POWER OF THOUGHTS CHAPTER 3


Our thoughts are dissipated in many directions and in order to cultivate and develop their power, the have to be focussed to a single point.

With purity, concentration and meditation, thoughts can develop tremendous mental power and strong will. Only calm, serene, cheerful and pure mind, with faith and devotion can concentrate and meditate.

Higher and spiritual thoughts, sustained by persistent meditation, can intuitively ‘tap’ or ignite our latent soul, and we can partake and enjoy peace, joy, bliss and love of the DIVINE REALM.

There is no physical or mental limitation of time and space in the process of spiritual working. The spirit transcends all limitations and pervades and engulfs the Universe at a lightening speed.

For the development of power of pure and sublime thoughts, it is essential to resist and avoid all lower, obnoxious thoughts and impulses of worry, fear, anger, envy, sensuality, etc., which disturb and distract the mind. These obnoxious thoughts are the root cause of all our worries and mental tensions. The impure negative thoughts should not be entertained; they gain strength by repetition. They should be nipped in the bud by ignoring and avoiding the, as soon as they appear. Even unimportant, useless and irrelevant thoughts should be avoided, as they rob us of our peace of mind and contribute toward mental tension. They should not be allowed to take roots. They should be replaced by kind, loving, devotional and inspiring thoughts and memories.

Mind assumes a teeming variety of modification. Mere understanding of the illusoriness of such modifications will not help; you have to develop the power to negate them, let the modifications arise, but do not get yourself involved in them. In the beginning, controlling the thoughts of passion appears formidable and impossible. Never try to suppress your thoughts. Suppressed thoughts are more dangerous. They get stored in the sub-conscious mind in the form of seeds. Whenever the conscious control is weakened, they manifest themselves with a bang. Therefore, the negative desires should be substituted with positive ones, or sublimated by analytical reasoning and non-cooperation with them. Light dispels darkness. Likewise, every higher sublime thought is a ray of light, which clears the dark clouds of evil thoughts.

Feelings and motives behind our thoughts and actions are very important and decisive. They should be:

pure,
sublime, and
constructive.

Lower, impure feelings are to be:

avoided,
repelled,
transmuted,
sublimated, and
spiritualized.

But it is an uphill task as our mind easily flows in to the old grooves of lower vicious thoughts. By its very nature, the mind always goes for material things and worldly pleasures; but is never contented. Although it recognises the consequences of its entire doings yet it cannot resist the temptations. Conquest of the mind is more difficult than the conquest of the world.

The only was it can be tamed and subdued is by a superior, higher, and nobler love than the love for worldly allurements. This superior love is in the taste of Naam or Shabad-the ‘Wordless Word’, realised through meditation in the sublime company of word-personified, Enlightened Masters. This love loses its wavering nature and is made completely calm. Otherwise a bad master, it then becomes an excellent servant.

Regular spiritual meditation is the fire in which the obnoxious thoughts and impulses can be burnt, and is the quickest and best way of cultivating mental peace and poise, and of preventing mental tension, which is the real killer of ‘self’.

In the process of weaning the mind away from vicious thoughts of external objects, and fixing it on divinity, ‘Simran’ (repetition of God’s name) is very effective. Meditation is a dynamic spiritual force to antidote and counter-act the negative vicious thoughts of hatred, lust, anger, greed and pride, and to substitute them with positive and virtuous thoughts of humility, purity, kindness and love. When meditation becomes regular and devotional, our mind becomes more potent and strong to resist the temptation of lower destructive vicious thoughts.

Gradually and imperceptibly, the spiritual effect of meditation will transform and sublimate our thoughts which will spontaneously reflect on our countenance, environment, dealings, habits, character and fate. Thus, new, nobler and spiritual grooves and avenues will be formed in our mind which will slowly, but surely, prepare us for the attainment of ‘God-head’, i.e., Consciousness of Divine Existence, Divine Love, Happiness and Bliss.

God resides in our hearts, and the only was to worship Him is by cultivating sublime thoughts and meditating on His Name. With regular practice of meditation, thought-waves subside and in that perfect stillness of mind, the self-effulgent soul shines forth.