Thought is a Living Force
Thought is a vital, living force, the most vital, subtle and
irresistible force that exists in the universe. The thought-world is more real
relatively than this physical universe. Thoughts are living things. Every
change in thought is accompanied by vibration of its matter (mental). Thought
as force needs a special kind of subtle matter in its working.
Mind assumes the form of anything it contemplates. When you think of an
object, your mind shapes itself into the form of that object. When you change
your thought, your mind also changes its shape. Many modifications continually
arise in the mind. Your thoughts rapidly change. Your mind also changes its
shape rapidly. Every moment, mind is continually creating hundreds of these
thought-forms and continually dispersing them again. It never holds on steadily
to one thought-form for some time.
Every thought has a certain name and a certain form. Form is the grosser
and name the finer state of a single manifesting power called thought. But,
these three are one. It is the unity in trinity, the three degrees of existence
of the same thing. Wherever the one is, the others also are there. Suppose your
mind is now perfectly calm, entirely without thought. Nevertheless, as soon as
thought begins to rise, it will immediately take name and form. Thus you find
that every idea that man has, or can have, must be connected with a certain
word as its counterpart.
Language is different, but thought is one. Mental image is the same in
all. Sound has got four forms, viz., Para, Pasyanti, Madhyama and
Vaikhari. Vaikhari is the ordinary speech. It differs in different countries.
But Para, Pasyanti and Madhyama are one and the same. Para is undifferentiated
sound that lies dormant in Brahman. The language of the Devatas, the language
in the mental plane is one. It is Madhyama. The rotatory vibration of the
causal body (Karana-Sarira) is Pasyanti. That is your real name. When you
operate through your Karana-Sarira, (lower Prakamya or lower Divya Drishti),
you will hear the Pasyanti sound, your real name.
Thought Is Subtle Matter
Thought is subtle matter. A thought is as much solid as a piece of
stone. You may die, but your thoughts can never die. They have form, size,
shape, colour, quality, substance, power and weight. A spiritual thought has
yellow colour; a thought charged with anger and hatred is of a dark red colour;
a selfish thought has a brown colour; and so on. A Yogin can see directly with
his inner Yogic eye all these thoughts.
The stronger the thoughts, the earlier the fructification. Thought is
focussed and given a particular direction and, in the degree that thought is
thus focussed and given direction, it is effective in the work it is sent out
to accomplish.
Thought Is A Creative Force
Thought is a great force. Thought is a dynamic force. Thought moves.
Thought is infectious. Thought creates. You can work wonders with the power of
thought. Through the instrumentality of thought, you acquire creative power.
There are nowadays numerous books on thought-power, thought-dynamics and
thought-culture. Study them. You will then have a comprehensive understanding
of thought, its power, workings and usefulness.
The power of thought is very great. Every thought of yours has a literal
value to you in every possible way. The strength of your body, the strength of
your mind, your success in life and the pleasures you give to others by your
company- all depend on the nature and quality of your thoughts. You must know
thought-culture.
Thought Gives Health
If you entertain healthy thoughts, you can keep good health. If you hold
on to sickly thoughts in the mind, thoughts of diseased tissues, thoughts of
weak-nerves, thoughts of improper functioning of organs or viscera, you can
never expect good health, beauty and harmony. The body is the product of the
mind. If you hold on vigorous thoughts in the mind, then the physical body also
will be vigorous.
Evil thoughts of all kinds befoul and infure the mind and, if persisted
in, will become veritable diseases and maimings of the mind, incurable during
the period of life.
Thought Builds Character
"As a man thinketh, so he is." "Man is created by
thought; what a man thinks upon, that he becomes." Think you are strong;
strong you become. Think you are weak; weak you become. Think you are a fool;
fool you become. Think you are God; God you become. A man forms his own
character, becoming that which he thinks. If you meditate on courage, you shall
work courage into your character. So with purity, patience, unselfishness and
self-control. If you think nobly, you shall gradually make for yourself a noble
character, but if you think basely, a base character will be formed. Steady
persevering thought sets up a definite habit of the mind and that habit
manifests itself as a quality in the character. The thread of thought is woven
into mental and moral qualities and these qualities in their totality form what
we call character. You can build your character as surely as a mason can build
a wall, working with and through the law.
The first step towards a deliberate creation of character lies then in
the deliberate choosing of what we will think and then of thinking persistently
on the quality chosen. Ere long, there will be a tendency to evince that
quality; a little longer, its exercise will become habitual. Thought makes
character. You spin the thread of thought into your destiny.
