I will catch you one day and expose your false identity. It will not be easy, but these days, I am slowly turning away from your machinations. I find even this little effort and practice creating a wee bit of happiness and peacefulness for me and around me.

You can try to defeat me, (but you will fail, I guarantee you), or you can join me in the venture of finding Lasting Happiness and Peace of Mind, and make things easy for both of us. We can be active in Life, but instead of ruining ourselves in meaningless pursuits, we can let the Purpose fulfill itself, the purpose for which we are here on earth. What do you say?

Control of the Mind – Sarada Devi

Control of the Mind – Sarada Devi

Teachings of Sri Sarada Devi, the Holy Mother

Control of the Mind (Part 1)

1. “Everything depends on one’s mind. Nothing can be achieved without purity of mind. It is said, ‘The aspirant may have received the grace of the Guru, the Lord, and the Vaishnava; but he comes to grief without the grace of  the ‘one’. That ‘one’ is the mind. The mind of the aspirant should be gracious to him.”

2. “My child, this mind is just like a wild elephant. It races with the wind. Therefore one should discriminate all the time. One should work hard for the realization of God.”1

3. Disciple: “I cannot concentrate my mind well during meditation. My mind is fickle and unsteady.”

Mother: “Don’t worry! Restlessness is the nature of the mind, as it is of the eyes and ears. Practise regularly. The Name of God is more powerful than the senses. Always think of the Master2, who is looking after you. Don’t be troubled about your lapses.”

4. “Whenever the mind goes after anything other than God, consider that as transient and surrender the mind at the sacred feet of the Lord.”

5. “The mind naturally tends towards evil deeds. It is lethargic in doing good works. Formerly I used to get up at 3 a.m. and sit up for meditation. One day I felt disinclined to do so on account of physical indisposition. That one day’s irregularity resulted in the upsetting of my routine for a number of days. That is why I say that perseverance and tenacity are necessary for success in all good work.”

6. Mother forbade a disciple to make pilgrimages without discrimination of time and company. Quoting from a song, she said, ” ‘Pilgrimage and excursion are causes of misery. Oh my mind, don’t be restless about them.’ You can attain more in your house, if you are really earnest.”

7. Regarding weakness of the mind, Holy Mother said to a disciple, “Child, this is the law of nature. Have you not noticed the full moon and the new moon? Likewise the mind is sometimes dominated by good, and sometimes by bad tendencies.

8. Disciple: “Mother, my mind becomes restless now and then. It craves for enjoyments. That frightens me.”

Mother: “Don’t be afraid. I tell you that in this Kali Yuga mental sin is no sin. Free your mind from all worries on this account. You need not be afraid.”

9. “Can anyone altogether destroy lust? A little of it remains as long as one has the body. But it can be subdued, as a snake can be subdued by charmed dust.

10. Disciple: “However I may try to remove evil thoughts, I do not succeed.”

Mother: “This is the result of what you have done in your past life. Can one get rid of it by force? Cultivate good company, try to be good, and in time you will succeed. Pray to the Master. I, too, am here.”

1  Here is a story told by Swami Purushothamananda (Ramakrishna Mission Ashrama, Belgaum, Karnataka) regarding the nature of the mind. A honeybee was drinking honey from a lotus flower. The evening came and the bee thought, “Why should I leave now? Let me stay in the flower for the night and I will fly off tomorrow morning when the flower opens up again.” As the evening progressed, the petals of the lotus flower closed. The bee was caught inside the flower. In the night, a group of wild elephants came to the pond and in their excitement and play, crushed the lotus plants and flowers. The lotus flower in which the honeybee was imprisoned was no exception and it is needless to say what happened to the honeybee – the flower never opened and the bee died inside the flower.

A moment of weakness on the part of the honeybee ended its life. Temptations are the nature of the mind. Only by conscious effort, one will be able to overcome such temptations and direct the mind towards God. Japa (continuous recitation of God’s names) and meditation help one to strengthen the mind and pull it away from its weak nature.

2 Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa

Mind runs about too much – Chinmayananda

Mind runs about too much

Question: My mind runs about too much. I do not seem to get it under control!

