Shopping Complex of Mind

Let’s start with a metaphor.

Suppose there is a new Shopping Complex inaugurated in your city. It is 3-storeyed but as it is in the initial phase, shops are allotted and opened only on 1^st floor as of now. You visited this shopping complex and Security Guard on the Entry Gate itself told you that shops at 1^st floor only are functioning.

So you went to the 1^st floor, went to various shops there, did shopping as per your requirement and went back.

After visiting this Shopping Complex for a few times, one day you saw that a few people are using escalator to and from 2^nd floor. This made you realize that now shops at 2^nd floor are also open and doing business. You moved to 2^nd floor and your options of shopping increased.

Then again, after couple of months you realized that now even the 3^rd floor shops are also open and they add to further variety and options to your shopping.

Then one day, you happened to see another staircase which moves from 3^rd floor to roof of Shopping Complex and not many people are interested in this staircase. Nevertheless, you still take these steps and go up to the rooftop.

Now, let’s add the representations.

Shopping Complex = Mind.

3 Floors of Shopping Complex = 3 Gunas under which mind functions; i.e. Tamas, Rajas and Sattva.

Security Guard at Entry Gate = Society and Social Conditionings which limits your options.

You moving to different floors and finally to rooftop = Basic Desire of Evolution.

Final Staircase to Rooftop = Final Leap against Social Conditioning in which a very few people are interested.

Rooftop – Pure Consciousness or Enlightened State or Awakened State or Unconditioned Mind or Turiya or Fourth State.

How Mind functions through Gunas?

Basic Human Mind is Socially Conditioned Mind. When it is conditioned by society then it looks for basic survival as Society is also concerned with basic survival only. Society is not concerned with individual’s evolution to pure consciousness because an awakened person is useless for society and social order.

So, basic human mind will only be concerned with the 1^st floor of Shopping Complex; i.e. Tamasic Options. Just good enough to survive and sustain. In that, the convenience and comfort zone of mind also remains intact.

Then as evolution is one basic desire of Soul, this desire kicks in after a few lives. It means after a few visits to shopping Complex, we realize that other floors are also open. Likewise, after a few lives and after dealing and getting bored with Tamasic options, we start looking for other options and this is where we become aware of Rajasic & Sattvic Gunas and their representations to explore.

Now, here comes the tug of war where Soul wants to explore at higher Gunas but Mind doesn’t want to leave the comfort zone of Tamasic life. Here, if person still has some karma left at Tamasic level then he will go back and explore that Tamasic Life and later strive for Rajasic and then Sattvic life. But if he has already explored the Tamasic Life fully well then he would be ready to leave his comfort zone and strive for higher Gunas then and there only.

Now, the biggest challenge comes at Sattvic Level; i.e. The Third Floor. It is because although we are still in the Shopping Complex of Mind but the higher level of Sattva can give us this feeling that we have already attained the highest level and there is no need to strive further. This can become the last barrier as there is still one last push left but mind has already accepted that there is no need to strive any further.

This is where we need to see and realize that there is still a small staircase in side which is going up to the rooftop and we must go towards that final journey. It means that we must see and realize that there are people who talk about Enlightened State or 4^th State and we must strive for this final state.

So, understand like this –

When consciousness is functioning at Tamasic Level, it is overlapped by Tamasic Guna.

When consciousness is functioning at Rajasic Level, it is overlapped by Rajasic Guna.

When consciousness is functioning at Sattvic Level, it is overlapped by Sattvic Guna.

Now, although it is functioning at the highest state among all Gunas but it is still not beyond Gunas or in Nirguna State or at Pure Consciousness State. One final push is needed. Most of the people miss the bus of Spiritual Evolution here at this stage as they feel that there is nowhere else to go.

We have to go little bit more up and there we will get the Rooftop; i.e. The Pure Consciousness State.

So, this is the usual progression from Consciousness to Super-Consciousness State; i.e. first from Tamas to Rajas then from Rajas to Sattva and then finally from Sattva to Super-Consciousness.

It is not that a person cannot get up to Super-Conscious state from Tamas state, by-passing Rajas & Sattva state, but it will be very difficult and requires too much of effort and awareness at the Tamas Level itself. Ramana Maharishi and Lao Tzu are examples of people moving from Tamas to Super-Consciousness. So, Super-Conscious state can be attained from any of the Gunas state. Difference is only in the amount of effort someone puts into.

It is like if you want to reach the rooftop from the 1^st floor, by-passing 2^nd and 3^rd floors, then you need an elevator. Otherwise, you have to go through staircase as per our analogy so far. So, for a normal person like me, the way will always be first from Tamas to Rajas then from Rajas to Sattva and then finally from Sattva to Super-Consciousness. We can say that Sattva is the doorway of Super-Consciousness, as-in you are almost there. So, progression from Sattva to Super-Consciousness is very easy in comparison to the jump from Tamas or Rajas to Super-Consciousness.

Then where does astrology or astrologer stands in between all this –

Astrologer’s main job is to tell you about options available for you at all 3 levels. Like, if we go back to our example then let’s suppose someone is under Mars MD. Then an astrologer should tell the person about all options of Mars at all 3 Gunas level. Like,

Tamasic options - Anger, Resentment & Violence etc. are available.

Rajasic options - Real Estate, Sports, Athlete, Defense & Police Force etc. are available.

Sattvic Options - Yoga, Aerobics, Martial Arts, Dynamic Meditation etc. are available.

So, if Astrology or an Astrologer is able to convey all these options in front of you then he has done his job. Now, it is your wish as to which level of activity you would want to involve yourself with and you will involve yourself with level of activity as per your dominant Guna, whatever it is; i.e. either Tamas or Rajas or Sattva.

Finally, there can be a lot of confusion around the ways in which an awakened person acts or behaves and deals with people because of the actions he gets involved with. Like, Buddha & Mahavira start preaching about extreme non-violence but Krishna doesn’t even blink his eyes in telling Arjuna about fighting the war. This leads to lots of confusion in our minds. It looks like it is almost impossible to understand the ways of awakened one, until and unless we are also awakened. So, how to try to understand it?

As I see, it largely depends on two possibilities; i.e.

1. The Guna from where He attained Super-Conscious State – Let’s understand this - 

c. Then if person has attained awakened state through the heights of Sattva then His teachings will be around Sattva only; i.e. the balanced way. Awakened Masters like Gautama Buddha is of this Category. That’s why; the whole teaching of Gautama Buddha is about following the middle path.

2. Second reason can be the kind of people they are interacting with. They have to speak the language which others can understand. They have attained Enlightened State but it doesn’t mean that others have also attained that state. If Krishna is standing in middle of battlefield among warriors then he has to speak the language of warrior only as he knows that even if Arjuna doesn’t fight the war, it won’t make any difference with other warriors. They will still fight the war. War will still be on. So, it is better that Arjuna wins the war rather than Duryodhana wins the war.

That’s why; Krishna, although The Supreme Lord, knows well about the futility of war but still had to call Arjuna to fight the war because people He was dealing with, they only knew the language of war.

So as I see, these are the two main reasons why we get confused about inconsistencies in behavior or actions of an Awakened Master.

Here comes to an end yet another effort from my side to explain Gunas through Shopping Complex of Mind. 

Gratitude!!!