Acharya Mahaprajna
Sadhana means the maintenance of equipoise. To flare up in adversity, to be beside oneself with joy when things are going well-both these are indicative of imbalance. One should maintain one's mental equilibrium under all circumstances. It is difficult to do so without regular practice. However, with sadhana as one's goal, what is difficult becomes easy.
Why is the mind shattered? Why does it get so restless? Why is there any depression at all? One is tormented by one's own mind. Why? Why is the mind assailed by infirmities? How does fear enter the mind? I think all this happens because an ass is made to carry the burden which only an elephant can bear. No wonder the poor ass is quite weighed down.
In order to be free from all these problems, we must understand and live in the present-not totally cut off from the past, but evaluating it fully. Because we are greatly influenced by the past we must understand it, too. However while we are engaged in retrospection, we must take care that the present is not wholly supplanted by the past.
Unless we understand the factors influencing the mind, unless we comprehend how it is affected by time and space, we shall not know how to resolve the problem of mental peace. It will continue to be a problem. A man living in an atmosphere of pollution must learn to purify it, or his sadhana will not flower. There is the furnace with the fire burning in it. On it is placed a vessel full of water. It would be absurd for a man to think that the water should not get heated. As long as the fire is burning and the vessel placed on the fire, the water is bound to get heated. It would soon start boiling. Deep inside us is raging the fire of passions. There is the feeling of revenge, the passion of lust, the sentiment of fear and hatred, attachment and aversion. The furnace is burning and the mind placed on this furnace is bound to get heated up. Under these conditions, it is bound to grow unquiet. The mind is like water. The water is naturally cool. That is its character. But when it is placed on a blazing furnace, it must needs grow hot and boil. The poor mind by itself is not unquiet; it is cool. But below is blazing the furnace of passions, and how is it then possible for it not to get agitated?
If we want to do away with the mind's unrest, we must pay attention to the passions raging within. The quieter the feelings, the quieter the mind. Unquiet feelings make for an unquiet mind. That is the inevitable law.
