Each one is a victim to one’s inner conditioning; one’s inner programming. Look at the following intriguing incident: - Every night, a baby elephant was tied to a pillar, and in the morning, it was untied. This went on for many years. One night, it so happened that Mahout forgot to tie the elephant to the pillar

1. Do we dare to think?
By Swami Sukhabodhananda

2. Each one is a victim to one’s inner conditioning; one’s
inner programming. Look at the following intriguing
incident: - Every night, a baby elephant was tied to a
pillar, and in the morning, it was untied. This went on
for many years. One night, it so happened that
Mahout forgot to tie the elephant to the pillar. Next
day morning, when Mahout tried to take out the
elephant, it was not moving; for the elephant felt it
was tied. So the mahout had to pretend to untie the
elephant and then it moved. The elephant was
conditioned to the tying and untying

3. Hence, it was blind to the fact that it was not tied.
This is true for many people. Our conditioning is
killing us but still we continue to be in the
conditioning, which is, false. Even the false can truly
bind us like in the above example of the elephant.
One has to be extremely alert. This is a salient point I
am unfolding to you.
To think without the tyrant thinker is to be free from
thought
The whole principle of yoga is based on three basic
facts
(a) Understand the mind, (b) Transform the mind and
(c) Transcend the mind.

4. One should see the fact that our mind is nothing but
thoughts. Thoughts, in many cases, have more
impact than the situation. This has to be understood
deeply and not merely intellectually. Let me illustrate
this with an example. A lady is invited to a 5 star
hotel. This being her first visit to a 5 star hotel, lady
reaches early and goes on a tour of the hotel. Seeing
the beautiful ambience of the hotel, she felt
extremely happy. As people start coming in, she sees
how beautifully they are dressed and what costly
jewellery they are wearing. She feels that, in contrast
to other guests, her dress and jewels are acutely
ordinary.

5. Initially, if you see, she was happy, and now when
she finds others are well dressed, she is unhappy.
The situation is not different, but mind due to
comparison has brought in pain. See how mind
impacts. One has to understand this fact. Most of
the time, we are busy changing the situation
hoping we will be happy. But we don’t take time to
see what is our state of our mind. In most
situations, mind has deeper impact in life than the
situations

6. Secondly one has to transform the mind. Mind’s prime
function is interpretation. Our interpretation can be
whipping or uplifting. Let us say a child has failed in an
examination. Mother gives herself an uplifting talk. She
says that next time her son will study hard and pass the
examination. Father whips himself by saying my son is a
gone case; he will never come up and he is spoilt. So,
parents desirous of transformation should be
disciplined to give uplifting self-talk. Lastly,
transcending the mind is through meditation.
Meditation is not a process of thinking. Thinking is the
first step but one has to transcend thinking.