The hammer on our delusions, Moha Mudgara continues with three spiritual instructions by Sri Anandagiri, disciple of Sri Adi Shankaracharya. The verse gives ways to tame our thoughts, emotions and perceptions. The practices are—at least study a little bit of the Bhagavad Gita every day.
Once in a lifetime, take a reverential dip in the holy Ganga and sip its purifying waters. At least a little bit, think about the supreme power of the universe that is an enemy of the ignorance of our true self.
The Bhagavad Gita is a text that contains precise steps for integrity of body, mind and intellect. The first six chapters speak of the yoga of action. Karma Yoga shows the way of functioning in the world, fulfilling our desires through action. However, there is renunciation of the idea that I am the doer of the action and the enjoyer of the results. The doer of the work is that supreme force and the ultimate experiencer of the results too is that supreme force only.
The next six chapters of Bhakti Yoga speak about the supreme power of the universe, its individual and collective manifestations and how to connect with that power through love.
The last six chapters of Jnana Yoga separates for us the different contents of the individual human being—physical body, mind, intellect, breath, objects of the world and the seer of all this, the different qualities and different types of faith. Chapter 15 talks about that one popularly used word-letter “I”—the Uttama Purushah or the supreme self.
The water of the Ganga comes from the core of the earth’s being at Gomukh and spreads through the whole Indo-Gangetic plain to reach the Ganga Sagar at the Bay of Bengal. The river is considered purifying because, from time immemorial—great masters have lived, meditated and chanted on its banks and blessed the river with their presence.
Thinking about God a little bit at least—either through a song of praise, a word of prayer, visit to the temple, contemplation, meditation on the form and listening to the stories, exploits and feats of God—brings the mind to a meditative state.
What happens if one does these three things daily in life? Even for a little bit, such a person will have no confrontation or conflict with Lord Yama, the God of Death. Conflict with Yama means the mind is not steady enough to accept what it sees, hears, tastes, smells, touches or the emotions it feels and the thoughts it gets. The mind is ever in conflict by facing the impacts from the world outside. When these three simple practices are undertaken, the restless and ravaging mind becomes quiet and folds within into the intellect, which is in close contact with the supreme truth and hence content and single pointed. Then, the million desires, thoughts, words and actions that rattle a human being have no chance for expression. There is only one thought at work—unity, integrity, divinity, wisdom, joy, bliss or contentment.
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