The mind oscillates between the past and the future and is seldom in the present moment

The date, is 8th January, a Sunday. The weather was salubrious and after a sumptuous meal, I switched on the Yoga Nidra meditation of Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, slipping into a much-needed afternoon siesta.

Little did I realize, I was neither in a state of stupor or reverie, nor carousing after the sumptuous meal, but in a state of deep rest. Shortly thereafter I headed for a radio show on All India Radio, Rainbow FM, Hyderabad for an interview on my book, The Matter of the Mind. The interview drew warm applause and encomiums. A friend texted on WhatsApp, “Lage raho, Munna Bhai.” As I was surfing through congratulatory messages, my mind meandered to a character in the film Lage Raho Munna Bhai.

The character was Khurana, who upon the advice of a soothsayer wore several rings on his fingers; and the simple Khurana surname became Kkhurana to overcome obstacles in life and ward off the malefic influence of planets. He did not possess an alert or robust mind. So long as desires linger in the mind, it cannot be at complete rest or experience peace. Lord Krishna in the Bhagavad Gita says, “You cannot get into yoga unless you drop the desires or hankerings in you.”

An unwavering and undaunted mind can overcome negative emotions and feelings by applying the principles of the 7Cs of the mind. These are coaching the mind, characterizing it, communicating with consciousness, commitment, and consistency in the mind, calming the mind, besides enhancing contagious positive energy and aura.

There is a saying in the Bible that if we focus on plenty galore, it magnifies, however, if the mind devotes time towards negativity, nature by sleight of hand takes away whatever was provided and we are in a state of privation. This is nothing but the secret of the Law of Gratefulness. The human mind constantly oscillates between the past and the future and is seldom in the present moment. This is the intrinsic character or chitta of the mind. Invariably, the mind gravitates towards self-reproach and moves towards past events in life. It gets encompassed with fretfulness and becomes anxious when it relocates itself to the future.

Now there are different ways to remain in the present, to elevate our consciousness. Individuals can go for long walks and be in communion with nature, footslog on the treadmill or sweat it out by exercising, reading inspirational literature and keeping the company of people blessed with positive thoughts to increase their prana levels. Chinese military strategist Sun Tzu wrote, “In peace prepare for war, in war prepare for peace. The art of war is of vital importance to the state.”

We temporise, exercising only if we put on weight rather than to remain physically fit, students dally to study. The list is endless and in the ultimate analysis, we add liabilities to the balance sheet of life.

Change is inevitable, everything is transitory, and ideologies or thought processes keep altering. However, it is paramount within the ocean churn of change that the mind nurtures a few aspects of life to be consistent. In this age of unabashed aspirations and hankering, these are positive qualities like being grateful to nature or saying a word of thanks, essentially remaining good human beings. If we train ourselves to moor the craft of the mind, to look at the sunshine and radiance with zealousness by religiously practising the first 6Cs, it will automatically be sleeved with contagious positivity, generating an aura of propitious and unalloyed energy, which assumes magnetic properties.

(The writer is the CEO of Chhattisgarh East Railway Ltd and Chhattisgarh East West Railway Ltd and is a faculty of the Art of Living)