21- The Reset Button

 "Those who worship ignorance enter into darkness,

and they who worship knowledge enter into greater darkness".

- Isha Upanishad ( part of Vedas )

( describes the state of mind necessary to  know god )

The reset button is a standard
button on desktop computers

I remember a time when i used to work ( play? ) on the early version of personal computers. In those days, the computer used to freeze or start behaving strangely on a regular basis.  All I had to do was press the Reset button and the computer would cease all activity and  reboot again.

Reminds me of maths tutor
laughing at maths and me.

Little did I realise the importance of the reset button in real life till my tutor  pressed the reset button in my mind with regard to Maths. I still remember the first thing that he had said to me was ' how come you find maths tough?. Its one of the easiest subjects'. He began making fun of maths and indirectly of me. I remember this cause when you hear something shocking and at the same time are made fun of, it tends to reset your mind easily...trust me!!.From that day on, I pleasantly began to find  maths to be a very enjoyable and easy subject. I guess years of listening to friends and teachers with regard to maths being tough had programmed my mind. Somebody needed to reset it.

As the years went by, the awesomeness of  resetting the mind continued to  amaze me.  I was lucky in finding friends, books and having different experiences which time to time reminded me to challenge long standing assumptions and to reset my thought patterns. I had found a way to continously improve and evolve myself by pressing the reset button. Having gained knowledge of the reset button, I felt superior and wise somehow... as I saw myself free and others as prisoners of their own thoughts patterns.

However, it was only later that I realised that the thought of thinking myself as free was another thought pattern in which  I had got stuck in. I realised this as I dwelt and read the meaning of the above mentioned verse in the upanishads ( part of vedas )

The laughing Buddha.
A symbol of happiness  or
laughing at people who
think they are wise??

The above verse basically said that all knowledge is only a memory and as such is basically a logical thought. As long as a person has a thought, he cannot experience thoughtlessness and without experiencing thoughtlessness, one cannot realise that this universe is just another dream of the mind. No knowledge can even begin to give you a hint about the true nature of your being unless and until you experience thoughtlessness for extended periods of time. Infact, according to ancient texts of India, Once a person experiences thoughtlessness through meditation, he becomes aware of all past, present and future. As such, he begins to possess all the knowledge that is ever required. In a nutshell, the ancients said that  Knowledge cannot make you know god, but by knowing god, one can have access to all knowledge.


As the explanation sunk into me, I was reminded of the statue of the laughing Buddha I had in my office which I use as a paper weight. He began to look more and more like my laughing Maths tutor..prodding me to press the reset button again...