Value: Mindfulness - August 2025
Third Week: Love the mind
There is only one true love in our lives—our Self. Generally, we love only that which brings us happiness. In the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad (2.4.5), the teacher Yajnavalkya says to his wife Maitreyi, "आत्मनस्तु कामाय सर्वं प्रियं भवति," which means "Everything is loved for the sake of the Self."
You love your daughter simply because she is 'your' daughter. This idea extends to all your relationships with people and things. Currently, our strong identification with the mind leads us to focus on 'me' and 'mine,' influencing our actions based on these thoughts. Our attention tends to follow where the mind finds happiness.
Mind is an expressed form of the Self
The Self is imperceptible and incomprehensible, even to the mind. Why is this so? Because the Self is the very foundation and cause of the mind. According to established logic, the cause cannot be objectified by the effect; it can only be recognized as its own source. Similarly, the non-dual Self expresses itself as the limited mind. For there cannot exist another independent sentient entity other than the Self.
The mind is a continuous flow of thoughts, where each thought represents a relationship between a subject and an object. In all these thoughts, the subject remains constant—it's the Self. The Kena Upanishad (2.4) states, "प्रतिबोधविदितं मतम्" which means, "The Self is known (as the awareness that illuminates) through every thought." When we are unaware of the Self, we mistakenly identify the subject as our notion of 'I' or ego. This confusion leads us to cherish the mind and everything that brings happiness to it. Although the objects of our love may change, the pursuit of happiness never truly ends..
Mind is the means to reach the proximity of the Self
Upon realizing that the mind is only an external expression of the Self, the wise declare, "मनसा-एवमिदमाप्तव्यम्" – it is by the mind alone that the Self can be reached. This process consists of two steps.
The first step is to purify the mind. All the values we discuss in this forum aim to make our minds pure and calm, allowing us to remain immune to distractions from the senses and our inherent tendencies (vasanas). This also requires complete devotion to the higher Self.
The second step is to comprehend the illusory nature of the mind, often referred to as the phantom Self. As Sri Ramana Maharshi advised, "When you question the reality of the mind alone, it will disappear." Just as a pot is merely a term for a specific shape of clay, the mind is just a limited expression of the Self, designed for practical, worldly purposes.
When we start loving the mind as the pure Self, we start recognizing it as pure Awareness, even while it busily transacts in the wakeful state.
