let us rein in our mind and bring it on par with the speed of the working of the world, writes AJIT KUMAR BISHNOI
What mismatch am I referring toIJ This is the speed of our minds and our desires emanating from there, and everything around us. We all know how fast our minds move, rather there is no limit to speed for this faculty of ours, which we know as the mind. Speed of sound or even speed of light is no match for this mind; it reaches Mars before we blink an eyelid. And what about everything around usIJ See for yourself in the following paragraphs.
let us start with human bodies, of which mind is a part. This body takes nine long months to form properly and then only it is ready to come out of the mother’s womb. Even afterwards, it does not gather any speed; it takes almost a year to learn to walk. It goes through several stages of being a child, a youth, a grown-up man, and an old man. All these span several years each.
let us take nature. How long does a tree take to grow fully and bear fruitsIJ How often do monsoon rains comeIJ Don’t they come only once a yearIJ Glaciers form and melt. How fast is the processIJ Climate changes take place. Again, this is a very slow process.
let us take some examples of how our minds move. A son is born and already there are several plans for the boy in the minds of the parents. They have no idea about what he will be like but that does not stop them from making him a software engineer, doctor, etc.
If excessive love, ie no disciplining, has spoiled him, then what happensIJ Some parents wake up and realise what they have done. Now the child must be reformed. Is it possibleIJ Till that happens, whenever it does, if at all, they will be anxious.
Recently, a famous person’s kidney failed and she was candid enough to publically announce it. She informed that she was undergoing dialysis. I am sure the medical authorities must be thinking about transplanting a healthy kidney. Meanwhile, she has to patiently wait and tolerate the pain of regular dialysis.
We can take another example of exploring distant planets. Many countries are sending out exploring devices. As we can understand, these take a long time to reach their intended targets. Meanwhile, the scientists patiently wait and busy themselves in making sure that their exploration vehicles reach the intended destinations safely.
The last example is that of liberation. lord Krishna has clearly stated that this is a matter of several births of being on course. The one desiring this ultimate prize for a soul has to patiently pursue the path shown by God.
So what did we learnIJ That in life, results take time in coming. If we are attached to them, we will be anxious, fearful, etc. We need to have faith in the process. Only then we can be peaceful. Here patience is the most critical factor. It is no wonder that the first quality a leader must have is patience. He or she cannot allow his or her mind to disturb him or her. Yes, in some cases a leader can have better control over the result like E Sreedharan had over the Delhi Metro project, but still there were uncertainties. On the other hand, demonetisation of high value currency has many uncertainties and results will only show how successful it was.
So what did we learnIJ That our thinking cannot change the working of the world. The world will move at its own speed. We must do what we can and wait patiently for the results. We cannot be attached with the result also because we cannot ensure it. The world does have to be in sync with it.
Therefore, let us rein in our mind and bring it on par with the speed of the working of the world. We must remove the mismatch between the speed of our minds and what goes on around us, ie at their natural speeds. Only then we can be peaceful. We must place our trust in the process and go on with our lives. Planning is fine but the mind must be essentially in the present only.
Bishnoi is a spiritual writer and can be reached at spiritual@ajitbishnoi.com