Mind's speedbreakers

Two incidents....

It seems, a mad elephant was 'instigated' to rush at Gautama Buddha, by his rivals...
It simply sat down calmly, when it neared the 'enlightened one'

Just a story, for us... May or may not have really 'happened'..!

Does the 'concept' really work?... That is something worth exploring... But, only if there is 'something' credible or seemingly-plausible to get started with!

We are trying to look at 'mind', when it is about our getting mad, and trying to bull-doze somebody...
Madness of mind need not be always a case which 'now fit to be referred to a psychiatrist'!

A judgemental mind, a hurried conclusion, .....an abrupt copy paste from memory, a wrong label.... all these are 'indicative' of a state of mild and socially acceptable levels of mind's madness!

“Mad” is a very impolite term, I fully agree. But if we are trying to safeguard our own selves, from 'mind's accidents' , I guess, it is worth looking at it for-a-while, as some kind of madness!

Second incident is what happened to me!

“Didn't I give you a refill just yesterday morning?” barked the officer who decided to 'control' the stationery-items, as an attempt to initiate 'economy-drive' in our work place, to cut operating costs!

I just looked at him, with a 'blank' stare... (I allowed the reasonable time, ... maybe, he may like to 'reconsider' his outburst!)... But he saw it as my 'conceding' of grave-misconduct, an intentional-act of subverting his noble-mission at stationery-conservation-program! He increased the crescendo of reprimanding....

I moved away, much to the annoyance of my colleague-subordinates, who later on said “we felt that chilli's hot-burn at very wrong places too!... Watching his outburst, while your meek silence did annoy us additionally”...

I asked help of these 'friendly' subordinates to collect all those huge ledgers, where my ball-pen's refill had travelled since that 'yesterday-morning'... we placed page-marker flaps (at north India the colloquial term is 'kaapli'... kaapna=scissor/cut, in marathi, and the kaap-li makes it 'that which is cut'... they cut long strips of thin waste boards, which serves to reach the 'exact' location in a thick book).

They gaped at me, a bit questioningly, when the books piled up,.... a little 'cumbersome' in size... And I said, 'don't bother... don't pay attention to what ever he says... just place the pile on his table'... They 'got-it', ... what I was driving at!

I flipped the pages, counted the pages that I inked the previous evening (sitting late, while he had left-early!)... and ensured that I came close to his ears, chanted the numerals slowly, surely and with clarity (numerals are never an 'abusive' word... and I am merely 'producing' evidence to vindicate my 'stand' when an oral 'charge-sheet' is 'deemed' to have been issued against me!)...

The 'dramatised' effect of my actions did have a 'telling-effect', not only on the 'concerned-one' but to a large extent, on others around....

He had to quietly 'suffer' (suhaana-safar), the travel through the pages I had imposed on his eyes..

Then, I said, “Sir, I would like to learn, if you can manage to write something more with a similar refill!..Just once, so that I can do it for the rest of my life, not just service period... because, conservation of resources is a precious lesson!”

It was now his turn to return the 'blank stare' (except that , it also could not hide his helplessness for digging out a reply).

The Manager said to that officer, “please meet me after lunch, for a few minutes” (the staff around understood, what the manager was proposing to say).

Effectively, the officer 'had-to' devise his own speedbreaker, while dealing with us thereafter!Yes... I always respected the 'chair' that a person occupied, and just ensured that his weight on that chair did not feel heavy for 'our respect' towards it!

But, when it comes to a spiritual journey, the teacher (if we like to have such-a-one), does manage his own mystic tools, and later his support to refine the prescribed practices that he initiates us into, to even 'slow' down our minds (speed breakers are usually too bumpy for a rider of mind!)...

That is something really difficult to comprehend (how can it be done?)....

The spacecraft when in its space-orbit, its speed cannot be possibly arrested by a 'speed breaker' {the very concept of a 'speedbreaker' is relevant only in conjugation with concepts of gravity, resistance, friction, action-reaction, and several other earthly-phenomenon! Here, it is an annoying term... 'conjugation' , but I am fond of 'speed-breakers' you see :)..... }.

And it is therefore that... the 'conditions' to be set, prior to an attempt at meditation, becomes so crucial to the very success towards its purpose itself!

Speed-broker, yours,

psn(24th May, 2015)