OVERVIEW Make the Mind Mt. Kailasa

OVERVIEW Make the Mind Mt. Kailasa AEONS Ago A CLosE FRIEND, A Delhi University topper, no less, was expected to follow the career trajectory as designed by his august family. It was widely expected that the astute, quick-witted and strapping youngster would successfully ascend the bureaucratic ladder of the Indian Administrative Services. Then came a consequential and noteworthy point in his life; he was to listen to the noted environmentalist Sunderlal Bahuguna at a seminar. The disquisition of the ecologist transfigured his mind. He then chose to alter gears and plunge headlong to protect the environment from degradation and denudation by capricious destructors. He chose to join the Chipko movement of the singular conservationist Shri Bahuguna and subsequently launched a similar movement called the Appiko movement in Karnataka to protect the Western Ghats, much to the chagrin of his family. The stripling was expatriated by the family. Undaunted, he began his voyage to protect the environment by paying obeisance to Lord Shiva at Mount Kailasa. The snow peaked Mount Kailasa is the source for preeminent xiv | Make the mind Mt. Kailasa rivers such as the Sutlej, the Indus, the Brahmaputra and the Karavali. The mountainous range is also the cradle of principal religions such as Bon, Buddhism, Jainism and Hinduism. The mettlesome youngster gazed at the peak with gratitude and his eyes welled up with tears. Thereupon, he circumnavigated the 52-kilometre Mansarovar Lake. The valorous mind comprehensively squelched indecision to execute the quest triumphantly. At any moment, the human mind is either addicted to irresoluteness or can breach the fortress of uncertainty as it embraces challenges. At the root of the irresolute mind are eight negative emotions – attachment, entanglement, lust, obsession, greed, jealousy, anger and arrogance: emotions that ensnare the human mind. When the mind is in the grip of these antipathetic feelings, Sisyphean thoughts subsume the thinking process and we are unable to stave off dispiriting attitudes. There is a unique process in the Happiness Programme of the Art of Living, wherein participants are guided to bow down to the four directions to surrender these negative emotions. Bowing down to the angels of the east, we are freed from attachments and entanglements; we let go of lust and obsession by bowing down in the direction of the south; greed and jealousy are purged by surrendering them to the angels of the west; while a mind caged by anger and arrogance is freed by surrendering to the angels of the north. This efficacious process has a salutary impact on the mind, and regular and continuous practice makes the mind a robust entity, brimming with positive thoughts, and humans become productive instruments in the hands of the Divine. Humans, more often than not being unable to separate chaff from the grain, the swathes of the human mind is filled with Overview | xv the cobwebs of demonic and mephitic thinking patterns and is unsuccessful in achieving deliverables. Clarity of thought and vision gets blurred and the pristine colours of the VIBGYOR: violet, indigo, blue, green, yellow, orange and red get obfuscated and eclipsed by dreary black and dark clouds. What should be done to extricate oneself from gloom-ridden and fatalistic tendencies? We need to embark upon this journey to make the mind a liege. An analogy can be drawn with the resilient and towering peaks of Mount Kailasa. There are several techniques which can make the mind as impenetrable and inviolable as Mount Kailasa. This is the bestowal from the cradle of the religions that mushroomed in those very lofty peaks. These include yoga, pranayama, breathing strategies, meditation, observing and maintaining silence, Tibetan Buddhism, Vajrayana Buddhism and Vipassana breathing techniques. The unshrinking youngster overcame familial consternation and his own trepidation by unflinchingly practising Vipassana breathing techniques as he combatted challenges posed in the unchartered territory of protecting the environment. Be it the peaks of the Himalayas or the vertex and spire of the Western Ghats, he sheltered and protected the flora, fauna and foliage with an enigmatic smile and mirth. He was to realise that some people smile because they know that smiling is easier than explaining the pain a person feels within his self. Another friend, after languishing in obscurity for several years due to chronic sciatica, which had incapacitated her movements considerably – causing her to lose out on professional and social satisfaction – firmly decided to fortify and steel her mind to upend the pyramid. xvi | Make the mind Mt. Kailasa She resolutely decided that wallowing in suffering only begets more distress and hardship and one never seems to locate and identify the proverbial light at the end of the tunnel. In an audacious move, she boarded a train to Munger and enrolled in a course at the Bihar School of Yoga. The school was established by Swami Satyananda Saraswati circa 1963 and draws its source and inspiration in the historical compilation of yogic and spiritual sciences from the ancient Indian scriptures. Upon completion of the course she joined a group of fellow travellers to visit Mount Kailasa. The discomfiture caused by the debilitating pestilence of sciatica had eased considerably. A few of her compatriots advised her not to be foolhardy and to abandon the trip. But the woman had firmly resolved in her mind and embarked on the journey. The friend broke down as she gazed at the majestic peak of Mount Kailasa and the Mansarovar Lake. She bore the brunt of the pain and circumnavigated the 52-kilometre stretch of the lake. “I completed the journey, clouds wafted across the azure blue sky and when I gazed in gratitude at the Kailasa, I could see the images of Ganesha and Lord Shiva seated in deep meditation,” she narrated the extraordinary experience to me. Her mind too became resolute, robust, rugged and developed a rare sapid as lofty as the peaks of the pristine Mount Kailasa.