Question:

Didi, I saw your video on the Buddha’s sutta on the mind that can be trained and developed. My question is, how do I know if my mind is trainable or not? How do I know if I have an uncultivated mind that can be trained or an uncontained mind, which is untrainable?

Answer:

Let’s do a self-inquiry on the difference between the uncultivated mind and the uncontained mind. Please read the entire post and then attempt this inquiry in silence.

Allow the body-mind to rest and relax. Simply stand as the knower of the body-mind – simply knowing reality as it is. You are the field of direct knowing.

• • Let thoughts arise.
  • Let sensations arise.
  • Let feelings arise.
  • Let perceptions of sight, sound, smell, taste, and touch arise.

Simply remain present. Simply stand as the field of knowingness.

Ask yourself:

• • When a thought appeared, was it known as a thought even for a brief moment before it dragged me in?
  • When a feeling appeared, was it known as a feeling, even for a brief moment, before it gathered force and became an emotional whirlpool?
  • Is there even a small gap where the knowing appears when a sensation arises, or did I get completely dragged into the story about the sensation?
  • Was I able to stay at a distance from perceptions of sight, sound, smell, taste, touch that arose, or did I get immediately immersed in reaction?

If the gap is noticed, it means that the mind, though uncultivated, is available for Inquiry and Direct Seeing. It can be developed, cultivated, steadied, tamed, and trained.

If there is no gap at all, but an immediate immersion occurs into the stories of feelings, sensations, thoughts, and perceptions of sight, sound, smell, taste, touch, it means that the entire field of SEEing is flooded.

Knowing is not possible when the entire field is flooded with emotion. There is only restlessness, fear, agitation, etc. There is no ability to stand back, no ability to observe, no ability to abide in the gap. As knowing does not establish here, it means that this is an uncontained mind, an overwhelmed mind. It is termed uncontained because it overflows with emotion, as it is devoid of an inner dam to contain it. In Sanskrit, paatrata [the ability to contain] is missing.

See this directly. Such a mind cannot know itself because it is fully taken over by the arisings of perceptions, sensations, thoughts, and feelings. This mind cannot be trained or cultivated.

Now observe the difference clearly:

• • In one, there is movement, but there is also knowing of the movement and knowing of the gap between the movements, knowing of where there is rest. In the other, there is only movement without the gap; there is no room left for knowing.
  • In one, the attention is pulled away, but because of the gap, there is the possibility of return. In the other, there is no room for the return of attention available.
  • The uncultivated mind can still learn the skill to know if it is trained. The uncontained mind cannot know itself.
  • In the uncultivated mind, the path can begin. With commitment and effort, it will strengthen. Where knowing is absent, it will be established through one-pointedness, through proper inquiry, and stabilization in wisdom. Though late, it will arrive. But in an uncontained mind, there is no possibility of commitment and effort, because there is no room for self-observation and self-inquiry.

For the proper and deeper unfolding of the spiritual wisdom, the proper cultivation of the mind is inevitable. The capacity to know must be developed first before attempting to know the Supreme. The Supreme demands the complete room.

Once you recognize your mind is uncultivated, not uncontained, and would like to begin the necessary discipline to make room for the Supreme, do not hesitate to join Gurukul.

Ask yourself:

• • Do I have a cultivated mind that is truly ready for Gurukul?
  • Are there gaps noticed between arisings?
  • Am I able to slip through the gap and become the background of the Now, even for a little bit?
  • Is realizing that ‘I am the Beyond’, my first priority? Am I committed to it?

If yes, then you qualify to join Pre-Gurukul NOW and get yourself ready for Gurukul 2027. If interested, email gnyana.gurukul.2027@gmail.com.

Happy self-Inquiry!