Requirements for transformation of Consciousness

A person has the power to perform his actions according to his wish but does not possess the power to get fruits of his labour according to his wishes. When this happens, the person feels demoralized. Humans have the tendency to accept sorrow more than joy and small amount of sorrow seems too big to him. All this is due to MAYA. Due to the effect of MAYA, man considers this sorrowful world as his everything. This lack of knowledge is the cause of his misery. Therefore in order to relieve yourself from this sorrow ignorance has to be removed. Removal of ignorance is possible only when we understand TRUE KNOWLEDGE which is the realization of our soul, we understand the truth and our awareness towards God.

Now the question arises - What is this awareness and how can we acquire it ? To live with awareness is to live in the present , to give our hundred percent to what we do. Awareness is also to be alert and observe things around us without forming opinion about it. Our restless mind is the biggest obstacle in attainment of awareness. Mind influences almost all of our action and behavior. It rejects any form of knowledge . Because knowledge gradually frees us from thought. Freedom from thought means mind loses its existence. This is the reason when we try to discipline our mind, it creates delusion by multiple options, which in turn blocks our progress. If we have to tame our mind and in order to do so first we have to understand its nature. Once the mind is tamed , it becomes the great medium for a person to reach pinnacle of awareness .

Ways to tame the mind and attain awareness:-

1 -   Guidance of GURU :- The soul in which God manifest self, known as the Guru. He has the ability to develop divine power in his followers . Information can be obtained from books but that is a mere collection of facts. The importance of soul lies in the fact that it's the soul of the person that gives expression to his words.

2 -  Faith :- The main problem of Jeev is that he thinks a lot about GOD but faith on God is not very strong.   According to Shri Ramakrishna Paramhans , merely taking God's name or saying formally that it is God's will is not enough . This kind of FAITH is not pure . To develop complete faith until we need to know God and divine rules. Until we know God in true sense , we can not merge ourselves with the divine will. Without accepting divine will from bottom of heart  trust is not pure . Without pure trust we cannot attain God.

       One should never doubt or cross question his Guru's words. Logical or rational mind never helps in attainment of Ishwar. If you trust your Guru, the journey to attain God becomes much easier. One should trust his guru like a child trusts his mother.

3 -  Sacrifice : - God cannot be attained without sacrifice of all impurities of mind. For the arousal of consciousness abandonment of desires is mandatory. When worldly desires are not there, only than attraction towards God develops.  Humans have a natural tendency to seek pleasure. This leads to various kinds of distractions and forms the root of all troubles. By getting involved in worldly activities too much we do not have much energy and time for God.One can not get over from lust and other desires easily and all of sudden.   We have to fight our anger, distractions etc. continuously. This require planned efforts for long time. To make this easy one has to turn the direction of desires towards God.   God is a magnet and humans are an iron needle. If the needle is covered with dirt then the magnet cannot attract it. But if this needle is clean, then it easily gets attracted towards the magnet. God has the power to attract but because of our impurities we are unable to find him. Attraction towards worldly things depends upon the intensity of Sanskaars, which in turn pushes away from God. To detach ourselves from desires we need to develop SATV GUN by going through physical and mental discipline. As we develop our 'Satva Guna' , mind itself becomes reluctant to desires which bind us from the world.

4 -  Practice- Reflecting on the knowledge given by Guru after having resolved all doubts in the mind, is only called contemplation. Even after the disposal of all doubts in the mind, it is not necessary that one acquires knowledge of the entire universe.  To acquire such kind of knowledge, one must constantly focus and practice on the knowledge attained by listening and contemplating.

      As one can be efficient in any worldly lore like music, singing etc after practicing for a long time, similarly one must practice to heed to God.  One must continuously put into practice worship, chanting, meditation etc. There develops an extraordinary power in the mind through practice. As a result of the rise of these powers, much effort is not required in moderating the senses.  After continuous practice, when meditation reaches its highest level, the difference between the soul and the universe is diminished.

5  -   Discipline - It means to perform the determined task on precised terms in a regularly scheduled time.  Chanting mantra, mudra, asana, pranayama, anushthan et al task when performed under the special order and discipline, the process is called as practice. One do not understand the true meaning of the fundamental concept without practice. For example there is butter in milk but one cannot get it just by saying butter. To get butter, first the milk is turned into curd which in turn yields butter on churning. Similarly by conglomerating mind, that is by stabilizing the thoughts which is followed by churning through austerity in the form of churner, God's grace is bestowed on us and due to this grace only, the vision of God is possible.  God's vision cannot be explained to people, for this Satsang or the guidance of the Guru is required alongwith the continuous self indulgence in penance. 

6 -  Prayer- To express our internal desires in front of God is only prayer. This is the first and foremost means to start communication with God.  Faith and strong desire of seeker is the medium to get through the prayer to God. That means stronger the faith of seeker on his deity and more intense the desire to achieve goal, the prayer is completed very soon. Prayer should not only target the achievement of worldly pleasures. When one prays with calm mind with the purpose of achieving God, there develops discretion and quietness within the mind due to which comes purity in deeds and the feeling of dedication is developed towards God.

