Understanding the Mind

Most of what we feel towards others does not come from them at all – it comes from our own mind. Not just fear, but also discomfort, dislike, even hatred.

The mind shifts like the wind: one moment warm, the next moment cold. When you begin to see how the mind works – its moods, its judgments, its endless movement – you no longer get caught in it. Fear goes away, dislike fades, irritation just doesn’t hold on anymore.

When you understand the dynamics of the mind, you won’t feel afraid of anyone or annoyed by anyone’s behavior. You will simply recognize what state of mind they are in. You will understand that – just like how your emotions are shifting everyday, others’ also change.

You won’t fear, you won’t judge, you won’t even label anyone as unreliable, bad, selfish, lost, or not committed. You only recognize – or sometimes deeply understand – what they are going through. And with that comes compassion, empathy, and wisdom, almost effortlessly.

The Shifting Nature of States

Happiness or sadness, it doesn’t matter. Yesterday happy, today sad. One hour they are cheerful, the next in conflict. Many times, even one hour is enough to turn everything upside down.

Haven’t you seen this? You begin the day feeling, life is good, people are kind. Then in the next moment, a few words with someone leave both of you grumpy. Suddenly, you dislike that person, maybe avoid them, even resent others like them. You start feeling that people these days have turned bad. You even think you are on the wrong planet, wishing for a better world with better people.

The Habit of Judgement

We constantly observe and judge, others. The irony is – we have eyes but we cannot see, ears but we cannot hear, hearts but we cannot feel. Why? Why can’t we know or understand the person in front of us? Because we are lost in our likes and dislikes, desires, fears, and emotions.

Our judgments are mostly wrong, yet we keep making them. We like to believe we are right, that we are better. But even when our judgement is correct, it is valid only for a moment. Because the next moment everything changes – their feelings, your feelings, the situation itself.

The mind perceives, the intellect analyzes, and both are unstable. We act upon those judgments, they form our experiences, and in turn shape our fears and likes. Yet we rarely pause to observe our own mind.

Over time, our views about the same person keep shifting: Oh, I thought you were this, but I never knew you could also be that! I always trusted you, I didn’t expect this from you .. and what not.

Beyond the Senses

The intellect and senses are limited, often tainted. They cannot reveal truth, because they don’t operate from the still center – the calmness we truly are.

Guruji Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, taught us that perception is not confined to the senses. We can see not only through the eyes, hear not only through the ears, feel not only through the skin. The seed of perception lies in consciousness itself. When we rest at the center, awareness opens its own faculties – and then we truly see, truly hear, truly feel. In that state, even what happens far away, or in another dimension, can be directly known.

Returning to Compassion

So, when it comes to people: don’t judge anyone. Perhaps in one of our past or past lives, we too were like them.

When I look at an astrological chart, I see the impermanence of life written clearly – how this existence is designed so we may learn, not only from our own experiences but also from others’.

Life gives us opportunities to grow wiser and to come closer to our true reality. It does this by rotating weaknesses and greatness in cycles – not only within us, but also in the people around us. If we pause and observe, we begin to see the patterns. What you once went through, someone else is going through now. You may play the victim at one time, and the culprit at another. You may live in abundance once, and later in scarcity. You may be humble at one stage, then arrogant at another.

These experiences of duality teach us to accept both extremes. And in that acceptance, we slowly learn to be neutral.

At the end, there is nothing to judge, nothing to glorify.

The Final Question

Then what is left in life? Should we stop using the senses, abandon the intellect? Not at all. See, hear, think, and act – but let it all rise from the center, not from restlessness.

When perception flows from the center, the senses become clear, the intellect becomes pure, and life itself becomes the teacher. You begin to realize there is nothing to judge. Thoughts about people, labels for people, the weight we give to events – all of it begins to feel insignificant.

And in that moment, the question ‘Then what else is there?’ opens the door to silence. The rushing thoughts come to a halt. Close your eyes, follow your heart – it will show you the path, the path that leads to the real truth.