Dealing With Thoughts During Meditation

Often thoughts occur during meditation. It may be from past or present. In this audio, Heartfulness global guide talks about how could we deal with thoughts during meditation in a simple practical way that one can easily accommodate in the practice.

Transcript

The main problem with meditation, Which we all face one time or the other, The biggest problem is that people often complain about thoughts during meditation. Thoughts are always arising in the mind and this becomes very noticeable during meditation. You know, My guide used to say, Just as eyes are to see, Ears are to hear, Nose is to smell, Tongue is to taste, And so is mind to think. So when we try to suppress the very nature of mind, Which is to think, We are going against nature, Then what is the solution? Solution is this, We need to regulate the mind. We need to train our mind in such a way so that it rests on those ideas, Those thoughts, Those subjectivity, So that we can dive deeper into those subjects only without being deviated into others. But in true meditation, It transcends beyond thoughts actually. When we realize this, How to transcend beyond thoughts, Moving away from thinking apparatus and try to activate the heart and try to feel the very essence of that object of meditation, Then that meditation is successful. In a rightful meditation, When it is so effective, One will be able to deduce from daily experiences that yes, Even though the meditation may have been turbulent because of thoughts, Yet a right meditation would result in shift in consciousness. See how your consciousness was before starting meditation. And after meditating for 20 minutes, 30 minutes with the help of this transmission, Despite of turbulent meditation, You will often see that the result of this meditation was so refined. There is absolute refinement within, There is so much of subtleness within. Often we are troubled by the thoughts from the past, Out of guilt perhaps, Some unresolved matters that they pop up in our minds. And often things that we have not completed, They haunt us during meditation. We see that during our daily activities, You know, Someone calls from home that please bring milk on your way from supermarket. And by the time we are going to bed at 10 p. M. Or 10. 30 p. M. , Suddenly you realize, I forgot the milk. We're going to sleep also, Many things that we remember are related to unfinished tasks, Something that we missed out on. So when such thoughts do arise during meditation, Should we get disturbed because it reminds us of our duty? No. Let it come, Make a mental note of it and revert back to this noble process of attending to presence of divine light in the heart. Did transmission do its job? When thoughts do arise, Instead of fighting with them, Instead of struggling, Like, You know, It would be nice if we gently remind ourselves that I am meditating on divine light present in my heart. You go on paying attention to thoughts like the way you would pay attention to a barking dog. It's not going to help us. We have to keep on moving gently and softly, Remaining unmindful of things around us. Be compassionate towards yourself. Let them arise. They will drop off when you ignore them. But ignoring them in a very passive way. Try to ignore it, I will not think of this, I will not think of this. It's not going to happen. Often things you try to evade from comes back. I would like to share with you a beautiful story I heard about a little boy who served his guru for years with the hope that one day his guru will teach him how to fly like a bird. Guru had tempted him to do so. He said, When you are 15, On the full moon night, On your birthday, I will teach you how to meditate. Meditate in such a way that after meditation you will be able to fly like a bird. So that fine day came Monday and boy was very excited, Goes to his guru and says, I'm ready. Please teach me how to fly like a bird. So Guru tells him, I'll teach you a method of meditation. You go home, Take a shower, Wear clean clothes and sit for meditation. But during meditation, Don't think of monkeys. And there you go. On his way, He was very happy. I will not think of monkeys. How can I think of monkeys? I never seen monkeys in my life. So there is no way I'm going to think of monkeys. So he goes home playing with this, How to ignore the thoughts of monkeys. And just when he's about to start at midnight, When the full moon is on over his head, And hope, So much of hope, He tries to meditate. Suddenly he remembers, Guruji said, Please don't think of monkeys. And there it go, It's full of monkeys in his mind. The things we try to avoid generally pops up again and again. Best is not to pay attention. We have to understand why thoughts come during meditation, Especially. You see, It's like, It is not that we were not thinking other times or thoughts were not coming during other moments. They're always there. But during meditation, We become cognizant of it. Secondly, When the thoughts are there during other activities, They come, But we are busy doing so many other things. We are watching things and not paying attention to inner consciousness. So thoughts, Though they do arise, But they go unnoticed in our conscious mind. When we meditate, Now you're face to face with your own consciousness, Your mirror, Just looking at yourself and it's difficult to evade from this, Especially during meditation. And all kinds of thoughts would come, Especially negative thoughts, Something that you did wrongly or something that makes you feel ashamed, Sometimes guilty. Very rarely, Some noble thoughts may arise. But whatever be the thoughts, Good or bad, Any distraction, I think, Disturbs our