In the shástras [scriptures] it is once said,

Manaeva manuśyáńáḿ kárańaḿ bandhamokśayoh;
Bandhastu viśayásaungii mukto nirviśayaḿ tathá.

[The mind is the cause of both the bondage and the liberation of human beings. One in bondage craves for material objects, but a liberated soul does not.]

“This human mind is a peculiar entity. It is the cause of all our sorrows and predicaments, and it is the cause of our supreme bliss. It is the cause of bondage, and it is the cause of liberation.” Now this mind, working within human framework, requires some pabulum for its maintenance. In the human mind there are fifty such pabula. And these are the human propensities, vrttis.

The existence of these propensities or pabula is essential for maintaining the mind, the mental [stuff]. Because the mind’s position is just between spirit and matter, and that’s why it has been said that the mind is a tat́asthá shakti. Tat́a means, you know, the line where the water touches the land; that point is called tat́a. If you move towards the water, the next moment where will you be? Underwater. Or if you go upwards, you will reach the dry land. Similarly, if the mind moves upwards, it will be transmuted into spirit; and if it goes towards matter it will be metamorphosed into matter, it will become jad́a. So it has a connection both with matter and with spirit.

The mind’s connection, the mind’s ties, with matter are represented by forty-nine propensities, and the mind’s connection with the spirit is represented by one propensity. Those forty-nine propensities are mundane propensities, and they can function only with the help of interior or exterior organs. And the singular propensity that connects the mind with the spirit is paráshakti. It is beyond the campus of the organs.

If a person is always encouraging those forty-nine propensities, naturally from human being he or she will be converted into animal, and from animal into crude matter. What is the spiritual aspirant to do? He or she is to encourage that singular entity, that paráshakti; and that paráshakti will convert his or her mind into spirit. When that person becomes one with the Lord, then what happens? He or she becomes “mindless”, because his or her mental stamina is converted into intuitional stamina.

Now the question is whether such a thing is possible for a bad person or a depraved person. You know, the majority – I won’t say the majority, but a good percentage amongst the general public – think, “We are depraved persons, we are ordinary persons; is it possible for us to transmute our mind into spirit? No, no, that is for mahátmás [elevated souls], not for us.” They think like this.

But such a mode of thinking is defective, because all these fifty propensities are present in each and every human mind, in each and every microcosm. In a mahátmá those fifty propensities are there; in a durátmá [wicked person] also those fifty propensities are there. So by regular practice, by implicit faith, and by zealous pursuit, an ordinary man, a depraved person, may also attain that supreme stance. It is not at all an impossibility. One is to withdraw one’s mind from baser propensities and guide the mind towards that singular propensity, paráshakti. Psychologically, you know, mental repression and mental suppression both are defective.

You shouldn’t check the flow. You may check the flow to check the flood, but you are to divert that water through different canals. Here also you are to check the flow of your baser propensities and divert it unto that singular propensity, towards the Supreme Self. Sa no buddhya shubhayá saḿyunaktu [“Let Him connect our minds with righteousness”]. The mind is moving towards so many ashubha [unrighteous] activities. Withdraw those activities and guide it towards the singular shubha [righteous] Entity.

So this mind is the cause of bondage if those forty-nine propensities are encouraged. This mind is the cause of liberation if that singular propensity is encouraged. In the shástra it has been said,

Api cet sudurácáro bhajate mámananyabhák;
So’pi pápavinirmuktah mucyate bhavabandhanát.

“If even a sudurácárii – ” – you know, durácárii means “depraved person”, “encouraging avidyá shakti”. And sudurácárii – one who is treated as a durácárii even in the society of durácáriis is a sudurácárii. Api cet sudurácáro bhajate mámananyabhák – “If even a very, very de[praved] person – ” – bhajate mámananyabhák – “ideates on me” – ananyabhák – “withdrawing his or her mind from all other, baser, propensities” – “If even a bad person, a brute in animal structure, ideates on me by withdrawing his or her mind from all other baser propensities (that is, from all those forty-nine propensities) – ” –

What are those forty-nine propensities, do you know?

The terranean plexus, or múládhára cakra:⁽¹⁾

1. dharma [psycho-spiritual longing]
2. artha [psychic longing]
3. káma [physical longing]
4. mokśa [spiritual longing]

The fluidal plexus, or svádhiśt́hána cakra:

1. avajiṋá [indifference]
2. múrcchá [psychic stupor, lack of common sense]
3. prashraya [indulgence]
4. avishvása [lack of confidence]
5. sarvanásha [thought of sure annihilation]
6. kruratá [cruelty]

The igneous plexus, or mańipura cakra:

1. lajjá [shyness]
2. pishunatá [sadistic tendency]
3. iirśá [envy]
4. suśupti [staticity, sleepiness]
5. viśada [melancholia]
6. kaśáya [peevishness]
7. trśńá [yearning for acquisition]
8. moha [infatuation]
9. ghrńá [hatred, revulsion]
10. bhaya [fear]

The anáhata cakra:

1. áshá [hope]
2. cintá [worry]
3. ceśt́á [endeavour]
4. mamatá [mine-ness, love]
5. dambha [vanity]
6. viveka [conscience, discrimination]
7. vikalatá [mental numbness due to fear]
8. ahaḿkára [ego]
9. lolatá [avarice]
10. kapat́atá [hypocrisy]
11. vitarka [argumentativeness to point of wild exaggeration]
12. anutápa [repentance]

The vishuddha cakra:

1. śad́aja [sound of peacock]
2. rśabha [sound of ox]
3. gándhára [sound of goat]
4. madhyama [sound of deer]
5. paiṋcama [sound of cuckoo]
6. dhaevata [sound of donkey]
7. niśáda [sound of elephant]
8. oṋm [acoustic root of creation, preservation, dissolution]
9. hum [sound of arousing kulakuńd́alinii]
10. phat́ [practication, i.e., putting a theory into practice)]
11. vaośat́ [expression of mundane knowledge]
12. vaśat́ [welfare in the subtler sphere]
13. sváhá [performing noble actions]
14. namah [surrender to the Supreme]
15. viśa [repulsive expression]
16. amrta [sweet expression]

The lunar plexus, or ájiṋá cakra:

1. apará [mundane knowledge]

These are the forty-nine. And the last one [number 2 of the ájiṋá cakra], that is, the singular subtle propensity, is pará [spiritual knowledge].

So’pi pápavinirmukto – “he or she is freed from pápa. I liberate that person, I free that person from the bondage of pápa.” And what is pápa? Vyásadeva said,

Aśt́ádashapuráńeśu Vyásasya vacanadvayam;
Paropakárah puńyáya pápáya parapiidanam.

[Out of the eighteen Puranas, two sayings of Vyása are of the essence: puńya (virtue) means doing good to others, and pápa (sin) means doing harm to others.]

“If you go against the collective interest you are committing some pápa, and if you encourage the collective interest you are doing some puńya.” Paropakárah puńyáya pápáya parapiidanaḿ.

So’pi pápavinirmuktah – “this pápa is the worst bondage; I liberate a person from the bondage of pápa.”

Mucyate bhavabandhanát – “and he or she is liberated from all other mundane bondages, that is, he or she attains that supreme beatitude.”

So you are all sádhakas, you must remember that you are to discourage those forty-nine propensities and you are to encourage that subtlest propensity. To encourage that subtlest propensity is your ádhyátmá sádhaná [spiritual sádhaná].

Footnotes

(1) Headings regarding the cakras added by us from information given by the author elsewhere. –Eds.