Mirror Mind ~ Photography by Amardeep Singh

“Capture these moments”, exclaimed my wife, as we moved through Suru Valley in our journey towards Padum.

Aug. 14, 2014: I could sense the moment of disappointment when I chose not to pick the camera. That’s because I had a vision to showcase the beauty of Suru, not directly but through reflections in the still water clusters. That would mean, photographing the valley would have to be put on hold till the stillness of morning hours.

If we peel the Subtle human body, it is found to comprise of four faculties, each divested with unique responsibilities.

CONSCIOUSNESS (चित, ਚਿਤ) : It is the Observer “I”, born unconditioned and remains unconditioned throughout life.

MIND (मन, ਮਨ) : It is analogous to a Mirror, in which reflect experiences of the world. While it is a thinking faculty but is ascribed with the characteristic to always move towards a path of least resistance.

INTELLIGENCE (मत, ਮਤ) : This is the faculty that provides the power of discrimination to the MIND. The ability to distinguish right versus wrong. This is where judgment happens.

EGO (अहंकार, ਅਹੰਕਾਰ) : It is this faculty that is ascribed with the job to create uneven surface over INTELLIGENCE so the discriminatory power becomes biased, thus helping the MIND achieve it’s objective to move towards the path of least resistance.

The collective functioning of these subtle faculties, create impressions and lasting memories that form human personalities. In essence, other than pure unconditioned Consciousness, we are just an amalgamation of worldly experiences, cluttered by Ego, that distorts the moment through its uneven surface. It is just as we stand in front of a mirror, the following will happen : if the mirror is even, we will see an undistorted image in the reflection, however, if the surface is uneven, we will see a distorted image.

Photographing reflections of Suru Valley in the pools of water in the early morning hours, I could understand why the Indian spiritual masters have commonly leveraged the analogy of mirror and image to explain it’s association with Ego and Mind. The moment the heat of Sun starts creating convection currents, the surface of water pools start becoming uneven, reflecting distorted images.

That’s the reason, I chose to photograph the valley in the stillness of the morning.