Thoughts And Life
Man thinks of sensual objects and gets attached to them. He thinks that fruits are very good for the body. He exerts to possess them. Then he actually possesses and enjoys them. He now clings to the fruits. He develops a habit of taking fruits now and when he fails to obtain them any day, he gets pain.
From thinking comes attachment; from attachment desire is born; from desires proceeds anger, anger arises when desire is frustrated by some cause or the other; from anger arises delusion; from delusion, failure of memory; from failure of memory, loss of intellect; from loss of intellect man is totally ruined. If you want to attain everlasting peace, do not think of objects, but think always of the immortal blissful Atman alone.
Desires by themselves are harmless. They are galvanized by the Power of Thought. Then only they do much havoc. Man muses or thinks on the objects of the senses. He imagines that he will get a great deal of pleasure from them. This imagination excites the desires. This power of imagination co-operates with the desires. Then the desires are invigorated or vitalized. They attack the deluded Jiva vehemently.
Thoughts And Character
Man is not a creature of circumstances. His Thoughts are the architects of his circumstances. A man of character builds a life out of circumstances. He steadily perseveres and plods. He does not look back. He marches forward bravely.
He is not afraid of obstacles. He never frets and fumes. He never gets discouraged and disappointed. He is full of vigour, energy, vim and vitality. He is ever zealous and enthusiastic.
Thoughts are the bricks with which character is built. Character is not born. It is formed.
Determination to build definite character in life is needed. This must be followed up with persistent striving.
Build your character, you can shape your life. Character is power, it is influence; it makes friends. It draws patronage and support. It creates friends and funds. It opens a sure and easy way to wealth, honour, success and happiness.
Character is the determining factor in victory and defeat, success and failure, and in all the issues of life. A man of good character enjoys life herein and hereafter.
Small kind acts, small courtesies, small consideration, small benevolence, habitually practiced in your social intercourse give a great charm to your character than great platform lectures, discourses, oration, exhibition of talents, etc.
Strong character is formed by strong and noble thinking. A good character is the fruition of personal exertion. It is the result of one's own endeavours.
It is not wealth or power nor is it mere intellect that governs the world. It is moral character associated with moral excellence that really rules the entire Universe.
Nothing in this world - wealth, name, fame, victory - is worth a fig or a straw, without character. Character must stand behind and back up everything. And, character is built by your Thoughts.
Thoughts And Words
There is power in every word that is spoken. There are two kinds of Vrittis or Thoughts, viz., Sakti Vritti and Lakshana Vritti in words.
In the Upanishads, the Lakshana Vritti is taken. "Vedasvarupoham" does not mean "Embodiment of Vedas". The Lakshana Vritti does denote "Brahman" who can be reached by the study of the Upanishads alone: by the Sabda-Pramana alone.
Mark here the power in the words. If anyone calls another "Sala" or "Badmash" or "fool", he is thrown into a state of fury immediately. Fight ensues. If you address anyone as "Bhagavan" or "Prabhu" or "Maharaj", he is immensely pleased.
Thoughts And Actions
Thoughts are dormant seeds of action. The Mind's acts, and not the bodily acts, are alone true acts. It is the actions of the Mind that are truly termed Karmas.
Thought and act are interdependent. There is no such thing as Mind apart from Thought. Thoughts constitute the Mind.
Words are nothing but the outward expressions of Thoughts which are imperceptible. Actions are caused by feelings of desire and aversion (likes and dislikes). These feelings are caused by the fact that you attribute a pleasurable or painful nature to objects. Thought is finite. It is inadequate to express even temporal processes, not to speak of the absolute which is inexpressible. The body with its organs is no other than the Mind.
Fewer the desires, lesser the Thoughts. Become absolutely desireless. The wheel of Mind will stop entirely. If you reduce your wants, if you do not try to fulfill your desires, if you try to eradicate your desires one by one, your Thoughts will diminish in frequency and length. The number of Thoughts also per minute will diminish.
Fewer the Thoughts, greater the peace. Remember this always. A wealthy man who is engaged in speculation in a big city and who has a large number of Thoughts has a restless Mind in spite of his comforts, whereas a Sadhu who lives in the cave of the Himalayas and who is practicing Thought-control is very happy in spite of his poverty.
Fewer the Thoughts, greater the mental strength and concentration. Suppose that the average number of Thoughts that pass through your Brain within one hour is one hundred. If you succeed in reducing it, by constant practice of concentration and meditation, to ninety, you have gained then per cent of the power of concentration of Mind.
