ChaptersChapter 21Page 2,994

Chapter 21: Manonash

1951Page 2,994 of 5,444
The mind is there, but the mind's impressions change and so, accordingly, body changes — and also accordingly, experience changes. Therefore, for the false I to become Real I , mind must go.
The real goal of life is not death of the ego, but of the mind! Therefore when Muhammad or Zoroaster or Jesus talked of being born once or dying once, they meant the death of the mind. Mind is born from the very beginning, even before the stone state. This birth is once, and also the death of the mind takes place only once.
When the mind dies, the false ego is transformed into Reality. Real Ego is never born and never dies. Ego is always real but due to the mind, it feels and acts as limited and false I.
Now mind goes on taking bodies according to its good and bad impressions. This taking and leaving the body is not the death either of the mind or the ego. After physical death the mind remains with its impressions. It is the impressions which make the mind take bodies, in order that the impressions might be wiped out. Consequently, the mind takes bodies according to the impressions, and the ego witnesses this. When one body is [discarded], another comes up [and forms], though there is a certain amount of time lag between the giving up of one body and taking up another.
This jadu [magical spell] of sanskaras has bound us so tight that the more we try to come out, the more we get bound. Because mind has to be destroyed from its root, and who is to destroy it? Mind has to destroy itself. That is an impossible task. The very process of destroying itself creates impressions of thus trying to destroy it, and so one gets more bound.
As Hafiz has said:
You yourself are the veil, O Hafiz!
And so remove thyself!
Now, how to remove your self? The very process of removing creates fresh sanskaras.
Thousands have thought of destroying the mind — the main [methods] being those of action, meditation, knowledge and LOVE . These ways have been chalked out by the Perfect Masters for the purpose of destroying the mind while retaining the consciousness.
Now, the path of action (karma yoga), which is meant for this goal of Manonash, which transforms the false I into the Real I, has to be considered [because the main activity of mind through the body is of actions]. The Masters saw that actions which have false ego and an impression-filled mind as its background, instead of destroying the mind, feed it.
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