Answer: You describe a situation which every sincere seeker experiences at one time or another. This is mainly because you despair unncesessarily at the direction in which your mind is running at some point or other in time. Your mind is like a child which must be allowed to play.

If you keep a pet dog, there are moments when it must be let loose to run and jump about. Once exhausted, it obediently returns to lie down at your feet, wagging its tail to express its total love and loyalty. Therefore, do not unnecessarily concerned with the roamings of the mind now and then.

Try to change the direction of your thoughts. Recognize that every action, whether mental or physical, is only because of the enlivening Presence in our Hearts; it is the ego that prompts us to achieve, acquire and possess.

Ignore the little slips of the mind, which are nothing but the past habits. The change within us cannot come overnight. Learn to smile at the follies of the mind and turn the attention to Him who is everywhere. When the ego begins to disappear, you will find more and more self-confidence and self-assurance. Try to live those values of life described in the Twelfth Chapter of the Bhagavad Gita.

What is Meditation ? Expulsion of Thoughts. How? – Ramana

What is Meditation ? Expulsion of Thoughts. How?


D.: What should one think of when meditating?
M.: What is meditation? It is expulsion of thoughts. You are perturbed by thoughts which rush one after another. Hold on to one thought so that others are expelled. Continuous practice gives the necessary strength of mind to engage in meditation.
8th February, 1938
Talk 453.

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M.: What is meditation? It consists in expulsion of thoughts. All the present troubles are due to thoughts and are themselves thoughts. Give up thoughts. That is happiness and also meditation.
D.: How are thoughts given up?
M.: The thoughts are for the thinker. Remain as the Self of the thinker and there is an end of thoughts.
7th February, 1938
Talk 452.

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M.: If you go the way of your thoughts you will be carried away by them and you will find yourself in an endless maze.

D.: So, then, I must go back tracing the source of thoughts.
M.: Quite so; in that way the thoughts will disappear and the Self alone will remain. In fact there is no inside or outside for the Self. They are also projections of the ego. The Self is pure and absolute.
7th January, 1935
Talk 13.

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M.: Because you think that so-and-so is your wife and so-and-so are your children you also think that you are bound to them.
These thoughts are yours. They owe their very existence to you.
You can entertain these thoughts or relinquish them. The former is bondage and the latter is release.

D.: It is not quite clear to me.
M.: You must exist in order that you may think. You may think these thoughts or other thoughts. The thoughts change but not you. Let go the passing thoughts and hold on to the unchanging Self. The thoughts form your bondage. If they are given up, there is release. The bondage is not external. So no external remedy need be sought for release. It is within your competence to think and thus to get bound or to cease thinking and thus be free.

D.: But it is not easy to remain without thinking.
M.: You need not cease thinking. Only think of the root of the thoughts; seek it and find it. The Self shines by itself. When that is found the thoughts cease of their own accord. That is freedom from bondage.
2nd October, 1938
Talk 524.

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Meditation: Get rid of unnecessary thoughts – Ramana

Get rid of thoughts

D.: I am a business man. How shall I get on with business and get peace of mind also?
M.: This is also a thought. Give up this thought also and remain as your true Self.
D.: It is said: Do your duty without any expectation of results. How shall I get that frame of mind?
M.: You need not aspire for or get any new state. Get rid of your present thoughts, that is all.
D.: How shall I get the bhakti necessary for it?
M.: It is bhakti to get rid of thoughts which are only alien to you (i.e. the Self).
15th March, 1938
Talk 472.

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D.: Miseries appear in jagrat. Why should they appear.
M.: If you see your Self they will not appear.

D.: If I turn to look who I am I do not find anything.
M.: How did you remain in your sleep? There was no ‘I-thought’ there and you were happy. Whereas there are thoughts flowering in the wake of the root-thought ‘I’ in the jagrat and these hide the inherent happiness. Get rid of these thoughts which are the obstacles to happiness. Your natural state is one of happiness as was evident in your sleep.

7th January, 1937
Talk 321

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D.: I fell ill. I could not meditate and so I felt depressed.
M.: This thought, ‘I am not able to concentrate,’ is itself an obstacle. Why should the thought arise?

