Even though many say, soul is different than body and eternal, they do not know its form and place in the body. Many say one should do dhyana (meditation= think of = remember) of God and Soul. But without knowing the form, how can one think about that? If I tell you remember (think of) Mr. X, can you do that without having his complete introduction? So if one just says- think of soul or the Supreme (God), what is the use? It is as good as directing to eat food from an empty plate!
Due to lack of the knowledge of self, everybody’s (including a lazy person’s) mind is trapped in his own body, others body and physical materials. This is like King wandering here and there for satisfaction. Such act can never bring satisfaction. Because wandering is against King’s quality/nature. Hence these negative thoughts (lust, anger, greed, attachment, ego, anxiety, stress) make the mind(soul) tired. This is why even a lazy person also needs sleep of same duration. People, who have less negative thoughts, get good sleep. Others do not get even good sleep!
A driver cannot perform his duty either he is tired OR his car is faulty. Due to the mind being engaged in body, and bodily relations continuously all the time, it(I, the soul) gets tired. (Hence we need sleep daily). This is like the driver(I) getting tired.
Similarly, if a car is forcibly damaged, or not supplied with fuel, driver cannot use the car. Keeping fast for long duration is forcibly making the car(body) weak. In case of some serious diseases, we cannot think (create thoughts in normal manner) normally. This does not imply that mind is part of the food. Actually this is good(needed) thing. Because, during these periods(illness or fasting), body needs complete rest. Unless mind is at rest, body cannot be at complete rest(already explained above). So when the body becomes weak, automatically the soul takes rest; that is mind goes into the real state(peace). Hence the traffic of thoughts is reduced. Hence one becomes unable to think when he is physically tired.
One more thing:- If one argues, “condition of body influences mind. Hence mind is part of body”. Then all should think identically under same conditions! For example, consider many boys are playing football. Many of them fall many times. Some of them cry when they get pain. Some of them do not show pain externally. Some of them do not care such things at all! Why the difference? Mental responses of patients having same degree of illness are not the same. Consider four persons being attacked by gangsters. One person may counter attack; the other may run. Another one may take revenge later. The last one may complain to police. Why such difference under same physical conditions? So it is clear that there is something in the body that takes(considers) all these into account, analyze the situation(discriminates) and takes decision according to its own taste(ego, character, etc). Truth is so simple. Hence the above argument is wrong.
Another important thing:- Today, man does not think about himself(the soul). During the whole day, he thinks about body only, because he is body-conscious. He is not aware of the self(soul) at all. Consider a driver who knows about car only and does not know anything about him. That is- he is not aware of his own sense organs or does not know about drinking or taking food to his stomach. He knows to use all his energy and organs to drive the car only. In such case, if the car becomes faulty, the driver is as good as dead(inactive) or handicapped.
Consider a person who is not aware of his left hand. He will be using his right hand only. His left hand will not be active. In any case, if his right hand gets tired or powerless, the person halts. This does not imply that he has no left hand. He has forgotten or not aware of his left hand. The person should be made aware about his left hand and gradually trained to use his left hand. Similarly when the body becomes weak, mind fails to think (gets disinterest in) material things. Since he does not know about soul, he fails to create thoughts. It does not imply that there are only physical things in nature or mind is made from food.
We all are similar to such drivers. We know only driving(thinking about) the impure body(car).
(Impurity here relates to the
1)body created by lust,
2)Body that continuously emits bad smell(sweat),
3)Body that is trapped under many religions, Hindu, Muslim, etc,
4)Body that is always vulnerable to diseases).
Being unaware of the soul, we do not know to think about the soul(self realization), or the Supreme(God realization).
Those who speak about God also do not know enough about it. Many relate human beings (physical personalities) as God. Eg: SriKrishna, SriRama, SriLakshmi, SriNarayan, Jesus, etc. All of these have human form that is nothing but body.
Some say God has no name and form. Then how and what can mind think!? So, when the body becomes weak, mind gets handicapped, it loses interest in bodily things. So it cannot remember even Srikrishna, SriRama, Jesus, etc., because all of them are physical personalities.
A driver can leave(come out) of the car whenever he wants. But are we(soul) capable of forgetting our body whenever we desire? Suppose, if we were told- ‘Today you should not remember monkey.’ Can we do this? The more we try to forget it, more it disturbs us!. Just see- My mind is totally(completely) mine. Still I cannot control it. How weak we are!
One may be able to control his organs for some time. Eg: If I decide- 1)I should not become angry for next 2 hours, 2)Today I should never drive my car beyond 40kmph. But it is not possible to control mind even for few minutes(perhaps few seconds!). Everybody in this world is caught by ignorance and is a mental patient.
Hathayogis try to control mind by forcible control of body (hatha= by force, not natural, not simple, not easy). They perform rigorous praanaayam(physical and breathing exercises). They cannot control body by easy practice (change in thinking). They concentrate their mind in some parts of physical body itself! The reason is that they do not know form of soul or the Supreme at all! Except mortal, what do they know? Some concentrate on their breath. Air is just physical. Hence their yoga is not real (not spiritual, eternal). It is physical or mortal. Real yoga is the one in which mind is thinking real things (soul-the real self, and the Supreme- God).
One should always try to have relations with his superior if he wants to be better. For example, a citizen should try to get King’s company. A student should bring himself in the company of a learned one, a good teacher. If the citizen brings himself strongly in the company of a beggar, then he is going to lose. Soul is higher than nature or body. So thinking (concentrating) material things or body made of mortal things is of NO USE! That is, the status of the soul cannot be improved (Thinking body created by impurity(lust) will impure the soul naturally!).
One advantage of hathayoga (breathing and physical exercises): An ordinary man has bad habits in life. These hathayogis do not have bad habits. So their state will not degrade as fast as an ordinary person. They enjoy better physical health. But since their life is nivrutti maarga ( sacrificing house, parents, wife, children, etc and living in a lonely place), it is not a model for the society. Not only that- a common man cannot perform all those exercises, especially, ladies and old, handicapped people..
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