Every Thought that is reduced adds strength and peace to the Mind. Reduction of even one Thought will give mental strength and peace of Mind. You may not be able to feel this in the beginning as you do not possess a subtle intellect, but there is a Spiritual thermometer inside to register the reduction of even a single Thought. If you reduce one Thought, the mental strength that you have gained by this reduction will help you to reduce the second Thought easily.
Thought is a finer manifestation of Being than ether or energy. You think, because you share the Universal Thought.
Thought is both force and motion. Thought is dynamic. Thought moves. Thought decides the future. As you think, so you become. Thought makes a Saint or a sinner. Thought can shape a man. Think that you are Brahman and Brahman you become.
Sacred Thoughts generate and sustain Divine Thoughts. Thoughts of hatred interfere with the inner harmony of the heart. Every useless Thought is wastage of energy. Useless Thought are obstacles to Spiritual growth. Every Thought must have a definite purpose.
Negative evil Thoughts cannot overcome fear. Patience overcomes anger and irritability. Love overcomes hatred. Purity overcomes lust. Mind is not daily made; in every minute it changes its colour and shape.
Through its power of differentiation, Mind generates this Universe. The expansion of the Mind's Thoughts towards sensual objects is bondage.
The abandoning of the Thoughts constitute liberation. The Mind creates, at the outset, an attachment for the body and sense-objects and binds the man through this attachment. The attachment is due to the force of Rajas.
Sattva brings non-attachment and infuses in the Mind discrimination and renunciation.
It is the Rajasic Mind that causes the ideas "I" and "Mine" and the difference of body, caste, creed, colour, order of life, etc.
The poisonous tree of the Mayaic illusion grows more and more out of the seed of the Mind's modification or expanded Thoughts in the soil of the multifarious enjoyments of the world.
Thoughts are of two kinds: pure Thoughts and impure Thoughts. Desire to do virtuous actions, Japa, meditation, study of religious books, etc., is pure Thought. A desire to go to cinema, to hurt others and to seek sex-relations is impure Thought.
Impure Thoughts should be destroyed by the increase of pure Thoughts, and pure Thoughts also should be given up in the end.
Thoughts gain strength by repetition of sensual enjoyments. Sensual enjoyments leave on the Mind, subtle impressions.
The real Svarupa of Mind is Sattva only. Rajasa and Tamas join Sattva accidentally in the middle. They can be removed by Sadhana or purificatory practices such as Tapas, selfless service, Dama, Sama, Japa, worship, etc. If you develop the Daivi Sampat and Divine qualities, Rajas and Tamas will perish. Then the Mind will be pure, subtle, steady and one-pointed. Then it will melt in the subtle invisible homogeneous Brahman (Akhandaikarasa Brahman). It will mix with Brahman now, just as milk mixed with milk, water with water, oil with oil. Nirvikalpa Samadhi will result.
Substitute pure Thoughts for impure Thoughts. This method of substitution will destroy all evil Thoughts. This is very easy. This is the method of Raja Yoga.
The method of driving the Thoughts at once by will-force or by using the formula "get out, O evil Thoughts" is very taxing. It is not suitable for ordinary people. It demands tremendous will-power and Spiritual strength.
You must rise above pure Thoughts and attain the Supreme state of Thoughtlessness. Only then can you rest in your own Svarupa. Only then will Brahman be revealed like Amalaka fruit in the palm of your hand.
When all kinds of useless Thoughts and emotions trouble you much, be indifferent (Udasina). Say to yourself: "Who am I?" Feel: "I am not the Mind. I am the Atman, the all-pervading Spirit, Suddha Satchidananda. How can emotions affect me? I am Nirlipta, unattached; I am Sakshi, witness of these emotions. Nothing can disturb me". When you repeat these suggestions of Vichara or Vedantic reflection, the Thoughts and emotions will die by themselves.
This is the Jnana-method of driving out Thoughts and emotions and the struggling with the Mind.
When any Thought arises in the MInd, enquire: Why has this Vritti (modification) arisen? Whom it concerns? Who am I? All the Thoughts will die eventually. All mental activities will cease. The Mind will turn inward. It will rest in Atman. This is Vedantic Sadhana. You will have to persist constantly in the Sadhana.
