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We have learnt in the first part how desires are created and the thoughts bounce from one to another. The mechanical process
of the mind keeps on suggesting that if its desires are met, or if it has been fed with what it yearns for, it could become
happy. We have to understand that the desires can never be fulfilled. The desires are generated from the thoughts and past
memories and are thus counterproductive. They are result of the thought process which is perpetual; as long as the thoughts
are there, desires will be there. Our mind may lure us in to developing more desires to keep itself occupied. It creates an
illusion in which we are made to believe that if the given desires are fulfilled, we will become happy. Since the desires
are superficial, they draw a person only towards fulfillment of materialistic means. The result, obviously, is sorrow.
Most of the times, the desires seem to be fulfilling. We desire to have money and money comes our way. This is, however,
nothing but manifestation of the illusion to such an extent that everything appears to be real. In reality, it is just going
from one dream to another. The mortality of this process is in the concept itself. We can see that although most of our desires
seem to be fulfilling in the materialistic world, they do not provide any happiness or bliss. Once we have got one thing,
the mind creates a craving for another. It is like pouring water in to a vessel that has no bottom.
Mind Trap
The mind mechanism understands that it is caught in its own web of thoughts. It is, however, not able to understand how
to come out of it; or stop the process of pointless thinking. The mind mechanism also understands that the habits and stimulation
are harmful for its existence but it does not know how to get rid of them. The irony is that it knows only how to start these
events and not stop them. Not knowing how to come out of this trap, it gets engaged in debates, arguments and races from one
conclusion to another with the aid and exhilaration of so-called willpower, arguments and logic.
That is how the thinking process always makes the thinker, or person, antagonized and contentious. It is like a moving
car without the breaks, which only accelerates and changes the course but does not stop. Whoever is caught in the mind trap
is always sorrowful and dejected. Swami Samartha Ramdas says, "The more we yearn for happiness, faster we draw in to
the web of sorrow". When we are trapped in such mental desires, we ultimately end up in regrets. And this regretful state
is only due to memory bound mental recycling of thoughts.
As we have described in the first part, all these activities lead to the creation of a pseudo image of "I" or
ego in a person.
The human brain works in mysterious ways. There are layers of unexplored memories and emotions. We may not be able to
recall our past lives but the memories are there; buried deep in the stratums of the brain. Along with the memories come the
vibrations and sensations. One coincident in the present life, like witnessing an event similar to any of the past lives,
triggers a wave of unknown sensations. We cannot comprehend the contrivances of the event but once it happens, secluded vibrations
start sending signals and the mind catches them fast. There are numerous unfulfilled desires, dreams, ambitions and emotions
in the memory. The experiences of today are simply retractions of the memories of the past.
Memories and Retraction
Before we understand the retraction procedure, we must look in to the characteristics of so-called "I". The
creation of "I" in the mind is just an illusion. "I" does not exist and it is not real. It is not the
body, as usually believed, but floats in the mind as a figment.
When we say that we want to know something or experience something, it is actually the ego that is speaking. Who wants
to recall the experiences? Who wants to fulfill the desires? Somewhere in the past, the mind had dreamed, wished or experienced
something. The same memories are coming back as new desires. It is "I" that wants to have these experiences and
not the body. The basis or support of this illusory "I" are memories. There is nobody in the body to actually experience
or take pleasure in anything. "I" can only bring forth a memory of fulfillment and the memory cannot satiate itself
through an illusion. Therefore, it keeps on recalling the desires and experiences. The experiences stored in the memory are
nothing but a collection of the same. It would be frivolous to observe that the mind is creating an illusion in the present
life to reach another in the earlier one.
Who is remembering? Who is recalling the experiences? The mechanical process of mind and thinking is actually remembering
these events. One may wonder what does the memory want? Well, it wants repetition of past occurrences. These occurrences were,
however, only words. Therefore, the recall process is actually a retraction of words from the past. The memory exist on the
words. The experiences we have mentioned so many times are nothing but memories of certain words that our mind wants repeated.
We can see that the memories are the basis of every fact discussed herewith. It may sound a bit boring to read and difficult
to understand (due to resistance of the mind) but repeating it many times will ultimately prove beneficial.
The memory mechanism in the brain is much more powerful than we can imagine. Setting the memories to a target could be
a very violent and stressful activity. Sometimes, it is deliberate and sometimes it is due to unleashed thoughts. Past memories
leave strong influence on some people?ives. We often use the term "burning emotions" but rarely realize how true
they are. Movement of memories can be so gripping and intense that in order to gain a peculiar experience, a person may even
take his own life or kill someone else. We see this happening in the form of political murders, martyrs or lovers. Similarly,
there have been instances of people dying in the sports stadium due to shock of defeat. Everyday, newspapers are full of such
tragedies. It shows how far the mind mechanism has led our civilization and how much the memories influence a person.
This mental process of remembering the past, knowingly and unknowingly, keeps on happening forever because of the continuous
movements of tongue, vocal cord and brain.
The Beginning
A child is always born with past memories. Since a newborn child cannot speak, the memories linger for some time and then
gradually fade away with time. Actually, the reminiscence starts right in the womb when the fetus is two months old. Those
memories are, though, not instigated and thus natural. We may call it "Genetic Memory".
After the birth, the parents start teaching vocal sounds, lip movements and words to the child. This conditioning increases
as the child goes to school and the teachers start feeding more information. The child gets accustomed to a certain language
and starts building the vocabulary. We may call this "word-bound memory".
From childhood to adolescence, words start forming the thoughts and the thinking process gets activated. It gets more
intense as more information and words are fed to the brain through the tongue. These words keep on getting stored as the child
grows up and turn in to the memory. We may call this "word-fed memory".
This word-fed memory mechanism continues till the age of maturity and by this time, the person has already turned in to
a thinker. Experiences and memories of tens of years are stored, the thought process is activated and the mind starts working
out logic, reasoning, arguments etc. The ego has been formed and "I" projected as the true identity of the person.
As we have explained in earlier chapters, the thoughts, ideas and memories keep on bouncing from one level to another, influenced
by past lives and present delusions. The desires start erupting and in the process of appeasement, all five senses and cells
of the body get incited. Then, the cycle of illusion starts, creating more desires and making the mind work to satisfy them.
The personality centers itself around "I" and the person draws in to the web of thoughts, desires and memories.
Watch the Tongue
The emphasis of the whole process is again on the movements of the tongue. We need to observe the movements and watch
them at least 4-5 hours a day. Initially, we need to cleanse the system by observing a total silence for one year. Later,
it should be observed at least one day every week and one month every year. During this period of silence, we shall be able
to observe the movements of the tongue and draw our awareness inwardly. Observing the tongue movements will enable us see
our thoughts and realize that they are nothing but a mirage. The realization will bring about the insight that the whole thinking
process and mind is merely a subjective, chemical and electro-magnetic device.
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