Thought Weaves Destiny
That which man thinks upon in one life, he becomes in another. If the
mind dwells continually upon one train of thought, a groove is formed into
which the thought-force runs automatically and such a habit of thought survives
death and since it belongs to the ego, is carried over to the subsequent earth
life as a thought tendency and capacity.
Every thought has got its own mental image. Every man has a mental world
of his own, his own views, his own sentiments, his own feelings, his own
habitual thoughts, his own experience and his own mode of thinking. The essence
of the various mental images formed in one particular physical life is being
worked out in the mental plane. It constitutes the basis for the next physical
life. Just as a new physical body is formed in every birth, so also a new mind
and a new Buddhi are formed in every birth.
It is difficult to explain the detailed workings of thought and Karma.
Every Karma produces twofold effects, one on the individual mind and the other
on the world. Man makes the circumstances of his future life by the effect of
his actions upon others.
Every action has a past which leads up to it; every action has a future
which proceeds from it. An action implies a desire which prompted it and a
thought which shaped it. Each act is a link in an endless chain of causes and
effects, each effect becoming a cause and each cause having been an effect; and
each link in the endless chain is welded out of three components-desire,
thought and activity. A desire stimulates a thought; a thought embodies itself
in an act.
Selfish coveting of the possessions of others, though never carried out
into active cheating in the present, makes one a thief in a later earth-life,
while hatred and revenge secretly cherished are the seeds from which the
murderer springs. So again, unselfish loving yields as harvest the
philanthropist and the saint; and every thought of compassion helps to build
the tender and pitiful nature which belongs to one who is a friend to all
creatures.
Like Attracts Like
The great law, "Like attracts like," is ever operating. This
is a great cosmic law. This is a law in nature. This law operates in the
thought world also. People of similar thoughts are attracted towards each
other. That is the reason why the maxims run as follows: "Birds of the
same feather flock together... A man is known by the company he keeps." A
doctor is drawn towards a doctor. A poet has attraction for another poet. A
songster loves another songster. A philosopher likes another philosopher. A
vagabond likes a vagabond. The mind has got a 'drawing power'. You are
continually attracting towards you, from both the seen and the unseen sides of
life-forces, thoughts, influences and conditions most akin to those of your own
thoughts and lives.
In the realm of thought, people of similar thoughts are attracted to one
another. This universal law is continually operating whether we are conscious
of it or not. We are all living, so to speak, in a vast ocean of thought; and
the very atmosphere around us is continually filled with the thought-forces
that are being continually sent or that are continually going out in the form
of thought-waves. We are all affected more or less by these thought-forces
either consciously or unconsciously and in the degree that we are more or less
sensitively organised or in the degree we are negative and so are open to
outside influences, rather than positive, which thus determine what influences
shall enter into the domain of our thoughts and hence into our lives.
Carry any kind of thought you please about with you and so long as you
retain it, no matter how you roam over land or sea, you will unceasingly
attract to yourself, knowingly or inadvertently, exactly and only what
corresponds to your own dominant quality of thought. Thoughts are your private
property and you can regulate them to suit your taste entirely by steadily
recognising your ability to do so. You have entirely in your own hands to
determine the order of thought you entertain and consequently the order of
influences you attract and are not mere willowy creatures of circumstances,
unless indeed you choose to be.
Good Thoughts and Evil Thoughts
A good thought is thrice blessed. First, it benefits the thinker by
improving his mental body (Manomaya Kosha). Secondly, it benefits the person
about whom it is entertained. Lastly, it benefits all mankind by improving the
general mental atmosphere.
An evil thought, on the contrary, is thrice cursed. First, it harms the
thinker by doing injury to his mental body. Secondly, it harms the person who
is its object. Lastly, it harms all mankind by vitiating the whole mental
atmosphere.
Every evil thought is as a sword drawn on the person to whom it is
directed. If you entertain thoughts of hatred, you are really a murderer of
that man against whom you foster thoughts of hatred. You are your own suicide,
because these thoughts rebound upon you only.
A mind tenanted by evil thoughts acts as a magnet to attract like
thoughts from others and thus intensifies the original evil.
Evil thoughts thrown into the mental atmosphere poison receptive minds.
To dwell on an evil thought gradually deprives it of its repulsiveness and
impels the thinker to perform an action which embodies it.
The Progeny Of Thoughts
It is not sufficient that your thoughts are not bad. You must transmute
bad thoughts into good thoughts. This is the first part of your Sadhana. You
must make them helpful thoughts. When they are sent out, they must be capable
of doing immense good and benefit to the suffering humanity and your
neighbours.
