Hello,
Before talking about purpose of MIND lets understand what it is?
So the mind creates the ‘I’, first thing, and then the ‘I’ depends on all the different ‘yous’ for its sustenance. And that is a ‘person’. For ‘me’ to exist, there has to be a limit to the ‘me’. You can call this wall as a ‘wall’ only because this wall ends somewhere. In a similar way you can call yourself ‘I’ only by restricting yourself as a person.
‘This is me, I end here and where ‘I’ ends, ‘you’ starts.’ Where I end, something else starts. Where this wall ends, something else starts. If there is something that never ends, you’ll not be able to sense it. If there is something that never ends, you will not be able to sense it at all. To be able to sense something, to perceive it, it has to be limited, that it ends. That is the mind, the I and the you. All one.
‘I’ and ‘you’ are two ends of the duality, which is mind. And in mind everything is dual.
What is duality?
Duality is when any two things, or concepts or words are such that:
1. One depends on the other.
2. One appears as opposite of the other.
3. One cannot survive without the other.
It’s a bit like every day love. One depends on the other, one appears as opposite of the other and one cannot be without the other, like the two faces of the coin. The two faces of the coin appear as opposites of each other looking in opposite directions, but you cannot have a coin with one face. Wherever there is one face, there would be a corresponding opposite face. And they are always together, they always exist as opposites. Now this mind that you just talked of is always composed of dualities. You cannot perceive anything which is non-dual. It’s quite amusing.
For the mind to perceive anything, its opposite must exist.
For you to sense happiness, sadness must exist. Day is ‘day’ only because there comes ‘night’. There is ‘life’ only because you know there is something called ‘death’. So in the world of the mind anything that you pick up always has a dual opposite. If the dual opposite is not there, you cannot sense that thing.
There is this whiteboard behind me. If I write with white on it, you will not be able to perceive it. For black to be perceived, white has to be there. For excitement to be perceived, boredom has to be there. So if you feel very excited on watching a weekend movie, it only proves that the week has been boring, otherwise the excitement would not have come.
So we have seen that we perceive things in relation to it's opposite that's how world goes on.
Now lets talk about purpose of mind.
Only function of the mind is to take you in attention/ awareness, beyond duality.
Attention is gratitude! A general sense of well-being. ‘It’s alright’. Even in the middle of the deepest chaos, you say, “It’s alright.” Even in the middle of the deepest pain, you say, “It’s alright. It’s just alright.” That is attention. That is gratitude.
Today you are acting in one particular way, tomorrow you may act in another way. Still say, “Thank you.” Today you are finding that the situations are showing up in one way, tomorrow they may reveal another face. Still say, “Thank You.” Our ‘thank yous’ must not be dependent on the turn of events. In fact, if there is any legitimate function of the mind, it is to thank again and again, and nothing else. It is to live in gratitude. And that is all!
Do not try to imagine this mind. Do not try to capture an image of this mind, that this mind is a laid-back mind, or it is a smiling mind. This sense of ‘thank you’ goes very-very far. What it can do to life, is unthinkable! This man who is grateful, is unstoppable in whatever he does.
Let your sense of gratitude not arise from a particular situation. Once you have tasted it, let it go deeper and deeper. The mind will resist initially, but then it will learn. The mind has just been spoiled a little, but that is the game of life- being spoiled. The mind has played a particular part in the game of life. It’s a little mischievous. Don’t blame it for that.
To get more clarity on it kindly click on
http://prashantadvait.com/2015/03/03/you-i-and-the-mind/ ....MS
http://prashantadvait.com/2015/04/19/gratitude-the-only-legitimate-function-of-mind-2/ ....MS