6 Aug 2012 —
Question
Q212: Cut & Paste?
Question 212:
Amma says:
“Through a series of editing, cutting and pasting, the mind manipulates what it hears, to make it fit its story.”
How do you understand this?
Please make your answer brief and clear (maximum 5 or 6 lines).
Mind/ego thrives on attention. It seeks to be the hero of the day and its savior too. For that it will arrange and rearrange facts, stories, data,etc.. over and over again. And this trend is also found in group ego(ethnic groups, nations..). Spontaneous and practiced in good faith, it can go on forever until one starts questioning the essence and validity of mind/ego..
The profound words of wisdom embodied in the scriptures are manipulated by the mind to suit the situation it finds itself in. Everyone knows that it is unrighteous to speak ill of others, yet this deed is justified by some in the guise of being frank by nature. Surprisingly, when the person is at the receiving end, it is an entirely different story. As AMMA says, when the neighbor’s boat is in peril, anyone can come up with philosophical reasoning. If there has been a theft in the neighbor’s house, one offers advice like, nothing is permanent and so on. But when it comes to oneself, all philosophy goes out of the window.
i think this means unhealed pain from the past, gets projected on others. Once healed (through lots of selfless service, sincere mantra chanting, forgiveness practices, and clearing techniques etc), it wont be projected on others and situations as it wont be there anymore). It will be just pure light within us projected on everything.
The mind always weaves a story that suites its fantasy – sometimes it may be unsettling, sometimes it may be pleasing. But always, it is a fantasy, with nothing much to do with facts. Then it picks up certain cues from the external environment and bends it in such ways that it fits into the earlier fantasy. It doesn’t stop with that. It then proceeds to believe that fantasy and then it also starts reacting to further incidents based on that. If only it could be stopped at the first step itself. For this, i believe that a lot of sadhana and Amma’s blessings are a necessity.
from birth this body was grown to believe it was separate, developing its own way of living in ‘Life’ from this point of view. using everything to relieve the tension, fear and confusion that this point of view creates. The fear created with this illusion of the separate i also has a beginning and end. Self obsession is the result.
To now Know there are only a few Body’s who know the ‘Truth’ to be around them and practise this completely different point of view. Totally outside of the old tendencies and beliefs.
An egoist to save its ego creates 1000 questions and answers them artistically to itself and presents a emotional story to save himself according to the situation. Aum Amriteshwari Namah
The very nature of the mind is selfishness. For selfishness means so much of crookedness. Naturally the mind edits the Satsang to satisfy its dogged pleasures till it exhausts and find its end offering the body in the jaws of death.
God i.e., AMMA gives another body so the journey of life continues in another body.
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our most beloved Amma always says this.If a fully blossomed Rose flower in it’s plant is seen by a poet,his tendancy to write a sweet poem about the beauty of the flower,and if it is a lover he will think to presend it to his Beloved and if it is scientist he will analise its properties, cells etc. and if it is Nature Lover he will never allow anybody to pluck it off from the plant.So the interpretations or out put of the intellect(here it is mind) is different from each and every one,according to their Vasanas or attitudes.In this way The Mind manipultes its hearings though the series of editing cutting and pasting.
Ouch Devi! I am with Savithry….When this mind wanders off into fairy tale land and I finally catch myself (often at the point of suffering), I try my best to gently pull myself back through the breath to the heart and the love within. It’s true, the nature of the mind is to cut, edit and paste sensory knowledge (what is heard, seen and felt) according to our likes and dislikes. It’s important to know the mind has this tendency and that through good actions and other spiritual practices, this tendency will gradually decline. Faith in Amma’s words and our love for Her, ensures our eventual success.
The freedom to acknowledge our mistakes and wrong doing to ourselves and others as they happen is such a pleasure, especially when one sees those who must always think well of themselves struggling to justify their imperfections. Being able to let go to any degree of the “authorship” of our little dramas gives a taste of the bliss that comes from Self actualization rather than self actualization with a small “s”.
But….no matter how tempted this mind may be by some illusory fantasy, I always remind myself, Amma first! Amma is my goal.
They are the mental calculations “pro-survival”,
but in fact only Ego survive with these calculations.
Mother give me a silent mind and vanish past and future.
Demolish the wall that separates me from Him, take me to have intense and strong love by dropping the exterior work like a ripe fruit that falls from his tree.
Please Mum donate to me an intense concentration and a pure innocent love, with the constant recall of Him concentrated only in Him, give me responsability and discernment and every action becomes a sadhana.
Dear Guru I put at your feet this mine crazy mind that manipulates what it hears with all calculations to make it fit its story.
(rosaria milano staff)
The universe itself seems to be a projection of the mind. In deep sleep the mind is at rest and the universe ceases to exist.
Aum Amriteswaryai Namaha
Like many have posted, the simple fact is – the illusory mind or ego or separate identity or personality ( call whatever you want ) will continue to flourish and maintain its identity by fabricating and cherishing ..and as Amma says – don’t make friends with your mind (be a witness to whatever it projects, particularly with misleading thoughts) and see the result for yourself 🙂
The mind is nothing but an accumulation of facts, data and so on. Intrestingly it often assumes them to be true. One must understand that the mind will try to prove its “story” based on these accumulations, beyond which it cannot exist. The “truth” can only be revealed by the destruction of the mind.
May Amma bless us all to achieve such a state of intense “awareness”.
I have to say that sometimes I feel like others cut, edit and paste me to fit their stories. When this happens I don’t always know the best approach to take. Inside, I usually want to right what I feel has been wronged, but have learned this rarely works because we (me included) often defend our stories- sometimes to the bitter end. Instead of drowning when my ship begins to sink, instead of defending myself so I can be rightly understood, I want to be the kind of person who has the courage to abandon ship…and for that I need Her grace.
Every person is the personification of latent tendencies called as Vasanas. From our behaviour, likes, dislikes we can understand our Vasanas. As Amma says the easy way to raise ourselves from lower nature is to indulge in devotional activities. To remove the salinity of water, pour good water into it. So we should be vigilant about our Vasanas and Mind. Mind is nothing but the sum total of our thoughts. Chanting Guru mantra will help us to tame our mind and thereby attain purity.
Because of attachment towards outside objects, the mind needs to know if the situation or object you meet is favorable or unfavorable for itself, in order to decide to like it or not. When the mind is unable to grasp it as a simple picture, it tends to create a story, according to your tendencies or experiences. Otherwise, the mind feels insecure as it is not able to be detached to the outside.
Mind is man’s greatest asset, if used rightly. But most often- what do we do-we use it to satisfy our ego-and fill it with useless, wasteful thoughts and negative emotions. We twist the mind and have moods- we destroy all our abilities and creative energies in this process.
Man’s progress over the years has been with the creative minds of great people and souls-who for centuries have guided mankind towards the right path.
One such GREAT SOUL is AMMA and we are lucky to be having her DIVINE GRACE to guide usso that we use our MIND rightly with positive thoughts and reach enlightenment.
In school we were taught a song- LEAD KINDLY LIGHT!
Today, I have realized that LIGHT is none other than AMMA!