Thoughts are your own real children. Be careful of your progeny of
thoughts. A good son brings happiness, name and fame to the father. An evil son
brings infamy, discredit to his father. Even so, a noble thought will bring
happiness and joy to you. An evil thought will bring misery and trouble to you.
Just as you rear up your children with great care, so also you will have to
rear up good, sublime thoughts with great care.
Thought is Contagious
Thought is very contagious, nay, more contagious than the Spanish Flu.
Thought moves. It actually leaves the brain and hovers about. It enters the
brains of others also. A sympathetic thought in you raises a sympathetic
thought in others with whom you come in contact. A thought of anger produces a
similar vibration in those who surround an angry man. It leaves the brain of
one man and enters the brains of others who live at a long distance and excites
them. A cheerful thought produces cheerful thought in others. A thought of joy
creates sympathetically a thought of joy in others. You are filled with joy and
intense delight when you see a batch of hilarious children playing mirthfully
and dancing in joy.
In broadcasting, a singer sings beautiful songs at Calcutta. You can
hear them nicely through the radio-set in your own house at Delhi. All messages
are received through the wireless. Even so, your mind is like a wireless
machine. A saint with peace, poise, harmony and spiritual waves sends out into
the world thoughts of harmony and peace. They travel with tremendous lightning
speed in all directions and enter the minds of thousands and produce in them
also similar thoughts of harmony and peace. Whereas a worldly man whose mind is
filled with jealousy, revenge and hatred sends out discordant thoughts which
enter the minds of thousands and stir in them similar thoughts of hatred and
discord.
Thought is very contagious. Keep a good and honest man in the company of
a thief. He will begin to steal. Keep a sober man in the company of a drunkard.
He will begin to drink.
Thought-Tranference or Telepathy
What is the possible medium through which thoughts can travel from one
mind to another? The best possible explanation is that Manas or mind-substance
fills all space like ether and it serves as the vehicle for thoughts as Prana
is the vehicle for feelings, ether is the vehicle for heat, light and
electricity, and air is the vehicle for sound. Mind is Vibhu (all-pervading)
like Akasa. Hence, thought-transference is possible. Thought-transference is
telepathy.
If we throw a piece of stone in a tank or a pool of water, it will
produce a succession of concentric waves travelling all around from the
affected place. The light of a candle will similarly give rise to waves of
ethereal vibrations travelling in all directions from the candle. In the same
manner, when a thought, whether good or evil, crosses the mind of a person, it
gives rise to vibrations in the Manas or mental atmosphere, which travel far
and wide in all directions.
While electricity travels at the rate of 1,86,000 miles per second,
thoughts virtually travel in no time, their speed being as much faster than
electricity as their vehicle Manas is finer than ether, the medium of
electricity.
Thoughts are like things. Just as you hand over an orange to your friend
and take it back, so also you can give a useful, powerful thought to your
friend and take it back also. You must know the right technique to handle and
manipulate a thought. The science is very interesting and subtle. You can aid a
friend in trouble by sending him thoughts of comfort, a friend in search of
Truth by thoughts clear and definite of the truths you know. You can send into
the mental atmosphere thoughts which will raise, purify and inspire all who are
sensible to them.
If you send out a loving, helpful thought to another man, it leaves your
brain, goes directly to that man, raises a similar thought of love in his mind
and returns back to you with redoubled force. If you send out a thought of
hatred to another man, it hurts that man and hurts you also by returning back
to you with redoubled force. Therefore, understand the laws of thought, raise
only thoughts of mercy, love and kindness from your mind and be happy always.
When you send out a useful thought to help others, it must have a
definite, positive purpose and aim. Then only it will bring out the desired
effect. Then only that thought will accomplish a definite work.
The Duty of an Aspirant
You should learn the method of sending out helping, loving thoughts to
others and the whole world at large. You should know how to remove distraction
and collect all thoughts and send them out as a battalion of helpful forces to
do good to the suffering humanity. Thought-transference is a beautiful science.
It is an exact science.
Just as the flowing Ganga brings joy and coolness to those who live on
its banks, so also your strong thoughts of love and peace must flow out as a
healing stream to bring solace, peace and glee to those persons whose minds are
filled with care, worry, anxiety, tribulation, affliction, etc.
