An aware mind is one that knows that a problem or issue exists but does nothing about it. For example, an obese person with health problems may know that he is suffering due to weight issues. He has the choice to exercise and improve his eating habits to overcome the problem. However, he choses to do neither. The person is aware of the problem but is not awakened to address it. Or a person may know that he gets angry easily at the slightest provocation and this may have landed him in many difficult and embarrassing situations too - yet he makes no move to cultivate calm. Again, is aware of the problem but is not awakened enough to adopt a solution.

It is so easy to be lazy. Laziness requires no effort to be active requires effort . To be active requires effort.To identify a problem may be easy but to tide over it requires great resolve.Imagine a hungry animal in the forest;What if it did nothing to go and hunt for food? It could die of starvation;eventually.  Or if we know we are weak in a particular subject but choose not to do anything about it before sitting for the exam ,would that not prove disastrous ?Likewise,merely being aware of the problem does not solve it .Its the difference between "kuch karna hai" (problem identification)  and "kuch kiya hai" (problem redressal).While the former?(awareness) is passive acceptance,the latter(awakening) is active acceptance.


Let's take a look at mind control. Tempestuous thoughts and emotions arise daily in an agitated mind .There could be virtuous thoughts but they might get buried ,when the mind is stressed. Even if these were to manifest outwardly, by their sheer nature they would bring benefit to us or those around us. However, we need to be extra cautious of the arising of non-virtuous ones. Once we learn to be aware of disturbing thoughts, through certain  practices, we can help them to subside quicker-because waiting for them to subside on their own(which they will eventually) might take longer than is good for us and, in the meantime, could get translated to speech or action and cause us to suffer. If this happens , it is because though we are aware, we haven’t taken adequate care and effort to be awakened to actually getting down to doing something constructive about it. To be awakened about such a mind condition requires training which in turn requires hard work.

When well-meaning relatives and friends point out some hidden faults in us, we might become aware of them . But that’s not enough; we need to address those faults and so we need to make the effort in order to benefit. How do we make the time to surf the internet or chat with friends? Don’t we make sure we read up on work-related matters to perform better? Then why cannot sometime we set aside to understand our own minds better to improve the quality of our lives?

Perhaps we are more vigilant and proactive when it comes to matters which are purely worldly in nature- then we are not only aware , but wide awake as well. However,in matters of the mind or in developing our metaphysical quotient we are either unaware of what needs to be done – or if we are aware ,we do not make the effort to rouse ourselves awake to undertake the task at hand.

FOR IF I BIND MYSELF WITH (MERE) PROMISES. BUT FAIL TO CARRY OUT MY WORDS IN DEED, THEN EVERY BEING WILL (I) HAVE BETRAYED.

WHAT DESTINY MUST BE IN STORE FOR ME?