Untitled - the Divine Life Society

senses) and Abhyasa Sura (one who is dexterous in thepractice of Yoga), who has devotion to the Guru, who hasVairagya, discrimination, who is fixed in his determinationand who has firm conviction in the existence of God.The mind is single, but it appears dual in the dreaming stateas the perceiver and the perceived, through the power of Mayaor illusion. The mind itself takes the forms of rose, mountain,elephant, river, ocean, enemy, etc. Just as heat is inseparablefrom fire, so also the fluctuation is inseparable from mind. Itmakes the mind restless. This fluctuation is caused by thepower of Rajas. It is the fluctuation that causes Asanti(absence of peace of mind). The Bhaktas remove the tossingof the mind by Japa and worship of Ishtadevata (Upasana).The power of fluctuation is the mind itself. This fluctuatingmind alone is this world. The mind becomes no mind iffluctuation disappears. The mind ceases to exist, if it becomesdestitute of this fluctuation. Mind plays havoc through thepower of fluctuation. Fluctuation is Mara, or Satan, or Vasanaor Ishana, or'Trishna. [t was this fluctuation that temptedVisvamitra. It is this fluctuation that brings downfall to astruggling aspirant. Destroy this fluctuation through strongViveka (discrimination), constant meditation and ceaselessBrahma Vichara (Atmic enquiry).As soon as fluctuation manifests various sorts ofimaginations crop up. Imagination co-exists with fluctuation.Imagination is as much dangerous as fluctuation. Fluctuationmoves the mind. lmagination fattens the mind. Mind minusfluctuation and imagination is but a zero. Fluctuation andimagination are the two wings of the mind-bird. Cut the rightwing through Atmic enquiry and the left wing through thepractice of thoughtlessness. The great mind-bird will fall deadon the spot immediately.The one dividing wall between the soul and the body ismind. If this wall is broken by ceaseless Atmic enquiry, the54 LECTURES ON YOGA AND VEDANTA