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TRANSMUTATION OF THE MIND (1)
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intellect? It was certinaly not the result of an intellectual exercise! It was a case of direct vision. He was just watching-he saw the apple fall and instantly conceived the theory of gravitation. The great truths come upon a man when least looked for, never through thought. Too much thinking tires the brain, puzzles the mind. All thought creates tension and a man who is full of tension can never find the truth. Only when a man is totally free from tension, there is a sudden awakening of inner consciousness and the great truths are effortlessly perceived.
The first principle of changing the inner environment is: Do away with restlessness! It is an inveterate defect of far-reaching consequences. An illusion might dissolve in the course of time, furious passions recede, like and dislike disappear, yet the fickleness of the mind remains.
Gautam put a very interesting question to Lord Mahavir. He asked: "Sir, the man on his way to salvation, who is fully awake, has freed himself from passions,. from like and dislike, who knows everything can he place his hand on the same spot twice?"
The Lord answered, "No".
How strange! The man who is familiar with each tiny bit of the courtyard, not an atom of whose own hand is hidden from him, who is fully awake—such a man places his hand on a particular spot, but hc cannot touch that point again! A stupendous question calls forth an cqually stupendous answer. Lord Mahavir said, "No, he cannot touch that point again!"
Gautam said, "How is it, Sir? Why cannot an awakened person touch the same point again? A pseudo-saint. the one who does not know, who is not dispassionate, who has not been able to free himsclf from passions and affections, one caught in illusion, will certainly go wrong: he is not fully alert, he cannot remember; due to ignorance and negligence, he cannot find the spot. But why can't the awakened one do it?"
Lord Mahavir said, "He knows it all right, but he has not yet attained perfect tranquillity; he is not totally free from restlessness. There is the body, and it is fickle; it wavers. There is unsteadiness. Therefore, though he is wide awake and knows everything, yet he cannot touch the same point again."
Movement remains with us till the very last. All conditions pass away. All obstacles are removed. The right approach replaces the false one. Dissatisfactions cease, attachment dissolves, no more passion, no more like and dislike, no more good or bad. And yet until the restlessness of the body ends, the goal is not reached, there is no fulfilment The goal may be clearly outlined, the means thereto
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