A Million Thoughts

by Om Swami

Meditation is going home. It is going back to your source, where you belong, so that you are no longer what people tell you who you are, or what the world has made you to believe, or even what you think of yourself. Instead, it is to discover yourself, to get to your primal source from where bliss, happiness and joy flow constantly. It is to discover your original home, without the furniture of jealousy, covetousness, envy, hatred. A home with no walls of ego and anger. A place where your soul rests in peace, where consciousness flows unimpeded like the gentle Ganges murmuring on a sunny day.

“The desire in itself is not the problem. Man suffers because he’s too scattered.”

“His consciousness is directed elsewhere and prana, life force, is directed elsewhere. His thoughts are going in a direction opposite to his actions. His mind wants one thing while his heart is striving for something completely different. His energy is invested in endeavors conflicting with his emotions. The reason man is unhappy is because his thoughts, speech and actions are not in harmony,” Shiva continued, “Anything that is not in harmony in the play of nature is either eliminated completely or forced to align. Suffering is alignment.”

You would think that your dress is amazing, or that you’ve got good grades, or that you sang really well. But if your peers and loved ones feel differently, you’d suddenly feel deflated like a balloon. Somehow, their disagreement would matter to you. Somewhere you would feel that our self-assessment is not as valuable as others’ approval of you. This starts pretty early on during our childhood when we are constantly compared and ranked against others. At school, in college and then at work some third person is telling us what to or what not to do.

Whenever you are bothered by any lingering thought, simply ask yourself the following three questions and watch it become feeble in no time: From where has this thought originated? Where is it traveling? Where has it disappeared?

The greatest thinkers, inventors and scientists were the products of pursuing their intellectual desires.

A function of consciousness, memory is the unaltered collection of words and experiences.

The auditory consciousness will be a hindrance. Meditating on a mantra means recalling that mantra gently, one after another. Recollection is quite different from speaking. Recollection requires certain visualization. Before

If you wish to meditate on the formless, there are two ways to do so. Here’s how to do it correctly: Assume your yogic posture. Deep breathe a few times to normalize your energies. Simply close your eyes and remain thought free. That’s it.

What is the meaning of being thought free and how exactly to attain that state?

The other form of meditation on the formless is called expansive meditation. In this you experience yourself merging in the supreme consciousness. Here’s how to do it right: As always, sit comfortably in the yogic posture. Deep breathe a few times. Visualize a bright, effulgent light or a dark infinite universe. This is the expansive aspect in this meditation. Gradually visualize that your body is disintegrating and merging in the vast, expansive, infinite universe.

The seers realized this thousands of years ago and figured out that, by the same logic, if someone meditated on compassion, he would become an embodiment of compassion and that those who contemplated only on the negative aspects of their life keep attracting and manifesting more negativity. Mind does not understand good-bad, right-wrong, moral-immoral. These are the definitions we have fed into our conscious mind. At its root, mind only creates, understands and reacts to a thought.

“I wonder what you have been doing in your mindful meditation all these years,” the master chastized him gently. “If you can’t even recall where you put your umbrella less than two minutes ago. Practice mindfulness in every act of yours if you want the rewards of meditation.”

Mindful meditation is one of the proven and tested ways to break your age-old habits, to shed your old tendencies. Awareness does that naturally, it transforms you into a calm, centered being. This is the easiest way of becoming superconscious of your own actions. With practice, as you transform most of your actions from instinctual to conscious acts, your intelligence gets sharpened because, unlike instinctual actions, performing any conscious act requires a degree of intelligence. The more you use it, the brighter it gets. Mindfulness makes you alert, attentive and watchful.

Due to our ego, we strongly identify ourselves with our bodies and individual existence. It makes us take things personally. If someone calls you an idiot, it’s hard to be mindful in that time or simply act as a witness thinking,” I’m the soul, I’m divine, and this person is not saying it to me.” On the contrary, you may feel like giving it back right then thinking, “How dare he say that to me!” You may end up calling him names.

If someone calls you an idiot, it’s hard to be mindful in that time or simply act as a witness thinking,” I’m the soul, I’m divine, and this person is not saying it to me.” On the contrary, you may feel like giving it back right then thinking, “How dare he say that to me!” You may end up calling him names. Observant meditation allows you to downplay the role of individual ego. It helps you in putting your ego on the backburner and see yourself as a third person. You’ll be amazed how quickly your reactions will change. I’m not suggesting that you shouldn’t defend yourself. But for your own peace of mind, you may choose to respond differently, gently, even gracefully to being called an idiot.

