The Mind Is Not Your Own

Acharya Prashant

12min

318reads

Acharya Prashant: The topic is the infectiousness of boredom. Not only is boredom infectiousness, anything and everything that the mind experiences is contagious, infectious. You experienced it with respect to one particular way of the mind, one particular move of the mind right now. That does not mean that only boredom is contagious; that rather means that right now there is a particular environment in which you could observe this particular infectiousness that affects the mind.

It is happening at every moment. Mind you, it has happened 300 times with you since this morning, but you couldn’t notice it on the previous 299 occasions. So the question to be asked is not whether boredom is infectious. Mind itself is an infection, an acquisition, an import.

There is no wave in the mind that arises on its own. Because on its own, anyway, the mind is nothing. The mind operates in dualities and duality is nothing on its own. One end is dependent on the other just as much as the other end dependent on the first one. So what is on its own? Is the world on its own? No, not really, the world is dependent on the mind. Is the mind on its own? No, not really, the mind is dependent on the world. Where do both come from? That will be answered when there is no mind to ask the question. That will be answered when there is no mind to receive the answer. That’s a pretty impossible thing for the mind to grasp.

Ask yourself, "Why did it happen that since the morning you missed it 299 times." Since the morning, you have experienced shades of happiness, boredom, sadness, excitement, depression, frustration, ambition, hope, anxiety, playfulness, right? Each and everything that is possible to the mind keeps occurring randomly. Why are we unable to observe that it is not arising from within, that it is just a reaction to some external stimulus? Why do we fail to detect that? That is one part. Second, what is unique about this situation that you could indeed detect now? That is the question to be asked. You see, we live lives like the crow bird does.

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