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Mindfulness: A Way towards Enlightenment and Truth

Supriya Sharma

The mind can be wicked or gentle, the mind can be foe or friend. Peace and happiness spread in life, when the mind becomes pure. 

Mind spends most of the time in fantasies and illusions, re-living the pleasant or unpleasant experiences and anticipating the future with eagerness or fear. While lost in such cravings or aversions, we are unaware of what is happening in present.

The powerful tool, our mind, many of times not work according to our will. Just by breaking the loop, the loop of past and future we can very easily enter in a state called as Mindfulness- yes the state of awareness and relaxation. As per the need of the hour, mindfulness become a subtle conscious technique for the human being to be fully aware of what they are thinking, where they are and what they are doing without any aversion. It would be great to know  that the fully aware mind will directly open the road towards enlightenment for an individual. There are some simple steps to tune up with this powerful practice-

1.Choosing the right posture and place- We all know, the correct posture is to sit with a straightback. As straight body posture directly interconnect with the watchful state of the mind which help us to become vigilant.Close your eyes and sit comfortably in a calm place.“The birds of wisdom needs two wings to fly. They are awareness and equanimity” 

2.Breathing, our lifelong true Partner- “Observing breath after breath, the mind becomes relax. Unwavering and calm mind is pure and naturally find liberation from pain and pleasure.”

 From birth to our last moment, breath is our naturalcompanion. Extracting time from our busy schedule, so that we can start a journey towards selfrealization,observing and controlling the breath is of utmost importance . Our breathing pattern occur by two ways- Fast and Slow. Observe the breath tillthe feelingof the natural flow of calmness, relaxation and perseverance is felt. During this relaxed momentwe are away fromthe past and future and move towards self awareness.

3.With diligence and patience observe the whole body sensations; part by part; piece by piece-Rolling, rolling and rolling in sense pleasure we keep tying knots. Observing, observing and observing we open all the knots.”

Moving from head to foot in a synchronized flow by passing the attention from every part of the body one by oneby just observing and moving ahead. Feel the touch of clothes, the surface you are sitting on and the sensation of air (cold or hot),just observe, objectively. This free flow of the sensation will elevate our state of alertness and attentiveness towardsour present.“Soft heart, strong determination and active life” is the best state of living.

4.Change is inevitable- “Past moment cannot come again, everything is new.”Each feeling shares the same characteristic; it arises and passes. We must experience the nature of sensation, understand its flow and learn not to react to it.We can experience the eternity of change as we go deep in meditation.

5. Be attentive- Don’t get upset if the focus is lost. Come again, start again, work diligently, work patiently and you are bound to be successful.It is believed that “When one experiences truth, the madness of finding fault with others disappear.”

6. From Entropy to Order – Entropy is lack of order or predictability, so our focus should be to bring back our mind from disorder to orderly state. Mindfulness is the best way to bring back our mind to order. Entropy will vanish once we learn to control our mind and body.

7.Not dancing when pleasure comes, not wailing when in pain. Keeping equilibrium with both, this is real happiness.

Technique ofmindfulness strongly leads to:

  • Inculcating awareness.
  • attention to what is occurring in the present moment by only observing thoughts, feelings, sensations as they arise and pass.
  • attitude that is non-judgmental, curious and kind.

After attaining mindfulness we would be blessed with self-awareness, enhanced willpower, increased attention, liberated from anxiety, depression and mental disorder, reduce pain by boosting emotional regulation, better sleep quality, increase memory and make us more courageous to fight against any addiction occurring through physical, mental and emotional ways.Forgiveness, patience, letting go, compassion, kindness and truth become our hard core original self.

“Of hatred and ill will, may not a trace remain. May love and good will fill our body, mind and life”

The author of this article is a Phd. Research Scholar in the Department of Zoology, University of Jammu.

Views expressed are personal