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Kindle Notes & Highlights
Guru Vasishth replied, ‘Ram, disease begins in the mind. When we harbour poisonous thoughts, the Manomaya kośh (mental sheath) gets disturbed. This agitates the Prāṇamaya kośh (vital energy sheath). That disturbance manifests in the Annamaya kośh (physical body) as disease.’
Circumstances come in our life for a purpose, and they remain until the purpose is served. When we have learned the lessons intended for us, the environment naturally changes and leads to a new set of situations that carry within them another lesson.
The more we win our inner battles, the more we will find external success knocking at our door. It’s quite simple―thought by thought, we forge our destiny.
The difference between our needs and our wants is created by greed. We do not need much to live a happy life. But greed creates innumerable wants for more wealth, higher posts, greater prestige, and bigger houses. The more we get, the more we want; nothing seems to quell our discontentment. Imagine just how blissful life would be with the wealth of inner contentment that would come if we could free ourselves from greed.
The uncommonly known secret of this world is that desire can never be eliminated by satiating it. It is like attempting to extinguish a fire by pouring clarified butter on it. The fire does seem to go away, but only momentarily. It then flares up with redoubled vigour.
we harbour attachment, it will lead to desire; from desire will arise anger and greed. From anger will arise subsequent afflictions like illusion. Conversely, if we can eliminate attachment, there will be no scope for desire, and all subsequent afflictions will automatically cease. This brings us to the million-dollar question: What is the cause of attachment? The next section explains it.
This phenomenon called ‘neuroplasticity’ is the ability of the mind to reorganise itself by forming new neural connections in response to situations or changes in the environment. The consequence of neuroplasticity is that when a neural circuit becomes intensely engraved in the brain, the corresponding thought pattern comes more easily to the mind, thereby conditioning it.
The brain is so smart that it does not need an external reward for reinforcement. It generates the feel-good chemicals—serotonin, endorphin, and dopamine—and sends them to the part of the brain that was engaged in the activity. These chemicals create the ‘feel-good’ sensation which is the reward.
