Body the Greatest Gadget

1. Your Mind: A Circus or a Mess?

Only if you are out of the circus of your mind, you will be hundred percent free of madness.

Mind's dual nature. The mind is a miraculous instrument capable of great heights, yet for most, it's a misery-manufacturing machine, a chaotic "circus" or even "mental diarrhea." This internal chaos stems from a lack of charge over one's mental activity.

Source of misery. Every human misery is manufactured in the mind. People invent perversions and deviations seeking temporary relief, but these only multiply the mess. The mind, meant to be a ladder to the divine, becomes a stairway to hell when overly identified with external things.

Coordinated activity. While experienced as a mess, the mind's underlying neural activity is highly coordinated, essential for bodily function. The goal isn't to stop the mind, but to conduct this circus consciously, transforming it from a torture device into a pleasant experience.

2. Identification is the Root of Suffering

Once your intellect identifies with something or the other, it gets chained with the identifications.

Distorted perception. Deep identification with things like body, family, qualifications, or beliefs distorts perception. The intellect, meant to discriminate clearly like a sharp scalpel, becomes useless when residue sticks to it, leading to a complex mess of identities.

Campaigns for identity. Society constantly campaigns to make you identify deeply with various groups (family, community, nation) to serve their purposes. This strong identification makes you willing to go to great lengths, even harming others, because you are not free from the confines of that identity.

Disentanglement is key. Suffering arises from being entangled, not involved. Entanglement comes from discriminatory involvement rooted in identification ("This is my child"). True freedom and a well-functioning mind come from being involved indiscriminately, without identification, allowing the intellect to remain sharp and clear.

3. Mind Needs Liberation, Not Control

Your mind need not be controlled; your mind needs to be liberated.

Misunderstood concept. The idea of "controlling the mind" or becoming "no-mind" arises from the torture of an unmanaged mind. This miraculous instrument is seen as a barrier, not a possibility, leading people to seek its cessation rather than its potential.

Morality's problem. Imposing morality (right/wrong, good/bad) creates strong points of identity and aversion. The mind's nature is additive; trying not to think about something bad only makes it dominate your thoughts. Force doesn't work on the mind.

Freedom from identification. Liberation means freeing the mind from identifications. When the intellect is not identified with anything, perception gains clarity, and the mind naturally organizes itself. This shift from slave to master allows you to use the mind as a tool for wellbeing.

4. True Involvement Requires Disentanglement

Where there is no involvement, there is no life.

Experience requires involvement. Life cannot be experienced deeply without involvement. The deeper the involvement, the richer the experience, even of simple things. Detachment, often propagated out of fear of entanglement, leads to avoiding life and becoming lifeless.

Identification causes entanglement. Entanglement isn't caused by involvement itself, but by involvement stemming from identification ("I'm involved because this is mine"). If involvement is beyond identification, it brings joy and enhances life tremendously.

Indiscriminate involvement. Being willing to be involved indiscriminately with all life – the air, the earth, everything – scales up your aliveness. Selective involvement, driven by identification, is like committing suicide in installments, reducing your vibrancy over time. Going "all out" with life settles the mind.

5. The Body: Your Greatest Instrument

This body can be just a mass of flesh, driven by simple instincts within you, or it can be made into a tremendous instrument – an instrument which can bring the Divine into your direct experience.

Beyond physical prowess. While animals surpass humans in physical capability, the human body offers a unique possibility: going beyond survival instincts. Most people, however, only raise their standards of survival (from a meal to a Mercedes) instead of exploring this higher potential.

Instrument for perception. The body is an intricate gadget, capable of perceiving the entire cosmos if prepared properly, like an antenna. Using only a fraction of its potential for survival is unintelligent; it can be an instrument to access and experience the universe.

Five sheaths. Yogic science views the human being as five layers:

• Annamaya kosha (food body)
• Manomaya kosha (mental body)
• Pranamaya kosha (energy body)
• Vignanamaya kosha (etheric/transitory body)
• Anandamaya kosha (bliss body)
  Aligning the first three physical layers allows access to the deeper, non-physical dimensions, leading to a blissful state.

6. The Spine: A Ladder to Higher Consciousness

A yogi is somebody who is transforming his body and making it like a ladder to heaven.

Axis of the universe. In yoga, the spine (Merudanda) is seen as the axis of the universe. Your experiential dimension is rooted here, and how its energies function determines much of your life. The evolution from horizontal to vertical spine was crucial for brain development.

Thirty-three steps. The thirty-three bones of the spine are likened to thirty-three steps to heaven. Mastery over the spine is essential for a yogi seeking to evolve consciously within this lifetime, making it a ladder to the highest levels of consciousness.

Energy channels. The spine houses the three basic energy channels: Ida (feminine, intuitive, moon), Pingala (masculine, logical, sun), and Sushumna (central, attribute-less). Most people live in the reactive Ida and Pingala. Life truly begins when energies enter the dormant Sushumna, leading to inner balance and transparency (vairagya).

