ALPRAX AND FLUDAC - An Impatient and Restless Mind

ALPRAX AND FLUDAC - An Impatient and Restless Mind

Human mind is perpetually screaming from within and without. It seldom pauses to watch the rainbow in the sky, wafting clouds or a brood of hens crossing across the road. We fail to notice a cow regurgitating, a cat meowing or a kite soaring into the sky.  

Do we observe the antics and pranks of the animals in a zoo, deer in their park or a sanctuary with mindfulness?  Or do we exhibit our narcissistic tendencies by taking selfies with the estimable gizmos at our disposal. Instead of admiring and appreciating the pranks of the playful cubs of the lion in zoo, our mind meanders to some event which occurred in the past or prospective plans for the future. The mind swings like a pendulum between the past and the future and is seldom in the present.

During an overseas trip at the dinner table, a family of four gathered to carouse and partake a gourmet meal. They hardly ate mindfully, gobbling down as if it was the last supper. Parents in unison berated children for the purported clumsiness at the table and ungainly behaviour.

Years ago, the head of the family was working in a prominent company which marketed tobacco and other associated products. He got hooked on to cigarettes which took a severe toll of his health. He developed hypertension and suffered from myocardia infraction. The restless and distressed mind became prone to anxiety attacks. Doctors treating the youngster were compelled to administer Alprax and Fludac . It was a disturbing sight for his wife to arrange for the daily dosage of anti-depressants and Prozac.

Upon recovery, the impatient and   fidgety mind once again began smoking and drinking, till the habits became quotidian. This became deleterious for the self, his wife and family.  However, he could rally around through the prayers of his wife, the fellowship of Alcoholic Anonymous and practising the rhythmic of Sudarshan Kriya as taught in the Art of Living.

The couple would find solace and commiseration listening to the haunting tunes of Simon and Garfunkel, especially the soulful number Sounds of Silence-

‘Hello darkness my old friend

Ive come to talk with you again

Because the vision softly creeping

Left its seeds while I was sleeping

And the vision that was planted in my brain

Still remains

Within the Sounds of Silence’

Tears welled up in their eyes and they were suffused with efficacious thoughts as they listened to the number. The mind was less agitated and they could meditate and cogitate on the pearls of wisdom of the lyrics.

But the mind of the head of the family could achieve only partial normalcy, peace and relaxation were once again ensnared by the Scylla and Charybdis of avarice and desires and sucked in the cesspool of antipathetic thoughts.  Mara always lurks in the corner to unleash his arsenal of demonic thoughts whenever humans attempt to establish equanimity, equipoise and equilibrium in their life.  This is the Chitta / nature of the mind. It keeps on wavering constantly.

Once two Buddhist tutees in a monastery looked at a flag fluttering in the gush of winds. The senior surmised the flag was moving from north to south, while the junior felt it fluttered from the west to east. They squabbled incessantly with not arriving at any plausible conclusion. Soon the Zen Master arrived at the scene of disputation, and concluded that neither the wind nor the flag moves; it is the mind that moves.  And this quintessential truth could be appreciated only by a robust and mettlesome mind.

 He read this Zen story in a magazine and suddenly realisation dawned upon the head of the family like a flash that though he had embarked upon a spiritual path he still possessed an impatient and a restless mind as he did not surrender his EGO to the DIVINE in totality.  In his pursuit of false aggrandisement, he had become a victim of false glass ceilings, which had no aperture to the ultimate truth.

That afternoon a Buddhist Monk spoke at the hotel and expatiated the eternal truths revealed to the world by the enlightened one-

a)     Observe the body (Kayaana Paschana)

b)    Observe the sensations (Vedananu Paschana)

c)     Observe the flow of mind (Chittanu Paschana)

d)    Observe your true nature (Dhammanu Paschana)

The propertied couple attended the discourse and realised that though they had taken steps to assuage the mind, these were only baby steps. The human mind continued to be both the source of sound /noise and with no silence. While they heard the mellifluous rendition by Simon and Garfunkel, they never truly appreciated the import of the lyrics.

Upon returning home, the wife headed for a course in Pranic healing to delve deeper into her inner self   and the husband repeated the Art of Living course and followed it with a ten-day silence course to harness the true reservoir of energy/ prana / chi in their lives.

 They are happy today and sport a smile and not a scowl. Both had their reasons, the husband eschewed dependency on Alprax and Fludac completely and the wife was happy for him. The impatient and restless mind was now reasonably quiet in an attempt to live in the present moment.

This left Mara squirming.