Why do we have mental problems, like annoyance, insecurity, grudges, jealousy, and so on? These mental maladies arise from the deep hole we have created inside ourselves. This emotional hole cannot be filled even by God, what to talk about another human being. We think a husband or wife can satisfy the longing of our soul; or maybe we think success on the job, material wealth, fame, or personal recognition will give us lasting happiness. It is not possible. It is impossible for that which is temporary to give permanent fulfillment.
All relationships are temporary because they are based on duality, and duality is nothing but EGO; it is the false identification of the Self with the non-self. The sages tell us that we are already full, that we are already complete, but our mind is telling us a different story. The stories of our mind are not real. We think our mental fiction is a fact, but it is only make-believe. We make-believe that we are somebody important, or somebody unimportant, but we never realize what is really important: our pure, unadulterated, ever-full, ever-fresh, ever-free Consciousness.
Consciousness is our real wealth. The connection of our mind to that consciousness is the real marriage, and the identification with that Consciousness is our true identity. We need to become what we have really always been: the indestructible, incorruptible, unalterable, ever-new Consciousness.
To become what we really are we need to fill the mind with the knowledge of Consciousness, and constantly reinforce our identity with that which is ever-real and imageless. We are not what we THINK we are. We are not what we IMAGINE we are. We ARE what we ARE, and THAT is beyond the language of the mind: it is beyond words, feelings, emotions, memories, and images.
We don’t need religion or philosophy to be good, moral, compassionate human beings. We just need to be ourselves. The problem is, our mind portrays us to be something that we are not. Now, our challenge is to take control of our mind, erase our self-portrait (self-image), and just be ourselves. When we are ourselves, we are not in the least bit uncomfortable in our mind. The mind becomes our instrument, and we use that instrument to vibrate, that’s all. This of course requires practice. It means we have to repeat the good things in our mind, over and over, again and again, until the mind begins to echo those good things, and also manifest them in our actions.
A wise human being can guide us to practice the right things, in the right way, so that we achieve the desired result right away. The desired result is TOTAL FREEDOM from the mind (which, in this case, includes intellect and ego). Really, “freedom from the mind” means the FREEDOM OF THE MIND. In other words, it means that the mind is freed from Ignorance.
It is ignorant to think that we are something which we are not. It is also ignorant to superimpose images and expectations on others. We are ignorant when we ignore the lessons of the past and repeat yesterday’s mistakes today.
It has been proven to us again and again that we cannot make ourselves permanently happy by chasing after impermanent things or getting attached to unstable people. But we are driven by our selfishness and ego to go against what is right and do what we know is wrong. This is why it is absolutely necessary to give up our ego. Giving up our ego is not something we do just once and then it is finished. It is a daily effort to go against the whims and weaknesses of the mind, and when we do, we break the strangle-hold of ego. Eventually, we can remove ego completely, and when we do, we experience our FULLNESS. That experience of FULLNESS is very powerful and eventually cleanses the mind of all its hidden tendencies and impressions. Then we are really FREE.
To attain that state, which is our own Real Nature, we must reaffirm our Real Nature everyday. We do this by deliberately thinking and doing what is non-egotistic, non-selfish, and non-violent. OM