YOU BECOME WHAT YOU THINK GOUTHAMA BUDDHA
“What you think, you become.
What you feel, you attract.
What you imagine, you create.” ― Buddha
“The mind is everything. What you think, you become. What you feel, you
attract. What you imagine, you create.” writes Buddha, reminding great
leaders of the powerful influence of their thinking on their life. Their
thoughts create their worldview of life and become the foundation from
which their attitudes, behaviors and actions emanate. Dr. Wayne Dyer
beautifully captures this reality in seven simple words that, as he writes,
“are perhaps the most important things that we can learn and master in our
lives.” His seven words are: “AS YOU THINK, SO SHALL YOU BE.” Our thoughts
define who we are, shape the life we live and inspire the dreams we dream
and create the realities we accomplish. Our thoughts are choices… in our
hands to make. May we remind ourselves daily: I AM WHAT I THINK,
remembering Dyer’s gentle and caring counsel on their impact: “You become
what you think about all day long, and those days eventually become your
lifetime.” Choose to make your lifetime one that is filled with great
beauty, accomplishments, wisdom, caring and giving that, at end of days,
you may proclaim proudly and joyfully: No regrets! I lived my life to my
fullest. Enjoy your magnificent journey and be more than you ever dreamed
you could be… every day, every minute, every second. Life is so very
precious. A gentle reminder: Make it one heck of a summer! It goes by so
quickly.
Bhagavad Gita: Chapter 6, Verse 5
उद्धरेदात्मनात्मानं नात्मानमवसादयेत् |
आत्मैव ह्यात्मनो बन्धुरात्मैव रिपुरात्मन: || 5||
uddhared atmanatmanam natmanam avasadayet
atmaiva hyatmano bandhur atmaiva ripur atmanah
BG 6.5: Elevate yourself through the power of your mind, and not degrade
yourself, for the mind can be the friend and also the enemy of the self.
We are responsible for our own elevation or debasement. Nobody can traverse
the path of God-realization for us. Saints and Gurus show us the way, but
we have to travel it ourselves. There is a saying in Hindi: ek peḍa do
pakṣhī baiṭhe, ek guru ek chelā, apanī karanī guru utare, apanī karanī
chelā[v.01] “There are two birds sitting on a tree—one Guru and one
disciple. The Guru will descend by his own works, and the disciple will
also only be able to climb down by his own karmas.”
We have had innumerable lifetimes before this one, and God-realized Saints
were always present on Earth. At any period of time, if the world is devoid
of such Saints, then the souls of that period cannot become God-realized.
How then can they fulfill the purpose of human life, which is
God-realization? Thus, God ensures that God-realized Saints are always
present in every era, to guide the sincere seekers and inspire humanity.
So, in infinite past lifetimes, many times we must have met God-realized
Saints and yet we did not become God-realized. This means that the problem
was not lack of proper guidance, but either our reticence in accepting it
or working according to it. Thus, we must first accept responsibility for
our present level of spirituality, or lack thereof. Only then will we gain
the confidence that if we have brought ourselves to our present state, we
can also elevate ourselves by our efforts.
When we suffer reversals on the path of spiritual growth, we tend to
complain that others have caused havoc to us, and they are our enemies.
However, our biggest enemy is our own mind. It is the saboteur that thwarts
our aspirations for perfection. Shree Krishna states that, on the one hand,
as the greatest benefactor of the soul, the mind has the potential of
giving us the most benefit; on the other hand, as our greatest adversary,
it also has the potential for causing the maximum harm. A controlled mind
can accomplish many beneficial endeavors, whereas an uncontrolled mind can
degrade the consciousness with most ignoble thoughts.
In order to be able to use it as a friend, it is important to understand
the mind’s nature. Our mind operates at four levels:
Mind: When it creates thoughts, we call it mana, or the mind.
Intellect: When it analyses and decides, we call it buddhi, or intellect.
Chitta: When it gets attached to an object or person, we call it chitta.
Ego: When it identifies with the bodily identifications and becomes proud
of things like wealth, status, beauty, and learning, we call it ahankār, or
ego.
These are not four separate entities. They are simply four levels of
functioning of the one mind. Hence, we may refer to them all together as
the mind, or as the mind-intellect, or as the mind-intellect-ego, or as the
mind-intellect-chitta-ego. They all refer to the same thing.
The use of the word ego here is different from its connotation in Freudian
psychology. Sigmund Freud (1856 – 1939), an Austrian neurologist, proposed
the first theory of psychology regarding how the mind works. According to
him, the ego is the “real self” that bridges the gap between our untamed
desires (Id) and the value system that is learnt during childhood
(Superego).
