Just before the sleep
when we make this suggestion of Prayer or sleep with a Prayerful heart
immersed in love for God, then sleep itself changes its nature;
it becomes so sweet, it becomes very,
I think, most enjoyable sleep, it becomes a very deep kind of sleep.
I will tell you why
first of all the thought arises. They are irrelevant thoughts
a buffalo is running here,
some Cricket game is going on somewhere,
you just watched TV with some movie and all the actors and things like those
dialogues go on in your mind during meditation
That is not your creation, but you have participated in something and it will
haunt you for some time until, you know, on its own, it is naturally forgotten.
Now coming back to certain thoughts, why do
the thoughts arise in the first place anyway?
There are aviatives who after years of practice this come to me and say, oh,
it's something wrong with me now I'm not able to think anymore,
even when they consciously try to think no thoughts are coming.
But there is another scenario
or another difficulty that we have and it must be understood properly.
Now let us understand how the thought took hold of us in the first place.
How did they become part of us in the first place?
For example, if we are arguing with someone
on a small matter, now when that argument
is taken to the heart, and the heart is so much impressed with this
argument, we either dislike it completely
or we feel like taking an action because we
don’t agree with it or both. You know, it has gone too deep, too far in the argument
so this will settle down in our
subconscious also, and after some time we forget about it
Nevertheless, it is still hidden in the
subconscious which is not healthy for a mind. Though
the thought is there, but it is hiding in the subconscious.
When we meditate,
when Pranahuti (Transmission) is trying to take us deeper into the subconscious, we face that particular
impression of that action of argument buried in the form of an impression.
When we come in touch with that, it is resurfacing again.
And when it is resurfaced, it comes back as the way it had entered earlier.
So it is very simple,
more and more thoughts coming means more and more impressions are going out.
If we
gently remind ourselves that, “Yes, I am meditating in my heart in the presence of
the Source within, or the light emanating from that Source
which is in my heart”,
that should be enough.
It does not matter
if you get ten thoughts or a hundred thoughts or
just one thought or no thought.
Idea is to remain in that, glued on to this focus
that, “Yes. Divine presence is there in my heart”,
and slowly this idea or the thought moves away and becomes an experience or a
feeling of the Divine essence inside the heart.
Well, take one step at a time.
See, when you have meditated in the morning,
try to hold on to this spiritual state you
have just acquired this morning. In the evening,
ensure that what you felt in the morning at least is intact.
Try to create that simplicity and purity in the heart with the process which
we have been teaching, how to Rejuvenate ourselves by removing certain impressions.
And make use of those hours where we remain talking with people, or
when we are sleeping, or while we are having meals.
These three, four things that we do, which may not sound spiritually
productive- like when you are talking to someone,
or while you are taking meals or in sleep-
generally it is thought that these are useless activities. But no,
food though we are taking it for our nourishment, physical nourishment
we can make use of this activity of eating food,
that if we partake this food in remembrance
of our spiritual state, spiritual condition then
the effect will be even better. When you are in a happy state of mind
and when you partake food, I think it has a different impact than a person who is
angry and shouting at his wife or shouting at his mother and taking food.
I think it is almost like taking poison. While discussing with someone
if that cheerfulness is not there, happiness is not there,
compassion is not there in that dialogue or discussion, then it is as bad.
You know, what sort of a discussion are we going
to have when we lose our temper and express our thoughts and ideas.
So we need to reinvent our ways. How to communicate with each other?
There should be gentleness, there should not be any artificiality,
there should not be any idea of impressing someone.
It should be natural, the way it comes from the heart.
often we come across such situations. But the best thing is to take a deep breath,
and I have found that when you breathe with the left nostril, take your
right thumb, close your right nostril and breathe with the left nostril
ten times, your anger will go away.