The question may then be asked ‘This is process of the mind, what about process of the body?’, well, the body is reflecting the activity of the mind and guna, a proud rajasic man will walk with an air of superiority, the man dominated by Tamas will evidence slothfulness and torpor in his demeanor. The person whose guna is predominantly sattwic will expresses sattva guna, he will be calm, reasoned, balanced and unselfish. So we see that the behaviour is being generated through play of predominant guna.
As we have seen, the mind is by its nature outgoing, manas follows through the senses, the senses fondle and caress objects of the world to find happiness, but permanent happiness cannot be found in the transient. Nothing is permanent in this world. All that at this moment seems secure and safe to us shall surely pass. All we love all we care about, all that seems so solid and lasting shall one day be only as real as a dream. Thus the mind seeks to take shelter in Samsara, it is ‘loukiika bhakthi’. The Samasari runs from one illusion to another, fondly thinking that this will give lasting anand. If we were to step back and calmly look at our own experience we shall surely see that this is not the case
A person may lose some one close to him, all are subject to kala (time), and kala is relentless, it will not listen to the pleadings of any person . So it inevitably it takes away those who we love. Those that are left weep and cry ‘why did you leave us?’, For some, experiencing the immensity of this grief viveka and inquiry takes place, and the individual begins to question the nature of his existence, there is a saying ‘ Did I love so much that I now weep so deeply?’ This is caused by attachment, we fee that people, our family members belong to us. But this is not so, each Jeeva has its own destiny. Several birds alight on the branches of a tree, they sing their song together for a while, then one flies off, then the other, leaving just the one behind. The tree is the tree of the world. The inverted banyan tree..its roots are in the Supreme Parabrahman, the leaves are the Vedas. The off-shoots are the sense objects, there are secondary roots which spread down and these are the activities which bind the jeeva to samsara. It is said that the fertiliser of this tree are the gunas themselves.So bound to this tree the birds are flying off the settle on another branches with other birds, and so the process repeats.
The activities of the mind and its attachments to samsara are incorrigible. So even after losing a close relative and even though for a while a sense of vairagya may posses us, this soon passes, such is the strength of the worldly vasanas which again will seek expression through the activities of the mind and senses. Lord Krishna says in Gita ‘While contemplating the objects of the senses, a person develops attachment for them, and from such attachment lust develops, and from lust anger arises.’ and further more’ From anger, complete delusion arises, and from delusion bewilderment of memory. When memory is bewildered, intelligence is lost, and when intelligence is lost one falls down again into illusion’
Objects cannot give lasting peace, for all objects are transient and liable to decay. The object is enjoyed one day and discarded the next. Manas is ever unstill, flitting from on thing to another, trying to extract the bliss, finding partial satisfaction and then moving on. So there is and endless search for happiness in the body and in the mind.This rajasic quest for full satisfaction can never be won in maya. Lasting Anand cannot be found in relativity. The gunas lead the dance and manas follows.
Under all of this drama of the body, mind and senses, is the changeless peace of athma, that which does not change alone can give the permanent experience. This is that which the jeeva is really seeking. But the jeeva looks at the appearance and not the reality.
In Maha Puranam we have the famous katha of King Pururavas and Urvasi. Pururavas laments upon his attachment to Urvasi. When Urvasi left, Pururavas was began to despair. His mind was in an intense state of confusion due to this attachment. He was still absorbed in intense desire, so much so that he had not been aware of the passing of the years. Now the object of his desire and fixation had gone. He was feeling the effect of his delusion. He would call out ‘Urvasi, why ave you been so cruel? do you not see my suffering?’. Thus did he continue. Then this misery and feeling of loss started a process of self inquiry within him. He realised that his mind had been carried away, even though he was rich in learning, he understood the Vedas he saw that al this was of no help if one allows the mind to come under the spell of delusion and enslavement to sense objects. He realised he had put his hope for happiness in something outside of himself.
Until this point Pururavas was blaming the external fact of Urvasis leaving him. He blamed her for his misery. But as his inquiry proceded, the light wisdom dawned upon him. He saw that Urvasi was not the cause of his woes. It was his manas, his attachment and desire that was the true cause. He then reflected that the body is transient and liable to decay, he saw that no one belongs to another, and that jeevas come together for certain time then part being under the control of the will of Bhagawan. He felt that all external beauty is only temporary, and ultimately the body shall be consumed by the flames of the funeral pyre.
So Pururavas goes from blame to insight and gratitude. He pranams to Urvasi for giving him this valuable lesson. That which broke his heart opened his eye of wisdom.
The person who becomes established in devotion and one pointed contemplation overcomes the influence of the gunas. Having attained this rare human birth, and having attained a Sadguru it behoves us to live in a way that is pleasing to Him. We should live a life based upon simple living and high thinking, our activities should be in accord with the shastra. Our food should be pure and nourishing, we should not be a slave to the tongue or the palate. Also we must offer our food to Bhagwan, so that it becomes blessed prashad and the subtle influences in the food are removed thereby. All this is an excellent basis, but we may ask What is that which is most to pleasing to Sri Krishna? Certainly that is Sri Nama, so when we take to Namasankeertanam , japa and God remembrance we shall be gradually taken beyond the influence of the gunas. It will firstly generate sattva guna within us, in due course even this shall be transcended, and we go beyond the play of these attributes. The mind becomes desire-less and has the quality of a still clear lake. Then as sattva is overcome,the mind is subsumed into Athma. The causal body is cast off, all gunas are then finally transcended.We shall be situated in the experience of Krishna Anubhava within the heart, it is then that we desire nothing either within or without.