A Positive Mind

A Positive Mind - Your Greatest Asset - Swami Chidananda

Radiant Immortal Atman! Beloved sadhaks and seekers! We have been discussing the wisdom of positivism in our mental state as opposed to the folly of negativism. Because, the mental state is the ultimate deciding factor and the antahkarana of the mind and intellect the ultimate deciding ground where your life and the ultimate outcome of your life—its fruition or its frustration—has to be worked out. Outward things are nothing, outward things are a creation of your inward state, and all outward things become nullified or overcome if your inward state is of that nature where it gathers within itself and activates its potentials and begins to become a conquering instrument.

If your interior state assumes “nashto mohah smritirlabdha tvatprasadat mayachyuta; sthito’smi gatasandehah karishye vachanam tava (Destroyed is my delusion as I have gained my memory (knowledge) through Thy grace O Krishna; I am firm, my doubts are gone; I will act according to Thy word),” if this type of robust dynamism comes to prevail in your mind, then there is no power on earth that can stand in the way of you taking your life to its ultimate pinnacle point of perfection and total fruition. This is the simple truth. And if Napoleon declared that there was no word “impossible” in his type of dictionary, he declared a fact, he declared the simple truth. 

We are constantly being faced with new situations, new circumstances. If such a situation is seen, to draw attention to that situation is necessary; otherwise, it cannot be corrected. And to focus our mind on that situation is also perhaps necessary because it sets us thinking. But to lament that situation is incorrect. I would disagree with the wisdom of it, the logic of it, the rationality of it. It is irrational, it is non-productive, it is negative, for it affects all hearers. Not only that, the very purpose of drawing attention to a specific situation is nullified, because to lament that situation demonstrates a basic and essential lack of faith in one’s self, which is not Vedanta, which is totally contradictory to true and classical Vedanta.

Vedanta does not accept even a vestige of hesitation in having this faith: “I am indeed Brahman, I am indeed the Absolute, no other than the Absolute—aham brahmasmi; ahameva’vyayo’nantah suddhavijnanavigrahah, sukham duhkham na janami katham kasyapi vartate (I alone am imperishable, infinite, the form of pure Consciousness, I do not know pleasure or pain or how they can affect anybody); janma mrityurna te chittam bandhamokshau subha’subham, katham rodishi re vatsa. namarupau na te na me (You have no birth, no death, no mind; you have no bondage, no liberation, nothing good, nothing bad; why do you weep, O child. You have no name or form, nor have I any); vedanta sarasarvasvam jnanam vijnanam eva cha, ahamatma nirakarah sarvavyapi svabhavatah (This is the sum and essence of all Vedanta, this is wisdom and knowledge: I am the Atma that is formless, all-pervading by nature).” This is Vedanta.

Vedanta is a clarion call; it is a bold declaration. It is the assertion, the affirmation of a firm conviction, because it is truth. Truth is stronger than anything else, satyameva jayate (truth alone triumphs), and therefore any lamenting of a fact is contrary to the very spirit of Vedanta. Because when a situation is posited and one draws attention to the situation, the motivation should be to offer it as a challenge. Here is the situation, now what are we going to do about it?

“Kshudram hridayadaurbalyam tyaktvottishtha parantapa (Cast off this mean weakness of the heart. Stand up, O scorcher of the foes.)”—that is the call of the Gita. “Nayamatma balahinena labhyah”—that is the declaration of the Upanishads—“This Atman, O seeker, cannot be achieved or attained by the weak, by the negative, by the diffident, by those lacking in self confidence.” That means those who are negative in mentality. A situation is brought to one’s attention and notice so that the person may call forth all the reserves that are within, and there is an infinite power within each one. Immediately call forth these reserves and do the needful in the situation—that is the attitude!

The stuff of each individual is measured by one’s response to the challenge. The attitude which ultimately made Arjuna say: “I am standing up, I have got my bow in my hand, I am ready to fight,” is inherent in all healthy individuals. If you put a riddle before a group of children, they become excited and eager to solve it. They will not leave it until they get an answer. You drag the bleating lamb to the water and ask it to look at its reflection, not for it to continue to bleat like a lamb, but rather for it to roar like the lion it really is. That is the thing needful. There is no other way for a real human being who is made in the image of God, who is Divinity awaiting to be liberated, awaiting to break forth from the shackles that bind one’s infinity and eternity.

That is real Vedanta, and anything other than that is to be rejected as not being part of classical Vedanta. It is to be summarily rejected; it should not be given a place for even one second. Because we are talking about the need, the importance, the wisdom, the indispensable necessity of having a positive, creative, constructive attitude and approach of the mind. That is the key, that is the only thing needful. Everything will be overcome by it, everything will be provided by it whether you are a bhakta or a Vedantin. 

This indeed should be our state of mind. For that only has mind been given. Mind has been given to us in order to conquer everything, conquer maya. And therefore the Upanishads leave no doubt about it. What was the strength of mind of Nachiketas? What was the strength of mind of Markendaya, of Savitri, of Bhagirata, of Mira? What was the strength of mind of all those great ones who achieved anything whatsoever? What was the strength of mind of Prince Siddhartha (Buddha)? He proved to us that such a state of mind is the one thing desirable, the one thing necessary, the one thing that shows the wisdom within you to overcome everything. Each one has this potential.

Mind, therefore, is your greatest asset, your greatest wealth. By some aberration, by some mistake, it has been rather regarded as a problem. It has not been properly understood. You may even consider it to be your greatest problem. If so you have to convert it into an asset, because it is an asset. It has not been given to you to be a problem, but, on the contrary, it has been given to you to be utilised as the greatest thing that has ever been given to a being, for it throws wide open the portals to liberation and perfection. Mind is the one great endowment of the Universal Soul to the individual being. Mind is the endowment that makes man God. May you use it in a wise and positive way and become blessed!