Acharya Mahaprajna
The Art & Science Of Living
Chapter 3.
Truth Of Life
19
Construction Of A New Mind
[A new universe or society can be formed only when a new mind is formed. Mind may be a personal mind or a collective mind. The collective mind (animal mind) is more active nowadays. It is causing crimes, injustice, atrocities, greed and selfishness. Greed is the root cause of all other crimes. Relations should be without selfishness. Meditation is essential to give up greed and adopt a selfless path. When we start perceiving within, our conditioned beliefs get shattered. When the conditioned beliefs are shattered, the mind will be reformed, it will reform the personality and consequently, the society. The practice of Prekshadhyana is most essential for reforming the mind.]
Today every man desires that a new universe should be created. He does not like the present, the old universe. The society in which he is living is not compatible with his thinking, so he is not comfortable in it. He is repeatedly pursuing the imagination of a new creation in his mind. But a new universe and a new society can be formed only when a new mind is formed. With the continuation of the present mind, the formation of a new universe and new society cannot be imagined.
In the words of psychology, our mind is a conditioned mind. It is working on the basis of some established beliefs and set convictions. Unless the conditioning of these established beliefs and convictions are shattered, the construction of a new society cannot be imagined.
When the second state of life descends, i.e., the age between eleven and twenty years, the mind becomes fully developed. At the age of fifteen years, our mind is fully developed. After that, the personality can still develop, but the mind cannot develop anymore. Psychologists agree that the mind can be changed till the age of fifteen years only, after that it becomes difficult to change the mind. So the second state of life, i.e., between the age of eleven and twenty years, is very important. In this state, the power of lust is less vigorous. It is controllable, because of the activeness of the pineal gland, the sex hormones and other hormones are still controllable. When the pineal gland starts becoming passive, the lustful tendency rises vigorously.
Today, the need of the hour is to revamp and revolutionalise the whole system of our society. For that a psychological revolution is most necessary. The gist of the psychological revolution will be the construction of a new mind and a change of the conditioned mind. One part of our mind is called the animal or primitive mind which is very active these days. According to Jainism, the vegetative world is the basic source of life. Every life evolves from vegetation, which is an inexhaustible source. By definition it is known as Nigod (primitive form of life). Every creature, irrespective of whether half developed or fully developed, has its primitive source as Nigod. Every creature originally has the mind of vegetation in it. In Jainism, it is called Ogh Sangya. Modern psychology calls it a collective mind. There are two kinds of mind, one is the personal mind and the other is the collective mind. The collective mind is found only in creatures and exists in all creatures from the vegetation to the human form of life. This animal mind is highly active nowadays. That is why our society is full of crime, injustice, atrocity, transgressions, etc. For the construction of a new society, the other level of mind has to be developed.
The animal mind produces greed, which in turn inculcates selfishness. In turn, selfishness creates cruelty and cruelty generates criminal tendency. Finally, the criminal inclination gives birth to addiction. A criminal takes to intoxication so that he may forget his inner Self and experience momentary peace.
Greed is a basic tendency a primal drive, which exists in the mind. The reformation of the mind means purification of this tendency of greed. Meditation is a powerful means of cleansing our tendencies.
Greed is the root of all crimes. When the root is alive, its branches, sub-branches, flowers and leaves flourish. In the world, there is only one fundamental disease, i.e., greed. The rest are just its extended family members. Our mind has actually been conditioned by greed. The whole thinking process hovers around that. First of all, every man thinks of his self-interest only. If his self-interest is achieved then the act is good and if his self-interest is not fulfilled then the act is bad.
Today, class struggle is at its peak. Its basis is greed. A mill owner gives less salary to his labourers and expects more work. The labourer wants to extract more payment for lesser work. This is the conflict. Can the mental tendencies of both of them be reformed? Had this reform taken place, then neither Marxism, Communism nor violent revolutions would have happened from time to time. But the conflict between the mill owner and the labourer is still alive. The question arises, "Is there any solution to this?" Mahavira had a philosophy for its solution, "Do not deprive someone of his livelihood. This is a sinful tendency." Do not destroy someone's livelihood. It means whatever is one's share, should be honestly given to one to safeguard one's livelihood. If you don't do it, then this is a transgression of the non-violence philosophy.
This philosophy can be effectively disseminated only when the mind is reformed; a new mind is formed. One whose mind is reformed, will have relations based on reality.
Relationship may be subjective or objective. Subjective relation is thriving in the present scenario. Reality is either totally absent or it is negligible. Truthful relation is based on reality. When the millowner knows reality, he will say, "This much is not mine, I shall not take that which is not mine." The labourer will also say, "This much is not my due, I shall not take it." Thus the relationship of both will be realistic. This is possible only when the mind is reformed. Everybody has good aspirations. Everybody wants a good society and good people. Parents expect their children to be good. Children want the parents to be good. Goodness is desired by all. The feeling of goodness can be truly realised only when a new mind is constructed. Unfortunately nobody is prepared to reform his mind.
A friend asked his friend, "Oh! You wanted to install a cement factory, what happened to that?" He replied, "There was no cement available even for building the factory, so how could a cement factory be installed?"
Meditation is essential for purifying the mind. When we actually start knowing, perceiving within, then the ingrained beliefs are reformed. Those beliefs, which are the basis of life, start reforming. When the basic beliefs are reformed then human relation will definitely be reformed. So the important thing is to reform belief or to destroy it. Beliefs are profusely abundant within. These have to be pushed out systematically one by one. They get shattered only when their conditioning is shattered. The deeper we perceive, the weaker the beliefs will become. The burden of beliefs carried by man is even more than the burden carried by a donkey. Beliefs are really very strange.
Acharya Tulsi departed from a village. A widow appeared before him. Another lady shouted, "Get away, get away, do not cast an evil omen." The widow was puzzled and moved away. Acharya Shree asked, "What happened?" The lady said, "Sir, you were wandering. The woman, who was in front of you, is a widow. It is considered an ill-omen. An evil omen is not good during wandering." Acharya Shree heard her carefully and said, "This is a wrong belief. I shall wander with the good omen of that widow." He further added that a widow, who follows her duty, pursues a virtuous conduct and family convention is very pious. How can we expect an ill omen from her? There are such innumerable fictitious beliefs. Our vast human resources have remained frozen owing to so many wrong beliefs and socio-cultural injustices mainly in the form of the caste system and untouchability. All religions must now unite in waging an epic war against the abettors and perpetrators of these wrong beliefs. A mind narrowed by such beliefs is hardly able to perceive the truth. When man dives within and perceives them, then the truth starts revealing itself and the mind is rendered burdenless.
The process of reforming life is meditation. It reforms the basic beliefs. When such beliefs are reformed, the mind will be reformed. A reformed mind will reform one's personality. It will result in reforming the society.
It can be summarised that the construction of a new mind is essential for reform. Everybody must realise this fact.