Receiving and giving with an Open mind

Hi,

Yet another article authored by Parama Pujya Shri Shri Nimishananda Guruji has been published by the largest circulating News Paper Daily in India. Do Read and transform your lives.

Regards,
Mekhala.

Receiving and giving with an Open mind
To bring in a sense of purpose and improve the quality of our lives we need to look at the nature and working of our mind. The mind is meant to Seers have said that most people's minds are as hard as rock.

The mind is meant to absorb information, transform it into knowledge and lead us to action. Action and speech determine the quality of our life and these come from the mind.

What's the nature of absorption of the mind? Seers have said that most people's minds are as hard as rock. Just as rock is impervious to water, information that falls on a hard mind bounces off without leaving any trace.

A hard mind offers resistance to information and it prevents the flow of knowledge and action. The mind that is as soft and pliable as a sponge would have the capacity for maximum absorption. Just as water can be easily absorbed by the sponge and squeezed out, a soft mind easily absorbs information and allows the creation of knowledge and action. However, a soft or open mind can be hardened and a hard or closed mind can be softened. Hence the need to be alert.

What makes the mind hard or closed? It is said that this is an automatic, front-line defence mechanism for the protection of belief systems based on the state of ego. If we encounter an idea or a situation that is not in line with our thinking, we immediately close our mind by blocking it. This is called mindset.

Ego creates mindset. Mindset is a protective self-defence mechanism because we are scared of what others think, about our notions and beliefs. Mindset is self-destructive. A simple discussion could therefore develop into an argument and lead to conflict.

It is therefore reasonable to conclude that the mere gathering of information is useless. We must transform this to knowledge. The mind must be receptive to be able to perform this conversion efficiently. A closed mind does not allow for progress whereas an open mind would.

How to purify and soften the mind? A pure, soft mind could help us access the Divine life. Thinking positive isn't enough, thinking Divine is essential. Raising ourselves from the level of human thinking to Divine thinking can soften and purify the mind. For this we should review the working of our mind at least three times a day.

Was my mind aggressive or calm? Did my words and actions hurt or bring joy to people? Because an object that slips out of our hand can be recovered, but an inappropriate word uttered cannot be retracted. Self-review will cleanse the mind of all mental dirt. Ideas and inspiration flow freely in a pure mind to transform information to knowledge to use for the welfare of many in the form of an action.

There are three basic steps that men of wisdom have recommended to achieve this: 1) Allow others the freedom to be as they are, without imposing your thoughts and ideas. 2) Have faith and belief that God is in you. 3) Spend some time quietly everyday thinking about your Inner Self and chanting the name of God. This way the mind can help us transform our lives from the mundane to the Divine.

E-mail: shrinimishamba@hotmail.com

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Opinion/Receiving_and_giving_with_an_open_mind/articleshow/4033793.cms