Invest in yourself - are we ready?

Invest in yourself? where else you want to invest if not in you? invest in the house you may answer,or invest in money making instruments you may say, invest in children,investing in fame, recognising , money , property children, empire, business estates, what ever we invest where ever we invest these are all things are  temporal things, they wont go with us some may argue. True we have all perceptions available, but why this thought arise to invest in yourself, just because what ever we do, where ever we go, which ever be the position, its the MIND, without the mind nothing can be achieved, neither the other worldly things nor this world things.so the presence of this mind is there, Every where what ever may be the form, but its MIND
Gautama Buddha says" MY mind is myself". If we care fully observe our thought process form morning to evening we can know what we are thinking, we are made up of mind which is thinking constantly that most simple observation, in fact we live in mind most of the time isn't it? we sleep, we eat, do work, we have desires, cravings, we have feelings of every emotion. which happens through the mind. we have strength as well as weakness its all in the mind. If at all we want to achieve happiness, a bliss, we need to invest in it, we cant achieve success without getting rid of weakness of our mind nor with the dirt been accumulated down below.
Gautama Buddha says" Neither your father nor your mother,your friend or relative can help you except your Well directed Mind".
Swami Vivekananda ji says Mind is an instrument in the hand of the Atman just as the body is an instrument in the hand of mind. All change begins and ends in time. Principles exist, we don't create them we only discover them.Control the lake of your own mind, else you cannot understand the lake of another mind.
He who struggles is better than he who never attempts.

Watch your thoughts;
they become words. Watch your words
they become actions. Watch your actions;
they become habits. Watch your habits; they become character.
Watch your character; it becomes your destiny.” - .................... Unknown

so by mere observation we can probe ourselves with lots of strengths and weaknesses in the Mind, often when i ask people to tell about their Strong points, they become dumb, or some people say couple of their strengths, we all like this.even when asked about this question, i have realised that to every ones mind all the weakness and negative points flashing one by one , one after another, we are trying to figure it out for the strength, and we shut our mouth saying am not able to find it out.
Why this happens, we are more inclined towards the negative side of our being? , it is taking lots of efforts to even think towards positive side, consume lots of energy and finally we give up saying we don't know, we feel uncomfortable, restless.
lets see what psychologists say about this:
Back in 1960 Maxwell Maltz wrote the book Psycho-Cybernetics where he talks about the self-image we form growing up:
 We all carry with us a mental blueprint or picture of ourselves. It has been built up from our own beliefs about ourselves. But most of these beliefs about ourselves have unconsciously been formed from our past experience, our successes and failures, our humiliations, our triumphs, and the way other people have related to us, especially in early childhood. From all these we mentally construct a "self" (or a picture of a self). Once an idea or a belief about ourselves goes into this picture it becomes "true" as far as we personally are concerned. We do not question its validity, but proceed to act upon it just as if it were true.
The way you perceive and interpret yourself is a result of the belief system you adopted while growing up.
Maltz goes on to say that all our actions, feelings, behaviour - even our abilities - are always consistent with this self-image. Hence it becomes very important to change your self-image if that image is one of a limiting character of some sort. You can change your self-image with the power of thought using affirmations and subliminal messages.

There is another writer name John Assaraf  in his book The answer he explains and also talks about how powerful our built in beliefs are. He explains that they are powerful in the sense that they dictate our ability to reach our goals, but in fact they are nothing more than specific neural patterns in your brain - they are thoughts that are so ingrained they have become automatic. They are not there because they are "the truth", they have simply been handed down from generation to generation. They are there because someone put them there.
He goes on to say that this is not a about faith or religion - it is about your beliefs- your habits of thought, opinion and attitude about the world around you, and especially your beliefs about you, about your life and your prospects for financial fulfilment.

By the time you are seventeen years old, you have heard "No, you can't" an average of 150,000 times. You've heard "Yes, you can" about 5,000 times. That is thirty nos for every yes. That makes a POWERFUL belief of "I can't". These beliefs are thousands of times stronger than desires. So if you desire something like a new house or getting a new job it will not happen if your beliefs are "I can't". The beliefs win every time.
Why?
Assaraf explains it like this: It is your habit of thought ( your beliefs), not your desires that run your actions.96-98 percent of all your behaviours are automatic. This is why we set goals, but don't reach them. Setting them is a function of the conscious mind. Reaching them is a function of the non-conscious mind.

Bruce Lipton - power of the sub-conscious mind

In January 2011 a new video featuring prof. in biology Bruce Lipton was released. In this video he explains the power of our subconscious mind and our belief system. He also talks about the difference between Quantum Physics and Newtonian Physics. It is worth seeing.

What these modern scientist are telling now haven been repeatedly told by our ancestor- Vedas, maharishis, and  saints since ages, its nothing new for us, It is available in our belief system every thing could be changed with the attitude, in fact our ancient people have achieved so much advanced science.

Ishavaasya Upanishad says

OM! POORNAMADAH POORNAM IDAM

POORNAAT POORNAMUDACHYATE

POORNASYA POORNAM AADHAAYA

POORNAM EVAA VASISHYATE

OM SHANTI! SHANTI! SHANTIH!

meaning: Aum, That Brahman is infinite, and This brahman is infinite. The infinite evolves from the infinite. Even if you take the infinite (conditioned brahman) from the infinite, the infinite (unconditioned Brahman) still remains!
Origin of the Purnamadah Mantra

Om ! That (Brahman) is infinite, and this (universe) is infinite.
The infinite proceeds from the infinite.
(Then) taking the infinitude of the infinite (universe),
It remains as the infinite (Brahman) alone.
Om ! Peace ! Peace ! Peace

This is the baisis of Matrix theory what these people are telling now also called as M theory, Its our bad that we look west for modernness and civilisation. However By understanding how we can make and break habit you can start to break out of old habits by forming new ones. The power of thought when used to improve your self-image is extra-ordinary.If you don't break out of your current belief system it will stick with you for the rest of your life. You need to find a way to change it. AND you CAN.

