Mind create suffering

ANNAMALAI SWAMI – FINAL TALKS

Annamalai Swami: Mind is just a shadow. Attempts to catch it and control it are futile. They are just shadows chasing shadows. You can't control or eliminate a shadow by chasing it or by putting a shadow hand on it. These are just children's games. 

Ram Tirtha once told a story about a small boy who ran down the street, trying to catch up with the head of his shadow. He never managed because no matter how fast he ran, the shadow of his head was always a few feet ahead of him. 

His mother, who was watching him and laughing, called out, 'Put your hand on your head!' 

When the boy followed this instruction, the shadow hand caught up with the shadow head. This was enough to satisfy the boy. 

This kind of advice may be enough to keep children happy, but it won't produce satisfactory results in the realm of sadhana and meditation. Don't chase your shadow thoughts and your shadow mind with mind-control techniques because these techniques are also shadows. Instead, go back to the source of the shadow-mind and stay there. When you abide in that place, you will be happy, and the desire to go chasing after shadow thoughts will no longer be there. …

Question: But this shadow mind must still be eliminated by some means. 

Annamalai Swami: When Self-realization happens, mind is no longer there. However, you do not get Self-realization by getting rid of the mind. It happens when you understand and know that the mind never existed. It is the recognition of what is real and true and the abandonment of mistaken ideas about reality and substantiality of this ephemeral shadow you call mind. …

Question: But how to give up this false idea that the mind is real? 

Annamalai Swami: The same way that you give up any wrong idea. You simply stop believing in it. 

If this does not happen spontaneously when you hear the truth from a teacher, keep telling yourself, 'I am not the mind; I am not the mind. There is no mind; there is no mind. Consciousness alone exists.' 

If you have a firm conviction that this is the truth, one day this firm conviction will mature to the point where it becomes your direct experience. 

Consciousness alone exists. If you generate a firm conviction that this is the truth, eventually this firm conviction will become your own direct experience. 

Consciousness alone exists. That is to say, whatever exists is consciousness alone. Keep this in mind and don't allow yourself to regard anything else as being real. If you fail and give even a little reality to the mind, it will become your own false reality. Once this initial wrong identification - (I am the mind, the mind is real' – has happened, problems and suffering will follow.