Churning of the Mind

 

Photo Credit: TemplePurohit

Churning of the Mind

Churning of the mind is usually considered as a topic of discussion in psychology. Only when a mind is churned-up can it explore fresh horizons, else it becomes fossilised, and that mind is of no use to anyone, not even its owner. The Sanskrit word for churning-up is manthan. In India we are all familiar with the concept of Samudra manthan – in which it is said that the oceans were churned up by the Gods and the demons, then what happened?

The Gods and the demons churned the ocean of milk, and what was flung out first was the poison, that too the most dangerous kind called hala hala visha – that which could have annihilated the entire creation. The story is that the great God, Shiva, the Lord of destruction, and also the symbol of the one with the third eye or the eye of intuition, the eye of understanding, lapped up the poison and saved the world. 

So, it’s quite possible that when the mind is churned, so many poisons from its innermost depths come to the surface and then they vanish. There is no other way they can be taken out. From the point of view of yoga psychology, bottling up is not the answer. Taking them out – that’s where tantra comes into the picture, where one’s emotions, one’s fears, one’s anxieties, one’s desires are all brought to the surface before they evaporate; they vanish once for all.

How can the mind become quiet? In the Upanishad, it says that one cannot form an image or come to a final conclusion about something that is constantly on the move, which is the mind and the Self. It is constantly expanding, it never stops and therefore, if we think it is this and forget about it and say this is what it is, it cannot be that. It is ever on the move and it is not that which can be understood by the ordinary modes of thought. 

That Supreme Truth, the Self that we seek, is beyond the understanding of the ordinary modes of linear thinking. It can be understood only when the mind, having discovered the futility of all the exercises of ordinary thinking, has quieted down and become absolutely still. When it thus becomes still, then the mind has reached its source and the source is the creative source of everything in this universe. And that source is the Supreme Being.

Whether it is a physical problem or a mental problem, a psychological problem or a spiritual problem, the most important thing is that the body has to be fit; the mind has to be calm, quiet and relaxed, not asleep, of course. It has to relax to be able to think clearly and, sometimes even to go beyond thought and begin to understand that which lies beyond the ordinary state of consciousness.

We are keeping the room in order: sweeping it, cleaning it, sweeping off the cobwebs, opening the windows, pulling the curtains, we are ready. Then, infinite patience is required. The breeze is definitely going to blow in. 

When it will come, nobody knows. When it comes, it comes in a flash. That is why all this preparation is necessary. Otherwise, when the breeze of understanding comes, our windows and doors are shut. Spiritual practice opens these out.