Escape the Mind's Cage

You are not the architect of your desires; you are the blueprint of your surroundings. From the habits you repeat to the thoughts that drift through your head, your mind is constantly being sculpted by the invisible hands of your environment. True free will is an illusion in a world where the outside world quietly dictates your inside reality. 

However, realising that you are a product of this make-believe world is actually your greatest superpower. Being human gives you the unique awareness to recognise these external loops and consciously break them.  

By intentionally changing what you expose your mind to, you can shatter the conditioning, master your habits, and finally free yourself from the cycle of suffering. Stay tuned for more such insights!  

Share your experience with us on WhatsApp at +916361803371

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:05

Welcome to the Art of Being Happy, Buddha's Guide to Modern Living from Jaitavanarama Buddhist Monastery Sri Lanka. This intriguing talk series brings timeless Buddhist wisdom to help you navigate life's challenges through simple practical insights. Each episode offers gentle guidance for finding peace and joy in everyday moments. Join us on this journey toward lasting happiness and inner peace. Brought to you by Sanatani, the voice eternal.

SPEAKER_01 0:45

It's what the mind associates with, the mind becomes. Remember the two parrots? One fell with the hermits, the other fell with the burglars. Association. You are who you are today because of your associations. Show me the five people you spend most of your time with, and I'll give you A to Z about you. You don't even come and talk to me. Without speaking a word with you, I can tell you everything about you if only I spent some time talking to the five people that you spend most of your time with. I'll find out who they are and then I'll tell you who you are. That is not something special, it's not a special gift or a skill that I have. That is just the way it is. The mind becomes what it thinks. So what do you think? You think what your environment gets you to think, right? Why are people always going on about how young children spent far too much time playing computer games, far too much time watching films, far too much time watching Superman? Do you remember when you were younger? I don't know, did you have Superman when you were younger? Superman was just making a debut when I was younger. Remember what you wanted to do after you watched Superman? Hmm? You got the curtain or a bed sheet? Or maybe one of Mamasaris. You draped it around your neck and then got on a couch or something, maybe climbed up a ladder. And then you were lucky that some adult was there where you were and said, Puta, get down, get down, get down. Because when you see what Superman does, you want to do what Superman does. When we were younger, we want to do what our adults did, right? What our parents did. You had a pair of slippers, but so did your father. Which one did make you happier? Getting into which pair? Not yours. It made you happy to get into your father's. Because we are always a product of our environment. We just need to get out of this thinking that we have free will. It's time you got out of that. You know, if that was the case, advertising have would have nothing to do. If you thought and you decided and you did what you wanted to do, then advertising has no has no part to play. Why is advertising such a big business? How come advertising is such a big business? They make a lot of money, and a lot of money also goes into investing, into further developing advertising strategies, and they study psychology. Why do they study psychology? Because through studying psychology, they know how to change the psyche. That is what they do. You're influenced all the time by your environment. You speak like the people you're surrounded with. If you have the chance or something to go into the slums, right? Like on locations we go on Pindapata, right? They speak a very different language to what you do. When you see a Swami Nase and how you speak to Aswami Nuhanse, or you know, to each other, that when we bumped into each other on the street, right? The way we greet, we talk to others, it's very different. They're in slums. It's not is that because you're good and they're bad? Environment. Why are you so cautious about the the people that your children spend their time with? Why are you always so careful about and vigilant about your children's friends? You are, aren't you, as parents? You're always so mindful about that. Who do you spend your time with? Who's your best friend? What do they do? What do their parents do? What are some of the things that he says? Like if your child comes home one day and he starts using some swear words. What's the first thing you're gonna do as a mother? You go to the school, won't you? You go to the school, you speak to the principal, you speak to the teacher, and ask him, Madam, my child doesn't speak like this normally. Because we don't speak like this at home, huh? See? That is your rationale. We don't speak like this at home, so my child doesn't normally use this kind of language. So what are you again confirming? My child is the product of the environment. So how come after he started schooling, he started picking up these bad words? This foul language? I remember I learned my first swear word when I was in grade six. Who do you think I learned it from? My mother. Where did you learn all the swear words you know today, huh? Oliver twist? No. You learnt it from your buddies, your friends at school. Who interested you in pornography? Your friends from school. They're the ones you said, I have a site. You have internet home at home, right? This is website. Go on it. That's where you picked it up from school. School, tuition, class, environment. But the effect that it had sometimes would last a lifetime. See, it's so easy. You know, it takes a second, a split second to get one into Vadrushti. We talked of Adrishti last week. It takes