Braving the elements

I was recently driving from Sheffield to Manchester and in the course of a one-hour journey experienced everything from torrential rain to brilliant sunshine, with even some spells of high winds and hail stones. To say it was a mixed bag would be an understatement. I have rarely experienced a week of consistent weather in this country.

While driving I was reflecting how the life of an advancing spiritualist is comparable to the weather. Just like the brilliant sunshine, there are moments of great insight, enthusiasm and inspiration, but unexpectedly the heavens can open up, with times of disappointment and insecurity, and even spells of apathy and disinterest. The spiritualist plays the role of a doctor, offering advice and wisdom to others, but the spiritualist is also a patient experiencing his own struggles and tribulations.

With each downpour of rain, we comfort ourselves knowing that it rarely continues for the entire day. At some point it will stop. Similarly, the spiritualist keeps his struggles in perspective, knowing they are temporary obstacles which will be eradicated with dedicated, focused spiritual practice. With each downpour of rain, we run for cover and find some shelter from the elements. Nobody wants to get wet. Similarly, the aspiring spiritualist finds shelter in the ancient scriptures, the spiritual teachers and fellow practitioners, all helping us keep everything in perspective. Each downpour of rain is often greatly uncomfortable for us, although we can also appreciate the weather is greatly benefitting the vegetation and plant life. Similarly, the spiritualist always reflects how the greatest struggles are also causing the greatest transformation and purification of consciousness. In this way, the struggling spiritualist learns to brave the elements… rain or shine.

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Mind Control & Brainwashing

The Bhagavad-gita contains numerous discussions on controlling the mind. In the context of modernity that terminology may not be so well received. Mind control is synonymous to brainwashing - something used by dangerous cults to manipulate people and prevent them from thinking for themselves. This all stems from the popular notion that we are the mind.

The Bhagavad-gita however, explains that the mind is simply a tool. We are spirit souls inhabiting material bodies, and the mind acts as an interface between the two. It’s almost like the software that allows a person to operate the hardware of a computer. To use another analogy, the bodily senses can be compared to horses, the mind to the reins, and the intelligence to the driver. The safest and most successful journey is one where the well-informed driver confidently controls the horses by expert handling of the reins.

Thus, one who is able to control the mind can experience true freedom, guided by intelligence instead of instinct. The instinct dictates one to do what feels good now, whereas the intelligence guides one to do that which will have a good effect. Thus, the whole thrust of meditation and spiritual practice is to allow the soul to make spiritually enlightened decisions in life, where the mind becomes an instrument in their implementation. In this context, far from de-humanizing and dulling the individual, mind control allows one to break free of materialistic pressures and truly exhibit their personality and individuality.

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The Great Escape

The world today has a long list of pressing problems: the time bomb of environmental issues, struggling economies and the credit crunch, social complications like crime, and the widespread poverty and deprivation of millions, to name but a few. In a recent conversation, somebody proposed spirituality as convenient escape from such realities – a comfortable retreat away from the real problems that plague our existence. As the spiritualist absorbs his thoughts in death and the afterlife, he conveniently avoids the real world surrounding him… the world that he is too lazy (or too scared) to face.

I explained how the Bhagavad-gita is not disconnected from the social context we live in. The teachings are geared toward creating spiritual solutions for the prevailing issues of the day. When someone is admitted to hospital, then help is provided from the nurses and the doctors. The nurses attend to the day-to-day comfort of the patient, while the doctors painstakingly rack their brains to perform an operation that will provide the permanent solution. While we appreciate the comfort that the nurses offer, who would want to be in a hospital full of nurses, but devoid of doctors? The spiritualists can be likened to the doctor – those who have the broader vision and knowledge to find out the root of suffering and address that directly. Those who have the insight to create a permanent change.

As I reflected later, that point of escaping reality struck me as a great irony. Of all the ‘real’ problems in the world today (problems that seem to periodically come and go with the times), the one real problem that everybody faces but nobody wants, is the problem of death. The irony is that the spiritualist, who is trying to address this universal and strikingly ‘real’ problem, is being labelled the escapist. On the contrary, the spiritualist is moving closer to reality – addressing the issues that nobody else can really touch.

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