One is an open mind;
another is a closed mind.
A closed mind is that which says, "This is how it is'', "I know it. That is it''. It gets hardened.An open mind is, "Oh, may be! Perhaps! I do not know!'' Limited knowledge and conformity to it makes a mind very hard.
Whenever you seem to understand a situation and label it - "This is how it is'', that is the beginning of your problem.
All problems always arise from knowing, not 'not knowing'! If you do not know, your mind is open, and you say, "Oh! May be! Perhaps something I don't know.'' You do not label something you do not know. Whenever you think injustice has been done to you, whenever you think you are a victim, whenever you think something bad has happened to you, all this falls in the category of 'I know it, this is how things are'.
Suffering is a product of limited knowledge.
A question is a sign of limited knowledge.
But when there is amazement, patience, joy, waiting, you are in a state of `I don't know, may be, something, Oh, what is it? I don't know.' Something you cannot pinpoint. The whole life is a shift from the limited 'I know', to all possibilities. You think you know the world and this is it. That is the biggest problem. This is not just one world, there are many layers in this world.
When you are upset, you are not just upset for no reason. There is some string that is being pulled. When your mind is open to all possibilities, an event happens and there could be many possibilities for that event to be that way, not just in the gross but some other reason in the subtle as well.
Suppose you enter your room and find that someone at home has made a big mess in your room. You are irritated. Now you attach that cause for your anger to just that person who is there. But there is something more happening in the subtle. At that moment something else is in the air but you could only see that person creating a mess around and you attribute all the anger to that person.
This is what limited knowledge does. Even after experiencing that you don't see something beyond. This is the most amazing thing. There is a proverb in India that says: you fell in the well in the daytime, which you could see in the night. You fell in the pit in the daytime, which you could see in the night. You saw the pit in the night, you were careful, you avoided and walked, but in the daytime you fell in the same pit. This means what? That your eyes are not open, you are not sensitive enough to see and recognise what is going on.
As we attach the events and emotions to individuals, the cycle continues. You will never be free from that. So first detach an event and emotion from that person, space and time. This is called Astrology. It is the knowledge of oneness of the universe.
If a pin is pricked into your hand, your entire body knows it, feels it. So every cell is connected with the whole of you. In the same way every body is connected to the entire creation, to everybody, as there is only one life at a very subtle level, though it appears to be many in the gross.
If you go deeper and deeper, it is one existence, one divine. So the wise person never labels individuals; infact, in a wise person, all individual existence ceases. That is why one should not see any intention behind the other's mistakes or attribute mistakes to somebody and grudge over them because one thoroughly knows and understands that it is nobody's business, nobody's mistakes.
The mind drops cravings and aversions and becomes free. This is one way of saying. Another way of saying is that the mind ceases to exist. So when the mind goes away, only the self remains.
