The Cockpit of the mind

Most of us might have boarded a flight. The place from where the pilot operates the aircraft is called as the Cockpit. Sitting in the cockpit the pilot can operate and control every part of the plane. If the pilot loses the control of the cockpit the plane will crash. The small cockpit is the most crucial area of the huge aircraft. There were various methods by which the flights were hijacked or crashed in the past due to the entry of unwanted people into the cockpit. If this happens the flying capability of the pilot cannot save the plane.

Type 1 Hijack: The hijacker can comfortably access the unlocked cockpit as in 9/11 attacks.  This is due unlocked cockpit of the flights.

After 9/11 The cockpit doors were made very strong and explosion proof. Pilots started keeping the cockpit door locked during the entire flight time. Even then there were instances where the hijackers entered the cockpit by making the pilot open the cockpit door.

Type 2 Hijack happens by bluffing the pilot with a secure feel. The pilot allowed the flight attendant into the cockpit. The hijacker followed the flight attendant who was at his gunpoint.

Type 3 Hijack happens by making the pilot experience a fear or panic. The hijacker takes the passengers and crew as hostages and creates a panic in the plane. The pilot in desperation and panic opens the cockpit door.

Type 4 Hijack: The German wings plane was crashed by the co-pilot himself deliberately. He crashed it by preventing the other pilot entering the cockpit.

 

The mind can be equated to the flight. The memories can be equated to the passengers  (who board and get off the plane at various times). Our consciousness is like the cockpit. Pratyayas (causes of suffering ) are like hijackers. They are nothing but the ideas which tend to entangle our focus depriving our freedom to choose.  Men (friends, relations), mate, family, money, name, fame, identity, beliefs (prefixed rules) and our body are the common pratyayas.

Example:I don't bother much if someone's car is damaged. If I buy a car, declare and believe it’s mine then the pain I get when it is damaged is much more. We need to understand that "I” and the car are separate initially. We need to be vigilant of the transition where the car becomes the part of "I”(when I label it as "my"). This is how the car takes hold of my consciousness.

Yogic science says that the main reasons for psychological pain and emotion are Avidya (ignorance that cannot differentiate “I” from “my”), Asmita (being not aware of when “my” became the part of “I”}, Raga (desiring), dwesha (rejection), and Abhinivesha (fear of death).   

Avidya is like not having a door to the cockpit, Asmita is just like forgetting to lock the cockpit, Raga is like a deceptive face of the flight attendant behind whom the hijacker(pratyaya) is standing (A threat coming in the disguise of comfort). Dwesha is like a fear in the pilot (due to panicked passengers) which forces him to open the door. Abhinivesha is the fear of death which makes the pilot to act in desperation. 

Psychic pain is the outcome of the hijack of the mind. It means we had given an access to the “pratyayas” into our consciousness.  The impressions of he/she/it (pratyayas) whom we value take a place in our consciousness, Later tend to show their true colors.

For a vigilant pilot who follows standard aviation protocols any unauthorized person entering the cockpit is a potential hijacker. An evolved human being considers sources of pleasures as a potential hijacker of the mind.

If a plane is hijacked the pilot is the one who is at fault because it is his decision to let the hijacker enter the cockpit. In the same way if I am suffering it is me who is at fault because without my consent no one can take charge of my consciousness. 

 

The human suffering and learned helplessness is due to the overriding of the conscious mind by the hijacked subconscious. Anything which gives a withdrawal pain to us when deprived of it can be considered as a hijacker of the mind.

Insight helps us to know who is trying to access our consciousness ( it prevents type 1 hijack). A pleasure seeker is always at a risk of type 2 hijack.  Most of decisions taken, conclusions drawn when we are in pain, fear or desperation are erroneous. This is because our mind undergoes type 3 hijack. Getting cheated by the spouse, loss of loved ones, getting abandoned by children, major illness is like type 4 hijack. Here people take their own bodies and family members for granted. They handover the key of the cockpit of their mind to their beloved and suffer once they are betrayed by them.

Aparigrahana (nonacceptance of which is not yours)and brahamacharya (nondesiring) are key aspects of Yoga through which the consciousness can be separated from pratyayas. Vairagya is a state of mind in which our consciousness remains undisturbed. It is a desire free state of the mind. This state is like the death to the hijackers of the mind. Our control on the cockpit of our mind doesn’t depend on how much we possess in life with efforts but on how much we can renounce effortlessly.