Importance Of Good Company

04/27/2016 Bangalore, India

The effect of time is both on matter and the mind.

You keep an apple over time, it starts to rot, isn't it? When you look at any object, you can know how old it is. So like that time has an impact on matter. Our body changes with time. Similarly time also has an impact on the mind. This seldom people notice. How you feel in the morning is different from how you feel in the afternoon, and how you feel in the evening. And how you feel at night is much different from how you feel in the morning, isn’t it? The state of mind and the feeling also changes.

Similarly, thought patterns also get affected by time. Winter, summer, spring, all affect the mind differently. Ancient people did an in-depth study about it -- how the moon affects the mind, how the moon is moving around in different constellations; how different degrees of the moon has a definite impact on the mind. That’s what they use the words 'Tara-bal’ and ‘Chandra-bal’. The moon is in one constellation for two and a half days, then it moves to the other constellation. So in two and half days there are changes in the mood of the mind.

Then the question comes - "Are we slaves of our mind?"
I say, "No", because there is something beyond the mind and that is the intellect. When the intellect is strong it overcomes the impact on the mind. When the intellect is weak, then the emotions overtake the mind. Now what if the intellect also gets affected? Then there is something beyond the intellect and that is the Self; that is Shiva Tattva.
Shiva is the master of the time and that is why he is called ‘Maha-kaala’. So when you take refuge in the Shiva Tattva or higher Self, then the impact of time is minimised, both on the mind and on the body.

So time impacts the mind and time has definite measurements. Similarly our company also affects us. What we hear impacts our mind. The people with whom we are affect us. If we are in good company then it has good impact on us. If we are in bad company then negative feelings like anger, jealousy, etc., affects us. Good company gives a good feeling and in bad company the mind gets muddled up in complaining about another person and negativity. All this is called bad company. Mind gets affected by time and the company we keep.
Then the third thing that affects the mind is food. Food is secondary, food is not that important. If the first two are okay, then it can man over the menace of food.

Now, observe your mind, whether any ups and downs are going on right now. Those who know time are called Devagya. They know about time. All this is as per the divine will of time. Rule of time is divine and those who know time are called Devagya.

What is above God is Brahma-gnan (knowledge of the self). A Brahma-gnani is much above a Devagya. A Brahma-Gnani is being centered in the Self. What I am is what you are, and what everything else is too. This firm experience and faith brings Brahma-Gnan and then nothing can shake you. Even if it appears that it is shaking, actually it is not, it is making you strong. Brahma-gnan is bigger than all other gnan (knowledge). All this satsang is Brahma-gnan. Take everything and proceed further together.