As humans, we take birth, we live and we die. This is the cycle of life. As the spirit takes on new clothes and eventually discards them, we experience life from so many different perspectives. Life can be enjoyable, it can be painful and anything else in between. As for everything in nature, we humans are part of the cycle of nature that grows, flourishes, fades and eventually dies. However, as humans we differ from animals and plants in many regards. Indeed, humans have a much larger range of possibility while alive on Earth. Our free will is not as limited, there is so much more we can experience. We have the power to do the best things but also the worst things.  

Whilst being born as a human is clearly a blessing, there are obviously limitations we all experience as humans. When someone is born, they will sooner or later experience disease, aging, decay and death. It is my opinion that life on this planet is short, and understanding its unfoldment and purpose is vital for anyone who seeks inner peace and advancement. The mind has a hard time retaining its contentment if we do not seek the truth. 

The mind is the bridge between the body and the spirit. It is a very important entity. It is a natural tool that is at our disposal. Like any tool, it can be useful but it can also be dangerous if not understood properly. It can be dangerous in the same way a knife will be dangerous in the hands of a reckless child. This is why in my view, understanding the functioning of the mind and its relation to human consciousness is key to understanding ourselves and life as a whole.

 

 We perceive the world through the 5 senses. We see, we hear, we touch, we smell and we taste. What is experienced through the 5 senses is filtered through the mind. This is one of the reasons why the mind is often called the 6th sense. Whatever it is that passes through our senses is then stored in the mind. This is where we, consciously or not, decide whether whatever it is we are experiencing is pleasurable, painful or anything else in between. Those experiences can be called impressions. We have a very large number of impressions and they shape our views on the outside world. The impressions we have at the moment were with us before we were born and remain with us when we leave this world. 

From the moment a baby is born, their minds are not blank. That being has already experienced many lives, and as a result they already have a very wide range of likes and dislikes. Those impressions are a sum of desires and repulsions they have accumulated over time. It is the result of their karmas. In others words, it is the result of their actions from past lives that are bearing fruit in the present one. The circumstances in which the baby is born are also due to their karma. A great way to understand this is to understand that to take any action, there is a need for an inner drive to occur before that action can be undertaken. An action starts in the mind before any physical act can be done. As a result, it is logical to say that our destinies are built by the desires in our minds and hearts. We will pursue what we like or what our minds are attached to, and we will move away from what we dislike or what our minds are detached from.  

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Our minds and hearts drive actions and in return those actions affect our consciousness. This is the inner cycle of actions and consequences. Just like our lungs get fed on the air we breathe, our mind is fed through the impressions it receives, which are obviously not always good. Regardless of what it is our mind considers good, it is in its nature to desire. Desires are the result of the mind’s impressions.  

The chaos we are all witnessing in ourselves and in the world at large is a byproduct of the desires in our minds. The disagreements and conflicts we go through amongst each other arise because our views of the world and of different situations differ. When the mind is disconnected from what is inherently naturally right, it becomes, selfish, confused, cruel and simply dark.

 

The mind is the bridge between the body and the soul. Our current society is set up to clutter that sacred bridge between our body and the Divine within by attacking and dispersing our most important asset : our attention. Our attention directs our mind, it directs our life and it must be trained properly. It is the root of freedom and freedom is the goal of life. Divine lives within all of us but as long as the soul is submerged in the ignorance of our minds, there cannot be real lasting peace, neither on the individual level nor on the collective level. In other words, if our minds do not turn away from material desires, we will keep living in a divided society of fake religion and atheism where the system controls the value of currency and therefore controls people’s time and buying power. Life without Divine at the centre is a life of modern slavery. Divine is life. Without life, there is just misery, gloom, decay and death. 

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The solution is quite simple. We must train our mind and attention to focus on Divine. The path of spirituality is about the inner severance from misery and the unyielding determination to seek Divine born from a heart which categorically refuses to be depressed. The mind has set itself into internal loop like patterns which creates our limited views of the world. Spirituality is about breaking free from those false beliefs and impressions. In other words, it is about purifying the mind. It is about clearing the path to Divine. The spiritual journey is an inner journey to reach Divine. It is about discriminating between matter and spirit. Our mind and senses are accustomed to assigning meaning to appearances that are limiting to true perception. The goal of spirituality is to understand and embrace the fact that matter and spirit exist interchangeably whilst only being attached to one of the two. Divine is the conscious force that enjoys both pleasure and pain in the same way because it experiences it from the spirit’s perspective. The spirit is free and above the tumult of space and time while remaining in the same physical reality of time and space.

 
This is why we often hear about rising above the dualities of this world. It is because it is our duty to have our mind rise above this world and surrender to Divine fully. The triangle of body mind and spirit exists in that way. The body is part of the material world, the spirit is part of God and the mind is the bridge that helps us perceive that the two exist together interchangeably in this world.The mind can see from the perspective of matter and the body and it can also see from the perspective of the spirit, the God within. This is why our attention is so important. It is our choice what we decide to focus on, what will remain important in our minds and what will eventually shape our karma and destiny. 

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When the mind surrenders to Divine, the shallower aspect of what we tend to refer to as our personality disappears little by little. In other words, our likes and dislikes fade away as the material world leave us more and more indifferent. The spiritual practitioner is left indifferent regardless of the fate of his bank account, family and social life, career, status etc. He does not live for that which the world desires. He is incorruptible because the world can offer nothing he is after. His mind is sharply focused on the soul and every time it sways away from it, the sage’s attention brings the mind back to the soul where it belongs. Instant by instant, the mind longs for the spirit more and more. This is the right kind of greed. This is the poetry of the journey back home, the story of remembering who you are underneath the veil created by your desires.

 
The best way to focus the mind and attention is the practice of mantras. A “mantra” is a Sanskrit term that simply refers to “a tool for the mind”. Chanting a mantra repeatedly internally or out loud, helps the mind focus on the content of the mantra. In other words, chanting the names of God is the key to fully engross one’s consciousness in the Divine and eventually attain freedom from the  cycle of birth and death.

 
Divine is made of many shades and colours. It has an infinite number of archetypes expressed through humans, animals, plants and the rest of nature. Through genders, races, continents and so much more, Divine expresses itself in the material world, it is up us to realize the extent of its beauty and power. In my experience, the Vedic texts are the richest written resources we currently have at our disposal to study and understand those archetypes of Divine that live within all of us. Indeed, in the historical books of the Ramayan and the Mahabharat, we learn so much about the purpose of life, the laws of the universe and the nature of Divine. Those writings tell the tales of past incarnations of Divine named Rama and Krishna respectively. While those stories are thousands of years old, they still hold tremendous relevance today. They help us understand the  way of Divine and provide endless seeds of spiritual inspiration. 

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