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ecently, someone asked me a question regarding darkness. "When there is a
power outage at night, I can light up a candle and distance the darkness.
But, what is wrong with the darkness in the mind? Why is it so difficult to
remove that darkness? Why can't I just "light a candle" to distance it? I
thought about it for a while, and the ensuing response from those thoughts
is the text of this post.
Assuming that each one of us has a good side and an evil side, the Darkness
of mind can be twofold: One - Evil side (dark side) of us, and Two -
Darkness of ignorance. I further assume that the reference here is to the
darkness of ignorance and not the evil side.
There is a phrase in Sanskrit - Agnyanaandhakaram - meaning the Darkness of
Ignorance. In Bhagavat Gita, this darkness is termed as darker than the
darkest substance in the universe.
The darkness of mind (that of ignorance), is the hardest kind of darkness to
remove. Why? The only thing that can remove the darkness of ignorance is the
Light of Knowledge. Light of Knowledge, again, is twofold. One, the
knowledge itself, and second is the wisdom coming from the deeper
understanding of such knowledge. "When intelligence matures, and lodges
securely in mind, it becomes wisdom" (C. Rajagopalacharya).
Why is it so difficult to bring the Light of Knowledge into the mind? What
is the knowledge we are talking about?
To bring the light of knowledge takes work - a lot of work. Knowledge, here,
is the knowledge of the physical self (I, me, etc., and Jeevatma in
spiritual terms), and the knowledge of Self (the Supreme Soul or Paramatma
in spiritual terms). To bring in the true knowledge of self (me, I), it
takes knowing about ourselves, questioning ourselves, knowing the good side
and bad side of ourselves, admitting to ourselves our strengths, and more
importantly, our weaknesses and shortcomings. Beyond that, it also entails
making a conscious effort to expand our strengths and good side, and
marginalizing our weaknesses and bad side. We
all know (and strongly advocate) our good sides. But then, we all know and
advocate only half (at most) of ourselves. If everyone has good and bad in
them, then what about the bad side?
While most of us admit that everyone has good and bad in them, as a natural
human tendency, we first see only the bad side in others and only the good
side in ourselves. Seeing (and admitting to ourselves) the bad side in us
and making concrete effort to change the bad side in us takes real (moral)
character and tremendous inner strength. Once we posses that strength and
gain the knowledge of ourselves, we get half way across in bringing the
light of knowledge. If you are not spiritual at all (and don't much care
about the Supreme Self), then you are all the way there. If you are
spiritual, then the remaining half is to gain the knowledge and
understanding of the Supreme Self.
Even if you are spiritual, not gaining the knowledge of the Supreme Self is
not the end of the world (and does not mean you are any less of a human
being). If you just attempt to gain that part of the knowledge, you are
better than most of us. As is said in the Bhagavat Gita (and adapted to the
current world population numbers), "For every few million people, somewhere
in some corner, one person attempts to know the Supreme Self. Among those
who attempt to know the Supreme Self, only a hand full are distained to
learn the truth about the Supreme Self and gain complete knowledge".
Therefore, the fact that you even attempted to know puts you in a different
plane (making you one in a few million). Even if you gain a tiny little bit
of such knowledge, you are better off than most of us. If you gained full
knowledge, then there would be a shrine built for you and you would be named
Buddha (or someone similar).
In any situation, when things go wrong, we are quick to look around us to
find reasons for failure. How often do we (even have the courage to) look
within us for the reasons for failure? And when we actually muster that
courage to look within us, how often do we actually find any reasons within
us? And finally, when we do find a measly reason or two, how often do we
really admit the validity of those reasons without offering justifications?
The first step in identifying the weaker side of us is to offer no
justification during introspection. When you are tempted to say "Yes, this
was my mistake. But, I had no choice because...", STOP! You always have a
choice. Consciously, sub-consciously, or un-consciously, you chose to act in
a particular way! Admit it! The realization that we have a choice at every
juncture is the first step in acquiring knowledge of ourselves. Then, we
dissect every point of failure and identify our weaknesses (or the "wrong"
choices we made). Then, we use that knowledge as a shield when faced with
similar situations to not repeat the same mistakes.
It takes a long time for each of us to gain the knowledge of all our weaknesses and
shortcomings. It also takes a lot of dissection of ourselves and asking
really hard questions without offering any defense. That... as a natural
human tendency, is almost impossible (well, almost... not impossible).
Hope that explains why it is difficult to handle the darkness of mind.
Simple answer is, it is not easy to bring the light of knowledge that
distances/removes the darkness of mind.
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