Whatever stray Thoughts arise, the one Thought "Who am I?" will destroy all other Thoughts of worldly nature. That Thought will die by itself. Ego will vanish. Balance left is Kevala Asti; Chinmatra; Kevala Suddha Chaitanya; Chidakasamatra which is Nama-rupa-rahita (free from all names and forms), Vyavahara-rahita, Malavasana-rahita, Nishkriya, Niravayava, which is Santa-Siva-Advaita of the Mandukya Upanishad. This is to be known.
Other Chapters Of THOUGHT-POWER By Sri Swami Sivananda:-
Chapter 1: http://mhafyz.blogspot.com/2013/12/chapter-1-thought-power-its-physics-and.html
Chapter 2: http://mhafyz.blogspot.com/2013/12/chapter-2-thought-power-its-laws-and.html
Chapter 3: http://mhafyz.blogspot.com/2013/12/chapter-3-value-and-uses-of-thought.html
Chapter 4: http://mhafyz.blogspot.com/2013/12/chapter-4-functions-of-thought-power.html
Chapter 5: http://mhafyz.blogspot.com/2013/12/chapter-5-development-of-thought-power.html
Chapter 6: http://mhafyz.blogspot.com/2013/12/chapter-6-thought-their-varities-and.html
Chapter 7: http://mhafyz.blogspot.com/2013/12/chapter-7-positive-methods-for-thought.html
Chapter 8: http://mhafyz.blogspot.com/2013/12/chapter-8-patterns-of-thought-culture.html
Chapter 10: http://mhafyz.blogspot.com/2013/12/chapter-10-metaphysics-of-thought-power.html
Chapter 11: http://mhafyz.blogspot.com/2014/01/chapter-11-thought-power-for-god.html
Chapter 12: http://mhafyz.blogspot.com/2014/01/chapter-12-thought-power-for-new.html
Thoughts, Peace And Strength
Fewer the desires, lesser the Thoughts. Become absolutely desireless. The wheel of Mind will stop entirely. If you reduce your wants, if you do not try to fulfill your desires, if you try to eradicate your desires one by one, your Thoughts will diminish in frequency and length. The number of Thoughts also per minute will diminish.
Fewer the Thoughts, greater the peace. Remember this always. A wealthy man who is engaged in speculation in a big city and who has a large number of Thoughts has a restless Mind in spite of his comforts, whereas a Sadhu who lives in the cave of the Himalayas and who is practicing Thought-control is very happy in spite of his poverty.
Fewer the Thoughts, greater the mental strength and concentration. Suppose that the average number of Thoughts that pass through your Brain within one hour is one hundred. If you succeed in reducing it, by constant practice of concentration and meditation, to ninety, you have gained then per cent of the power of concentration of Mind.
Every Thought that is reduced adds strength and peace to the Mind. Reduction of even one Thought will give mental strength and peace of Mind. You may not be able to feel this in the beginning as you do not possess a subtle intellect, but there is a Spiritual thermometer inside to register the reduction of even a single Thought. If you reduce one Thought, the mental strength that you have gained by this reduction will help you to reduce the second Thought easily.
Thought, Energy And Sacred Thoughts
Thought is a finer manifestation of Being than ether or energy. You think, because you share the Universal Thought.
Thought is both force and motion. Thought is dynamic. Thought moves. Thought decides the future. As you think, so you become. Thought makes a Saint or a sinner. Thought can shape a man. Think that you are Brahman and Brahman you become.
Sacred Thoughts generate and sustain Divine Thoughts. Thoughts of hatred interfere with the inner harmony of the heart. Every useless Thought is wastage of energy. Useless Thought are obstacles to Spiritual growth. Every Thought must have a definite purpose.
Negative evil Thoughts cannot overcome fear. Patience overcomes anger and irritability. Love overcomes hatred. Purity overcomes lust. Mind is not daily made; in every minute it changes its colour and shape.
Thoughts That Bind
Through its power of differentiation, Mind generates this Universe. The expansion of the Mind's Thoughts towards sensual objects is bondage.
The abandoning of the Thoughts constitute liberation. The Mind creates, at the outset, an attachment for the body and sense-objects and binds the man through this attachment. The attachment is due to the force of Rajas.
Sattva brings non-attachment and infuses in the Mind discrimination and renunciation.
It is the Rajasic Mind that causes the ideas "I" and "Mine" and the difference of body, caste, creed, colour, order of life, etc.
The poisonous tree of the Mayaic illusion grows more and more out of the seed of the Mind's modification or expanded Thoughts in the soil of the multifarious enjoyments of the world.
