The First and Last Freedom

It is very important to discover which comes first! The idea first and act afterwords? Or does action come first and then, because action creates conflict, you build around it an idea? Does action create the actor or does the actor come first? If the idea comes first, then action merely conforms to an idea, and therefore it is no longer action but imitation, compulsion according to an idea. It is very important to realize this. 
Now how do you get an idea? Obviously it is a process of thoughts, is it not? Idea is the outcome of a thought process. Result of a response. It is the immediate response of the senses to a sensation, and the response of stored-up memory, the influence of race, group, guru, family, tradition and so on- all of which you call thought. And the response of memory to a certain experience bring the thought process into action.You have to find out for yourself inwardly, whether you are acting on an idea and if there can be action without idea. Not limiting, but spontaneous, action independent of experience when the mind is not controlling action. This is the only state in which there is understanding: when the mind based on experience, is not guiding action: when thought, based on experience is not shaping action. What is action, when there is no thought process? Surely there is such action when the idea ceases; and the idea ceases only when there is love. When there is love there is liberating  action. It is not the result of mentation, and there is no gap between love and action, as there is between idea an action, Idea is always old , casting its shadow on the present moment and we are ever trying to build a bridge between action and idea. When there is love - which is not mentation, ideation, which is not memory, not the outcome of an experience, of a practised discipline- then that very love is action! That is the only thing that frees.
One has to be aware of this process, of how ideas come into being, how action springs from ideas, and how ideas control action and therefore limit action, depending on sensation. The truth is something that must be experienced directly, from moment to moment. Only when one can go beyond the bundle of ideas-which is the 'me', which is the mind- only when thought is completely silent. Then one shall know what truth is!

Mandragora Plant

There are 6 species in this genus, the most common of which is Mandragora officinarum. The perennial plants form a leaf-rosette with no stalk. The leaves can grow up to a foot in size and are between 4 - 5 inches , sharply pointed. When they first emerge they stand erect, but gradually flatten out. The officinarum variety is yellow-greenish; the autumnalis variety is purple. The flowers are born on separate stalks, which emerge from the centre of the leaf-rosette.  They later give rise to the golden yellowish fruits, that are often referred to as 'apples'. The fruit has a pleasant scent. The scent of the apples was also regarded as an aphrodisiac and believed to enhance potency and fertility (used as an amulet). The root can grow to over half a meter in length and is often strangely forked, which has given rise to anthropomorphic associations, likening their appearance to a human male or female body shape. 
Mandrake originates in the eastern Mediterranean region.
The most important magical plant of the Middle Ages, today has been all but forgotten. The preachers of the Age of Enlightenment have successfully dispelled all the myths and tales that have spun up around this plant through the Ages. Today it is not even used medicinally anymore. Yet back in the days of ancient Egypt it was well known and respected enough to get a mention in the famous Ebers Papyrus, an ancient document dating back to about 1700 BC, which lists about 700 medicinal plants. Back then it was thought to increase fertility and was valued as an aphrodisiac. Mandrake was also known to have narcotic properties and in Antiquity was often used as an anaesthetic for surgical procedures. 
 It was the root in particular that emanated this mysterious power to fascinate.