Saturday, September 11, 2010

Empty Mind

“An empty mind is a devil’s workshop”, three out of four people would agree to this statement. I’d like you to think about it once again. Is it really a devil’s workshop or is it a state of bliss?


People think that mind must have something in it and if it has nothing, it is not mind.
Has our minds always been occupied with something or the other and was it always the same?


To make this thought process easier, let us consider the mind of an infant, when he cant speak and does not understand what words like Mom or Dad mean and he doesn’t know the reason for his existence & meaning of life, he does not know the outside world, his mind is pure and empty.


The attainment of pure and empty mind is “Samadhi” and is “Buddhism”.
I do not preach Buddhism, yet, but agree to certain things I know about it.


In Buddhism, during meditation, it is said: “Don’t close your eyes; you will be bothered by your own thoughts. Don’t keep your eyes open; you will be bothered by outside things. Keep your eyes partly closed and meditate upon your soul”


So, if we engage our mind, consciously or sub-consciously, with our arising thoughts and feelings, they do have the capacity to manifest further and if we don’t, they die or fade out and that is when, we can experience “enlightenment”.


So I pray for all of you, for your minds to be empty and enlightened :- )


Any thoughts? :- )

5 comments:

Keshri Nandan Nayak said...

Devil can not exist in silence, whenever he is there, our mind can't be empty it must be filled with noises, can be about anything money, fame, recognition, fulfilment, relationship...

Thus noises in our mind indicates lack, need or want, beyond these noises lies beauty of silence, bliss saturation!


If you get time read "Buddha - The manifestation of Silence"

More you know about Buddha more closer you want to be...

Dhiren said...

.. 1000% with Keshri !! :D

Leo Princess said...

Good to see that you guys agree with the Good Empty Mind concept.

@knn: adding to what you mentioned, if we are not getting any inputs from any of the 5 senses, or we try to meditate/concentrate to be free from all the senses for a while..and be all blank...it makes you feel fresh..calm and serene..!

@ Peace..! :)

Anonymous said...

Yes, 3 out of 4 will agree, may be because nobody will think about this statement seriously and deeply. But I will still like to understand the exact definition of Empty Mind. Does it mean "not thinking about ANYTHING"?

Even great people said that cautiously or incautiously something went on their mind and that kept their thought process alive, which ultimately became the belief and lessons for others.

Issac Newton's Apple analogy says : the notion of gravitation came into his mind. It was occasioned by the fall of an apple, as he sat in contemplative mood.
We can relate this example because meditation is one of the process for attainment of pure and empty mind.

So, this does not mean that some devil was crawling in their minds and its not necessary that a devil has to enter in our minds, it depends on whether we are inviting some devil thoughts or we are utilizing energy in right and positive direction.

Yes, the infant's mind is pure and empty, but who decides what an infant will think, speak and listen?
Does this mean that parents are filling impure things into a child's pure mind? Up to some extent, the answer is yes. Best way to do this is passing on good things, lessons, morals to the child brought into this impure world.

Practicing Dharma includes, Waking Up, Eating and Drinking, Enjoying Sense Objects, Working, Bathing, Sleeping. So we can say that Buddhism didn't restrain anyone to follow common man's life. So as per my understanding, "Don’t close your eyes" means don't completely ignore the outside world or the the things like family burden on your shoulders and don't remain in the world of sleep, dreams and fantasies, "Don't keep your eyes open" means don't get distracted by the illusion of this world and and don't forget about your own thought process. For me "eyes partly closed" means, apply your own thought process to the experience gained from the physical world.

DIMAG (MIND) KA DAHII
If "die or fade out" means Empty. Then this is true.
To experience enlightenment, go to devil's workshop. :P
Somebody needs to find out in what state of mind was osama while planning 9/11.

PS : mind = "Human Mind"

Keshri Nandan Nayak said...

@Anon... Gud thought, u hv given a whole new angle to this post.

If I hv undrstood properly, state of samadhi is not making our mind forcefully
Empty, it's state ataind aftr decontrolin our thoughts frm ourselves.

Enlightnmnt is beyond science its a spiritual achievmnt not a scientific one, meditation makes us feel small tip of this.
Thus it's better nt to compare it with scientific prodigies.