a split second for you to be convinced that something is nice, something's pleasurable, but it takes you sometimes more than a lifetime to get out of it. Remember the first smoke you took? If any here, if any of you smoke, or at least used to smoke and then gave it up. Which one was harder, getting into it or getting out of it? I dropped my case. Perhaps if you used to drink a little bit too much. Which one was harder, getting into it or getting out of it? You know. Which one's harder? Getting addicted to television or getting out of it? Computer games? Parents, you'll know this. The time that you have, that really difficult time you have with trying to get your children to stop doing it, but getting them into it was so easy. All you had to do was set them next to someone who used to play computer games. That's all. That's why you are a product of your environment. So please get out of this thinking that I rule my life. You don't. You don't. The brand of bread you have is determined by your environment. You have a favorite brand of bread, right? When you go to the supermarket, you walk down the aisles and you go down to the right bread and you pick that. And you think, see, I'm I have free choice. There are lots of choices and I make my choice. In fact, one of the reasons that they have lots of different makes, sometimes all from the same company, is so that they can fool you to think that you have free choice. Ha ha ha. Gotcha. The same company will make three brands of soap. Sometimes more, no less. All used for the same thing. All used to become fairer. Or to smell nice. Or for a supple skin. All for the same purpose. But they'll come in three brands. So that when you walk into the supermarket and you see all three brands laid out, you get this feeling that you have chosen. But really, it is not you who has chosen. And regardless, it matters not which one you choose, they've made their profit. I'm not speaking against them, by the way. We never have a bone to pick with the world. Never. Even if everyone out there was vile and vicious and all they wanted to do was to exploit you, right? And dry you out of every dime that you have in your in your pocket, I wouldn't have a problem with them. Because we are not here to fix the world. We are only here to fix minds that want to be fixed. That's it. I'm a garage. If you want to get your car fixed, bring it here. I'm not a traveling garage man. This is the garage. If you want your car fixed, bring it here. But I don't go covering potholes on the roads. I don't go clearing the roads and you know checking if there are any pebbles on the road or any stones on the road, which if you drive over is going to damage your car, right? Or chip the paint. I'm not gonna go do that. That is not the job of the Mahasangha. The police will do that. Law enforcement agencies will do that. That's not our task. Our task is to help those who wish to be helped. So therefore, this is the garage. Come all ye who are broken, and we will have you fixed. Christ said something similar. Come only who are weary and burdened, and I will set you free. I don't think people think about this enough times and check whether you're in the whether they're in the right environment. I don't think people do it enough. If they did, they wouldn't spend so much time on Facebook doing useless stuff. Once again, I say I emphasize this point. Facebook itself is not bad. I mean, we put our Dhamma sermons on Facebook as well, from time to time. So Facebook itself is not bad. But be honest to yourself, don't answer this question to me. It's a rhetorical question, you can answer it for yourself. The last time you went on Facebook, was it for something productive or unproductive? Don't answer. If you added up all the time you spent on Facebook so far, not till the big dawn of time, just say, you know, the last month. Like we are in towards the end of October, just think of the last month. And these days you have devices that can tell you how much how much time you spent on these apps, right? Just you know, just you go into onto your phone in in your somewhere, it'll have your it'll tell you how how long you spent on that app, right? And then ask yourself the question, how much did you actually get out of putting that time in there? If that was a bank, you wouldn't put your money in it. I tell you. You wouldn't. Won't you agree? But you think a hundred times before you put your money into a bank account. You go around town checking all the interest rates, you ask around, you check in the newspapers, you check, you know, you check on TV, you you ask around, you you go on the websites, investment advice, you get all that before you put your money into a bank account. But this is money you can earn if you lose it. But your valuable human life, the time that you have to free yourselves from suffering. What I'm asking you to do, folks, is to redefine what being human is about. Please. What is your definition of being human? Most people's definition of being human is doing things that humans do. And what do humans do? They eat, they sleep, they drink, they reproduce, they learn, they play, they make money, they travel, they get get into relationships. This is what people do. A few things more than animal what animals do. Animals also eat, they sleep, they drink, and they reproduce, but they don't do much more than that. What is being human? That and a few more things. Like learning, educating ourselves, building houses, buying cars, traveling the world, these things animals don't do. When animals they build a house, but they only build a house that is big enough. Have you seen a lion build a three-story den? No, right? Or a monkey build a house with a swimming pool? They don't do that stuff. They only do what is enough for them. They only do what is enough for their physical sustenance. But we as human beings, we think that human life can be used for much more than that. So we got we try and be better than animals in those ways. But in very primitive ways, I tell you, I want you to redefine what being