infinite potential

Infinite potential of the mind: The mind that soars

"His mind soared to expansiveness, an infinite expansiveness, and the bliss of great freedom, which, of course he did not know until then." Sri M narrates the story of Ramakrishna Paramahamsa.

I must tell you an interesting story. This happened when Ramakrishna Paramahamsa was an eight-year-old child, much before he went into Sadhana and got into the practices of meditation and so on. He was one day walking in the village of Kamarpukur with no thought of religion or Kali or God or anything in his mind or spirituality.

He was a sensitive child. That’s it. Period. He was carrying beaten rice, popping some into his mouth and, in general, just looking around, walking through the green paddy fields when suddenly, looking up, he saw a flight of white cranes passing under dark clouds, like a flash of white in the background of darkness. Something happened to him, right then.

Well. Something shook him up, shook his mind and suddenly, it soared. The mind, his mind soared to expansiveness, an infinite expansiveness, and the bliss of great freedom, which, of course he did not know until then. He is said to have just shouted, “Oh my God” and just fallen down.

Some say, he was unconscious but I think he was in an altered state of consciousness where he experienced the infinity at that moment. And, that was triggered by a very simple experience. This was the Ramakrishna, who later became (although he was unlettered) one of the leaders of the spiritual revolution that took place in Bengal and whose illustrious disciple, Swami Vivekananda, travelled all over the world talking of science and religion and bringing about a change in the thinking, especially, of the Western mind.

If we can become sensitive enough to look around, clear things up and get out of the mess, it’s possible that we might tap the infinite potential that is ingrained in our hearts…

I am saying, that in our minds, deep down in our minds if we would only be ready to peel off the outer layers of dust that has gathered. (If only) we are ready to reframe our thinking. If only, we are ready to reaffirm what has been forgotten. If only, we are ready to look at the world and our own mind and its relationship to the world with new eyes free of prejudice. Perhaps, it is possible to discover the roots of that infinite potential which spontaneously occurs in some people who, as history later on records, were geniuses.

Well, they are just like us. Some of them are sometimes even more handicapped than us, like Beethoven who was deaf and yet was the greatest master of music, known to the world through his Western Classical Music. Ever listened to Beethoven? It’s an experience. You’re no more here. You’re in those infinite expanses, flying, soaring above the ordinary and sometimes, when one is physically handicapped, the other takes over and becomes more perfect.

I’m not saying that we should deliberately handicap ourselves. I’m just stating a fact.

So, I think it is possible for all of us or at least some of us who are interested, who are ready to look–actually look and not get carried away, not wear blinkers and look only in one direction. If we can become sensitive enough to look around, clear things up and get out of the mess, it’s possible that we might, following different ways of thinking, tap the infinite potential that is ingrained in our hearts, that lies in our mind untapped.

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