Don't Be a Slave to Your Mind and Maya

Satsang by Gautam Baiji

Once we get knowledge, why do we still need spiritual instruction (satsang)?

When you see a farmer sow the seeds, we know his work is not finished.

He goes over and over his crops. He keeps an eye on them.

When weeds come up, he uproots them. Why? To protect the plants.

Satsang means the company of truth. How can we get that?

First we have to know what is truth and what is not truth.

Our saints say, "Truth is permanent." We cannot change it. Truth in invincible; it cannot be destroyed.

So we look at the world and ask, "What is permanent and invincible?"

Our body is always changing. Our house is always changing. Our mind and thoughts change. Everything in the world changes.

Except soul. Spirit.

In the Bhagavad Gita, Krishna says you cannot destroy the soul. You cannot burn it, it cannot get wet, it's invincible.

How can we realize that?

That's why great souls came into this world, to tell us: "Know thyself."

We have to learn who we are and understand why we came here.

What is the goal of our life?

The human body is the crown of creation. Why?

Because we have great potential.

To earn lots of money? Retire when we get older? Then what?

To get peace. Salvation. Liberation from... what?

What is binding us? Who is holding us?

Our saints say we won't get moksha until we get liberation.

Then maya, the illusion, is binding us, we say.

Once a guru saw a man walking while holding a rope attached to a cow. He said to his disciple, "Look at this. Who is bound to whom?"


The disciple said, "Simple. The cow is in bondage to the man. That's why he's attached to the rope."

"No," the guru said, "The person is in bondage to the cow. Why? Because if the person drops the rope, the cow will run away. Then the man will run after the cow. The cow doesn't need the person, but the person needs the cow."

The same thing with maya. Sometimes we say, "Maya is the bondage, Maya is binding us." Maya is not binding our mind, it's binding us.

That's why Krishna told Arjuna, "I don't need anything from you. Just give me your mind. If your mind is here, everything is here. If it's not, not matter how much I scream my discourse, you will go home and not remember anything. "I was there, but my mind was not there."

Our mind binds us. The mind is our friend and our enemy. 

How?

The mind is like a ladder. It can help us go up, or it can help us go down.

If you go upstairs, you can see far. If you go down, you can only see the basement. The walls, nothing else.

When is the mind our enemy? When it goes with worldly things. "Oh, that person is like this, that thing is like that, etc." All negative thoughts come. Our mind's tendency is to go downward, like water.

When is the mind our friend? When we allow satsang to elevate us.

Our parents and society taught us how to behave, but not how to think. Satsang teaches us that.