Let your mind remain idle.

 

"Sharma ji, I never let my son remain idle." said an acquaintance of mine. 

"What exactly you do to ensure this." I asked curiously. 

"After school my son goes to an institute to get exhaustive knowledge regarding Physics, Chemistry, Mathematics and Biology so that he should know these subjects inside out. That way he won't face much difficulty in getting admission into a prestigious engineering or medical school." he said. 

"That's nice." 

"Sharma ji, he remains in the institute till six pm. Then at seven pm I take him to a computer institute. He attends the institute till nine pm." 

"So your son remains busy till nine pm. You mean your son's mind never remains free." I asked. 

"Yes Sharma ji. You see an idle mind is the devil's workshop." he said with a tinge of pride on having remembered an English proverb from his school days. 

"Sir, I totally disagree with you and your nonsense proverb. I strongly believe that mind at work will only bring miseries, disasters." I said looking at him, with a smile. 

"But why?" he asked, looking dumbfounded. 

"The human mind is the most dangerous thing. It must not be allowed to work more than necessary. Mind at work has produced ultra sophisticated weapons that can annihilate the whole creation within few minutes. 

Even the so called "comforts" that have grown out of the mind like air conditioners, fuel driven vehicles have not only caused innumerable lifestyle diseases but have tremendously increased the global temperature, contributed towards the elimination of various medicinal plants and animal species. 

Just take a look at today's children. They have no immunity at all. 

Innovative medical technologies, like heart transplant, have decreased death rate, increase the life expectancy. 

But this has caused excessive stress on the already depleting natural resources. 

One can see the acute water scarcity faced by many countries, some regions are on the brink of becoming deserts.' 

"Also the mind is in the habit of living either in the past or in the future." 

"What's wrong with this habit, Sharma ji?" 

"Sir, reminiscing about the past brings only pain. Also it's no use to think much about the future as almost all the plans have failed, will invariably fail because conditions change, circumstances change due to the presence of an omnipotent "hidden hand". 

"So what should one do, Sharma ji?" 

"Nothing. Just don't allow your mind to work more than necessary, don't allow it to overpower you. Put a big stop to the stupid thoughts that always envelope one's mind." 

"But how can this be done." 

"Meditation. It's nothing but an excellent technique to quell the stupid chatterings of the mind. Our rishis, sages knew that the only way to attain peace is by quietening the mind. That's why you often see pics of them in meditative postures." I said. 

~ Sanjay Gargish ~