A strong mind is an open mind. An open, free mind is not separate from your heart, not separate from life itself. It can know itself as heart, as life.
I want to start with the assurance that neither strength of mind nor weakness of mind has anything to do with the grace of discovering the truth of who you are. There are no conditions for that. It is beyond the understanding of our minds. In a moment of grace, a glimpse of truth is not earned by strength training the mind, nor is it denied to the weak of mind. The point of strengthening the mind is so that when there is betrayal by the mind of its own source—the truth of itself—that betrayal can be recognized. The truth of yourself doesn’t come and go. Mind activity comes and goes. When you become aware of that coming and going, then you can be aware of the choice to follow or not follow the thoughts. That’s where a strong and flexible mind supports a revelation of the truth that is deeper than mind activity.
In a weak mind, there is no recognizing betrayal. All of a sudden, there is just a sense of suffering, or a loss of the freshness and surprise at the truth of oneself. A strong mind is disciplined enough to overhear the story of suffering, and inquire “What is always here, regardless of what I think?”
The Strong and Flexible Mind
We live in bodies, and naturally it is valuable to have a strong body. In the same way, it is even more valuable to have a strong mind. There are many ways to develop a strong mind. Part of our education concerns developing a strong mind. Learning the alphabet, learning to read, and learning basic arithmetic are ways of harnessing the mind’s power to concentrate and focus. That is part of our human experience, and we can recognize that we have a better experience of life when our minds are not wild and untamed.
In the spiritual realm, meditation is often the way that we develop our minds, whether that’s through concentration on a mantra or a prayer, a visualization, state, idea, or belief. When I first met Papaji, there were a lot of experienced meditators coming to see him, and they did have strong minds. They could sit for hours without moving, without flinching, hardly even breathing. But they didn’t get the truth that Papaji was offering any more quickly than anyone else, and they could lose it just as easily as everyone else. I realized then that a very strong power of concentration can create an imbalance, just as bodybuilders in a gym can be so bulked up that they become inflexible and no longer move with ease.
In considering strength of mind, let’s always include flexibility, so that we are not developing one aspect of mind at the expense of others. Because the strong mind—the truly strong mind which includes flexibility—is able to open, to surrender, to simply be still, as well as recognize when there is closing, when there is suffering, when there is some story that is being followed.
The tides of conditioning are huge, but the strong and flexible mind has the capacity to be aware of a wave of conditioning without fighting it, denying it, or indulging it. Then the mind is in support of the grace that has already claimed you. It has the strength and flexibility to come back to stillness, to refuse the conditioning, or the triggers, or habits—to not deny them as they appear, and to not fight them. To simply be still. Then when powerful waves of conditioning come to shore and then wash back out, your mind remains still. True in your mind, true in your life, true to what has called you—the truth of yourself.
Take a Moment to Stop
Papaji didn't teach a formal meditation practice. He supported meditation, and he supported me in meditating. But when I met him, he simply said, “Stop.” I thought he meant meditate. I tried to do a simple breathing exercise, but he said, “No, not that. It’s too much. Stop everything.” And that is what I have to say to you, too. But what I've noticed over the years is that it takes a really strong mind to stop. You would think it would be the opposite, that it would take a strong mind to keep running on and on. But the mind is like a runaway train. To put the brakes on takes an enormous amount of mental strength. Strength, but not effort. Our minds are used to effort.
Stopping is simply being still in the face of the momentum of dozens of years of running, turning, twisting, dodging, or attacking. Sometimes we try to manufacture that stillness with another thought, an unnecessary thought, an unnecessary effort. In any moment, can you simply be still? We always have a minute. Papaji said it takes seconds, and you certainly always have seconds. You have a few seconds or even a minute or two to not send your mind on to the next thought, but just to let it rest. Give your mind, or your brain (since that is where our minds are generated in our human bodies), a break. Take five, take a break. Just be still. Then you'll see that at the very least, your mind is open to receive.
