Mindset and doubt also leads to assumptions and presumptions which take us completely off track. For example, let us say we meet a friend who asks - “You are looking tired. Aren’t you well?” Though we feel perfectly fine, immediately we begin to think - “Why did he ask me that? Is there something really wrong with me? Will I fall sick now because he said that?” etc. These are all baseless assumptions and presumptions. We are simply wasting our precious mental energy and draining it away by indulging in all this. That is why we should filter when we listen. We should also think carefully before we talk. We should not rub our own mindsets, doubts and superstitions on to others.
Our mindset also works in another amusing way. If we tell somebody - “I am going to tell you a secret. Please don’t tell this to anybody.” Instantly they become all ears. We can be sure of two things - they will never forget what we tell them till the end of their lives and as soon as we leave, our ‘secret’ will hit the public domain. Everybody will soon be talking about our ‘secret’ even if it is hardly worth mentioning. On the other hand, if we talk about the most confidential information very casually, without mentioning that it is a secret, they will forget about it the very next moment.
This is how our mindset about ‘secrets’ works! Devi says - “Remove your assumptions, presumptions, doubts and all your mindsets so that you will enjoy complete mental freedom.” How does mindset curtail our freedom? Most of us are so particular about sitting on the same chair, drinking from the same cup, eating from the same plate and reading the same news paper everyday. Some devotees even want the Satsang to end at a particular time so that they can go home and watch the news on TV. Devi says - “My dear child, first listen to the news about your own life here. You can worry about the other news later.” If we remove our mindsets, we can spread our wings of bliss and soar in the infinite sky of life.
For this we don’t even have to remove all our mindsets - we should just remove the most stupid ones. We must decide which of our mindsets are really stupid.
So, now we know that mindset and doubt lead to superstition. Superstition leads to delusion. Delusion leads to assumptions and presumptions. Assumptions and presumptions lead to total chaos. The higher our education, the greater our mindsets and problems in life. That is why we say - ‘Ignorance is bliss.’ On one hand knowledge is beneficial and on the other it is detrimental. So, we must use our discrimination constantly.
Then our life becomes very simple. We should not think in a complex way because of our past experiences. The more permutations and combinations we try, the more complex our life becomes. We must remember that nine times out of ten, simple thinking works best. Most of us make this mistake.
Many people have lost businesses and huge amounts of money because of their complex thinking and baseless assumptions and presumptions. We should never analyse things too much. We should keep our mind relaxed, but focussed. Our mind is the key to our success. It is like a rope which can be used either to pull us up or strangle us.
Extract from ‘The book of direct truths, subtle truths and the mystical truths of Devi Mahatmyam’ by Shri Shri Nimishananda