human is. At least now. It's not too late if you're here. At least now begin to redefine what being human is. Here's what being human is about. I'll tell you, and you see whether you agree with me. This is your chance to free yourself from suffering once and for all. Ask yourself whether you agree with me or not. Let me say that again. Being human is your chance to free yourself from suffering once and for all. If you ask me, that is what being human is about. Now ask yourself: is that what most people do, having been born human? Do they free themselves from suffering once and for all, or is it is all they do go through life, vexation after vexation after vexation, and just seeking relief from those vexations and enjoying the pleasure as they do as they go along? Is that what being human is about? Don't you want your human life to amount to something? At the end of it? You know the difference between distance and displacement? Distance is how far you have traveled, displacement is how far you are at the end of that journey from where you started. Yes? Would it not be a very sorry tale if at the end of your lives you will have to say, I have traveled a lot. I have traveled very far. I traveled many leagues. But hey, I'm back where I started. Most people's lives, at the end of that life, what is their displacement? Zero. They are born crying and they die crying. Displacement? Zero. Meaning that's just fuel that has been wasted. What is the fuel there then? Human life. Wasted human life. You know this, ladies and gentlemen. I you know, I'm trying to inspire you to do something more with your life. That's what I'm trying to do here. Allow me to speak to your heart. Because I won't have a chance to say a word to you, because there'll be so many others who will come and surround you, and they'll say they'll be telling you what they have to tell you. I can't fight them. I can't compete with them. I am outnumbered. One to about a million. All the people who surround you. And it's not because they are vile, it's only because they don't know the answer themselves. It's a blind leading the blind. That's what it is a case of. Blind leading the blind. Take a moment to think about how much property you have. Just for a moment, right? Just you know, remind yourself how much property you have. Whatever that that might be. Like collectively, we probably got enough property to buy half the land, half of half of Sri Lanka, right? Just take a moment to think about how much property you have. Now tell me, you spent how much of your life acquiring that? Building that up from nothing? Raising it up from the ground, brick by brick. Just think about this. Some may have not just property here, but maybe in other parts of the world as well. Maybe you have a tower to your name on the moon. Soon enough that'll happen. When this is not enough. How many houses do you have? One, two, three? How many acres of land do you have? One, two, three? I mean hundreds. There's a coconut estate, there's a tree tea estate, there's a rubber estate. Maybe some of you have your own private island somewhere. All that you built from nothing, right? But did you actually put nothing to build it? You put in something. Just the dollars, just the rupees and cents. That if you lose, you can regain. But you put in something that you can never get back. The chance to achieve the ultimate bliss. The chance to free yourself once and for all from suffering is what you are investing. I'm trying to show you that you're making a very uninformed investment, which is only going to make you a loss at the end. I don't think you want to go into this investment because you're walking into it blindly. Like you're walking into investments in your life blindly. You don't know what you're doing. See what you invested in building up that business? Yes, you know, you have to live, of course. We have to make some money. But we have to make some money. We have to have some wealth, some property so that we can survive. But is that what you put in most of your life into? Did you only invest your lives into building up something that was sufficient? Or did you put into making surplus? Yes, of course you can say, I've got so much to my name. Here are all the deeds, here's all my property, look at my bank account, look at the number of zeros I have at the end of that. I used to do the same, so I know what a fool I was. Almost 25 years of my good life wasted. My youthful life wasted. You know, if you ignore the first say this is the first seven, ten years, which you know, we are very young, can't understand the thing that's going on around us, just ignore that, right? But then from 10, say 15 on to about 25, a good 10 years of my life. Education? Yes, but I I educated myself to more than what I needed. Property, more than I needed. Cars, more than I needed. Wealth, much more than I needed. In 60 years of having lived my life, well, you know, give or take, let's say, in 30 years from now, when I'll be ill, when I'll be too weak, when I'll be too weak to be doing anything. Let's just say I have another 40 years left in me. Let's just say, right? In 40 years' time, I'll be good to know one. When that day comes, I can look back at all my educations, my paper sell, my paper qualifications, all the property I have built, all the money I have in my bank account, and then what claim do I have to that? Just one, to say, see all the things I built up. I can say that, and that's all I have. Just being able to say that, because none of it will really actually belong to me in two minutes when I'm gone. But to earn that, to earn the right to say that, I invested real human life. Because when you're gone, someone else will put their name against your bank account. Yes or no? All the property you have, someone else will come along and just they'll just erase your name and put their name. The solicitors will work through that without a problem, but you have to pay them in advance as well for that. They'll take part of the estate as solicitor fees so that they can erase your name and put