Carefully tend the garden of your mind
When anger and hatred take root in the mind, it brings pain to us and all those around. When love and compassion blossom, the world becomes fragrant
The mind is a flow of thoughts. If there are no thoughts, there is no mind. If we wish to control our mind, we should become aware of our thoughts. We should always be alert about which thoughts to accept and which to reject. If not, they will become the cause of our ultimate ruin.
One day, a grandfather took his grandson to the zoo. There, they saw two lions in two cages next to each other. One of the lions would remain standing peacefully no matter who went near the cage. Even if someone tried to touch it, it would not become angry. It was obvious that the lion had become habituated to the presence of human beings.
The other lion would start to roar as soon as anyone went near. It would try to strike with its paws. Because of this, people would keep away from it. The grandfather asked, “Son, if these two lions were to fight each other, who would win?” No matter how hard he thought, the grandson couldn’t come up with an answer. Then, the grandfather said, “The lion that’s fed more food will win.”
Similar is the case with the thoughts in our mind. If we allow negative thoughts to proliferate, they will become strong. Negative qualities such as pride and anger will fill the mind. They will bring about inner and outer failure.
This indulgence in negative thoughts is the main cause of the violence, injustice and other problems that we see around us today. However, if we plant the seeds of positive thoughts, qualities such as love, compassion and patience will fill our hearts. Peace and contentment will blossom in society.
Often, we are not aware of the rise of thoughts. Weeds flourish where paddy grows. They should be rooted out at once. If not, they will absorb all the fertilizer and destroy the crops. Weeds proliferate very quickly even when we don’t pay any attention to them.
But we should give the crops we have planted sufficient water and fertilizer at the right time. We should spray insecticides to ensure that worms don’t destroy the crops. It is thus necessary to tend them with utmost care and attention. In the same way, negative thoughts will flourish on their own; we don’t need to try. However, in order to cultivate good thoughts, we need to make deliberate efforts.
Love, compassion and patience should become our very nature. Before this can happen, we should clear the weeds of egoism, selfishness, and likes and dislikes from the garden of our mind. We should evaluate each thought mindfully, reject the negative ones, and cultivate the positive ones.
Consider how hurt we feel if someone gets angry with us. For this reason, we should never become the cause of hurt to even one other person. Just as we feel so much happiness when someone behaves lovingly to us, we should be able to give others such happiness, too. If we have this attitude, we will be able to respond appropriately in any situation.
Love, patience and discrimination form the foundation of life. We need these more than learning or earning. If we have them, we will be able to gain everything else. Not understanding this truth, human beings are creating hell on this earth. It is the mind that illumines or darkens the path of life.
Sri Mata Amritanandamayi Devi, known simply as Amma, is a spiritual master and humanitarian who has given her darshan in the form of a motherly embrace to more than 4 crore people. Listening to the cries of the suffering, Amma leads an NGO that reaches across more than 50 countries, working in the areas of healthcare, disaster relief, education, gender equality, and environmental restoration; Views presented are personal.
