The Nature of the Mind by Sri Bhagavan

adapted from a video conference with Brazil, December 5, 2009

The first thing to realize is that it is not your mind or somebody's mind, it is the Human Mind. We think it is our mind but it is not really so. That's why we call it the one mind. All mind, whosoever's mind it is, that one mind, has fear at its center. Fear is the core of the mind. Not only that, mind is nothing but a flow of thought from the past, through the present, into the future. This is what the mind does. And mind has got jealousy, anger, lust, desire; all these things are the qualities of the mind. No matter whose mind it is. They have the same qualities.

So, the first thing to realize is that all mind is only one mind. Let us say you have tuberculosis, you can not say "it is my tuberculosis" or "her tuberculosis". Tuberculosis is tuberculosis. So, the mind is the mind. It is not your mind, or his mind or her mind. There's just the one mind with those qualities. This we must first realize.

Next we must realize that this mind is very, very ancient. It's as old as man is. It has not changed at all. The brain itself has changed very little and the human mind has virtually not changed. The ancient man had fear of the tiger or the lion or something and modern man has fear of the share market or losing his job or girlfriend, so it's the same thing. The ancient man desired for a spear, you desire for a car or a house, or some such thing.

So it is the very same mind, only the object of fear or the object of desire has changed. You must realize this is an ancient mind. Not only is it the one mind, it is also the ancient mind.

Just like sugar has some qualities, like it tastes sweet, its specific gravity is something, its specific heat is something. If you take salt, it has its own taste and its specific gravity is something, it's specific heat is something. Those are the qualities of salt; those are the qualities of sugar. Sugar, you cannot make into salt, or salt into sugar. Similarly, these are the qualities of the mind, as designed by nature, as designed by your brain. There's NOTHING you could do about it.

It must strike you, like a ton of bricks, that it is impossible to change the mind. It must really strike you, not intellectually, not even as an insight, but actually you must see that the mind can not be changed. It was, it is and will be the same.

So, what you must see is that it is the one mind, it is ancient and it is impossible to change it. If you really see it, you will become free of the mind. It will not trouble you. It will be there, but it will be working on its own. It will not infringe on your consciousness, it will not take charge, it will not trouble you. It's like a stranger living in your house, it will be there working on its own. It won't bother you.

Then, who is there in charge? Your consciousness is in charge. Consciousness knows how to respond to different situations. Not the mind, but consciousness takes over. The mind generally reacts to situations. Consciousness responds.

When the mind does something it will go back and think, "Did I do the right thing or the wrong thing?" When consciousness responds, you do not go back and think whether it was the right thing to do or the wrong thing to do. Whatever consciousness does, it is perfect. It would take over and there will be no problems at all when consciousness functions. When the mind functions, the mind being divisive, creates problems.

Spiritual Growth, by Sri Bhagavan

adapted from a broadcast to Verbania, Italy December 6, 2009

Is it OK to follow my natural tendencies to avoid or reject things or people that I don't like? Or do I have to confront them even though I think it is useless?

Sri Bhagavan: The whole process of spiritual growth is confronting oneself. If you do not confront yourself, you are not going to grow. It's only when you confront yourself, you know who you are. And unless you know who you are, you cannot accept yourself, and if you cannot accept yourself you cannot love yourself, and if you cannot love yourself you're not going to love the other, and all spiritual growth stops so in this case you should not follow your natural tendencies. You have to learn to confront the darker side of yourself. You are trying to avoid the darker side of yourself. You have to get in touch with the darker side. Getting in touch with the positive side is not of much use, but what is important is the darker side the negative side. Each one of us has got an inauthentic side, a darker side, a negative side, a side of which you are very frightened. Unless you hold it like a baby, you examine it carefully, and you look at it non-judgmentally, there is going to be no growth. But if you keep avoiding it things will move from bad to worse. Your life could very well become miserable.