Even some good natured householders entertain some occasional good
thoughts and send out into the world some helpful thoughts. This is not
sufficient for an aspirant in the path of Truth. A continuous stream of helpful
thoughts must gush out from his mind. It must be a perennial, healing stream of
loving, helpful thoughts. He must be able to charge groups of twenty persons,
masses of hundreds and thousands with love, joy and cheerfulness. He must stir
them with a mere glance and a few sweet, powerful words into enthusiasm, high
spirits and exalted moods and exhilaration. That is spiritual strength,
will-force (Atma-Bala).
How Sannyasins Serve The World Through Their Thought-Vibrations
Indians have now imbibed the missionary spirit of the West and cry out
that Sannyasins should come out and take part in social and political
activities. It is a sad mistake. A Sannyasin or a Yogin need not become the
President of an Association or the leader of a social or political movement. It
is a foolish and puerile idea. A true Sannyasin can do everything through his
thought-vibrations.
It is not necessary that a Sannyasin, a saint should appear on the
platform to help the world, to preach and elevate the minds of people. Some
saints preach by example. Their very lives are an embodiment of teaching. Their
very sight elevates the minds of thousands. A saint is a living assurance for
others for God-realisation. Many draw inspiration from the sight of holy
saints. No one can check the thought-vibrations from the saints. Their pure,
strong thought-vibrations travel a very long distance, purify the world and
enter the minds of many thousands of persons. There is no doubt in this.
A sage living in a Himalayan cave can transmit a powerful thought to a
corner of America. He who practises Nishkama Karma Yoga in the world purifies
himself through disinterested works and he who meditates in a cave in the
Himalayas and tries to purify himself really purifies the world, helps the
world at large through his spiritual vibrations. Nobody can prevent his pure
thoughts coming out and passing to others who really want them. Worldly-minded
social workers cannot understand this point.
Clear Thinking-how It Is Accomplished
The common man does not know what deep thinking is. His thoughts run
riot. There is a great deal of confusion in the mind sometimes. His mental
images are very distorted. It is only thinkers, philosophers and Yogins who
have well-defined, clear-cut mental images. They can be seen through
clairvoyance very vividly. Those who practise concentration and meditation
develop strong, well-formed mental images.
Most of your thoughts are not well-grounded. They come and slip away.
They are, therefore, vague and indefinite. The images are not clear, strong and
well-defined. You will have to reinforce them by clear, continuous and deep
thinking. Through Vichara (ratiocination), Manana (deep reflection) and
meditation, you will have to make the thoughts settle down and crystalise into
a definite shape. Then the philosophical idea will become firm. Through
right-thinking, reasoning, introspection and meditation, you will have to
clarify your ideas. Then confusion will vanish. The thoughts will get settled
and well-grounded.
Think clearly. Clarify your ideas again and again. Introspect in
solitude. Purify your thoughts to a considerable degree. Silence the thoughts.
Do not allow the mind to bubble. Let one thought-wave rise and settle down
calmly. Then allow another thought to enter. Drive off all extraneous thoughts
that have no connection with the subject-matter you are handling at the present
moment.
Independent And Original Thinking
Thinkers are very few in this world. Most of us do not know what right
thinking is. Thinking is shallow in the vast majority of persons. Deep thinking
needs intense Sadhana (practice). It takes innumerable births for the proper
evolution of the mind. Then only it can think deeply and properly. A man who
speaks the truth and has moral purity has always powerful thoughts. One who has
controlled anger by long practice has tremendous thought power. If a Yogin
whose thought is very powerful speaks one word, it will produce tremendous
impression on the minds of others.
Independent and original thinking is resorted to by the Vedantins.
Vedantic Sadhana (Manana, reflection) demands a sharp intellect. Hard thinking,
persistent thinking, clear thinking, thinking to the roots of all problems, to
the very fundamentals of the situations, to the very presuppositions of all
thoughts and being is the very essence of Vedantic Sadhana. You will have to
abandon an old idea, however strong and ingrained it may be, when you get a
new, elevating idea in its stead. If you have no courage to face the results of
your thinking, to swallow the conclusions of your thinking, whatever they may
mean to you personally, you should never take the trouble to philosophise. Take
up to devotion.
Applied Thinking And Sustained Thinking
Applied thinking applies the mind to the object and sustained thinking
keeps it continually engaged; rapture brings about the expanding and bliss of
the developing mind whose motives for non-distraction have been accomplished by
those two kinds of thinking. Meditation can arise when applied and sustained
thinking, rapture, bliss and collectedness of mind arise.
Thought is a great force. It has got tremendous power. It becomes a
matter of great moment to know how to use this power in the highest possible
way and to the greatest possible effect. This can best be done by the practice
of meditation.
Extract from the book: MIND ITS MYSTERIES AND CONTROL