Various scriptures describe the mind in one of these four ways for the
purpose of explaining the concepts presented there. They are all referring
to the same internal apparatus within us, which is together called antaḥ
karaṇ, or the mind. For example:
The Pañchadaśhī refers to all four together as the mind, and states that it
is the cause of material bondage.
In the Bhagavad Gita, Shree Krishna repeatedly talks of the mind and the
intellect as being two things, and emphasizes the need to surrender both to
God.
The Yog Darśhan, while analyzing the different elements of nature, talks of
three entities: mind, intellect, and ego.
Shankaracharya, while explaining the apparatus available to the soul,
classifies the mind into four—mind, intellect, chitta and ego.
So when Shree Krishna says that we must use the mind to elevate the self,
he means we must use the higher mind to elevate the lower mind. In other
words, we must use the intellect to control the mind. How this can be done
has been explained in detail in verses 2.41 to 2.44 and again in verse 3.43.
Thus one may see WHY ATMA IS SPOKEN ALLO CVER THE VEDIC
SCRIPTURES WHETHER SRUTHI OR SMRITHI; ATMA IS SELF; SELF IS YOUR MIND; BOTH
AREABSTRTACTS; UNSEEN; BUT FELT INDIVIDUALLY; THE PERTURBENCE AS WELL AS
THE CALMNESS ARE FELT BY THE INDIVIDUALS ONLY; AND WHICH ONE?; YOUR HEART
OR YOUR BRAIN?; BOTH ARE PERCEIVABLE READABLE; ONLY WHEN MIND QUITENS HEART
BEAT BECOMESS NORMAL; THUS THE MIND DOES CONTROL THE HEART. THUS HEART THE
ATMAN IS THE MIND THE AATMAN. WHAT IS THE EXPRESSIONS OF THE NEART?;
NOTHING; ITS MAINTAINING YOUR BODY AS A GOOD OR BAD WORKER. BUT MIND
THINKS. NEURONS MAKE IT. HENCE BG SAYS THAT MIND IS THE ATMAN.
UDDHERAT ATMANAM ATMANAM; YES BOTH ARE ATMAN; MAY BE
PURUSHA NADD PRAKRITI?; RAISE YOURSELF FROM MANAS TO MIND THE MANAS
-DIRECTING TOWARDS ELEVATION. HE COULD HAAVE STOPPED HERE. BUT STRESSES BY
REPEAT; NA AATMAANAM VASAAADAYET; DO NOT SKID DEGRADE. BECAUSE ATNAIVA
BHANDHU; ATMAIVA RIPUR. YOUR MIND ATMA IS YOUR FRIEND AAS WELL AS YOUR
ENEMY. SO YOU BECOME WHAT YOU THINK. GOUDHAAMAA BUDDHA SAID THE SENTENCE
IN 500 BCE ONLY.
Bg. 6.26
यतो यतो निश्चलति मनश्चञ्चलमस्थिरम् ।
ततस्ततो नियम्यैतदात्मन्येव वशं नयेत् ॥ २६ ॥
yato yato niścalati
manaś cañcalam asthiram
tatas tato niyamyaitad
ātmany eva vaśaṁ nayet
>From wherever the mind wanders due to its flickering and unsteady nature,
one must certainly withdraw it and bring it back under the control of the
Self. The nature of the mind is flickering and unsteady. But a
self-realized yogi has to control the mind; the mind should not control
him. Thus realisaation is the control of the atman the mind.
Hence the major source of all these thinking must be fro 4
mahavakyas indirectly. AHAM BRAAHMASMI is feasible.If brahmam were PURUSHA
AND PRAKRITI TOGETHER AND HEART IS JEEVAATMA AND THE MIND IS THE
PAARAMATMA, THAT IS THE BRAHMAM; AND CONTROLLING THE MIND ONE BECOMES WHAT
HE WISHES.
K RAJARAM IRS 2825
On Sat, 2 Aug 2025 at 04:43, Jambunathan Iyer <[email protected]> wrote:
> The Quote :
> “Believe you can and you’re halfway there.”
> - Theodore Roosevelt
>
> It is understood on analyzing the above motivational quotes the above
> words are very strongly making us to understand *Having Self-Belief* and it
> teaches that self-belief is a powerful starting point and also once you
> believe yourself half of your actions are completed and you are in the
> Mid-Point at the start itself.
>
> Yes, trusting your own ability makes everything achievable.
>
>
> *N Jambunathan , Chennai " What you get by achieving your goals is not as
> important as what you become by achieving your goals. If you want to live a
> happy life, tie it to a goal, not to people or things "*
>
>
>
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