Ancient Scriptures for the Modern Mind

By K Narayan

Over the years the interpretation of scriptures has been ritualistic, divisive and worse, in the recent past, bordering on commercialization. As a result the analytical and rationale seeking modern mind has remained disinterested with the subject and reluctant to pursue the teachings contained therein. The true intent of the scriptures, on the other hand, is to help the mind tide over the ever existent turmoil within, through sensible teachings brought out in dialogues between inquisitive, questioning disciples and patient masters. An intent which has sadly remained isolated from the modern mind.
This book is an attempt to recast and unfold in a simple manner some of the beautiful and common sense filled messages of Vedanta or the culmination of the ancient Indian scriptures. Messages, which have been tirelessly postulated by seers of the yore and the present, solely to help the modern mind break away from the shackles of despair towards a purposeful, fulfilling and happy life.
The references made in the book include the Upanishads, Bhagvad Geeta, Bhagvata Purana and other inspiring anecdotes from the lives of the spiritually evolved.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Partridge Publishing India
• Release date: May 15, 2015
• ISBN: 9781482847659

K Narayan

He has written various articles in Hindi on the teachings of Vedanta or the end of the Vedas and its relevance in the modern day. He is also involved independently in initiatives for providing education for the underprivileged.

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Copyright © 2015 by K. Narayan.

ISBN:      Softcover      978-1-4828-4766-6

                eBook         978-1-4828-4765-9

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CONTENTS

About The Author

Chapter 1 Mind The Mind

Chapter 2 Our Chariot

Chapter 3 The Temple Riddle

Chapter 4 The God Demon Story

Chapter 5 Casting The Castes

Chapter 6 Fairness Of The Fairer Sex

Chapter 7 The Emotion Behind Devotion

Chapter 8 Karmayog Ki Kunji - I

Chapter 9 Karmayog Ki Kunji (Contd.)

Chapter 10 Don’t Worry Be Happy

To all the known and unknown seers who have tirelessly brought out the ancient wisdom of scriptures for the well-being of humanity

To my father who opened the window of the scriptures to me

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Narayan is an executive in a Public Sector Company and lives in Delhi with his mother, wife and son. Besides a Mechanical Engineering degree, he also holds a Masters in HR management. He has travelled widely both within India and abroad.

An avid reader of ancient Indian philosophy, he has written articles on the teachings of Vedanta or the end of the Vedas and its relevance in the modern day. He is independently involved in social initiatives for upliftment of the underprivileged.

CHAPTER ONE

MIND THE MIND

‘Mind the class’ – many of us may have been told as children by trusting teachers who left the classroom for a while. ‘Mind the Head’ is often a warning written on the low roof to be heeded by the taller amongst us when climbing down the stairs to some basement shop probably in an attempt to repair our 20k mobile for 200 Rs. ‘Mind the Gap’, the automated voice in a Metro cautions as we plan to step out of the coach. ‘Mind your language’ we may have been warned when indulging in a verbal assault with our elders & peers and of course not to be forgotten ‘Mind your business’ is the rejoinder we get for needless indulgence in another’s affair.

So many things to mind! But what is it that is used for minding? Obviously it is our mind. The mind, which is probably the fastest mover known to us - for not only does it travel places, but also across time with consummate ease. Mind, the hardest worker, for it continues to toil, not only when we are awake but also as we dream. The mind – full of memories of the past – some pleasant some unpleasant while brimming with aspirations & anxieties about the future. The mind, which can play games, make us shiver with fear in a harmless situation but at the same time embolden us in the face of adversities.

How does the mind really manage all this – we may wonder. But probably a more pertinent question would be – does it really end up managing? Unfortunately we go through our lives either never asking this question or evading an answer to it. An answer, if one were to think clearly, would in most probability be that it does try but falls short. And that’s where we fail to realize or acknowledge the problem. Ironically we spend our life time pursuing all sorts of things with an ever resonating prayer – ‘All I want is some ‘peace of mind’ and end up, more often than not, only receiving someone else’s ‘piece of mind’.

Human existence is multidimensional. We have a body which we attend to without fail – can’t say we always care for it, but attention is always there. We bathe it, nourish it and either out of passion or compulsion try to fix it by exercising. Some of us are proud of it and others a bit ashamed. Whatever be the case an answer to the commonest query ‘How are you’ is answered with respect to the body more often than not. So if the answer is ‘I am doing great’ it normally means we are not beset with any ailments. Otherwise responses such as – Well down with a flu, ‘The knee is bad’ etc get elicited. Ownership of the body is therefore unquestioned to the extent that ‘I’ is the body. So the mind is very much fixated with our body and to some extent body of our near & dear ones – the second part for a variety reasons depending on stage and age of our life.

Then come the senses. Is there any need to bring out importance of these five brats of our body. Now their reference as brats is not because there is anything inherently wrong with them. It’s just the way we make our body pander to their needs – many times at the cost of the former’s peril. How else can one explain the continued consumption of sweats by a diabetic, our yearning to stay put beside a speaker dishing out some blaring beats, or use of that strong body spray to the point of giving us a headache. Similarly numerous eyes are becoming irritable thanks to the hours spent watching that awesome groovy clipping on the YouTube on the tablet. Last but not least of course the sense of touch – which excites or agitates us to the point that we lose track of everything else, including our common sense. Not only do we own our senses, our ownership extends to objects which interests it.

Next to the body and senses of course come our possessions. These could be both animate and inanimate. Whatever they are – they become unquestionably ours. So ‘my dad’ is a top cop and mom is a top, class cook! Well it could also be the other way round. My brother is a bore or my friend is fun. When we get married or are in a relationship, all attention shifts to the loving or irritable partner and when we have kids – its unquestionably our possession so we talk ‘of my daughter having my blood’. As one may have noticed its’ always ‘my’ something. Same concept applies for our possession – ‘My house is smaller than my neighbours but hold on my car is bigger’, ‘My bank balance is ….. well won’t divulge its too sensitive’. Possession also extends to the non-material.

