38.  What is brainwashing: The term brainwashing refers to the process of manipulating an individual’s beliefs and values to the extent that they lose their ability to make independent decisions. The individual’s conscience is compromised, and they become unable to differentiate between right and wrong. Consequently, they become vulnerable to the influence of others and are often coerced into acting on someone else’s directives, like a puppet. Brainwashing can be so effective that the person remains oblivious to the situation, and their mind becomes deluded.

Since they are following someone else’s instructions, they become a victim and don’t even realize that they are blindly acting as per someone else’s instruction.

39.  How does brainwashing happen? We have come to understand that brainwashing means placing a person’s “decision making power” in someone else’s hands. But to understand how this happens, we must first understand how a human being makes a decision.

40.  Intellect and Mind Control: Man’s decision-making power depends on two things.

1)  Intelligence

2)  Heart

When making decisions, a man can either use his intellect or follow his heart, and sometimes a combination of both. If we want to influence a man’s decision-making ability, we need to control his rational thinking, emotions, and physical state. However, how can we achieve this control?

41.  How to gain control over intellect and heart: We understand that man carries out all tasks only through his intellect and heart. If you want to get your own work done from a man, then you have to..

1)  Corrupt his intelligence

2)  Create confusing feelings

To put it simply, when a person’s intellect is veiled or corrupted, and their thoughts are misdirected, they become incapable of understanding the truth. Their corrupted heart leads them astray and their intellect fails to grasp the truth, resulting in them doing the wrong thing instead of the right thing.

42.  If you can’t convince them, confuse them: If you can’t control someone’s heart and mind, at least confuse them. A confused person is vulnerable and easily swayed, which is often exploited.

43.  BRAINWASHING THROUGH FOOLISHNESS AND IGNORANCE: Two factors are very necessary to corrupt the intellect and the heart.

43.1.   Naivety: An inexperienced person is vulnerable to becoming a Dashavatar. Such a person does not recognize the importance of questioning others. They do not analyze the validity of the information they receive, nor do they consider the motives behind it. Such individuals are susceptible to believing anything they are told. It should be noted that as mentioned previously in point (13), the Kutch Kadwa Patidar community had become quite “naive,” which contributed to its decline.

43.2.   Ignorance: Ignorant and blind have similarities. In the native language, there is a saying that Andho (blind) and Abhoi (ignorant) are Harkho (same). Therefore, to mislead someone, make them ignorant.

When incorrect information is presented to a naive and uninformed individual, they may accept it as true without question. This can lead to a loss of personal agency and control, as the individual becomes vulnerable to manipulation by others. Such a person is often referred to as being brainwashed, having reached the final stage of cognitive decline. This is how the process of brainwashing occurs.

44.  Misuse of brainwashing: When an individual is under the control of another, the manipulator may use language skillfully to prevent disagreement and convince the person that their actions are necessary and justified. As a result, a brainwashed person may not even realize when they are being mistreated.

In other words, brainwashing diverts a man from his interests and twists his feelings, leading him to do wrong.

When a person’s rational thinking and emotions are consumed by immoral actions, and the truth is concealed, it is easy for them to continue engaging in immoral behaviour. This concept has been heavily utilized by advocates of Satpanth, which we will explore in the following section.