In this Weekly Wisdom, Gurudev shares what happens when you gain and lose control of your own mind and feel divinity in your heart.
Your mind is your greatest friend and your greatest enemy. Your own mind uplifts you and your same mind puts you down. There's no other enemy outside.
When you control your mind
When you’ve trained your mind, that mind becomes a very good friend. And the same mind, which you've lost control over, behaves as an enemy towards you.
The same mind, steeped in habits, starts destroying you. The same mind, which is disciplined, becomes your greatest friend and helps you.
Just imagine your mind. It comes up with all kinds of ideas and thoughts, and you don't have control over it. Very few people do, but you all have a certain amount of control.
To the extent that you control your mind, your mind is your friend. Where you lose control over your mind, then it’s your enemy. People who have lost it—have lost control over their minds.
When you’ve lost control
Whether it's a crime related to society or domestic violence, they're all because people lost control over their minds.
The mind you've lost control over can put you in jail. The mind you have control over uplifts you and behaves like a good friend.
When you’ve won over your mind, in that calm, serene mind, the Divine is imminent.
Whether heat or cold, happiness or misery, praise or insult, you take them with equanimity. It no longer matters whether someone praises you or gets upset and blames you.
Praise and blame become the same because you know they’re just words and opinions that come and then change.
Why be bothered?
So what? Why make a big deal about it? The mind, which is your friend, will make you fly. The mind, an enemy to them, is their problem. Isn't it?
If someone isn't in control of their mind, they'll blame everybody. So why be bothered?
If someone is yelling, shouting, and behaving rudely, what would you say? The person's mind is out of control. Poor guy, he got into the grip of his own enemy. Poor lady, she got into the grip of her own enemy.
There isn't someone else. The enemy is within them. They're suffering. So when you see something like that, whether praise or blame, happiness or misery, you see life is a mixture of those.
People praise you and then blame you. So what? Take it with equanimity.
Divinity in your heart
In the depths of the heart, the Divine, which is everywhere, radiates. When you say God is omnipresent, you seem to exempt yourself. This is our problem today.
We say, “Oh God, you're omnipresent, omnipotent, and omniscient, except me, except myself. You can't give this to me because I'm a sinner.” That's the mistake.
If you say God is omnipresent, He's present in your heart, too. When your mind becomes quiet, when you've won over the mind, then you're quiet and peaceful.
Everyone looks for peace first. Once you're peaceful, God and godliness are there automatically, spontaneously.
Divinity and love simply shine through you.
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Editor’s note:
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