Once you start watching your thoughts, they all evaporate, leaving you calm and blissful.

It is not possible to be grateful unless you accept that someone has done something for you. If you feel, out of ego or ignorance, that it was your right, you will fail to feel grateful. Consequently, you will not experience any happiness, much less peace and bliss. Any relationship with gratitude present in it is bound to flourish. Gratitude is not always about grand gestures, it may range from a sincere thank you to an act of extraordinary compassion.

Leading a virtuous life and a regular practice of meditation can purify anyone. Adopting virtues are even more important than meditation or any religious practice. Having said that, meditation does strengthen your mind, it makes you more mindful, so that you can stand up to your principles in the face of temptations (and there will be many). But, ultimately, it's humility that keeps us grounded and real.

If you are meditating on a mantra, it becomes a superficial exercise of just mentally chanting the mantra and you are no longer hearing it, let alone becoming one with it. Basically, your meditation has lost its lucidity, its crispness and has now become a mostly useless activity of sitting still pointlessly. Laziness during meditation can take the form of dullness of the mind or lethargy of the body. If your mind experiences dullness or sluggishness, the clarity of the object of meditation disappears. A session of meditation that is not clear, crisp and lucid, will not allow you to experience even a relaxed state of mind, much less its natural one.

Shiva Samhita, an ancient yogic text, lists the following hurdles of gratification. Women, beds, seats, dresses, and riches are obstacles to Yoga. Betels, dainty dishes, carriages, kingdoms, lordliness and powers; gold, silver, as well as copper, gems, aloe wood, and kine; the Vedas and Sastras; dancing, singing and ornaments; harp, flute and drum; riding on elephants and horses; wives and children, worldly enjoyments; all these are so many impediments. These are the obstacles which arise from bhoga (enjoyment).54 This list does not mean that a practitioner can never enjoy his or life. On the contrary, life must be lived to the fullest. Nor must this list be taken literally. What it does mean though is that someone who is at the beginning stage of his journey should keep his life as simple as possible. This reduces the number of distractions. As it is, meditation isn’t exactly a walk in the park. Once you have reached a certain stage in your practice, these hurdles will cease to be obstacles on the path. They don’t distract or affect an adept any more than a jasmine bud would hurt an elephant.

yadātemoha-kalilaḿbuddhirvyatitariṣyati, tadāgantāsinirvedaḿśrotavyasyaśrutasya ca.56 Your intelligence is lost in the forest of delusion, Arjuna. You've read too many books and heard too many sermons. Your knowledge is not your own. You will only realize the truth when you get past second-hand knowledge.

In simple words, as you must know by now, concentration is the practice of fixating your mind on one single object. You can do so on a form, on your breath, on a sound or anything else that appeals to you.

The most important point to remember here is that you must not engage in any intellectual examination while doing this exercise. Do not examine, appreciate, analyze or condemn your object of visualization. Just focus on the object and try your best to maintain your focus. Your mind is going to wander off every few seconds, bring it back. Do not hold long sessions of concentration initially. Instead, hold sharp, short, crisp and lucid sessions of no more than ten minutes each. You can gradually increase the duration. Sitting still for an hour while your mind is wandering off all the time will not bring results as quickly as you holding your posture and lucidity for ten minutes but practising rigorous concentration with utmost alertness.

The practice of listening does not require that you sit in a meditative posture. You can do it multiple times in a day. You could even do it while driving or commuting. How to Do It Right Put on your favorite song, at home, while driving, jogging, anywhere. Promise yourself that you’ll pay full attention to the song. Listen to the song with complete mindfulness and alertness.

Multitasking, the mantra of today's world, plays havoc on your concentration. Once you learn to do a single task properly, doing many things at once will become easier and effective. And, if you think you can multitask, try juggling with three oranges.

Patanjali states in his aphorisms, Kāyēndriyasid’dhiḥaśud’dhikṣyātatapasaḥ,65 Self-discipline burns away all afflictions and impurities.

In any case, a sincere seeker should avoid harsh, useless, meaningless and abusive speech. Unrestrained speech and bogus conversations play a havoc on the quality of your meditation.