Observe our own mind and know how the mind works...

A man had a dream. In his dream, he felt he was in danger, and so, in the dream he screamed loudly for help. This resulted he was screaming loudly in the middle of the night.

His house-mate came to wake him up and asked him was he having a "bad" dream.

He told the friend, "It was not a "bad" dream. It was just a dream. In the dream, I screamed for help as I felt being in a danger situation in the dream, that's all..."

But the friend insisted that it must be a "bad" dream if he had screamed so loud in sleep (according to what his mind was being conditioned to believe about what things are/should be. Everything has to be labelled as either "good" or "bad"...)

This is a little life story to teach us about our mind perception about things are being conditioned by what the mind being conditioned to believe or what the mind wants to believe, even though it is not necessarily the Truth of things. In a same happening, some people perceive it as something "positive", some people perceive it as something "negative", but the happening itself, it is not something "positive" nor "negative", it has no qualities or intention to be "positive" or "negative"...

Anyway, the person who had the dream, didn't perceive the dream as something "bad", the "scream" was just a spontaneous reaction coming from him shouting for help in his dream, and he was not disturbed by the dream at all when he woke up from the dream... But the other person who has nothing to do with the dream, who had heard the "scream", had attached to his own perception about "It must be a "bad" dream..."

This friend insisted that what himself perceived is true, is right, and he also thinks that other people should be thinking the way as how he thinks... Or the mind is being conditioned by "How can there be other different ways of thinking other than this one". And even if there are different ways of thinking, then all those thinking must be "wrong", because the mind believes that its way of thinking is right, if there is something different from this one, it must be wrong. The mind is being conditioned to think, "Chillies are spicy, how can chillies be not spicy?", or "Good people should be in happiness, how can good people be in suffering?", or "He was a bad person, how can he be a good person now?", or "He was a good person, how can he be a bad person now?"....

When the friend heard him said that "It was not a bad dream...", the friend cannot accept that he could perceive differently from his friend's perception... The mind is being conditioned by "It was a bad dream, how can it was not a bad dream, he must have perceived it wrongly", and so, the friend told him to "correct" him, "How can it was not a bad dream? It was a bad dream since you screamed in your sleep..."

This simple happening or interaction between two minds also reflects about, the mind is not just keep imposing the qualities of "good" and "bad, "positive" and "negative", "happiness" and "suffering" onto its own perception of what things are or what the world is, but it also wants to impose its own way of thinking onto other people's thinking, or being "nosy" about how other people mind should perceive or behave or function or react, the same way as how it perceives or behaves or functions or reacts according to what it thinks it true, is right and real...

And thus, arguments, conflicts, frustration, disappointment, dissatisfaction, anger, hatred, and etc, arise in that mind itself due to it cannot accept any other way of thinking other than its own, if the mind attached strongly to what it thinks or believes is "true" and "right", and anything that is different from this one must be "wrong" and "false"...

Like wise, there will be no arguments, conflicts, frustration, disappointment, dissatisfaction, anger, hatred, and etc, arise in that mind itself due to it is ready to accept the many possibilities of different ways of thinking other than its own, if the mind is aware of the thinking process in itself and doesn't attach to its own thinking or believes about what is "true" and "right".

The mind can function as it is or think the way that it thinks, or to believe what it wants to believe, but the awareness that is knowing or being aware of what is going on in the mind, is beyond the mind's thinking process, and this awareness stands as a silent witness or the observer watching the mind, without attaching or identifying or associating with the mind perception of names and forms, without judging the mind as "good" or "bad", without expecting the mind to behave in certain ways... And this awareness will also allow other people's mind to function as they are, or think the way that they want to think, or to believe what they want to believe, without trying to argue or to control or to change something that is different from what our own mind thinks and believes.

This awareness is untouched or uncontaminated by whether the mind is thinking about something "good" or "bad", "happy" or "unhappy", "right" or "wrong"... This awareness is also untouched or uncontaminated by the "good" and "bad" actions that derived from this life existence of the body and the mind... The awareness is being what it is, it is not affected nor determined by the "good" and "bad" actions performed by the body and mind, nor will it change, increase or decrease according to the impermanent changes of the body and mind, nor being influenced by the impermanent changes of the qualities of names and forms that the mind perceives from moment to moment...

This is real freedom...

The mind is doing some thinking, while the awareness is being aware of the mind is doing some thinking without react towards the thinking. This awareness is also being called the Higher Self or the higher mind. The higher mind is observing the lower mind. Or The pure part of the mind is watching the impure part of the mind. The mind is watching itself, controlling itself, purifying itself, transforming itself through dedication of consistent "yoga and meditation" practice... This will benefit the whole universe even though when the mind has no interactions with the "world" at all... As the entire worldly experience exists when the mind starts functioning and perceiving sights, sounds, smells, tastes, touches and thinking. When the mind ceases from "moving" or "going out" through the senses, when the mind is silent, worldly experience doesn't exists...

What is "happiness", what is "suffering"?

Some people perceive the world as a "suffering" place, as the mind is being in a state of "suffering"... Some people perceive the world as a "happy" place, as the mind is being in a state of happiness... Some people perceive the world as neither a "suffering" nor "happy" place, it is just being what it is, as the mind has gone beyond the qualities of names and forms about "happiness" and "suffering"...


Be aware of how our own mind functions, and free ourselves from this conditioned way of thinking in the mind. We will stop judging anyone or arguing with anyone on different points of views, it doesn't matter if it is something what the mind strongly believes in about what is "good" and "bad", "right" and "wrong"...

This is nothing to do with whether we are being a "good" person or not...

Yoga and meditation practice are here to help us to change this habit or condition of how the mind thinks, in a gradual process... From being impatient transforming into less impatient. From being selfish transforming into less selfish. From being attached to names and forms transforming into detachments from names and forms. From being angry and hating transforming into forgiving, accepting and compassionate...

Restrict the mind from desires, wants, craving and aversion. Restrict the mind from reacts immediately towards whatever it perceives through the senses from moment to moment. Allow the mind to pause for a few moments before placing any judgment about things... At the end this few moments of pause will become longer until there is no need of reaction at all...

The thinking about "I am this or that", "I am good or bad", "I am happy or unhappy" is just a conditioned way of thinking in the mind, it is not who or what we really are... The mind also imposes the same qualities and judgments onto other people, perceiving this person or that person as "He is this or that", "He is good or bad", "He is happy or unhappy", but that is not who or what he really is...

Here's another example in life. While driving on the road, some of us "expect" the other drivers also drive according to the rules and regulations that we follow, and we get angry when other drivers didn't follow the rules and regulations like we do... And some of us know that and accept that other drivers might not be following the same rules and regulations as we do, we don't expect other drivers to drive like us, and we don't get angry when other drivers don't drive like us... We pay full attention on the road without expecting the other drivers on the road will follow all the rules and regulations like us...

We perform all our duties and responsibilities accordingly, but we do not expect other people will also be performing all their duties and responsibilities accordingly...

Love and peace to all of you. May all of you be free from the conditioned way of thinking in the mind.

Om shanti.