Manah Sodhanam -Verse 8

VICARAH  SADHANAM  SRESTHAM  VARNYATE'TRA  YATHAMATI
MAHATTVAM  TASYA  VAI  PROKTAM  KRSNENA  SVAYAMEVA  HI

After listing down the various means of purifying the mind here, in the 8th verse, Manah Sodhanam says that the best way to purify the mind is inquiry. Even Lord Krishna himself has spoken of its greatness.

The basic desire to know about the truth started, atleast for me, due to curiosity. What is the purpose of our life? Isn't this something that we all want to know? Career, money, family, helping the society, excelling in whatever we choose, all these will give temporary satisfaction and a temporary sense of purpose. But obviously, there is a bigger scheme of things that is there -just beyond our grasp. Something that is shimmering out there -like a mirage in a desert, that just makes me want to go near and see if it is truly an oasis or again, just a mirage.

How to figure out what is the purpose of our life? Ok, forget about the big picture. How do we figure out what we like and what we don't like? It all starts with observing our feelings right? Unless we observe ourselves, we will never truly know who we are -at least in a general, outward way. So many times, we expect others to act in the way that is pleasing to us. But don't we first have to start with ourselves? Are we acting in the way that really pleases us? Are we true to ourselves? If we start lying to ourselves, then there can be no happiness...you know why? Because, if we cant make ourselves happy, then no amount of external factors -be it people or things.

The journey of knowing oneself starts with spending a lot of time with ourselves. No, I don't mean we should become complete introverts and loners. It is just that, we need to start paying more attention to ourselves. A bit difficult right? Because, it is easier to find fault with others, give exper advice on how others must lead their lives, chase money, people, experiences -all for that temporary feeling of joy. We don't actually look at our thoughts, words and actions critically and appraise ourselves.

Shedding a little bit of our judgmental selves, consciously shutting ourselves away from mindless activities -like incessant face booking and playing games on the mobile, drooling in front of the idiot box, loosing ourselves in a murder mystery, just paying a tiny bit of attention to what goes on in our mind -this is what inquiry is to me. Sometimes, listening to my mind makes my brain hurt! Seriously! But then, slowly, but surely, the mind kind of shuts up. And then, in that silence, there is so much peace. I hope this is the first step in purifying the mind. Hari Om! 


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