D.: Can one remain without thoughts rising all the 24 hours of the day? Should I remain without meditation?
M.: What is ‘hours’ again? It is a concept. Each question of yours is prompted by a thought.

Your nature is Peace and Happiness. Thoughts are the obstacles to realisation. One’s meditation or concentration is meant to get rid of obstacles and not to gain the Self. Does anyone remain apart from the Self? No! The true nature of the Self is declared to be Peace. If the same peace is not found, the non-finding is only a thought which is alien to the Self. One practises meditation only to get rid of these alien fancies. So, then, a thought must be quelled as soon as it rises. Whenever a thought arises, do not be carried away by it. You become aware of the body when you forget the Self. But can you forget the Self? Being the Self how can you forget it? There must be two selves for one to forget the other. It is absurd.

So the Self is not depressed; it is not imperfect: it is ever happy. The contrary feeling is a mere thought which has actually no stamina in it. Be rid of thoughts. Why should one attempt meditation? Being the Self one remains always realised, only be free from thoughts.

You think that your health does not permit your meditation. This depression must be traced to its origin. The origin is the wrong identification of the body with the Self. The disease is not of the Self. It is of the body. But the body does not come and tell you that it is possessed by the disease. It is you who say it. Why? Because you have wrongly identified yourself with the body.
The body itself is a thought. Be as you really are. There is no reason to be depressed.

19th February, 1938
Talk 462.

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D.: Is concentration of mind one of the sadhanas?
M.: Concentration is not thinking one thing. It is, on the other hand, putting off all other thoughts which obstruct the vision of our true nature.

All our efforts are only directed to lifting the veil of ignorance. Now it appears difficult to quell the thoughts. In the regenerate state it will be found more difficult to call in thoughts. For are there things to think of? There is only the Self. Thoughts can function only if there are objects. But there are no objects. How can thoughts arise at all?

The habit makes us believe that it is difficult to cease thinking. If the error is found out, one would not be fool enough to exert oneself unnecessarily by way of thinking.
14th April 1937
Talk 398.

No one needs to worry as to what happens – Ramana

No one need worry as to what happens



There are some buildings in the Asramam. They used to have some plan which somehow could not be followed in entirety. Therefore ‘A’ and the Sarvadhikari did not agree on many details and there used to be trouble between them. ‘A’ was once highly disgusted with the state of affairs. He asked Sri Bhagavan what could be done under the circumstances.

Sri Bhagavan said: “Which of the buildings was according to a plan made by these people here? God has His own plans and all these go on according to that. No one needs to worry as to what happens.”

Talks with Sri Ramana Maharshi
15th October, 1938
Talk 552.

Let go the passing thoughts – Ramana

Let go the passing thoughts



M.: You must exist in order that you may think. You may think these thoughts or other thoughts. The thoughts change but not you. Let go the passing thoughts and hold on to the unchanging Self. The thoughts form your bondage. If they are given up, there is release. The bondage is not external. So no external remedy need be sought for release. It is within your competence to think and thus to get bound or to cease thinking and thus be free.
D.: But it is not easy to remain without thinking.
M.: You need not cease thinking. Only think of the root of the thoughts; seek it and find it. The Self shines by itself. When that is found the thoughts cease of their own accord. That is freedom from bondage.

Talk with Ramana Maharshi
2nd October, 1938
Talk 524.

Let go the passing thoughts – Ramana

Let go the passing thoughts and hold on to the Unchanging Self



Another pilgrim asked: I am a man with a family. Is it possible for those in a family to get release, and if so how?
M.: Now what is family? Whose family is it? If the answers to these questions are found the other questions solve themselves.
Tell me: Are you in the family, or is the family in you?

The visitor did not answer. Then Sri Bhagavan’s answer was continued: Who are you? You include three aspects of life, namely, the waking, the dream and the sleep states. You were not aware of the family and their ties in your sleep and so these questions did not arise then. But now you are aware of the family and their ties and therefore you seek release. But you are the same person throughout.

D.: Because I now feel that I am in the family it is right that I should seek release.
M.: You are right. But consider and say: Are you in the family or is the family in you?
Another visitor interposed: What is family?
M.: That’s it. It must be known.

