Thought 79: The choice is yours

Antahkarana (which means the internal instrument) essentially consists of the mind and the Buddhi. Man alone is gifted with a well developed Antahkarana (mind and intellect). Man alone has choice – in thinking and action. Every step in life involves choice. Do not be hasty in deciding the next step. Every decision has consequences - which are inevitable and inescapable. If you do not like the visualized consequences, do not take that decision. There is always a choice for you - a lot of choice indeed.

Vedaanta says that circumstances may appear to be the cause of your happiness or unhappiness but they are not the real cause; similarly, it says that people may appear to be the cause of your happiness or unhappiness but they are not the real cause. Your mind and Buddhi alone manufacture your happiness and unhappiness; and therefore, your mind and Buddhi alone are the real causes of your happiness or unhappiness. Your happiness or unhappiness are mere effects; and the causes of these effects are your mind and Buddhi. If you do not want unhappiness or frustration, you have to eliminate their cause – which means improving the quality of your mind and Buddhi. Treating symptoms to cure the disease is not a scientific way of managing a problem; it is not management; it is "running".

To sum up, since the quality of your mind and Buddhi determines the quality of your life, if you improve the quality of your mind and Buddhi, the quality of your life automatically improves.

You have two options to improve the quality of your mind (Antahkarana). One gives a short term solution and the other offers the long term remedy. The modern way of reprogramming your subconscious mind is the cheap and nasty method - the soft option. In this option, you will be able to remove some of your weaknesses and reinforce some of your strengths, selectively. This will help you to lead a better life and improve the quality of your mind (antahkarana) – but the improvement is not going to be substantial.

The spiritual techniques using the principles of Yoga (Karma-Yoga, Dhyana-Yoga or Bhakti-Yoga) give the long term, enduring solution - the hard option. Here, you are purifying your mind (Antahkarana) and disciplining it, as a first step to realizing who you are and ultimately realizing that you are the Aatma, the Awareness pervading your body-mind complex. As the mind (Antahkarana) becomes purer and purer, you will notice a remarkable improvement in the quality of your life.

You may perhaps want to start with the short term procedure immediately and see if you still have the motivation to attempt the long term answer. Or would you straight away prefer to plunge into the long term procedure? The choice is yours, of course.

Nothing improves by itself. There is very little element of chance in improving any thing. Improvement happens only when you make it happen - that is, when you manage it. In the management of any activity, you have to spend some resources. Without an input, no output can result. It is the resources, which produce for you whatever result you have as your goal. You convert your resources into an output. Since the output is always less than what you expend to get it, a lot of time, energy, effort and discipline are needed, if you aim at the improvement in the quality of your life. Nothing comes free to you. That is not Nature's way of dealing. Nature gives nothing away freely. Every thing has to be earned.

The next thought is about “Learn to present your views properly”