The perceived possessions are what ignite my ‘ego’, another critical dimension of ours which we often confuse with our mind. So its ‘my performance’ in the school function or while making the power point presentation in office or for that matter in bed which is a source of elation or disappointment. The state of happiness or misery is often solely linked to whether our ego is satiated or hurt. Now it has to be understood here that ego is not just pride, it could also be the other extreme i.e. utter lack of self-esteem. Ego is not about the type of thoughts we cultivate, but that we focus those thoughts in comparing our attributes & possessions with the rest of the world.

A fourth dimension is the intellect. Now this guy is a confused well-wisher. No doubt there is rationality in this buddy of ours, which can extricate us from emotional upsurges. However, he is also diffident to help us out. Intellect is normally used to help us accumulate knowledge on our surroundings – be it studies in school or information in workplace. Use of intellect is mainly associated with progress in life and profession. So today when we have a seminar of intellectuals, it is about meeting of knowledgeable and well informed individuals, no doubt, - but more often those who end up giving their solicited and unsolicited views on every place, thing and person around. More often than not level of intellect is weighed in terms of your degrees. "Oh, PhD in Finance – this guys a real intellectual. On the other hand that business man a tenth grade dropout just has lots of finance but no intellect!" Conventional intellectual in today’s ‘I have to dominate’ world has a big risk of falling into the trap of going on an ego trip developing a haughtiness totally missing out on one of the basic truth that the ancient scriptures have proclaimed which is:

‘Knowledge gives Humility’.

So true because as we come to know we also realize that there are many things we don’t know. A fact which has been echoed by one of the greatest intellects of our modern times Albert Einstein who frankly admitted:

‘What is my knowledge compared to my ignorance’

All the same the intellect is one aspect of our existence which is ever giving us hope of redemption. Scientists have recognized that this is the aspect which separates us from the animals. All other forms of existences have a brain only to execute the functions which are a biological necessity – usually limited to stomach downwards. We, on the other hand, have a choice to decide what to do. The intellect can guide the mind to think in a certain way and hence is like a key to open a locked up mind. Probably where we end up faltering is unlocking it at the wrong end. So today it is not unnatural for an intellectual to suffer a nervous breakdown!

Hey thought the name of the Chapter was ‘Mind the Mind’ and we have been talking of everything other than the mind – strange know? But that’s just the point. We spend so much time dwelling on all other aspects of our existence – except the one which is centric to all, which is the mind. The mind, which can make us feel healthy even when beset with ailments, which can master and quell the craving of our senses, which can conquer and incapacitate false perception of ego and which can by becoming a sincere student to a positive intellect learn to move ahead towards a perpetual state of happiness regardless of what happens outside to ‘us’ or ‘ours’. And it is this mind with such great potentialities that we forget to mind, instead preferring to have it in a bind of all other people/place/things/events & cribbing about the same for an eternity.

But how do we Mind the Mind. This is probably where the modern mind can learn from the ancient scriptures – which tirelessly postulate the need for a human being to understand first and foremost this fascinating facet of existence over which we have unquestioned control to the exclusion of all others, yet which we unfortunately ignore as we try to control everything else which are at the end of the day simply not in our control!

A simple experiment will help us understand the fickleness of our mind. Let us just sit silently in a room devoid of any distractions, close our eyes duly ensuring there are no mosquitoes (tough in this country but still possible!) or creaky fans to distract us. Let us now just sit and observe our mind and its thought process. We will find that it will pick up some memory or future expectation. Then it will build a beautiful chain of thoughts. For instance it could start with our plans for an unfinished assignment we need to complete in office. From that it may come to the thought of our colleague who is with us on the project, then what he told us about a common friend, how that common friend has been behaving with us, how this behaviour can be changed for the better, but how he will react if we were to ask him to change thereby spoiling our relationship and so on and so forth. Now cut back to the present & we would suddenly find that state of mind has suddenly become disturbed without the protagonists having uttered a single word in actual to us. So much of expectations, worry and even dislike generated out of nothing & going back to nothing. In the end just a time pass. And the best part is that we were actually attempting during the whole process to influence the thoughts of another individual wherein we are even not sure what is his take is on the whole matter!

In the scriptures, there is this story of a miserly Brahmin whose wealth was unlimited but kept hidden from all including his kith and kin. Undoubtedly he is unpopular and so when one day thieves steel his booty, family finds no reason to stick by him. Poverty stricken he wanders around the world. Adversity makes him turn his attention inward towards his mind. As he stills it through constant contemplation of its presence, he realizes how it was wandering outside and craving to hoard what was not his thereby being beset with worry. Thereupon dawns the realization that happiness is the state of the mind. Earlier he was miserable while having everything & now he is contended while having nothing. There then takes place the Bollywood saga of a series of trials and tribulations bringing in more misery to our hero. But where the story differs from the usual tear jerker is that it is not some super hero or demigod who comes and saves him, neither does his family rediscover its love for the fallen patriarch. It is instead his resilience on the new found belief that the cause of misery cannot be his persecutors, nor any divine wrath nor his destiny but simply the mind. So he endures the travails with an undisturbed serenity and the problem ceases to be a problem!

This story from the Bhagvath Purana can be our story devoid of its drama. A Brahmin (please forget the conventional caste connotations) is one who’s in search of bliss – a search to which we can all associate and which as per scriptures is found in truth. Despite being endowed with all faculties to help us