Extracts from a book by Vimala Thakar: Mutation of Mind
Extracts from a book by Vimala Thakar "Mutation of Mind"
(talks from 1965) The conscious mind, realizing its own limitations,
becoming aware that it hasn't got any other channel or groove to
function in, can become spontaneously quiet.
When all this investigation creates a humility in the
conscious mind, & an awareness of its own limitations, awareness of
the fortress in which it is imprisoned & which it cannot transcend,
then that humility does create a silence in the mind. This is not
the silence of suppression or repression, compulsion or paralysis.
It is not an induced silence, whether that inducement comes through
ideas, ideals, emotions or chemicals.
The immensity of the contents of the unconscious brings
about a sense of humility in the conscious mind. And a silence of
the conscious mind flows out of that humility. The next step is not
going to be taken by the conscious mind at all.
We are saying that the very awareness of its own
limitations can bring about a state of silence.
Then a direct communion with reality becomes possible. In
fact, that state defies verbalization. The realm of the unknown
defies verbalization. Self-knowing is the essence ... self-knowing
is the maturity which one has to attain. So we have been struggling
with the limitations of the mind, but for the struggle we employ the
mind. Struggling against the limitations of the mind by employing
the mind & exercising the will, is not the right way perhaps.
When you realize that the mind is not equal to the task of
communing with reality, the mind relaxes in silence.
It needs alertness, it needs intensity, which we lack.
Our energy is so much scattered, that this inquiry of truth becomes
one of the many desires. When one starts living every moment in the
light of that inquiry, then the illumination dawns upon the heart.
This creative understanding dawns upon the human heart, when the
inquiry of truth becomes the top priority; when it becomes the
all-consuming flame, in the light of which one lives. It is not a
pastime, a hobby, an amusement. (The challenge needs to be
formulated, then realised, then begun.)
The problem is how to break away completely from the
conditioning in which the mind has been cultivated.
Truth (requires) the right approach, start, foundation.
We must become free from the urge for security; acquisition,
accumulation, preservation is a hindrance to this transformation.
Emotions, feelings, thoughts & memories are mechanical actions,
inevitable reflex actions according to conditioning. The mind
names, identifies, compares, judges on the basis of memory.
Mind becomes silent, temporarily, only when it is
confronted with something which it cannot interpret, something
unprecedented. Realizing its own limitations, understanding that
truth & reality are something very vast, immeasurable by the human
mind & that the mystery of life cannot be discovered by ideas &
concepts, the mind becomes silent.
The mind could understand its own nature, find out the
conflicts between the conscious & the unconscious; find out the
impossibility of a total action on the mental plane; realize the
limitations & become quiet.
Whether you try to influence the mind through ideas &
concepts, or through discipline & vows, or through drugs, you are
trying to stimulate artificially a state of silence. Perhaps if we
are friendly with the mind, if we watch the mind, if we understand
the mind, if we let it wander, let it roam about wherever it wants,
let it exhaust its momentum by wandering, without scolding, without
praising, without condemning it might exhaust its momentum & arrive
at the simple innocent silence.
The subconscious & the unconscious contain the known. The
implication of the words total silence is silence of the
subconscious & the unconscious & the conscious. We will have to
allot some time in the beginning to sit by ourselves & find out if
the mind can be silent.
All our emotions and thoughts are conditioned reflexes,
reactions.
This non-identification with ones reactions ... brings
about a sudden change in the level of consciousness. This
non-identification with the subconscious world, non-identification
with the momentum of the whole subconscious & unconscious results in
creative silence. The creative alternative is to refuse to identify
oneself with the mind. This cannot blossom in a day, if we do not
know what mind is.
One has to begin with being introduced to one's own mind.
To watch how the mind works, to watch how we live secondhand through
emotions, feelings & sentiments. How we call them our own and
identify ourselves with them. To watch all this, will be the
beginning of meditation.