HABITS OF OUR MIND –
Habits of our mind deliver immensely,
When we’re holding its strings tightly,
It fully obeys our commands,
And helps tide over diverse situations,
Or else, in the dire strait we’ll find ourselves,
Then it becomes our notorious master,
And behaves like a wild dog,
Dogging our path,
Thus retarding our march ahead,
From where no return would be in sight.
If our senses, so important, are not controlled,
And left unbridled
Becomes the cause of negative habits of our mind
And gives us depleted self esteem,
A stumbling block in our self realization,
Thus erecting a wall for getting our sixth-sense – intuition.
Our intuition is in sync with innate demands,
A welcome sign for us, all around,
Ought to train habits of mind,
With heavy dose of perseverance, at times.
If our mind goes berserk,
Then Creator becomes our savior!
He bestows us all graces,
And His graces are panacea,
For all the deficiencies,
And helps humans for deliverance.
Whatever is done without faith—whether it is sacrifice, charity, austerity, or any other act—is useless. It has no value here or hereafter, O Arjuna. (17.28)
STRANGE ARE THE HABITS OF OUR MIND
It is customary that whenever we repeat something a number of times, it becomes our habit. It may be good or a bad habit. The more focused our attention, the more enduring the effect but it ought to be without fear about the results. This habit of ours may be for doing our routine / day to day jobs or our spiritual journey. focused mind predetermines results.
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When theYogi disciplines his mental activities, when his subdued mind is fixed on the self, free from all desires, then the person is said to be achiever of yoga. (Chapter 10)
In great epic Mahabharata, Guru Drona’s pupils were Pandavas and Kaurava brothers besides his own son named Ashwattthama. All learned the use of different weapons from him. Arjuna became the most favourite and immutable disciple due to his undivided and unwavering focus on the assigned target while using bow and arrow. When other pupils complained to Guru Drona why he (Guru Drona) always appreciated Arjuna to which he, without mincing any word interjected that he will give its proof at an appropriate time.
One day, he took all his pupils to a jungle, placed a toy bird at the vantage point on the tree, and told each of his pupils to pierce the eye of the toy bird. None but Arjuna could do so. Even his own son Ashwatthama failed. Such was the focus of attention of Arjuna.
In second instance, Drona showcased why Arjuna was the favourite student when he used crocodile as a ruse to test all his pupils. None but Arjuna could rise to the occasion because of severity of focus and perfection of his initiative coupled with intense intuitive power.
Now, having said that, we have to understand the meaning of habits of our mind and how it works including intuitive power of an individual. We are our own masters. On the other hand, if we take life as a challenge and face the same with equanimity then we remain happy despite failures.
If experience is any guide, failures should be construed as wake up calls. Sri Ramakrishna Parmahansa had rightly asserted: When worrying becomes our habit we remain unhappy. There are the people who get bogged down by a slightest failure while they’re executing a plan of action. These people remain doubtful. Ups and downs should be taken as challenges and ought to be tackled as such. An unflagging persistence should be the buzz word in order to train our mind and its senses. Losing focus means, half the battle is lost before starting it. This is true in all the spheres of our activities, be it office or at home. This is also true in our forward march in spirituality.
Spirituality to be beneficial for us, it is essential that we understand it threadbare meaning of spirituality etc. Spirituality has been derived from the Latin word ‘spiritus’ meaning ‘soul, vigour, breath’ and cannot be dissociated from word ‘spirit’. It goes to show that there exists a solid relationship between our Karma (action) and the persistence (spirit, force with which we do our karmic deeds). When we aspire for personal transformation based on religious ideal karmic deeds or subjective experiences for emotional maturity for our total personal involvement. This could help us in anticipating the accuracy of our action – through mental calculations, adding the finer points and eliminating the ones which may prove counterproductive/impediments.
Arjun-like burning desire to fulfill chosen target(s) could be attained only when all our faculties perform to the optimum for a assigned task. In that, consciously calm disposition, control over our emotions could come into play only by reining in our senses. In such scenario, our intuitive (sixth sense) will play an active role in our forward movement for the attainment of our goal. Here it would be pertinent to mention the difference between experience that we perceive daily (gross) and the world that has subtle perceptive ability or unseen one or it could be termed as spiritual experiences. Here, we have the slight inkling about the cause and effect of the things to come about. For instance, if we have the fragrance of a flower without a flower near us. This could be the result of perceiving through sixth sense.
We can make use of this sixth sense by perceiving others’ needs, others point of views, mindset of others by working with them thus knowing their aspirations etc and thus exploring ways and means to provide succor to them. Interdependency in thoughts in getting things done will help to tide over the situation easily. This will help in two ways, firstly, multiple opinions when put to use eliminate the chances of failure, second, if a job is done single handedly, there are chances of getting stressed while meeting emergencies; may be with diminishing returns in accomplishment.
It should never be forgotten that we should take pride in learning new things from others. Even the innocent smile of a baby at us even while being in the custody of her mother should be a lesson for us. Secondly, being human, we are prone to make mistakes. Accepting our mistakes and make amends and proceed further is the best course in human relationship and self learning process.
Following should always be kept in mind while pursuing our tasks:-
From the above it is essential that we ought to train our mind to have positive habits, eliminate those which prove to be roadblock for our further movement. On the way to the finishing line, whenever we get some success, we should celebrate it and if we get failure try another time, one more time till success is achieved but with full focus at our command. We should always be thankful to our Ishwar/Allaha/Lord and also everybody who come in contact with us and help us reach our goalpost. It should also be remembered that ingratitude to nature, parents, teachers, older members of the society or to anybody is a sign of ignorance. That is the finer point of the HABITS OF OUR MIND.
Howdy folk 