7. Logic is Limited; Experience Reveals Truth

If you apply your logic too much to your life, all life will be squeezed out of you.

Logic divides, truth unifies. Logic, like Aristotle's A=A, is useful for handling material reality but fails to grasp the unifying nature of truth (e.g., you are both man and woman). Applying excessive logic to life makes it seem meaningless and can lead to despair.

Thought vs. Life. Thinking is recycling gathered nonsense; it's a small process compared to the immensity of being alive. Moments of bliss are when you are just living, not thinking. Prioritizing thought over life leads to suffering and missing the deeper experiential dimensions.

Intellect's role. The intellect is a scalpel to cut things open, not an instrument of seeing. It functions based on limited, unreliable information from the senses. True intelligence goes beyond logic, accessing the creative dimension. Using logic only for support, not illumination, is key.

8. Suffering and Disease Are Often Self-Created

Most of a human being’s suffering is mental, and mental suffering is self-created.

Beyond physical ailments. While infectious diseases come from outside, chronic ailments are often created by the body itself, despite its inherent drive for self-preservation. This happens due to fundamental misunderstandings and malfunctions in the energy system.

Mind-body connection. Psychosomatic diseases demonstrate how the mind's state (anger, hatred, jealousy) hampers energy function, leading to physical illness. Changing one's attitude can sometimes instantly alleviate long-standing ailments.

Energy impairment. Disease arises when energy malfunctions due to:

• Karmic tendencies (imprinted software)
• Improper lifestyle (eating, attitudes)
• Mental states (stress, anxiety)
• External influences (negative energies, intentions)
  Yogic practices aim to reorganize energies, addressing the root cause beyond just symptoms. Healing attempts that only remove symptoms without addressing the root can be dangerous.

9. Mastery Over the Five Elements

The five elements of earth, water, fire, air and space, are the basis of this body, the basis of this planet, and the basis of the whole creation.

Creation's ingredients. Everything in creation, from mud to the divine, is a juggling of these five elements. This seemingly complex game becomes a cosmic joke when one realizes its simple five-ingredient basis.

Bhuta Shuddhi. The fundamental yogic practice is bhuta shuddhi (cleansing the elements). Sufficient cleansing leads to bhuta siddhi (mastery over the elements), making life a conscious process rather than a compulsive reaction.

Elemental balance. Organizing these five elements properly within oneself is key to health, wellbeing, perception, and enlightenment. Temples dedicated to elements and practices like walking barefoot or mud baths assist in reminding the body of its elemental nature and reorganizing the system.

10. Breath: The Thread Connecting You to the Body

Breath is the thread which ties you to the body.

More than air exchange. Breath is not just physiological; it dictates mental and emotional patterns. Different states of mind correspond to different breathing patterns. Consciously altering breath can change how you think, feel, and experience life.

Koorma Nadi. The subtle, unexperienced breath (Koorma Nadi) is the string binding the being to the body. It's a deception where two distinct entities pretend to be one, like a marriage.

Untying the knot. Traveling deep into the core of the breath reveals the point where you are tied to the body. Understanding this connection allows you to consciously shed the body at will (Mahasamadhi), achieving ultimate liberation effortlessly, unlike those who struggle to "tear apart" the body without knowing the knot.

11. Yoga: Transcending the Mind for Liberation

To rise above the modifications of your mind, when you cease your mind, when you cease to be a part of your mind, that is yoga.

Beyond the past. As long as you function through the mind, you are ruled by the past, which is merely an accumulation of old data. This leads to repeating the past in the future. Mind is karma; transcending it breaks karmic bondage instantly.

Creating distance. Yoga is the process of transcending the mind's limitations. Patanjali defines yoga as ceasing to be a part of the mind's modifications. Creating distance between "you" and the mind/body allows you to perceive their nature clearly and use the mind as a powerful tool.

Above the mind. Being "out of your mind" (transcending it) is the highest compliment, signifying a Buddha-like state free from the mind's inherent madness. This is distinct from going below the mind through indulgence, which offers temporary relief but intensifies suffering later.

12. Listen to Your Body for Wellbeing

If you listen to your body, it will clearly tell you what kind of food it is happy with.

Body's wisdom. The body knows what it needs for nourishment and ease better than doctors or nutrition experts whose opinions change. Listening to the body's signals (agile vs. lethargic) is key to choosing the right food.

Live food benefits. Vegetarian food, especially in its "live" form (uncooked), is better suited for the system, promoting ease and effortless nourishment. Consuming live cells brings a different level of aliveness and can dramatically reduce sleep needs.

Beyond nutrition. Food is life; consuming it with gratitude for the life forms that sustain you changes how it behaves within you. Avoiding stale food and incorporating practices like chewing thoroughly also contribute to physical and energetic wellbeing.

Last updated: June 11, 2025