You Have Nothing to do with the Mind

Sage Vasishtha 

VASISHTHA continued:

When the egosense is stripped of its coverings, ignored and abandoned by the awakened intelligence, it is incapable of doing any harm. The self is infinite consciousness. Even if the egosense dwells in this body, how is the self affected?

O Rama, i is impossible to catalogue the calamities that visit one who is under the influence of the mind. All this weeping and wailing 'Alas, I am dead', 'Alas, I am burning' that one hears in this world - all this is nothing more than the play of the egosense. However, even as the all-pervading space is not polluted by anything, the self which is omnipresent is not affected by the egosense.

Whatever a man does with the body is really done by the egosense with the help of the reins known as inhalation and exhalation. The self is indirectly regarded as the cause of all this, even as space is indirectly responsible for the growth of plants inasmuch as it (the space)does not prevent the plant from extending into space. Even as a lamp is considered responsible for the vision of an object, the self is regarded as responsible for the actions of the body, mind, etc., which function in the light of the self. Otherwise, there is no connection whatsoever between the inert body and the conscious self. It is only because of the energy of the self (prana) which is constantly vibrating, creating agitation everywhere, that the mind is confused with the self.

You are the self, O Rama, not the mind. What have you to do with the mind? Abandon this delusion. The goblin-mind residing in the body has nothing to do with the self, yet it quietly assumes 'I am the self'. This is the cause of birth and death. This assumption robs you of courage. Give up this ghost, O Rama, and remain firm. Neither scriptures nor relatives nor even the gurus or preceptors can protect the man who is utterly overpowered by the ghost known as the mind. On the other hand, if one has laid this ghost, the gurus, the scriptures and relatives can easily aid him, even as one can easily rescue an animal from a mud-puddle. They who have laid this ghost are the good people who render some service to this world. Hence, one should uplift oneself from this ignorance, by laying this ghost known as egosense. O Rama, do not wander in this forest of worldly existence like an animal in human garb. Do not wallow in this mud known as family-relationship for the sake of this impermanent body. The body was born of someone, it is protected by the egosense and in it happiness and sorrow are experienced by someone else; this indeed is a great mystery.

Even as the essential nature of a pot and that of a piece of cloth are non-different, even so the essential nature of the mind and that of the infinite consciousness are non-different. In this connection, I shall narrate to you the teaching that was imparted to me by lord Shiva himself: the vision revealed in that teaching will destroy even the greatest delusion.