Our lives are conditioned by the accumulations of the past
and expectations of the future. We have been taught to live in destiny,
pre-conditioned as it is, it prevents us from breaking out of the cocoon or the
shell. We try to console ourselves for the misfortunes or the tragedies that
befall us in our lives, and meekly blame it on our destinies. From there on and
to everything in our lives, there is a deep-rooted conditioning, by building a
fort or a wall around us to conclude that all else other than the accumulated
impressions are false. To be unconditioned simply means to be un-caged.
Religiosity and spirituality help one to discover the true nature of life and it
is the quintessence of being totally free.
What needs to be done to get us out of the shackles of
conditioning ? A mind of deep contemplation and a sensitive approach to natural
instincts that have weathered out from us, over centuries, on account of
materialistic desires. A religious and spiritual bent of mind to understand the
subtle forces that prevail in nature are the hallmarks of an unconditioned mind.
But let us be clear that religiosity does not mean rituals and dogmas, but
something beyond it.
The superficial mind is momentary, conditioned and
artificial. Delving deep into the inner self, the serious mind begets questions
all about life and not willing to be conditioned by conflicts about the
externalities of living. Contemplation leads to frugal living and less of
desires, it prompts seriousness in every walk of life, be it with respect to
work or in relationship. It is only the deeper mind that can experience total
silence and blissfulness whatever may be the state of ones being. There is no
craving for ‘becoming’, but it is always a state of ‘being’.
All our lives we have lived with what we have gathered and
what we have accumulated. We have lived by what others have told us. It is a
beaten path. Delving a little deeper, we would be able to see much more than
what we have been told and what we have been taught or seen. By searching for
it, the human mind gathers a lot of composure, it will respond without conflict
or tension. To live, will become more meaningful even without seeking for it.
Tragedies in life are taken at strides without having to bother about such
consequences, for they are natural part of our life process. A meaningful leaf
can be taken from ‘The Road Not Taken, by Robert Frost’.
‘Somewhere ages and ages hence :
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I —
I took the one less travelled by,
And that has made all the difference’.
To be in the state of receptivity or in the state of a subtle
mind, always requires a serious approach and an earnest effort, irrespective of
what subject we are dealing with. There is a sense of divinity and all
pervasiveness in such an approach and at such stages the mind does not and will
not hanker for results.
Jiddu Krishnamurthy, the world philosopher, has dealt
exhaustively on the unconditioned mind; for him it was the unconditioned mind
that could seek the absolute truth. Glimpses of what he has got to say on the
unconditioned mind are here for the readers to experience :
‘He thought that the mind was conditioned by reason and the
expectations of our society, culture, and personal needs. He held that having a
conditioned mind is an obstacle that needs to be overcome through insight
in order for an individual to move to a higher state of consciousness. He talked
in multiple ways about the conditioned mind. One of these ways is through the
analogy of the pendulum. He used this analogy to show that normal consciousness
swings from past to future, and then reverses. Humans are always in one of the
two states, either the past which consists of memories, or the future which
consists of expectations. He claimed that at the centre of the pendulum swing,
the present exists, and it is at this infinitesimal moment when a preconscious
state of mind can be cultivated. By training the mind to ‘live’ in the
present, it can be emptied of all contents in order to facilitate a true
awareness of what is. Awareness of ‘what is’ comes through insight and signifies
the development of the religious mind.’
The aim should be to get to the ‘centre of the pendulum’ and
enjoy the present.
