'BHIKSHU-GEETHA' –The song of a mendicant-“The people, Gods, the countless planets of the zodiac, my actions ( karma)- good bad or mixed- or the infinite ‘time’ are not at all responsible for my sorrow or happiness. My ‘MIND’ is the sole culprit.

BHIKSHU-GEETHA –The song of a mendicant

At the kingdom of ‘Avanthi’, there was a Brahmin who thought that, amassing a lot of wealth, was the only purpose of human life on earth. The poor Brahmin thought that, more money would bring more happiness. He earned a lot of wealth and eventually turned out to be very miserly and was reluctant to spend money for himself or for others. He was alienated from his fellow beings, due to lack of empathy for them. One day his house went on fire, and no neighbor came for his rescue. He lost everything and turned out to be a mendicant, wandering about the streets of ‘Avanthi’, begging for alms. After long hours of begging, one day he got some food from a house. While he was taking rest on the banks of a river and about to take his meals; some mischievous children reached the venue and threw away his food, begging bowl and the walking stick in to the river.

The Brahmin was thunder struck for a moment and began to contemplate on his miserable plight . “The people, Gods, the countless planets of the zodiac, my actions ( karma)- good bad or mixed- or the infinite ‘time’ are not at all responsible for my sorrow or happiness. My ‘MIND’ is the sole culprit. Mind is the indefinable force, which creates, sustains and dissolves, the phenomenal world, through the body-mind-intellect complex and the five sense organs. The Mind creates the ‘EGO’ , which revolves the wheel of ‘SAMSARA’- the world. My mind under the influence of ‘sathwa’ (knowledge), rajas (activity) and thamus (ignorance), involves me in, many births and rebirths of low or high order, and so many actions-good, bad, or mixed. The Un ending, desire- prompted actions and their results, influenced by space, time and causation (Desa, kala and nimitha) result in my bondage in the phenomenal world. Therefore’ my mind is my only enemy’ to be conquered; the conquest of which may lead to the conquest of everything”.

Friends!
One`s own mind is one`s own friend and one`s own mind is one`s own foe. The conquest of mind is the quintessence of all religions and the spiritual doctrines. The conquest of mind leads to the conquest of the whole world; since the world is represented in oneself and oneself is the world.
Therefore, through ‘SELF-INQUIRY’ or ‘SELF-SURRENDER’, we shall render our mind ‘NO MIND’ and experience our ‘SELF’ as “TRUTH- BEING-EXISTENCE-CONSCIOUSNESS and BLISS”; beyond birth, growth, disease, old age, and death, unlimited by space, time and causation- already attained by everybody.

~SWAATHMAARAAMAN