Is there anyone on earth who actually enjoys doing the dishes? Anyone who looks forward to cleaning up the house? Can we find joy in putting out the garbage, vacuuming the living room, washing the windows, ironing clothes? If, like millions of others, we consider these tasks a necessary evil, a tedious but unavoidable circumstance of life, our answer will undoubtedly be a convinced ‘no’. But if we were willing to try the ancient, yet powerful technique of concentration our ‘no’ would soon be transformed into a surprising ‘yes’. For a clear, pure and focused mind does not know the words ‘tediousness’ and ‘boredom’.
– The Benefits Of A Clear Mind – By Abhinabha Tangerman
(Abhinahba Tangerman is a meditation student of Sri Chinmoy currently living in The Hague, Holland. His other interests include acting and running.)
Kabir – The couplet
????? ???? ???? ???, ?? ??? ? ??? |
??? ??? ?? ??? ???, ??? ??? ? ??? ||
transliterated:
Nahaye dhoye kya hua, jo man mail na jaye |
Meen sada jal mein rahe,dhoye bas na jaaye ||
Translation:
Of what use is bathing and cleaning daily, if the mind is not cleansed |
Living immersed in water always, the fish still does not lose its smell ||
My understanding:
Simple thoughts, eloquently expressed – a hallmark of Saint’s Kabir’s style of expression.
A clean mind lives in a clean body – this every one knows – but we often forget that not every clean body houses a clean mind.
Yet all the physical cleanliness the physical world offers is of no use without a clean mind – for minus the cleanliness, peace and tranquility of thought abandon us. Without these essential elements, all functions succumb to the negative factors of greed, desire and ‘maya‘.
True peace and real happiness are found in simple pleasures and easy thought – which both depend on the clean mind to bubble to the fore.