7 -  Dedication- When the result of every ongoing action performed with absolute concentration and confidence is dedicated to God, such kind of deed does not bind us in any bond. The true dedication of result of deeds is possible only when there is complete faith in Lord and Master as well as by exercise and practice done for a long time.

8  -  Distraction -The best way to God's vision in distraction. Unless and until intense eagerness to seek God does not occur in the heart, there is no liberation from worldly attractions. Such should be a distraction which makes one forget everything and only God becomes the ultimate goal. Just as lovers due to impulse of love forget worldly terms and relationship and they both only care for each other, in the same manner if distraction and love happens to develop towards God, the grace of God is quickly received.

9) Physical Restraint- The most important fact for practice is the restraint of senses. Mind on receiving information through senses followed by combination with desires; get one involved in worthless deeds.

    Restraint of the senses curbs the tendency of mind to escape out/wander and there develops the property of being stable towards single attribute. For the restraint of senses, both physical purity and mental purity has to be taken care off. For the purification of the body, one has to move ahead step by step at these stages: self-control, rules, posture, pranayama, withdrawal of the senses, perception, meditation and mystical absorption.Yama i.e. self control means not to develop greed from mind, words and deeds, violence etc., not to acquire more than needed and so on. Body related rules like daily bath, balanced and plain food etc. falls under the category of rules. In the withdrawal process, introversion of mind takes place thus deterring it from being uncontrolled. Perception means to concentrate our mind only on one subject.

     The practice of all these attributes is required to be done all throughout the life. By doing so, mind becomes competent enough to intake energy developed from the mystical absorption followed by its complete utilization.

10 - Mental Restraint- Irrespective of the feelings, the constant observation of mind and to sustain moderation of thoughts is referred as mental restraint. The thoughts that do not prove to be fruitful, to create a sense of solitariness towards such thoughts and to completely utilize the good values after identifying them, one has to constantly strive for it. Mind repeatedly tries to get distracted by emotional impulses on which control is possible only through will power. To make the will power strong and to discrete the good-bad conscience expressions, timely guidance from holy book and Master is absolutely necessary to receive.

Epitome

    For the advancement of spiritual life, interest in spirituality is must. After having spiritual interest, proceeding on the spiritual path requires well planned ethical preparations. When the mind's attempt to reach God through word and deed, only then success is achieved in this endeavor. There are two aspects of this effort. The nature of first attempt is to develop positive actions and the second nature is to try and keep ourselves at bay from negative deeds. If we worship, do Asana and Pranayam but do not avoid negative deeds, then our mind cannot attain peace. Without calming mind, spiritual knowledge cannot be obtained. Mind constantly imposes a sense of ego which restricts knowledge until it is present. So prior to enlightenment purification of the mind is required. After purification of the mind, it is rather easy to reach God. Having knowledge controls ego. Knowledge cannot be gained only by studying the Vedas and other religious scriptures. There can be perception of God through religious books but a sense of dedication cannot be generated. A sense of dedication in possible only with pure heart.  Until there is our complete dedication, the knowledge of difference between sin and virtue, happiness - sorrow, sacred - profane, good - bad cannot be destroyed. Rise of dedication is possible only after purification of mind by pure deeds under the guidance and direction of the master. When both the master and the disciple are eligible, there is phenomenal rise of the spiritual power. If good seeds are sown in good soil, they yield good crops. On this route, a master who has reached the target, is helpful in the union of the restless soul with the Divine. The master who has concern and has experienced the truth, only he can get us the experience of God in real sense. As to ignite fire, only fire is required, similarly, within which the one who has spiritual spark within, only he can ignite the fire of spirituality in others.

       A worthy disciple has aspiration to achieve the knowledge, confidence and hard work like characteristics. Under the guidance and direction of master, a person should develop introversion, diversion from the outer world and a habit of looking within our self.  Speech, mind and desires should be restraint.  A pupil should constantly struggle to keep his shortcomings through books and the light of the knowledge gained from the master. Constantly striving to improve upon the shortcomings leads to purification of the mind along with development of virtues. The meaning of virtue is the great spirit of man that requires constant effort for development. Because the good virtue vary so much from man's innate tendencies such as the hunger, thirst, anger, fear and sexual desire etc. All these trends prevail right from birth and they do not require use of any specific intelligence. In contrast, for the development of virtue, a person has to continuously strive and practice which is possible only through knowledge and wisdom. Discretion, quietness and devotion to God are the 3 important means to achieve GOD. The fruit of all physical and mental actions is the realization of these three properties only. Discretion yields quietness and detachment from the world generates love towards God. Pure devotion emerges on the love being strong. 

      When Devotion reaches to its peak, God himself introduce us to His own rules and forms and clarifies all doubts. By His grace entire knowledge gets easy to understand. As the height of knowledge is acquired, affinity towards the sensual pleasure keeps on decreasing thereby increasing inclination toward intellectual tasks. The area where intelligence ceases, from there begins the spiritual sphere where one can achieve wonderful enjoyment.

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