DESIRES OF THE MIND . (KNOW YOUR DEATH - 2)

Desires of the MIND.

We concluded the last article with: “After death the Mind has following options to choose.

1.      To give up available energy A and go to zero. This is the concept of Maha-Nirvana.

2.      To earn additional energy from A to 2.5 A, and then opt for rebirth.

3.      To not to opt for birth and go on earning additional energy -endlessly up to infinity. This is the stage of Moksha”.

What must be the plight of the Mind after death before it chooses its options?  It all depends on the cumulative effect of the journey and the desires pursued by the mind throughout the earlier life(s).

Let us go into the details.

Synonym of DESIRE are wish, want, crave, and covet.

Desire is defined as “Conscious impulse toward something that promises enjoyment or satisfaction in its attainment”. Desire is the basis of Karma.

The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Current English defines ‘karma’ as the "sum of person's actions in one of his successive states of existence, viewed as deciding his fate for the next".

Let us see what Indian thinkers say about it.

Bhagwat Gita on Desires. (Chapter 3, verses 39, 40 and 41).

Gita is the gist of Vedas, Upanishads, the precious Indian literature on spirituality, respected world over. On “desire” the comments in Gita are:

“O Son of Kunti (Arjuna)! Constant enemy of wise men is the un-abatable flame of desire, by which wisdom is concealed”.  (Gita  3/39).

“The senses, mind, and intellect are said to be desire's formidable stronghold; through these, desire deludes the embodied soul by eclipsing its wisdom. Therefore, O Best of the Bharata Dynasty (Arjuna), first discipline the senses then destroy desire, the sinful annihilator of wisdom and Self-realization”.  ( Git 3 /40-41).

“Arjuna asks Shrikrishna – How an individual is impelled to do sinful acts, even unwillingly, as if engaged by force”?  (Gita 3.36).

'You are responsible for your actions!’ says Shrikrishna. God (the embodied spirit) does not create actions nor does he induce people to act, nor does he create the fruits of action. All these are enacted by the modes of material nature (your own temperament) i.e. your behaviour is responsible for your sinful acts. (Gita 5/14).

How these actions emanate in life from start to end? This would reveal the outcome of the human desires throughout the life.

The origin of Desire. We are saying here that the birth, life journey, death and re-birth are all based on the mind’s desire. But what is the origin of the desire? Let us see this.

Do you know what your desire is right now? It is for sure that you want something because the mind is continuous stream of desires. You have a desire this moment, you had it in all past moments and you would have it till last moment of the life in one form or the other. If you go deep in to the past, the first moment in the being is the moment of conception. And by the same logic, the last moment will be the moment of death.

Desire has the power to achieve anything, but where from the desire crop up? The moment desire is identified, you can act; but before this moment, where from it emerges? What is the origin?

Vedic Conception of Sound in Four Features - PARA, PASHYANTI, MADHYAMA, VAIKHARI.

(Originally published in "Tattva Prakasha" Volume 1, Issue 7; available online at. www indiadivine.org/)

The origin of sound is described in four stages as below. The origin of the desire can be considered to follow the same path as sound. (Replace the world 'sound' with the word 'desire')

Para. (परा) - Para is the transcendent sound. Para means highest or farthest, and in this connection it indicates that sound (desire) which is beyond the perception of the senses. On the stage of para there is no distinction between the object and the sound (desire). The sound contains within it all the qualities of the object.

Pashyanti. (पश्यन्ती) - Pashyanti is the second level of sound (desire), and is less subtle than para. Pashyanti in Sanskrit means "that which can be seen or visualized". This sound is intuitive and situated beyond rigidly defined concepts. On the stage of pashyanti, speech (desire) is intuitively connected to the object. There is near oneness between the word and the experience described. Pashyanti is the finest impulse of speech. The seat of pashyanti is in the navel or the Manipur Chakra. When sound goes up to the naval with the bodily air in vibratory form without any particular syllable, yet connected with the mind, it is known as pashyanti.

MADHYAMA (मध्यमा) VAIKHARI (वैखरी) - Vaikhari is the grossest level of speech (desire), and it is heard through the external senses. When sound (desire) comes out through the mouth as spoken syllables it is called as vaikhari.

Madhyama is the intermediate unexpressed state of sound (desire), whose seat is in the heart. The word Madhyama means "in between" or "the middle". Madhyama refers to mental speech (desire), as opposed to external audible speech. It is on this level that we normally experience thought.

In the manifestation process, after sound (desire) has attained the form of pashyanti, it goes further up to the heart and becomes coupled with the assertive intelligence. At this point it manifests itself in the form of vibratory mode madhyama. Only those who are endowed with discriminative intelligence can feel this.

Illustration – In case of desire of food the stage wise description could be as follows

.

Para: -       From no desire stage to the generation of some impulse of restlessness.

Pashyanti: - Search for the cause of the impulse, search indicates the feeling of hunger, say breakfast.

Madhyama: – Self talk viz. what type of food is preferable within the available   options? What do I prefer out of 4-5 options?  Shall I go for veg sandwich?

Vaikhari: –    You reach a restaurant and order for the veg sandwich. This is the expression of the desire.

Here we see the stage Para is the starting point of the emerging desire. We defined Para as: “From no desire stage to the generation of some impulse of restlessness”. In order to probe further let us see how one reaches this impulse-stage - ‘pre-Para’?

This will be the subject for next article.

Vijay R. Joshi