Mysteries of Mind

Author(s): Mahapragna Acharya
Publisher: Today and Tomorrows Book Agency

Page 51

THE MYSTERIES OF MIND
mind. The whole field of the body is there for the operations of the mind. There is nothing wrong with the mind. Let it play as it pleases. With the advent of discernment and insight the entire orientation of the mind changes. It becomes transformed. The mind which had earlier been our master, has now become our slave. It is discernment which makes the practitioner the master of the mind. This basic change does not make the mind inactive. It continues to be active.
The purpose of self-exertion is the transformation of personality. Prolonged self-exertion, austerities and meditation will be a sheer waste of time and energy, if they do not bring about a transformation of the practitioner's mind, nay his entire personality. Otherwise the practitioner will begin to waver and give up hope and finally become disillusioned. In such a case he will abandon sādhanā.
Faith in the efficacy of meditation, austerities, and selfexertion can be sustained only by the dividends they pay, i.e., by the transformation of personality they bring about. Not only the practitioner but others also should be convinced that such a transformation has taken place or does take place. At least the practitioner should be self-assured, otherwise he will lose faith in sādhanā.
What is this transformation of personality? Let us be clear about it.
Human life is characterized by a succession of joys and sorrows. We have become so much accustomed to this succession that we are not prepared to think that a different kind of life is possible. But once right perception, insight and discernment have been developed in us, the duality of joys and sorrows is broken and we become exclusively inclined towards joys only. We become convinced that there can be a life without sorrows also. The dual current of joys and sorrows comes to be replaced by a single current of joy. The ultimate result of the enjoyment of the pleasure of the world is sorrow. The saturation point of worldly pleasures brings in sorrow. We bear sorrows with the hope that the next round of experiences will bring joy in the same way in which the dark night is followed by the bright day. This perception undergoes a basic change once discernment produces better judgment and clears our vision. With the clarity of vision the