IISATYANAAMII

MIND YOUR MIND

“Paani hi te paatlaa, dhoonwaa hi te jheen

Pavan begi ootaavalaa, so dosat Kabir keenh”.

The mind is finer than water, subtler than smoke, and faster than the wind. Kabir chooses to make of His mind His best friend.

It is believed that our mind processes between 70,000 to 80,000 thoughts in a day. We think all the time. How powerful must the mind be to be able to handle so many thoughts in a day? The mind is very, very fast. In a split second it can take us from one location to another. The same mind can make us develop or can make us degenerate. The human mind cannot be matched with any other system. Satguru Kabir Saheb is demonstrating how the mind is incomparable or immeasurable to anything we know. And because of its exceptional nature, He is advising us that we better befriend it. Otherwise it can play tricks on us and we will not be able to win over it. Our best friend will not betray us. In the analogy Satguru Kabir Saheb is using water, smoke and wind, all of which have special characteristics. Water is so fine that it flows and makes its way on its own; smoke is so ethereal that it will find its way to move out however much you want to contain it; the wind as well is irresistible and will blow wherever it wants. If the mind is subtler than all of these, how difficult should it be for us to keep it under control? Hence the need to befriend it.

We are not the mind, just like we are not the body or the ego. Befriending the mind does not mean that we have to give in to its caprices; it means that we have to solicit it to assist us with its infinite powers to get us to our right destination. Just like a good friend would help us.

Mahant Jay Jaggessur, Kabir Association of Toronto.