Nishadraj Guha Explained: When the Downward Mind Turns Friend
Question
It feels like this won’t sink in all at once. With so many symbols—and all the digging is about the mind—won’t it settle only after repeated listening?
Answer
Yes. The key point is the syllable “gu” in Guha. In brief, the scriptures are saying here that the mind’s movement is very subtle and hidden. The mind you see today flowing downward—on the day it transforms and begins to flow upward, you’ll realize: “Oh! All this time, while I took myself to be just the body and stayed absorbed in bodily enjoyments, look how the mind behaved. And now, with a little understanding—some satsang, a little grasp of the scriptures, the sense that ‘I am not the body; I am the master of the body’—as soon as this clicks, my mind starts flowing upward.”
The mind itself must change. How? By moving toward recognizing our true nature. So if someone asks, “What are you doing these days? What are you studying?” we should say, “I’m trying to recognize my true nature and walk in that direction.” The next question people ask me is: “And what will you do after you recognize it?” The answer is: once I recognize myself, this mind that flows downward will transform. The very mind that acts like my enemy will turn into my friend and lead me toward the good. That’s the indication given in this story: if we want to raise the mind—save it from falling into the well—we must recognize our true nature. The very first benefit is that the mind stops being an enemy and becomes a friend. That’s why it says Ram is the friend of Nishadraj Guha, or Guha is Ram’s friend. It doesn’t mean they went to school together or played in Ayodhya. It means one’s own mind has now become a friend—and what does a friend do? A friend always urges us toward what’s good; an enemy doesn’t care and pushes us toward a pit.
Question
Here’s my question about the symbols—I’m not quite able to grasp them.
First: if Nishadraj means the mind’s movement downward, how is he also rowing a boat on the Ganga of knowledge? Downward on one side, and the loftiness of knowledge on the other—how can both be true?
Second: if Ram means the Self already revealed, does the enlightened one then make that downward-flowing mind his friend?
Answer
This—right here—is where your mix-up is. You must join “Guha” to “Nishadraj.”
Who lives in Shringaverpur? Nishadraj Guha.
The word Guha (from guya, “hidden/profound”) tells you the mind’s movement is subtle and deep. Once you add Guha, it’s no longer the same “downward-grade” mind; now he’s the one rowing on the Ganga of knowledge. If the text had said only “Nishadraj” without “Guha,” you would never get the scene of rowing on the Ganga.
Look closely and you’ll see how systematically the story is laid out: they’ve placed the Ganga of knowledge there, and also the milk of the banyan.
Question
One thing no one has asked yet: Ram didn’t accept the food; he returned it. But he said, “Feed the horses.” What does that mean?
Answer
The horses are our senses. If the mind is distorted, we take the wrong road; but the senses follow the mind—they don’t act independently. So don’t blame the senses: “My eyes are at fault; my ears are at fault.” No. The senses only follow the mind. They must be nourished properly—ears are for hearing, so hear; eyes are for seeing, so see. Don’t starve or shut them down—“I’ll close my eyes and ears, I won’t speak at all.”
The instruction to feed the horses means: nourish all ten senses appropriately in every situation. Don’t mutilate them. There’s that story of Surdas blinding himself so as not to see the wrong things—why do that? It’s the mind that sees. The senses are neither good nor bad on their own; they’re just instruments.