Bondage and Freedom

Author(s): Chitrabhanu
Publisher: Divine Knowledge Society

Page 41

As soon as we get up in the morning, we clean our teeth and eyes, and wash our bodies with soap and water. We clean ourselves scrupulously. To keep the body fit, we eat food and take exercise. Thus we take care of the body in all possible ways because it is necessary to keep it healthy and strong.
Tell me, who works behind the eyes, the ears, the mouth, the nose and the entire body? It is the mind only. If your mind is busy, and does not want to see, your eyes will not see even when they are open. Suppose you are walking on the road, and you pass by your friend—though your eyes are in the direction of your friend, yet your mind is thinking of something else; you will not be able to see your friend. Next time, when he meets you he will tell you, “Dear friend, you passed by me that day; you saw me and yet you did not speak to me.”
And you will say, “Sorry, my mind was elsewhere.”
How is this possible? Your eyes were in his direction, were they not? But there was no connection between the mind and the eyes. The eyes saw but did not convey the sight to the brain. The message that the eyes had seen the friend did not reach the mind; and when the mind does not respond, the mere act of seeing with the eyes has no meaning..
Many a time the mind goes a-wandering into a dream world all its own. Suppose you are sitting in
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