From Pure Thoughts To Transcendental Experience
Thoughts are of two kinds: pure Thoughts and impure Thoughts. Desire to do virtuous actions, Japa, meditation, study of religious books, etc., is pure Thought. A desire to go to cinema, to hurt others and to seek sex-relations is impure Thought.
Impure Thoughts should be destroyed by the increase of pure Thoughts, and pure Thoughts also should be given up in the end.
Thoughts gain strength by repetition of sensual enjoyments. Sensual enjoyments leave on the Mind, subtle impressions.
The real Svarupa of Mind is Sattva only. Rajasa and Tamas join Sattva accidentally in the middle. They can be removed by Sadhana or purificatory practices such as Tapas, selfless service, Dama, Sama, Japa, worship, etc. If you develop the Daivi Sampat and Divine qualities, Rajas and Tamas will perish. Then the Mind will be pure, subtle, steady and one-pointed. Then it will melt in the subtle invisible homogeneous Brahman (Akhandaikarasa Brahman). It will mix with Brahman now, just as milk mixed with milk, water with water, oil with oil. Nirvikalpa Samadhi will result.
Raja Yogic Method For Thought-Transcendence
Substitute pure Thoughts for impure Thoughts. This method of substitution will destroy all evil Thoughts. This is very easy. This is the method of Raja Yoga.
The method of driving the Thoughts at once by will-force or by using the formula "get out, O evil Thoughts" is very taxing. It is not suitable for ordinary people. It demands tremendous will-power and Spiritual strength.
You must rise above pure Thoughts and attain the Supreme state of Thoughtlessness. Only then can you rest in your own Svarupa. Only then will Brahman be revealed like Amalaka fruit in the palm of your hand.
Vedantic Technique For Thought-Transcendence
When all kinds of useless Thoughts and emotions trouble you much, be indifferent (Udasina). Say to yourself: "Who am I?" Feel: "I am not the Mind. I am the Atman, the all-pervading Spirit, Suddha Satchidananda. How can emotions affect me? I am Nirlipta, unattached; I am Sakshi, witness of these emotions. Nothing can disturb me". When you repeat these suggestions of Vichara or Vedantic reflection, the Thoughts and emotions will die by themselves.
This is the Jnana-method of driving out Thoughts and emotions and the struggling with the Mind.
When any Thought arises in the MInd, enquire: Why has this Vritti (modification) arisen? Whom it concerns? Who am I? All the Thoughts will die eventually. All mental activities will cease. The Mind will turn inward. It will rest in Atman. This is Vedantic Sadhana. You will have to persist constantly in the Sadhana.
Whatever stray Thoughts arise, the one Thought "Who am I?" will destroy all other Thoughts of worldly nature. That Thought will die by itself. Ego will vanish. Balance left is Kevala Asti; Chinmatra; Kevala Suddha Chaitanya; Chidakasamatra which is Nama-rupa-rahita (free from all names and forms), Vyavahara-rahita, Malavasana-rahita, Nishkriya, Niravayava, which is Santa-Siva-Advaita of the Mandukya Upanishad. This is to be known.
Other Chapters Of THOUGHT-POWER By Sri Swami Sivananda:-
Chapter 1: http://mhafyz.blogspot.com/2013/12/chapter-1-thought-power-its-physics-and.html
Chapter 2: http://mhafyz.blogspot.com/2013/12/chapter-2-thought-power-its-laws-and.html
Chapter 3: http://mhafyz.blogspot.com/2013/12/chapter-3-value-and-uses-of-thought.html
Chapter 4: http://mhafyz.blogspot.com/2013/12/chapter-4-functions-of-thought-power.html
Chapter 5: http://mhafyz.blogspot.com/2013/12/chapter-5-development-of-thought-power.html
Chapter 6: http://mhafyz.blogspot.com/2013/12/chapter-6-thought-their-varities-and.html
Chapter 7: http://mhafyz.blogspot.com/2013/12/chapter-7-positive-methods-for-thought.html
Chapter 8: http://mhafyz.blogspot.com/2013/12/chapter-8-patterns-of-thought-culture.html
Chapter 10: http://mhafyz.blogspot.com/2013/12/chapter-10-metaphysics-of-thought-power.html
Chapter 11: http://mhafyz.blogspot.com/2014/01/chapter-11-thought-power-for-god.html
Chapter 12: http://mhafyz.blogspot.com/2014/01/chapter-12-thought-power-for-new.html
