Improving our Thought Power-I

Part-A

How do yogis achieve the highest levels of Consciousness?

Each man possesses a mental body of his own. It is the energy of the kind of thoughts that dwell and are nurtured in the mind. His intellectual property, his process of thinking and the kind of thoughts nurtured are all included in the mental body. Each thought that we send out, each thought that we receive and the cumulative power of it all makes a man what he is. It is this thought power to which we are attracted to in some people or repelled depending on the quality of thought.

Sankalpa Shakti – This word is also used for determination many  times. Sankalpa here means the rise of a thought, the power of thoughts. Every thought that is born is like a wave in an ocean, and has its magnetic power. It draws to itself positive or negative circumstances. The more positive our thoughts, the more power we possess and vice versa. Attention should be paid by us every time we think and to our quality of thoughts. We should discard the evil, bad and weak thoughts. In their place cultivate and nurture positive, constructive, creative and healthy thoughts.   

The state of Super Consciousness-I

Dear friends, cultivating and nurturing a powerful mind is a continuous process of a life time. In the last few posts, it was reiterated that we must maintain peace and calmness in all times and try to hold on to lasting peace as much as we can. But due to our karmic cycle, there will be bouts of unrest and instability with loss of durable peace. So should we get discouraged by sudden storms or tides of lashing waves that hit us unsuspectingly in our life? No, a true sadhak and a yogi will still try to be calm inside in spite of suffering as he knows that the tide will recede at the appropriate time with God’s grace. Many times, the devotees assume that life will be absolutely hassle free when he once comes in touch with God during meditation. Well, this is not correct. In fact, an advancing yogi creates new pious and positive karmas currently and side by side also extinguishes past karmas as and when they arrive. What should we do in such a situation?

We must meditate with a specific purpose so that the effect of the rough tide minimizes and we must hold on to our Guru who will help us wade through the rough weather. How?

People think that in meditation we must try to stop the wandering and onslaught of thoughts and apply force to stop them. For all the sincere seekers, this point should be clarified once for all. One requires a powerful mind to let go of the subtle past karmas and be an observer. So in your meditation to improve your thought power, bring to an end those disturbing thoughts which people are sending to you by not allowing them to enter first your aura and then your mind. More so if the thoughts are bothering you and are a hindrance in maintaining the tranquility of your composed mind. For this, you must be watchful of the thoughts and images that keep bombarding you during concentration or meditation.  Instead of entertaining, discard them. If they re-occur discard them again and again until they stop coming to you. In this manner, we make our mind empty of re-connecting to past karmas done with those people many lives ago. Practice this and after a few days, you will again be your normal self when harmony and tranquility prevails in normal life.

This method of meditation described is for subtle meditation and is prescribed for past life karma cleansing for advancing seekers.

For beginners, to improve your thought power, practice these suggestions-

When in turmoil, think of times when you were in peace. Re-live those peaceful moments.

Increase the depth and intensity of your meditation. When there is unrest inside you, re-live the depth and intensity of past meditations.

Repetition and chanting of one or two line mantras will soothe the mind and will make the mind stronger. Divine mantras add specific powers to the mind.

Do not allow negative thoughts to enter your mind. If they do re-surface, eliminate them repeatedly.

When in mental or physical distress, do not give up on daily physical exercise and remembrance of God, even if you cannot meditate during such times.

Part-B

Another meditation technique for empowering your mind-

After making the atmosphere conducive, sit in a meditative posture with your body completely relaxed.

Once you are composed and calm in mind, concentrate at the crown chakra.

For some yogis, there may be some discomfort in the beginning. Continue after some time again until you feel comfortable.

Once you get accustomed to concentrating at the crown chakra, visualize golden light over your head.

Stay in this position as long as you are comfortable.

After some time visualize the rays of golden rays falling on the crown chakra. Feel the soothing rays. And the peace in the soothing rays will touch the Brahma randra or crown chakra. Prolong this action or kriya.

Later visualize the golden rays entering your body through the crown chakra and penetrating the upper part of the brain, feel its sensation. The rays will then trickle down to the lower part of the brain. Imagine that your whole brain has been recharged with divine rays.

The Divine Light when invoked willingly energize us after it flows inside our body. If you focus on the crown chakra then the divine rays will energize your mind and give excess powers to recharge and revitalize your mental energies thus improving your thought power.

An anecdote –

As I am wrapping up this condensed post, I am recalling a memorable scene that I saw when we were travelling from Prayang to Saga during my Kailash Mansarovar yatra last year. Perhaps this is the most appropriate photogragh I have for this subject. Because a car was stopped at the Chinese check post for our verification of valid documents, we had to stop in the middle of our journey until that car could join our caravan. It was extremely cold at the place where we had halted; it was open, wild and completely barren. It suddenly became dark and cloudy and it was raining on far away mountains. There was not a single soul around and it was a no-man’s land. In spite of harsh climate, a few of us got tempted and got out of the cars to take a few pictures as the place was very beautiful scenically. My eyes fell on a unique spectacle when at the far end of this cold and barren land, I saw a solitary woman walking all alone in the cold. I really marveled at her mental strength. Here they are, take a look at the pictures! Hope you will revert on this forum with your responses, questions or just your spiritual experiences to share with everybody!!

Updated on 30-06-23

The first two posts Improving our Though Power were guided by Vishwamitra Maharishi.