Bondage and Freedom

Author(s): Chitrabhanu
Publisher: Divine Knowledge Society

Page 42

say,
company, and your mind is wandering. Someone next to you says, "Heard that?" and will you "Sorry, my mind was not with you-it was just wandering, What did you say?" I ask again why it is so. Our ears are open, they are not covered and yet the that should reach the mind, was not message received and hearing it was of no use at all.
If your nose is free from congestion yet your mind is elsewhere, no matter how many flowers or perfumes are held before you, you will never get or enjoy their fragrance.
Similarly, suppose you have sat down to your meal at a time when your mind is preoccupied with some important law suit going on at the time, in a court of law. You go on eating the best of foods, very delicious and tasty-different tempting dishesyou are eating only mechanically; your mind is not on what you are eating, since you are only thinking of the proceedings in the law court. At that time, if somebody asks you, "Isn't there too much salt in the vegetables?" You will reply, "I do not know!" But if you were eating at some other time the same food, you would at once notice what was wanting in a particular dish.
When your mind is occupied with some other matters and, at that time even if you are eating a delicious cake or any special delicacy, you are not aware of what you are eating.
33.