The sum total of the mind is the resultant of what environment we been before, its clings to that way automatically, don't we call it karma? what these people are saying about genes how we get the genes? is it not the karmaphlam? well i will not get into more now as our subject is to invest  in our self.

Bhagvad gita explains the mind in the verse 6:34

canchalam hi manah kirsna
pramathi balavad dradham
tasyaham nigraham manye

means :For the mind is restless, turbulent, obstinate and very strong, O Krsna, and to subdue it is, it seems to me, more difficult than controlling the wind.
Everyone can understand that the mind is restless and fickle by the proof of observing ones own mind. The mind is turbulent in its actions and tenacious in its selections. It is extremely difficult to control because it is strongly bound to desire for habituated sense gratification. It is also powerful and hard to withdraw once it is out in pursuit of desired sense objects. Considering all these things Arjuna expresses to Lord Krishna that trying to control the mind is like trying to control the wind. Thus explains the Kesava Kashmiri.

what we understand here is that the mind is 1) restless,2) turbulent, 3)obstinate and4) very strong,

What we know about our own mind is like this   A pond with clear water on top

 ICE BERG

.
Swami Vivekananda says our subconscious mind is like a pond filled with sludge at bottom and clear water on the top, If we through a stone in the water a small dirt comes on the top,by which we know the bottom is dirty. the conscious mind is very clear and positive but its the subconscious mind which rules cos 90% of our mind is under water like ice berg. Until we do some thing and cut our perceptions our old belief which is formed by our previous environment we cant change our tendency, those habits of thinking which are automatic most of time they will continue to lead and haunt us create disharmony make us uncompetitive,can there be permanent transformation ever?No it can it be its very rare and very tough thing, But yes if we  could change our mind through intellect, a discriminatory power (viveka)to see the truth in truth and untruth in untruth.

Mind is in several layers and it transforms into one being to another .Every thing gets clear once this mind settle down fully to until still point is fully and fairly reach down.The nature of its flickering goes off and this psychic being(purusha antaratma) appear before us.

Sri aurobindo says- The psychic part of us is something that comes direct from divined and is in touch with the divine. in its origin  it is the nucleus pregnant with divine possibilities that support this lower triple manifestation of mind, life and body.There is this divine element in all living beings, but it stands hidden behind the ordinary consciousness.It grows in the consciousness by God ward experience, gaining strength every time there is higher movement in us and finally by the accumulation of these deeper and higher movements there is developed. psychic individuality-that we called usually the psychic being.
is it difficult to understand? yes may be cos we are not known to our inner being yet, or never experienced these things.

Gita says in easy way how we can transform ourselves .sri-bhagavan uvaca

asamsayam maha-baho
mano durnigraham calam
abhyasena tu kaunteya
vairagyena ca grhyate............6:35

meaning The Blessed Lord said: O mighty-armed son of Kunti, it is undoubtedly very difficult to curb the restless mind, but it is possible by constant practise and by detachment(Renunciation)
so with the renunciation and by practise this could we re write our past programmes into new one or rather desire less happy state, we need to reach a state which is called disirelessness.
To reach that state we need to austerity(tapas) see srimad bhagvad gita 17:16

manah-prasadah saumyatvam

maunam atma-vinigrahah

bhava-samsuddhir ity etat

tapo manasam ucyate.

meaning:  And 1)serenity, 2)simplicity, 3)gravity, 4)self-control and 5)purity of thought are the austerities of the mind.

hence by applying with these methods can achieve the still point of the mind,but where to begin with gita 17:15

anudvega-karam vakyam

satyam priya-hitam ca yat

svadhyayabhyasanam caiva

van-mayam tapa ucyate

meaning: Austerity of speech consists in speaking truthfully and beneficially and in avoiding speech that offends. other person.One should also do swa-adhyaa(satsanga) regularly.

saint kabirdas ji says

kabir pancho soorma, jo koi rakhe choor

jinke yeh bas me nahi, inse satguru rahte door.

Final word

Srimad bhagvad gita says in 11.55

mat-karma-krn mat-paramo

mad-bhaktah sanga-varjitah

nirvairah sarva-bhutesu

yah sa mam eti pandava

Meaning: My dear Arjuna, one who is engaged in My pure devotional service, free from the contamination's of previous activities and from mental speculation, who is friendly to every living entity, certainly comes to Me.

commentary by kesava kashmiri

Thus it has been revealed by Lord Krishna that only His devotee who renders unalloyed bhakti or loving devotion exclusively is qualified to behold Him, know Him, associate with Him and enter into communion with Him and no other. The Supreme Lord has explained what actions one must have with mat- karma-krt or dedicating ones actions to Him. What goal one must have with mat-paramo or making Him the ultimate attainment and the way one must act with mat-bhaktah or renders loving devotion to Him. One who studies the Vedas to learn about the Supreme Lord and propitiate Him for His sake, depending upon Him only as the sole goal of attainment and not heaven, wives, wealth, descendants and legacy. One who is truly devoted to Lord  spends their time reflecting and contemplating upon His glories.

At this point, one may interject but what about my family and dependents? They must be fed and clothed and provided for. This is the duty of a civilised human in any society. The answer again is mat-karma krt dedicate ones actions to the Supreme Lord. This means that by performing all actions for the Supreme Lord they are done without attachment. So other then His devotees no one is able to be without attachment to actions, which is essential along with being free from malice and enmity towards any living entity.

So happily start investing in oneself. Right now.!!!