We are all imprisoned in "My and Mine"

We are always accompanied by two guards invisibly. They are the “My and Mine” feelings which won’t leave us until the grave! One who escapes from these guards secure his freedom from earthly existence and reach the abode of God! Hence, in a way, all people are imprisoned and they lead a prison life within this body/mind complex. Anybody, who asserts that he is free, need to contemplate on this matter, Once Satya Saibaba has written a message, in which he calls the individual as “miserable little prison individuality!

Hence it is very much clear that we are all ‘imprisoned’ by these guards “MY and Mine” who never leaves us even for a moment. Then, what is the way to secure our freedom? Spirituality shows us the way. Remove the Ego and selfishness. Now the big question is, “How anyone can remove his ego? Ego is nothing but deep body attachment born out of selfishness! Now we have to understand certain truths. Bodies are like ‘water bubbles’ and no one know when they will burst. How can we attach to perishable entities? If one is wise, he won’t attach himself to the ephemeral body and evanescent mind. One must seek the permanent entity which is God or Atma. How one can develop attachment to God? Only by relying on the Omnipresence, Omnipotence and Omniscient, anyone can develop faith and love in God.

God is not attached to any since there is none other than God! He is all pervasive. Here we have to understand one thing. It is the deluding mind which is the cause of creation and cosmos. Mind is a great illusory power like the magician, who brings many things out of his empty hat. The audience claps continuously by witnessing such astounding magic feats.

What the magician does is nothing but trick, who hoodwinks the audience and get applause as well as collect money for the show. Even some of the magicians are bold enough to accept that most of their performance is based on tricks! A few of the performance is based on ‘mass hypnotism’. But the mind has the power to delude the entire mankind by its tricks. The mind is also a great conjurer. First, it hides the real and superimposes the world over the reality which is god. God alone exists and all other things are illusions. A lake surface is completely covered by ‘hyacinth’ leaves. An unwary traveler may drown if he steps on the hyacinth leaves. Remove the leaves and you can see the surface of water which may be deep. Hence our eyes may sometimes delude us. Our ears may also delude us. Likewise, we cannot rely on these faulty instruments.

The mind is a main link for the individual to perceive the external world through the sense organs. If the mind is absent, none can perceive the world. Many a times, we might have realized this truth. For example, I am watching the TV. My wife may call me and ask me something. So there is a temporary disruption in watching the TV. Though our eyes may view the TV, we won’t be able to tell what is shown in the TV during the time of distraction of the mind. Hence the mind should be focused on the TV so that one can perceive the program. Some students in schools might be present during the teaching by teacher. Ask them, what they have learnt? Some of them may blink! Why? Their body may be present in the class but the mind was roaming somewhere else. Hence the best way to relinquish the attachment to the world is to cut the connection of the mind from the senses. But the mind is easily attracted to the senses, since it feels that the body can enjoy pleasures through the senses.

Now the next question is “what is the mind”? Is it visible or possessing any form? No, the mind is subtler than the ether and it is faster than the light! In a moment, it will roam in some place in US, while sitting in a place in India. The mind is really the conglomeration of thoughts! Thoughts really constitute the mind. When all thoughts cease, there is no mind at all. For instance, there is a cloth here. What is a cloth? It is the intermingling of threads in some pattern. Remove the threads one by one from both the directions. There won’t be any cloth at all. In a similar way, cut each thought by the sword of discrimination. Here ‘cutting’ means remaining ‘indifferent to the thought process ‘and not to get involved in any manner. Just watch the thoughts arising. Do not do anything! In course of time, the thoughts will slow down and one day you can find that almost all thoughts cease bearing the “I” thought. It is only ‘awareness which is pure “. It is the real Self within us!