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There
is a very basic relationship between the mind and the bindu,
as each is the center of everything within the entirety of its awareness. The
mind, at once the center of the Universe and woven everywhere
into its fabric, mirrors the solidity of the bindu within the
microcosm of the mandala. You stand in the center of your Universe,
look about, and see everything. This is your world-mandala, stretching
even beyond the reach of your immediate vision, for you are connected
to all of it, and it is within you and of you, and you and everything
are truly one.
It
is important to understand that one's mandala is not composed
only of the physical things in the world, but also of the thoughts
and ideas in one's mind and the minds of others. Yet we must
be extremely careful of the misleading distinction between elements
of the world-mandala that exist within the mind and those that
exist without. We must not think of the mind as a barrier between
the world of "things" and that of "thoughts."
Rather, it is an interface through which elements pass from one
realm into the other. Through observation and meditation, elements
from the world of "things" are brought into the mind
and transmuted into "thoughts." Likewise, through creativity
and productivity, "thoughts" are made into "things"
that physically co-exist in the world around us. It is this continual
cyclical interaction that characterizes the active mind, and
most accurately describes the true relationship between inner
and outer, thoughts and things, energy and material. One flows
seemlessly into the other, as all things do, and are ultimately
one.
In
much the same way that thoughts and things are related, so are
the internal and external circumstances of your thinking process,
or what can be collectively thought of as your mind. For example,
your beliefs and attitudes are determined and crafted over time
as a result of what you perceive and what you think about these
perceptions. Likewise, the opinions and perspectives that you
form in your mind affect how you behave toward the world around you,
and how you interpret the information you take in. This is a
continuous cyclical flow, in much the same way that stones in
a river affect the water's flow while they themselves are shaped
and molded by the water itself.
Such
is the relationship between the bindu center that is you and
the mandala of your life. Your unique position as center, seed,
and anchor empowers you to bring about change, sometimes slow
and subtle, but always certain. This empowerment brings with
it a grave responsibility due to the interconnected nature of
our lives. Your actions will vibrate outward from the center
of the self along the web of the mandala, affecting everything
and everyone in it. Therefore it is your obligation to
maintain as harmonious a pattern of behavior as possible, because
the wave of ramifications radiates inexorably outward, affecting
the patterns of countless others. More people than you can imagine
are connected to you in this way, unperceived links with the
world mandalas of loved ones, neighbors you've never spoken with,
even the stranger in the car behind you. We must always behave
with the awareness that harmony nurtures harmony, and discord
breeds discord.
All
actions that you would later regret you must learn to anticipate
and avoid. Virtually all arguments and confrontations you have
ever had and will ever have over the course of your life are
a direct result of misunderstanding. For example, if someone
cuts you off on the highway, the immediate reaction is to become
angry. But if you analyze this, it will suddenly seem a very
silly thing. Ask yourself: "Why does that anger me?"
Is it because you are now one car-length further from your goal?
That doesn't seem so tragic a thing. Maybe you were subconsciously
offended that this impudent stranger had the audacity to treat
you like an inferior person. Well you are not inferior, and you
must be confident of that. In any case, remember that his actions
weren't aimed personally at you, more than likely he wasn't even
aware of you. And it may be that he had a good reason for being
in a hurry, so the best course of action, the most harmonious
response, would be to simply not be bothered by it. This example
is equally applicable at work, in family arguments, wherever.
Even
if such actions are directed personally at you, always
remember that the perpetrator is acting out issues within himself.
He is far more deserving of your sympathy than your anger. Getting
angry creates negative tension in your mind, and even if you
don't take it out on the rude driver, or whomever, rest assured
you will release it elsewhere, certainly on some other undeserving
person. Discord like that will not end there, but will continue
along the life-strands of your victim, propogating itself
for longer than it should ever have been allowed to exist. So
breathe full and deep, and let discord slide from you like raindrops.
Thereby you will bring about the end of a long line of discord
that may have been spreading insiduously for years, transforming
it into a positive, harmonious force. You have the power, and
therefore the responsibility, to be the nexus between a world-string
of discord and one of harmony, transforming the negative into
positive, anger into joy.
That
is a position of great honor indeed, and the greatest potential
that each of us possesses in the unending quest for peace and
universal harmony. Such vast power is within us, for the center
is the focus and the conduit, and nothing may pass through us
without touching us. And here we must decide whether to be controlled
by unpleasant events, and therefore perpetuate their negativity,
or take them into our grasp and absolve them, free them, dissipating
the bad and leaving only the universally inherent good.
This
power is your unique, individual godhood, the manifestation of
your ultimate self. Through it you may touch everything around
you, and leave it far better than it was before.
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(Material copyright
2003, all rights reserved. No portion of this text
may be used or reproduced without the express written consent
of the author.)
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