A Mirror of Mind

1. Samsara¹ is something very terrible. It is often compared to an ocean. If you are in the midst of an ocean, you see water wherever you look. Same is the case with samsara. It has surrounded us from all the sides. Even if a man leaves his home and devotes himself to public service, samsara does not leave his mind. It is there even if one retires to a cave to lead a hermit’s life. He may have got only a few possessions there, but they become the centre of his attachment and samsara engulfs him there too. Just as a single currency note can hold one thousand rupees, a loin-cloth too can hold unlimited attachment. There is, therefore, no attenuation of samsara simply through reduction in the involvement in worldly business and/or reduction in one’s possessions. Whether you say 10/25 or 2/5, it means the same. We may be in the midst of our family or alone in a forest, the mind remains attached to samsara. Two yogis may go to the Himalayan caves for doing penance, but even there they may burn with envy if they happen to hear each other's praise. The same thing happens in the realm of social service.
2. Samsara has thus engulfed us and is ever tormenting us. It does not leave us even if we decide to remain within the bounds of swadharma. Even if we curtail our activities, engagements and affairs, attachment to 'I and mine’ remains the same. It is said that the demons could become small or big at will. Samsara too is like a demon. And a demon remains a demon, whatever be its size. You may live in a palace or in a hut, samsara is equally inescapable. Even if we limit samsara by choosing to remain within the bounds of swadharma, there would still be conflicts and you will feel, 'Enough of it!' Therein too you will have to deal with a whole lot of individuals and institutions and that will exasperate you; you would become disgusted. But then that is the time of trial for your mind. Detachment does not automatically result from the performance of swadharma. To curtail activities is not the same thing as getting detached.
3. How can then one attain detachment? For this, the mind must cooperate fully. Nothing can be achieved without the cooperation of the mind. Parents sometimes keep their wards in a residential school. There the boy leads a disciplined life. He wakes up early, takes exercises regularly and is generally away from bad habits. But as soon as he comes home, he abandons all the good habits. A man is not like a lump of wet clay to which you can give any form you like. He has a mind of his own, which must be receptive to assume that form. If there is no cooperation on the part of his mind, all efforts to educate him would be in vain. Cooperation of the mind is, therefore, extremely necessary irrespective of the means adopted.
4. Outward performance of swadharma and the inward mental vikarma—both are necessary. Outward work is, of course, necessary. The mind cannot otherwise be tested. In the stillness of early morning, we feel that our minds have become calm. But the moment a child cries, we lose our calm and it becomes clear that the peace of mind is illusory. There is, therefore, no point in avoiding outward work. The true nature of our minds, the real quality of our minds is revealed through outward work. Water in a pond appears clear, but throw a stone in it and the dirt settled at the bottom will immediately rise up. That happens with our minds too. There are heaps of dirt at the bottom of the mind's lake. They come to the surface when disturbed by an external agent. When a man gets angry, it is not that the anger comes from without; it was already there within him. Otherwise it could never have shown itself.
   People say that coloured cloth does not get dirty; white cloth does. But coloured cloth too gets dirty, although it does not appear to be so. White cloth says, "I have become dirty; wash me please." People do not like such 'talking' cloth. Our action too talks. It proclaims whether we are given to selfishness or to anger or something else. Action is the mirror that reflects our true form. We should, therefore, be grateful to it. If the mirror shows that our face is unclean, would we smash the mirror? No. We would rather thank it and wash our face. Likewise, should we avoid action because it reveals the dirt in our minds—our defects and weaknesses? Is the mind going to be pure simply by avoiding action? In fact, we should continue to act while trying continually for the purification of mind.
5. A man living alone in a mountain cave, cut off from all human contact, may imagine that he has attained perfect peace of mind. But let him leave the cave and go for meals to somebody's house and let a child playfully rattle the bolt of the door there. The innocent child may be absorbed in the music of that sound, but the recluse will find it jarring and curse the child in his mind. His stay in the isolated cave has made his mind too weak and over-sensitive to stand even the slightest disturbance. His peace of the mind may get disturbed by just a little rattling noise. It is not good that one's mind should be in such a weak state.
6. To sum up, karma is very much needed to enable us to understand the state of our minds. We can remove our defects only when we become aware of them. If we are not aware of them, all efforts for progress and growth will come to naught. It is while doing work that we become aware of our defects. Vikarma is then to be employed to get rid of those defects. With ceaseless application of vikarma inwardly, we will gradually come to know how to remain detached while performing swadharma, how to remain beyond desires and passions, anger, greed, temptations and delusions. When there is a constant endeavour to purify karma, pure karma will follow naturally and effortlessly. When detached and passionless action begins to take place frequently and effortlessly, we would not even be aware of its occurence. When karma becomes effortless and burdenless, it is transformed into akarma. Akarma, as we have seen in the Fourth Chapter, means effortless, burdenless, natural karma. The Lord has also told at the end of the Fourth Chapter that one could learn how karma is transformed into akarma at the feet of the saints. This state of akarma cannot be described in words.

N.B. 1: 

1. Samsara, in fact, is untranslatable in English. It includes the whole of man's this-wordly life and affairs in the material world in which he is totally immersed and to which he is attached. The term has to be understood contextually.