D.: There is my wife and there are also my children. They are dependent on me. That is the family.
M.: Do the members of the family bind your mind? Or do you bind yourself to them? Do they come and say to you “We form your family. Be with us”? Or do you consider them as your family and that you are bound to them?

D.: I consider them as my family and feel bound to them.
M.: Quite so. Because you think that so-and-so is your wife and so-and-soare your children you also think that you are bound to them.
These thoughts are yours. They owe their very existence to you. You can entertain these thoughts or relinquish them. The former is bondage and the latter is release.

D.: It is not quite clear to me.
M.: You must exist in order that you may think. You may think these thoughts or other thoughts. The thoughts change but not you. Let go the passing thoughts and hold on to the unchanging Self. The thoughts form your bondage. If they are given up, there is release. The bondage is not external. So no external remedy need be sought for release. It is within your competence to think and thus to get bound or to cease thinking and thus be free.

D.: But it is not easy to remain without thinking.
M.: You need not cease thinking. Only think of the root of the thoughts; seek it and find it. The Self shines by itself. When that is found the thoughts cease of their own accord. That is freedom from bondage.

D.: Yes. I understand it now. I have learnt it now. Is a Guru necessary?
M.: So long as you consider yourself as an individual, a Guru is necessary to show to you that you are not bound by limitations and that your nature is to be free from limitations.

Talks With Ramana Maharshi
2nd October, 1938
Talk 524.

You are Not the Mind – Nisargadatta

You are Not the Mind – Nisargadatta

Maharaj.: My world is free from opposites, of mutually destructive discrepancies; harmony pervades; its peace is rock-like; this peace and silence are my body.

Questioner: What you say reminds me of the Dharmakaya of the Buddha.

M: May be. We need not run off with terminology. Just see the person you imagine yourself to be as a part of the world you perceive within your mind and look at the mind from the outside, for you are not the mind. After all, your only problem is the eager self-identification with whatever you perceive. Give up this habit, remember that you are not what you perceive, use your power of alert aloofness. See yourself in all that lives and your behaviour will express your vision. Once you realize that there is nothing in this world, which you can call your own, you look at it from the outside as you look at a play on the stage, or a picture on the screen, admiring and enjoying, but really unmoved. As long as you imagine yourself to be something tangible and solid, a thing among things, actually existing in time and space, short-lived and vulnerable, naturally you will be anxious to survive and increase. But when you know yourself as beyond space and time — in contact with them only at the point of here and now, otherwise all-pervading and all containing, unapproachable, unassailable, invulnerable — you will be afraid no longer. Know yourself as you are — against fear there is no other remedy.

You have to learn to think and feel on these lines, or you will remain indefinitely on the personal level of desire and fear, gaining and losing, growing and decaying. A personal problem cannot be solved on its own level. The very desire to live is the messenger of death, as the longing to be happy is the outline of sorrow. The world is an ocean of pain and fear, of anxiety and despair. Pleasures are like the fishes, few and swift, rarely come, quickly gone. A man of low intelligence believes, against all evidence, that he is an exception and that the world owes him happiness. But the world cannot give what it does not have; unreal to the core, it is of no use for real happiness. It cannot be otherwise. We seek the real because we are unhappy with the unreal. Happiness is our real nature and we shall never rest until we find it. But rarely we know where to seek it. Once you have understood that the world is but a mistaken view of reality, and is not what it appears to be, you are free of its obsessions. Only what is compatible with your real being can make you happy and the world, as you perceive it, is its outright denial.

Keep very quiet and watch what comes to the surface of the mind. Reject the known, welcome the so far unknown and reject it in its turn. Thus you come to a state in which there is no knowledge, only being, in which being itself is knowledge. To know by being is direct knowledge. It is based on the identity of the seer and the seen. Indirect knowledge is based on sensation and memory, on proximity of the perceiver and his perception, confined with the contrast between the two. The same with happiness. Usually you have to be sad to know gladness and glad to know sadness. True happiness is un-caused and this cannot disappear for lack of stimulation. It is not the opposite of sorrow, it includes all sorrow and suffering.

I Am That – Talks with Sri Nisargatta Maharaj
Chapter: You are Beyond Space and Time – Item 94