Some Masters chalked out ways of destroying the mind through mind itself — through meditation and concentration. When mind becomes concentrated, its further function is weakened, and the impressions wipe out themselves, because impressions are like worms and exhaust themselves. But this process of meditation and concentration makes Manonash almost impossible because mind has its habit of getting impressions executed [spent]. When the mind feels frustrated, it gets more desperate. The moment you sit for meditation, sometimes thoughts which you never did think before come to you, and eventually one of the following three things happens: First: You get fed up because you cannot concentrate; or second: You get sleepy or dreamy; or third: More bad thoughts enter your mind, and you have to give up your attempts. But if you have a brave heart and patiently persist, then, in a very few cases, the mind is temporarily stilled.
Now, this results in one of two things: One either enters into a trance or samadhi. This trance [ haal ] and samadhi are not Manonash. Samadhi becomes a profession, in some cases; and trance becomes like a dope — one gets addicted to it. One enjoys the trance, but it is temporary. There have been cases of those going into samadhi and, while coming down to normal consciousness, their first thought is the same thought which they had while going into samadhi. Thus, if they had thought of money before entering into samadhi, they get the same thought of money while coming out of it.
Some Masters thought that the best way was to forget oneself and to give the mind no chance of having new impressions. The question is one of how to forget oneself! The answer is: through devotion [bhakti yoga]. When one is devoted 100 percent, then one forgets oneself. But this is also practically impossible, because such devotion and forgetfulness have to be continuous.
Hafiz has said:
If you want the presence of the Beloved,
do not absent yourself from the memory of the Beloved.
You must not be, even for one moment, without this devotion, without this self-forgetfulness, which is almost an impossibility. This is the path of devotion, or bhakti marg . Therefore, one Master has said: "One moment with the Master is better than 100 years of sincere piety."1
Some Masters thought that the mind must be diverted if it is to be killed. Mind makes the ego say, "I am body." Therefore, make the mind say, "I am not the body, I am not this, I am not that, I am God!" Now, this too is almost impossible, because mind has false impressions, and to make this false mind say what it feels to be false is like a hypocritical act. Thus, for example, the mind knows that it is "Mr. So-and-so." Now, if this person's mind says, "I am not a human being, but I am God," then, at that very moment, the mind feels that it is lying. The result is that this tires out the heart, emotions and love. The mind cannot do action-less actions since it says, "I am God. What have I to act for?" Mind cannot forget itself in devotion because it says, "I am God. Whom to pray to?"
Footnotes
- 1.On another occasion, when Baba cited this quote, he said 100 years of "prayers" instead of "piety".