Are We Living Life Or Living Our Mind?
Satsang: Swami Sukhabodhananda
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Is not our mind just a flow of thoughts?Thoughts, most of the time, prevent you from experiencing the moment. Whenever there are thoughts, you are closed to this moment. Thought is an expression of memory and memory being the past, pulls you backward and not towards the present moment. Whereas life is in this moment, and one is meeting life with the past.This is one of the greatest errors in our living. Thought has its place, and it is not only overused but also used wrongly , causing inner chaos.
In life, you move either on a dream path or past (dead) path. What appears as thinking is nothing but an association of past thoughts, and foolish projections into the future with some hope of peace. In the process, you miss the dance of life which is in the present. Life's existence or the root is in the present, and you are flying with the thoughts of the past or imagining an illusory future. Present oriented consciousness and bliss are the same. Being unconscious of this fact is misery and hence unconsciousness and misery go together. So, one has to learn to look into present consciousness. Such looking is not through thought but silence, which is a state of no mind or a state of thought-free awareness. So, transform the energy from thinking to present consciousness.
What happens when we get identified with thoughts?
We have built a prison around ourselves, from which only we have to try and come out. I can only guide you. But you have to navigate your way out since you have created this inner prison. When we get identified with thoughts, we get identified with our past. We live our past. Most of us are living our minds. We are not living in the world, but we live our minds. When we get identified with thoughts, we are flowing with our beliefs. Thought is rooted in some belief, an idea, dogma or conclusion. All of them are riding on the common vehicle popularly known as desire.
Thought is another form of conclusion or another form of desire or idea. Now, what does desire do? It tells us that the future will be your saviour and when you get the object of desire, you will be happy . It fools you. Mind or thought convinces you that the future or getting the object of desire will make you fulfilled.
Once this happens, your thoughts gain strength and like an army , march forward. During this process, something else silently happens. You will be telling yourself that though you are unhappy now, you will be happy in the future. This hypnosis happens.
Thus, you are unhappy , and this unhappy person is seeking happiness.When the object of desire is fulfilled, who receives it? It is the unhappy you.So the unhappy self continues to be unhappy and instantly it projects another object of desire and again fools you to believe that fulfilment of this will lead to happiness.
In life, you move either on a dream path or past (dead) path. What appears as thinking is nothing but an association of past thoughts, and foolish projections into the future with some hope of peace. In the process, you miss the dance of life which is in the present. Life's existence or the root is in the present, and you are flying with the thoughts of the past or imagining an illusory future. Present oriented consciousness and bliss are the same. Being unconscious of this fact is misery and hence unconsciousness and misery go together. So, one has to learn to look into present consciousness. Such looking is not through thought but silence, which is a state of no mind or a state of thought-free awareness. So, transform the energy from thinking to present consciousness.
What happens when we get identified with thoughts?
We have built a prison around ourselves, from which only we have to try and come out. I can only guide you. But you have to navigate your way out since you have created this inner prison. When we get identified with thoughts, we get identified with our past. We live our past. Most of us are living our minds. We are not living in the world, but we live our minds. When we get identified with thoughts, we are flowing with our beliefs. Thought is rooted in some belief, an idea, dogma or conclusion. All of them are riding on the common vehicle popularly known as desire.
Thought is another form of conclusion or another form of desire or idea. Now, what does desire do? It tells us that the future will be your saviour and when you get the object of desire, you will be happy . It fools you. Mind or thought convinces you that the future or getting the object of desire will make you fulfilled.
Once this happens, your thoughts gain strength and like an army , march forward. During this process, something else silently happens. You will be telling yourself that though you are unhappy now, you will be happy in the future. This hypnosis happens.
Thus, you are unhappy , and this unhappy person is seeking happiness.When the object of desire is fulfilled, who receives it? It is the unhappy you.So the unhappy self continues to be unhappy and instantly it projects another object of desire and again fools you to believe that fulfilment of this will lead to happiness.
