श्रीभगवानुवाच |
प्रजहाति यदा कामान्सर्वान्पार्थ मनोगतान् |
आत्मन्येवात्मना तुष्ट: स्थितप्रज्ञस्तदोच्यते || 2.55||
śhrī bhagavān uvācha
prajahāti yadā kāmān sarvān pārtha mano-gatān
ātmany-evātmanā tuṣhṭaḥ sthita-prajñas tadochyate

Last night we had some discussion on mantra-japa. Mantra is a kind of compact formula in which an idea or attitude is expressed. S was repeatedly asking me whether the mantra will mean everything in the life of a seeker. My dear boy, for a serious seeker, mantra means everything! Everything related to his spiritual life as well as otherwise.

I was explaining to him that our personality has a visible part consisting of the five senses of perception and the five organs for activity. It also has an invisible part which begins from the mind inward. Now, one has to understand which part – the visible or the invisible – is the fundamental, causal and the ultimate one. In order to use the organs – both for perception and action — there must be a conscious move from the mind. Again, after the perception or the action takes place, who feels that ‘I have perceived’ or ‘I have been acting’? Where do you find the final results of all interactions? So, the mind is not merely the origin of all activities, it is the terminal point as well.

Mind, thus, becomes supreme – the cause as well as the terminus of all that has to be done, achieved or gained. It is this mind that we try to act upon by chanting a mantra. It is this mind that we try to purify by all our spiritual pursuits.

What will happen when the mind becomes pure? A purer mind will be able to think clearer, understand better, generate the right emotions and right motivations at the proper time. It will be able to assimilate the inputs better and come out with proper reactions with more and more readiness. And finally, it will generate whatever fulfillment is necessary.

I said, “Whatever fulfillment is necessary”. This fulfillment, the mind is capable of generating all by itself. You may possess the entire universe but still not have fulfillment. The universe does not
enter your system! It is only the thought of possession that gives you the possessional joy. Whether you marry and become a parent, whether you get a good employment and have plenty of money – none of these things is going to enter your being! It is only the sense of possession that will give you the joy. But will such possessional joy give you fulfillment?

Fulfillment will be had when the mind is properly treated to become pure and the hindrances to fulfillment are removed. And, when the mind is properly developed to have fulfillment, will it need any of these external objects, situations or possessions?

Bhagavadgita says:
“When a man renounces all the desires of his mind and remains contented within himself, delighted by the Self alone, he is called a Sthita-prajña.”

Desires of the mind are hindrances to fulfillment. When the desires are removed, the mind becomes still. In that stillness, a joy wells forth from within. When that joy is felt, you will not have any kind of urge for possession. You will be fulfilled. To generate this fulfillment, the mind does not need any external possession.

Then what will remain? Your body, whatever it is, will continue to live, interacting with the world, acting in the world – but, with fulfillment! In the light of this fulfillment, if the way of your life is going to change, it will change. If you are going to be exclusive about this fulfillmental life, you will become one like us. What did happen in my case? My body was young and I felt Sthita-prajñatā having been experienced I must simply live after this. Other things I don’t need”.

Thus, in some cases, it may so happen that you become exclusively spiritual. If for my joy, I don’t need the world, then for what else do I need it? I don’t need it, but the world remains around me by the fact of my embodiment. The born body lives its term, and I continue to interact with the world in the light of whatever I have found, felt, and known to be supreme and fulfilling.

That is how Sages and Knowers live in this world. Well, whether you will pursue the path exclusively or not, leave the question to itself. You may or may not. If you don’t pursue it exclusively, then the partial pursuit will coexist with your other pursuits in the world. Logically, with time and evolution, this pursuit should grow in depth and wholesomeness, and consequently, other interests should dwindle.

To what extent it will grow, cannot be said. No rule can be enunciated in this regard. Individuals differ widely. Sri Krishna remained active as a Ksatriya, Vasishtha remained active as a Brāhmana, Vedavyasa, and Sukamuni became ascetics. But the point is that everything proceeds from the mind persists in the mind and finally concludes in the mind. You should think about it well. Don’t ask any further questions. Try to find answers yourself.

Harih Om Tat Sat