Continuing on three great gurus teaching today in the west!
No.2
Ramana Baba …Muz MURRAY.
Born in England in 1940, Muz Murray originally left art school and working in the creative arts, before taking off on a 30 year old adventure around the east Far East and Africa. Described as an Indiana Jones style spiritual adventurer, Muz has an off piste say-it-as-it-is creative and witty way of explaining the mysteries of yoga.
Muz has studied with many great souls and for three years lived in India as a monk. Muz specialised in mantra and is currently living in Portugal where he runs Mantra workshops.
Some useful words on the question…
What is …MIND?
‘Firstly we need to realise that “mind “ and “me”are not one and the same thing .When we say ‘my mind is playing tricks on me or my mind is driving me crazy’, we intuitively understand it as something separate from ourselves.
We have no need to consider mind (mental static) as ‘mine’ any more than accepting a headache as a Possession. Nor do we have to take its ramblings seriously. Yet we have been accustomed to its endless chatterboxing that we take it as the natural state of affairs…
As a first step with practice, we can stand back from the thought flow and simply watch what is going on… If I begin to investigate it seriously, watching it – as in meditation – it eventually disappears altogether.
However, if we get into the habit of watching our thoughts, we shall soon see that the “mind” is mainly involved in a very sterile process of turgid recapitulation or preparation. This I call Repetition and Recapitulation syndrome. We find ourselves constantly mulling over (and over, and over, ad nauseum), past events and conversations to no purpose.
Ed’s note ..huh have we not all experienced that eh?
This is the life and energy draining ‘repetition and rehearsal misery -go-round Nothing is spontaneous…
Becoming conscious of the pathetic nature of our normal mind is the first step towards freedom from it ….
Simply, never mind the mind; let it chatter on if it’s desires, but have no part of it ….
Murmur ‘codswallop’ at the mental waffling and concentrate on whatever you are doing or on the thought free observation of your surroundings.
For more ..read or listen to Muz wonderful book Never Mind the Mind.
Next time no. 3 …