Being Cheerful
We are cheerful when our mind is not weighed down by (thoughts of) problems. A bird flies easily when we set it free from strings that have tied it down. Our mind has lightness if we make it free from unnecessary memories.
Some have sad thoughts of how they failed in some materialistic venture. Others have regrets at how they have failed morally. Either way, a self-judgment weighs one down. Weakened by such thoughts, we then perform poorly again. This poor performance makes our self-judgment go down further. What a vicious circle!
We need to see how our mind has become a machine, highly repetitive in its ways. We may be educated, sophisticated, knowledgeable and smart in public eyes or our own self-evaluation. Actually we are programmed gadgets. We are caught in various fancies, some of which may be respectable in this confused society. Our whole life needs a radical overhaul. To set our own house in order is of great urgency.
The illusion in which we are caught is nothing but the past, to put it summarily. Our mind, with all its limitations, arrives at a conclusion of how unworthy we are, based on memories of past events. We then moan about our shortcomings and failures. How valuable we are becomes an issue of importance to us, rather than how we can be valuable to people around us.
A judgment of how much we failed is one side of the coin while the other side is hoards of thoughts on what we may become. No wonder the idea of self-improvement is attractive to large numbers of people. We are excited to think about what we would become. In the process, we are shackled more and more by thoughts. The dust that these thoughts raise dims the light of awareness of the present moment and of what we are.
Please know that the mind (thoughts) itself is our bondage. The mind is largely, if not fully, workings of memories. Memories feed on memories and reinforce the self (ego). Only the bright flame of attention can undo this whole mischief.
Just as the snake sheds its skin, we should shed our past – over and over again.-The Buddha
Swami Chidananda
Monday, May 17, 2004