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**Bahadashti:** "Akshep, mandu kihi na bane"
(211) What is gone is gone. Just as there is no fruit from sowing seeds that are repeatedly uprooted and replanted, similarly, there is no pure fruit from actions performed with a mind that is constantly distracted and running around. (See page 85).
This state of a wavering mind is called *kshep*. When this *kshep* fault is abandoned, it is called *akshep*. This unwavering mind, free from distractions, is the essence of the soul; a distracted mind is the delusion of the soul. Knowing this, the yogi, with this vision, keeps his mind unwavering as much as possible, not allowing it to become distracted. Whether he is performing *pratikraman* or *samayik*, whether he is engaged in devotion to the Lord or paying homage to the true Guru, his mind does not wander elsewhere, it does not become distracted and go towards other things. He does not act like the merchant who went to the market while performing *samayik* -
There was a householder. He was sitting in *samayik*. In the meantime, his mind wandered, and he started thinking about going to a certain leather merchant, a *chamar*, and talking to him about this and that! And he even started muttering to himself! His clever daughter-in-law heard this. Someone came and asked if the merchant was at home. The daughter-in-law replied, "He is not at home, he has gone to the market!" After the *samayik* was over, the merchant asked his daughter-in-law, "I was at home, why did you say I was not?" The wise daughter-in-law replied, "Father-in-law! Your body was at home and you were sitting in *samayik*, but where did your mind go, to the market?" Hearing this, the merchant realized his mistake and felt remorse for the fickleness of his mind.
This seeker, as much as possible, draws his mind back from external influences, because the impressions of ignorance are being removed from him, and he is acquiring the impressions of knowledge. Therefore, passions, aversions, and attachments cannot greatly affect him, intense passions do not disturb his mental state and create turmoil; the attraction of objects does not make his mind waver; honor and dishonor, pleasure and pain, joy and sorrow, etc., do not cause distractions in his mind; stories, love stories, or any kind of gossip do not attract his mind.
*"Avikshiptam manastattvam viksiptam bhrantiratmanah |
Dharayet tadaviksiptam viksiptam nasrayet tatah || Avidyabhyasasamskaarair avasam kshipyate manah | Tadeva jnanasamskaaraaih svatas tattve'vatiṣṭhate || Apamaanadayastasyavikṣepo yasya cetasah | Naama na ca hyavetanaḥ" - Shri Pujyapada Swami's Samadhi Shatak