He who indulges himself in sensual pleasures which are pleasant at first, will have to be cloyed in them in process of time. He who is fraught with the treasure of knowledge in his frail body, is not to be overcome by his inward enemies of sensual appetites. He who has brought the senses under his slavery, and reduced the enemy of his mind to subjection; has the blossoms of his understanding ever blooming within him as in the vernal meadow. He who has weakened the pride of his mind, and subdued the enemies of his senses; has his desires all shrunken as the lotuses in the cold
weather. So long do the demons of our desires, infest the region of our hearts, as we are unable to bring the mind under the subjection of our knowledge of the True one. He is the faithful servant, who acts according to the will of his master, and he is the true minister who does good services to his prince. He is the best general who has command over the force of his own body, and that is the best understanding which is guided by reason. The mind is called our father, for its enlightening our understanding with the light of the sāstras derived by itself, and for its leading us to perfection by losing itself in the Supreme spirit.
Such is the gem of the mind, unless it is soiled by the dirt and filth of sin and vice; when it requires to be washed and cleansed with the water of reason, in order to throw its light on thee. Be not dormant to cultivate reason as long as you abide in the darksome abode of this world; nor thrust yourself to every accident, which awaits upon the ignorant and unreasonable men.
The pure soul being one in many, and inherent in all external objects, cannot be thought as distinct from those, that appear otherwise than itself. It is the difference of human thoughts, that judges differently of the existence and non-existence of things, and of their good and bad natures also; it judges the existence of the world, either as situated in or without the Divine Spirit. Whereas it is impossible for any thing to exist beside the Spirit of God, it was the Spirit that “willed to become many”. And as there was nothing beside itself, which it could think of or find for itself, it was necessary that it became so of itself, and without the aid of any extraneous matter. Therefore the will to do this or that, or try for one thing or other, does not relate to the soul but to the mind. Thus the optionless soul, having no will of its own, does nothing except cogitating on what is in itself. It is no active agent, owing to the union of all agency, instrumentality and objectivity in itself. It
abides nowhere, being both the recipient and content, or the container and the contained of everything in itself. Neither is the will-less soul actionless likewise, when the acts of creation are palpable in itself (karmaprasidhi). Nor is it possible that there is any other cause of them. (Nanyakartā dvītiryakam).
Such being the state of the wise, the actions they are seen to do, whether of goodness or otherwise or pleasurable or painful, in and whatsoever they are engaged, are nil and as nothing, and do not affect them as they do the other worldly mortals. For what is it that is called an action, but the exertion of mental and voluntary energies, with a fixed determination and desire of performing some physical acts, which they call the actions of a person. The production of an act by appliance of the proper means, and the exertion and action of the body in conformity with one’s ability, and the completion of the effect compatible with one’s intention, together with the enjoyment of the result of such agency, are defined and determined as the action of the man. Moreover, whether a man is agent or no agent of an action, and whether he goes to heaven or dwells in hell, his mind is subject to the same feelings, as he has the desires in his heart. Hence the agency of the ignorant, arises from their wishing to do a thing, whether they do it or not; but not so of the wise, who having no will, are not culpable even for their involuntary actions. Untutored minds are full with the weeds of vice, but well cultivated souls are quite devoid of them.
He who has the knowledge of truth (tatwajnāna), becomes relaxed in his earthly desires; and though he acts his part well, he does not long eagerly for its result as others. He acts with his body but with a quiet unconcerned mind. When successful, he attributes the gain to the will of God; but the worldly minded arrogate the result to themselves, though they could not bring it about. Whatever the mind intends, comes verily to pass, and nothing is achieved without the application of the mind; whereupon the agency belongeth to the mind and not to the body. The world doth proceed from the Mind (Divine); it is the mind (by being a development of it), and is situated in the (infinite and
eternal) mind; knowing all things as such manifestations of the powers of the intellect, the wise man remains in the coolness of his desire or lukewarmness. The minds of spiritualists (or those knowing the soul), come to the state of that perfect insensibility of their desires, as when the false watery mirage is set down by the raining clouds, and the particles of morning dews, are dried up by the raging sun. It is then that the soul is said to rest in its perfect bliss (The turya). But the ignorant mind (which is unacquainted with this state of transport) is transported by its thirst after the moving waters of earthly pleasures; as an elephant is misled to the foul pool, where he is plunged in its mud and mire, without finding any thing that is really good.
Mental actions (thoughts) being brought to practice, tend to involve their unguarded agents of ungoverned minds, into the endurance of its consequence. Thus the mind is the seed (root) of all efforts and exertions, of all acts and actions, of all their results and productions, and the source of suffering the consequences of actions. By doing away with your mind, you make a clean sweep of all your actions, and thereby avoid all your miseries resulting from your acts. All these are at an end with the anaesthesia of the mind. Behold the boy is led by his mind (fancy) to build his toy or hobby-horse, which he dresses and daubs at his wilful play, without showing any concern or feeling of pleasure or pain, in its making or breaking of it at his pleasure. So doth man build his aerial castle, and level it without the sense of his gain or loss therein. It is by his acting in this manner in all worldly matters, that no man is spiritually entangled to them.
It is in vain to wish for liberation, when the mind is tied down to the earth; and so it is redundant to talk of bondage, when the mind is already fastened to it. Shun them both by ignoring your egoism, and remain fixed to the true Ego, and continue thus to manage yourself with your unruffled mind on earth.