The Amrita Bindu Upanishad begins with a beautiful description of the mind.
The mind is of two types—pure and impure. This is not about an accumulation of dirt from a polluted atmosphere. It refers to the presence of desires which go with a tag of I and I want.
The impure mind is ridden with selfish resolves, while a pure mind is free of any desire.
A thought is like a drop in the mind. The mind is like a river of thoughts flowing at an unimaginable pace.
When all the thoughts have a tag of selfishness to it, like our city waterways that carry a lot of pollutants and wastes discharged from homes, shops and industries, the mind becomes impure. When there is no particulate matter or suspended solids called desire-ridden thoughts, the mind flows free like a mountain stream.
All the stress, tension, worry, anxiety, pain, suffering, hurt and many more emotions we carry these days cause the mind to become impure.
When the thoughts are peaceful, cheerful and happy—it becomes a pure mind.
It is this mind that is the cause for the bondage and liberation of the human being, says the Upanishad. What is bondage? My attachment to objects (thoughts) that spring from five sense pleasures—sight, hearing, smelling, tasting and touching—is the cause for bondage. What is freedom? When there are no thoughts pertaining to the five objects, then it is a free mind.
The number five may sound so small and manageable. The innumerable permutations and combinations of these senses are simply unimaginable. If I like a person, situation or an object, various degrees of pleasures from all these five elements of earth, water, fire, air and space through the five sense organs take place.
Since being free of attachment to different thoughts constitutes freedom, it is the duty of a seeker of liberation to free the mind of its attraction to different objects.
Though the word objects seems like billions of them—in reality they are only five.
Through my ears, I get thoughts that travel with the sound. Being conscious of all that I hear and watching, how my mind reacts to them helps to free me of attachment through the sense of hearing. It could be a particular kind of music, a kind word, gossip, news about world happenings.
To whatever I may have a liking for, the mind gets attached. The Mumukshu is a person whose mind is set on liberation.
Such a person should be ever vigilant and alert to see if the mind is travelling through the sense organs in search of some sense pleasures. This can be either propelled by the impact of the world around us or our own thoughts and memories born of past experiences.
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