Mind your mind !!

How do we perceive the world ?
We know there are things in this world. Because we see, hear , touch , smell or taste them.

Which of these is most important?

Sight:
We see something when light bounces of it and enters our eyes and the signals reach our brain.
Light requires no medium. It work anywhere, even in space.

Hearing:
We hear something when the sound waves it produces reaches our ears and the signals reach our brain.
Sound requires a medium. So we use this to a lesser extent than seeing.

Touch, Taste, Smell : are all related to the skin. The skin of the hands and other parts of the body produce the sensation of touch. The skin of the tongue react with chemicals of a substance to produce taste. And the skin of the nose does the same to produce the smell signals.

What is happening in common here ?

External objects produce electrical signals in our brain.
Let's (For now) call the brain the mind, it's functional unit.

But what's going wrong then ....?

The mind filters the signals into good, bad ,neutral , maybe good, maybe bad etc.
It does so by checking it against a database in itself.
The mind builds this database itself by recording stuff as good and bad and passing it on to the next generation.
And this has been going on for millions of years.
The database has been growing. For the most part it works just right to make the body/mind complex survive.
BUT ..... a certain degree of corruption has grown into this database.
Our minds often trigger unwanted responses to external stimuli.
And it breaks down, becoms dysfunctional .

What is the remedy ?!

SO ....how do we avoid this?
The best way is to just keep in mind what's going on.
Just alert yourself to be aware that your mind is filtering information against a possibly corrupt database.
If you are upto it modify wrong notions.
For example you can modify your fear of water by learning to swim.
Or your fear of flying by flying.
Once you are aware that the mind is only a tool, and that YOU are in charge, it should be easy!
So cheers friends ! Don't let your mind let you
down !!

Are we living in a dream?

It must be my fascination for a couple of movies 'The Matrix' and 'Inception' that makes me think of what if the ideas behind these movies were true.
What If all the world were a dream?
Well If that were so , where should we focus?

Do we need to focus on altruistic motives or egoistic motives?
I think we should be non-egoistic.
Why?
Simple answer nothing you do to your ego (material wealth or security or power ) is going to effect your soul after death.
I say this because I have a little bit of real proof , a tad hazy at the moment but these are called Near Death Experiences.
The people who have faced death (including brain death) and come back after that , never speak of how good they felt because
they had been wealthy in their earthly life.
If anything they felt the other way. They felt they should have been less hurting and more loving.
Infact almost all of the people who have had NDE have become altruistic after the experience.

But it's also a bit of common sense. What good is wealth or power to the soul ?
Because the wealth you've earned is still in the banks or things you invested it in.
It's true it affects your progeny, but we don't know if too much wealth affects them too correctly.
Or for that matter if too much power will do them too good.
Some people  'realise' either through NDE or through 'Meditation' or through 'Prayer'
that the material world is not going to give them happiness , and realise that real happiness already is present in us.
All we have to do is to stop looking and be us !
These are the lucky people. They simply are. And happiness is natural to them.
The Only difference between these people and the others are that the others are still thinking.
The mind is a powerful tool.
But unfortunately it first creates a basic and false 'I' thought to do all it's other thinking.
This I thought is actually false because it pertains to just your own body or mind.
It may extend to your kids and spouse. Rarely beyond your nation.
But reality is different. Reality is that you are not of a body or a family or a nation.
In reality you are the same consciousness that is the one and only consciousness that exists everywhere and at all times.
Your "I am the body -thought" is an illusion. And based on this illusion your entire life you have run after illusions.
When you have run enough and gathered enough you realise that these were all mirages.
Time to meditate. Time to think who you really are.
Time to ask "Who am I" ?
And ask who is the asker and who is the receiver of the answer !!

Putting two and two together - Self , Death and Reincarnation!

The Brahman or supreme consciousness is quite simply said to be attribute less.
And yet one who realises his true self is said to acquire a state of intense relaxation or calmness.
Another place where pure calmness and relaxation is reported is in Near Death Experiences (NDEs).

For NDEs :
Take a look at this documentary : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nTuMYaEB35U
and this from the National Geographic : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pSfNSTB-Xd8

For  Reincarnation :
This is from Dr.Ian Stevenson a pioneer in this field :
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PbWMEWubrk0
This from BBC : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iq64XvwqzyQ.

He does not claim reinc arnation for a fact but puts forth so much evidence that it is clear that
it cannot all be false.

Most reincarnation cases are children between 2 and 6 after which they forget their past lives.
And at least some children talk of a choice they have , they can either come back to earth or they can choose not to.

A child drew a picture of God holding out two hands on either sides and asking him to choose one.
Of course he chose to be reborn.

Now if we were to put all this together, and this is , I admit a poor attempt by me.
Maybe this is what happens.
In our life , due to our actions , we either get too attached to the world, and have unfinished business here
 or
 we understand it's temporary and fleeting nature.

After death , who ever has unfinished business in the world chooses to be born again (aided by what seems to be his own kith and kin in spiritual form, but could just be his own wishes).

Whoever has learnt the true nature of maya chooses to remain with the supreme consciousness and eternal bliss.