someone else's name. You know, for a temporary feeling of entitlement, look what you have sacrificed. You're not sacrificing something temporary, you are sacrificing something permanent for a temporary claim to have something to your name. Once again, I'm not saying you have to let go of any of it. I'm, you know, I'm always against this letting go idea. You know this. I always tell you, it's not about letting go. Buddhism is not about letting go, it's about realizing. Realization and letting go are very different things. I'm not asking you to let go of anything. I'm asking you to realize what you're doing to yourselves and ask you the question then, are you happy with what you're doing to yourselves? Are you happy about the way your life is going? How much have you realized? I ask you. I'm not asking you how much you've let go. I'm asking you how much have you realized? Here's how you can make that assessment. What are you now investing your human life in? I'm here to help you realize the value of human life. That is all I'm trying to do, ladies and gentlemen. I'm here to help you realize the value of human life. They don't teach you that for science. They don't. They'll tell you how they'll teach you how to prolong human life. Yes. They may teach you how to live it carefree, yes, but they don't teach you the value of human life. They don't teach you that because they don't understand it themselves. That's because their definition of human life is very is a very different definition to the one that I hold today. Most people invest human life to earn for themselves something that they can claim to be theirs until their life is done. That's it. How much property did your father have? For those of you who lost their fathers by now, how much property did your father have? Note I use the past tense, not the present. I didn't ask you how much does your father have, because he's gone now. All that property then became whose? Yours. And after you, maybe your children's, and after them, their children, and so on. So the property always remained. But the people who own the property, they came and went. So what did they actually make out of their lives? You know what real people are really doing is just looking after someone else's property until they come and claim it. You're just looking after your children's property until they come and claim it from you. No? Do you disagree? Fathers in the room? Mothers in the room? Here's what you're doing with your property. It's not your property, it's your children's property. You're just looking after it for them until they're old enough to take it off you. And what are they going to do? They will look after it until their children are ready for it. So, that being the case, which one is of greater value here? Is it you with the human life or is it the property? It seems like the property is more valuable than your life. Because what you are doing is taking care of property so that it can be passed on from generation to generation to generation. Focus is on the property to ensure it's safe. In exchange, you sacrifice human life. The only question I have is this are you doing this mindfully? Do you know you are doing this to yourselves? Do you know this is happening to you? Perhaps you may not until someone shows it to you from this angle. This is a different perspective on life. It's just a different perspective. See, you're looking after someone else's property until they come along and take it off your shoulder, off your hands. That's it. Actually, you're looking after someone else's wife. I mean, literally as well. If you have a daughter, you're looking after someone else's wife until they're ready to come in. Take her off your hands. But when your wife is dead, if she's born again somewhere, now she's somebody else's wife anyway, right? Yeah, when she's dead and she's born somewhere else, now she's someone else's wife anyway. So for the time being, you're looking after someone else's wife. And in her previous birth, she was another man's wife. So now you're with another man's wife. Come on, have some dignity. Am I bursting all your bubbles? You know, I wouldn't I wouldn't speak like this if the life this this imaginary life that you're living was a real one. Right? This dream world that you're living in, if that were real, I wouldn't bother waking you up. Trust me. If the matrix were real, I wouldn't unplug you from it. I wouldn't bother, I wouldn't try to. But the matrix is not real. It's a make-believe world. And they're feasting off you. I can't watch that happen to you. They're feasting off you. So come out of this thinking that you are you are the Lord. Come out of the thinking that you you you determine, you decide all the things that you're going to do with your life. It's that is not the case. You're being influenced heavily by your environment. In fact, right now I'm influencing you as well. I'm manipulating you. I'll be upfront about that, but I have a guilt-free conscience. I can manipulate you all I like and sleep easy at night. Because I know why I did it and why I'm doing it. It is not to get anything out of you. Anything at all. It is to give you what I have. I'm trying to convince you to take what I have because I enjoy what I have today. I'm in a state of bliss that you are still to experience. I invite you to try it out. All I'm asking you is to take a different perspective, ladies and gentlemen, not to let go. I keep saying this time and time again, lest you think that I'm trying to ask you to let go of all the things you have and go and live the life of a hermit. Not so. Don't ever let go of anything you're not prepared to. Do the preparation first.

SPEAKER_00 24:50

Thank you for joining us on the Art of Being Happy from Caitavanarama Buddhist Monastery. May today's wisdom bring you peace and joy in your daily life. We'd love to hear how these talks have touched your life. Share your experiences with us on Plus916361803371. Until next time, may you find happiness in each present moment. Brought to you by Sanatani, the Voice Eternal.