by Harnaak Singh       19-Dec-2016

THOUGHTS, PICTURES AND TIME

Lets first recapitulate.  We have contemplated the following concepts – THOUGHT, PICTURES, 5 EVILS, 5 VIRTUES, INNER-SELF (which controls the ORGANS through which we interact with the creation) and METAPHORS (in Gurbani).

Let us contemplate on THOUGHTS.  If we look at our picture 20 years ago and look at it now, there is a big difference. Our age was “X” 20 years ago; today it is “X + 20”.  How we look is affected by time.  We have no control of this change.  PICTURES change with time.  They are NOT TIMELESS.

If we had a THOUGHT 20 years ago and have the SAME THOUGHT today. SURPRISE! SURPRISE! IT IS THE SAME. It is not affected by TIME.  VERY INTERESTING.  As an example you knew “A” very well 20 years ago.  “A” went to live overseas.  You just heard a friend mention that “A” is visiting and wants to meet up.   Your THOUGHTS about “A”, e.g. how “A” looks would be as you saw 20 years ago.  They have not changed.  Then when you see “A”, you modify your THOUGHTS about “A” to the present time.  BUT until you meet “A” the THOUGHTS about “A” remained the same for 20 years; the THOUGHTS DID NOT AGE.  Thought THOUGHTS can change, but the decision to change them is YOURS.  In this sense THOUGHTS are not affected by time.

A bell rings in our mind.

GuruJi said about GOD (SGGS 1)

ਆਦਿ ਸਚੁ ਜੁਗਾਦਿ ਸਚੁ ॥ ਹੈ ਭੀ ਸਚੁ ਨਾਨਕ ਹੋਸੀ ਭੀ ਸਚੁ ॥੧॥

True In The Primal Beginning. True Throughout The Ages.

True Here And Now. O Nanak, Forever And Ever True. ||1||

The above two verses state that GOD is TIMELESS. God WAS, IS and WILL BE (Forever).

Isn’t it UNCANNY.

GOD is TIMELESS.  THOUGHTS appear to be TIMELESS.

BUT pictures are NOT TIMELESS.

PICTURES, THOUGHTS AND THE MIND

From our discussion we know that PICTURES is all the information we get from our FIVE senses.  We are “bombarded with PICTURES all the time”.

One says this PICTURE is small. One says this PICTURE is big. One says we should see something as one PICTURE; another says we should see the same as two PICTURES. We are so clever today that we can even convince one that a BLACK PICTURE is WHITE.

PICTURES are not the problem. The problem is US. WE have NOT UNDERSTOOD the MESSAGE OF OUR GURU.

Now let us go back to THOUGHTS.  As we said earlier

THOUGHTS make us do evil. THOUGHTS make us do good. THOUGHTS make us stressful. THOUGHTS make us happy. THOUGHTS make us say bad things. THOUGHTS make us say good things.  It is THOUGHTS that can make our life HELL or HEAVEN.

So the key is to CONTROL our THOUGHTS.  Where do our THOUGHTS arise?  They arise in our MIND.  The MIND is a part of our INNER-SELF (Antahkaran ਅੰਤਹਕਰਣ).  This is shown in the picture below (compare this with picture in previous post).

What is the difference?

Yes there is new box MIND ਮਨੁ in the inner self.

Gurbani says (SGGS 1103)

ਮਨੁ ਜੀਤੇ ਜਗੁ ਜੀਤਿਆ ਜਾਂ ਤੇ ਬਿਖਿਆ ਤੇ ਹੋਇ ਉਦਾਸੁ ॥੨॥

Conquering the mind, one conquers the world, and then remains detached from corruption. ||2||

This means that we have to WIN OVER OUR MIND (ਮਨੁ ਜੀਤੇ) and then we will be a winner in this world (ਜਗੁ ਜੀਤਿਆ).   How?  By remaining DETACHED FROM (ਤੇ ਹੋਇ ਉਦਾਸੁ) falsehood, hatred, deceit, corruption … – essentially the FIVE EVILS, all of which are poison (ਬਿਖਿਆ) to us.

If ANYONE preaches one of any of the FIVE EVILS or related actions; this preaching is AGAINST the teaching of Gurbani or UNIVERSAL VALUES.  This is AGAINST THE PRINCIPLES OF HUMANITY.  That ANYONE and the FOLLOWERS will be LOSERS in this WORLD.

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