Our Mindset Episode 1
Where does the mind reside in our body? Has anyone ever seen it? Where do thoughts and emotions come from?
The same emotions that sometimes bring us joy can also cause sorrow. We often say casually, “Today, my mind feels very low,” and at other times, “It feels happy.”
No one can predict what thought or emotion will arise in our mind and when.
Today, I’m going to share with you the experiences I’ve been through—experiences that are completely true and deeply rooted in my mind.
Because today, a question arose in my mind: What was my mind thinking fifteen years ago? What state was it in?
In 2008, we went to live on my husband’s uncle’s farm. His uncle had passed away. We were in need of work and money. The uncle’s son gave us five thousand rupees. Our daily wage was set at seventy rupees. It was a single room made of 24 tin sheets—four windows, two doors. The uncle’s son lived in the village, and we stayed on the farm. There were houses around, but at a bit of a distance. People lived on their own farms.
We reached there in the evening with all our belongings. Both my children were little at the time. The surroundings were completely new to me. There was no electricity in the house. As soon as we peeked inside, a strong smell of pomegranate pesticides filled the air. The house and the outer porch were both tiled. I was extremely tired from the journey, so I sat outside on the porch with my children.
Just then, a woman from the neighboring farm came over to us, grinding sugar crystals (misri) in her hand.
And she said to my husband, “Didn’t you get tired of working on your uncle’s farm for eight years? Is that why you’ve come back with your wife and kids?”
That elderly woman didn’t like the fact that we had come to stay there. That’s why she was speaking to us in anger.
When my husband was still in the eighth grade, his uncle had brought him to that very farm to work.
Usually, children go to their maternal uncle’s house during holidays. But this uncle had brought him to work on the farm. There, he learned to drive a tractor, operate vehicles, milk buffaloes, and handle all kinds of farm work. After eight years, when his uncle passed away, he finally returned home.
Within a year, we got married. We had two children. And then he brought us back to that very same place.