A rotation that will keep you at peace

DNA, 2nd May, 2010

H.H. Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

There is always happiness and sadness following through the mind, appearing and disappearing. We need to regularly clean the mind of its impurities

Our life is governed by three gunas (subdivisions): satwa, rajas and tamas. When satwa increases, awareness, knowledge, wisdom, happiness, joy, evenness, calmness, all these increase in life. When rajas increases, restlessness, desires, and craving begin. It brings a little bit of sadness too. And when tamas reigns, dullness, sleep, dejection and lethargy surface.

These three gunas rotate in life. In the same day sometimes you will feel satoguna rises or tamoguna rises at a particular hour and at a particular time rajoguna rises. Have you noticed this? Even when you are sitting in meditation, a few moments of satoguna will come up and you feel very good. And a little later, rajoguna starts, followed by tamoguna and you feel a shift in your energy. The reverse also happens. Sometimes first tamoguna starts and when you push through it, satwa increases. Then you feel better.

So when such cycles happen in life, the wise person does not get shaken. When tamoguna or satoguna comes, he stays calm. He just let things be as they are and sees that he is beyond them. By just knowing this, he can peacefully witness the rising and falling of the satoguna, rajoguna, or tamoguna. He also knows that the presence of any one of these gunas will affect his state of mind, and therefore he must 'bathe' his mind.

To cultivate existential understanding within ourselves it is essential to 'bathe' our mind.

You wear good clothes when you go out. The clothes could be new or neatly ironed; either way, you wear them and go out. What happens then? The clothes become dirty and you have to wash them. Similarly you bathe and apply scent all over your body. How long will the scent stay? It will stay for the little while. Then you again have to take bath the next day. You have to bathe again to maintain your cleanliness.

Our mind is also similar to this. As you bathe your body, you have to bathe your mind also. Sometimes you may have to bathe the same evening. If it is a very hot summer then you may need to bathe two or three times. If it is winter, bathing the next day will be sufficient.

Nobody says that they will bathe only if there is dirt. Nobody continually sniffs themselves to decide whether or not to have a bath, whether we smell or not. Whether our body is dirty or clean, we bathe everyday. Similarly, nobody will wait until the whole cloth is covered in dirt and then decide to wash it.

Assume that your hand becomes muddy, and tar is stuck to it. Do you sit crying? No. You immediately go and wash your hand by applying soap. If the dirt is too stubborn and does not go away easily, you continue to scrub and scrub and wash it. You come away satisfied that your hands are clean. Suppose your hands are stained with the deep colours or charcoal and it takes at least two days for the colour to go away but still you continue your efforts without calling it quits, and without spoiling the peace of your mind.

Similarly, the mind is constituted in the same way. There is always happiness and sadness following through the mind, appearing and disappearing. We need to regularly clean the mind of its impurities. And meditation helps. Meditation diminishes rajas and tamas from one's system and helps in raising satoguna. It lets go of all the anger from the past. Meditation is accepting this moment and living every moment totally and with depth. Sit down and meditate for a while, do pranayam, bhajans and prayer. Watch the mind, you will see that it gets washed and becomes clean once again.