An Experiment

Introduction
The mind is as sly as a fox. It deceives us in the most unimaginable ways. It has only five weapons, any of which it uses most effectively in a given situation. These are: lust, anger, greed, attachment and ego. The ego is really the driving force for the others. Just as all planets revolve around the sun in our solar system, lust, anger, greed and attachment revolve around ego. Left to its ways, the mind will continue to torment the soul with the treacherous use of all its powerful weapons.

The soul, on the other hand, is a particle of the greatest positive power that can ever exist. As a result of the biggest misfortune that can befall anyone, this soul has become a prisoner of the negative power, the mind. It yearns to be free and reunite with its own source.

Something needs to be done to save the soul and to facilitate its deliverance by opposing every attack of the mind on the soul, by countering and striking out against every blow that it tries to give to the soul.

The following experiment aims to achieve this end. It is an effort to save the soul, to empower it to break away from the chains of slavery that bind it to the mind and return it to its true home in all its glory.

Aim
To counter and overcome the deception of the mind, and thus reunite the soul with its origin.

Principle
There are two main principles that will be active throughout the experiment. These are:

1. It is the prime duty of the mind to keep the soul away from its true home. The mind will give a tough fight and leave no stone unturned to accomplish its duty. It will always make use of at least one of its five weapons to achieve this task. Recognition of the mind’s trick and its weapon will contribute immensely toward the successful completion of this experiment.

2. The Satguru’s grace coupled with our most sincere efforts at our meditation is the only and the most effective antidote that will be able to defy the mind and overcome it. There is no other way.

Apparatus

1. Satguru’s grace: it is always assured and available in ample amounts to every initiate.

2. Deep love, complete faith and total surrender to the Satguru: the outpourings of the soul must be painstakingly collected and preserved in the heart and left to react with the Satguru’s grace. After a while these outpourings transform into love, faith and surrender.

3. Sincere desire to rescue the soul and a firm resolve to crush the mind and all its horrible intentions. We get this resolve when we realize the amount of suffering we as souls have undergone while at the beck and call of our own minds.

An Important Consideration
Whenever any undesirable situation arises, we react to it in some way. Most often the result is that we lose our peace of mind over it, and find it difficult to concentrate on our meditation, at least for that particular day. It is interesting to observe that it was not the situation itself, nor the people in it that took us away from our meditation. It was really the mind that succeeded in its duty to keep us away from Shabd by offering us apparently free use of lust, anger, greed or attachment to satisfy our ego. As soon as we pick up any of these weapons to fight the situation, we already lose the real battle – the battle with the mind. The mind’s trick on us has worked – out go all thoughts of our Satguru and meditating on his Nam. And we are repeatedly told – anything that takes us away from our meditation is wrong.

Procedure
The following steps may be taken when dealing with our daily struggles, disappointments and difficulties:

1. When a troublesome situation arises we close our eyes (if possible, not necessary though) and do our simran for a while and completely dissociate from the trouble at hand.

2. We go on to realize how unimportant it is compared to our deep love for the Lord.

3. We then tell ourselves that whatever happens, the situation or its outcome is not going to interfere with that day’s meditation scheduled at a particular time.

4. Then we pray to our Satguru to help us face the situation with a clear and calm mind. He will give us courage to change whatever we can, the serenity to accept with gratitude whatever we can’t change and also the wisdom to know the difference.

Observation
Help will come. It always comes. The mind has to lose. And we, with the grace of the Master, will win.

Inference
Very often the trouble or undesirable situation is never as big as our mind likes us to believe. Therein lies its trick. We get carried away with what our mind tricks us to believe, and have recourse to using its ever ready weapons of deception. We must always choose to use the Satguru’s weapon – simran – over the five weapons of the mind, or we are sure to be led astray.

Conclusion
As we practise and master this technique, a time may come when we may even look forward to a difficulty, and thank even our enemies for giving us an opportunity to defeat our mind and taste the joy of victory over it again and again!

Saints’ foremost argument is, “Come with us and see”. Few are ready for it. So the Saints come down to the intellectual plane of men and talk to them in their terms. By their superior intellect they give people’s belief a little shake-up and make them think afresh. Slowly and slowly they bring them up to the point of experimentation. They give initiation, and the experiment begins.
_{Maharaj Sawan Singh, Spiritual Gems}

Most of us seek the Truth, but it is not possible to find Truth outside. You must seek it within yourself and, when you have realized it within yourself, you will see it everywhere. You have been instructed in this Science and explained the technique of “going in” and, after you practise the technique diligently, you will make spiritual progress and become indifferent to the squabbles of the world.
_{Maharaj Jagat Singh, The Science of the Soul}