meditation. Let me read you a little passage, Something from my first guide Ramchandra of Sajjanpur. In the 1940s, In his book called Reality at Dawn, He expresses ideas and how to, Wherein he deeply and very masterfully describes the reason behind these thoughts and how to tackle them during meditation. So I'm going to read out this particular passage from Reality at Dawn by Ramchandra. Generally people complain of numerous ideas creeping into their mind at the time of meditation. They think that they have failed in their practice unless they bring their mind to a standstill. But it is not so. We are not practicing concentration, But only meditation. We must go on with meditation, Unmindful of the foreign ideas that happened to come to our mind at the time. The flow of ideas is due to the activities of our conscious mind, Which is never at rest. We are still busy in meditation with our subconscious mind, While our conscious mind is roaming about and forming numerous ideas. Thus, We are not the loser in any way. In due course, After sufficient practice, The conscious mind too gets molded and begins to act in harmony with the subconscious mind. The result thus achieved is deep-rooted and lasting. And finally, Calmness, The characteristic of the soul, Becomes predominant. If we let our thoughts run riot during the rest of the day, How will they become during one hour of meditation? So we have to train the mind so that it becomes an instrument for our evolution. The mind can be our best friend or our worst enemy. Mastering this art of keeping our mind focused on one idea is often a challenge. With the help of this transmission, We are able to move into a deeper level of consciousness very easily without much being distracted by these thoughts. It is a matter of experience that how such a simple path, Simple way of meditation, Where we gently remind ourselves that, Yes, I am meditating on the presence of the divine light in my heart. That's all. When thoughts do arise, We simply remain unmindful of them. And just divert our attention in a very simple way, In a very natural way, To drift attention towards the presence of divine light. When these thoughts disturb us too much, When it becomes overwhelming, Then at that moment it will be best to take a deep breath and hold your breath for some time and see what happens and resume your meditation. Then too your thoughts are disturbing. Open your eyes for a few seconds. Close again gently. See what happens. Or if it is still overwhelming, Then take up some nice book with a passage of truth, Something that can remind you of divinity, Something that reminds you of humanity, Something that can remind you of love, Compassion. And then resume meditation. Often we get carried away by some pious thoughts. We think that the meditation will be wonderful. If such images keep coming to my mind of, For example, Some deity that you're worshipping, Thoughts of that particular deity may keep coming to your mind and you think that is meditation. But I tell you it is wrong. It is not a very good idea to entertain any sort of thought actually, Except this one noble idea of the presence of divine light. And prayerfully we remain that, My Lord, Whatever I am thinking during meditation, It's my imagination. Whatsoever I am thinking and cooking up things in my head about your qualities, About your form, That is also my mental fabrication. Because if you have a certain belief in certain religion, One would tend to think of that particular deity. And by chance, If you happen to think of some other deity belonging to another religion, Then you think that your meditation was spoiled. This is nothing but narrow-mindedness. If we go on imagining things, Imagining the form, The quality, Etc. , Of God, It is always based on our imagination and our offenses. Our prayers would be, My Lord, Whatsoever you are, Qualitatively, Figuratively, I like to feel your presence and remain waiting for this. We give the open invitation for such a moment to arise in our heart in its natural way. But if we go on thinking that, Oh Lord, Is like this, Lord, Is not supposed to be like that, Then mind remains busy in fabricating states of meditation, Reasons during meditations. Then that is not meditation. You are only daydreaming, You are cooking up things in your mind. In meditation, We remain patiently waiting, That is all. And whatsoever happens in meditation with such a positive attitude is best for us. Practice in itself, Whatsoever be, Any spiritual practice. It rarely contributes more than 5% towards our success. 95% depends on our attitude. What are these attitudes we must have? And how this attitude can accelerate or decelerate my association with this practice? Spiritual attitudes also can create stormy thoughts during meditation. Loving attitude, Open-mindedness, Joyful state, All this make our meditations very fruitful, Very effective, Very, I would say, Contentful. If you are angry and try to meditate, See what happens at that time. Immediately after you are angry, Try to meditate. Will that meditation be deep? Or the contrary, If you are so much in love, So happy, So joyful, And at that time you end up meditating. So we slowly realize that just having a particular attitude prior to starting meditation can help us a long way. And the outcome of meditation, Each time we have a different attitude, Will be different. So we slowly understand that certain attitudes are good to have, Certain attitudes are worth ignoring, Worth denying. Most important attitude that comes to mind is this, That my Lord, Whatsoever it be, I am here to experience your presence. That's all. I found to be the best attitude and I remained open. You know, With certain practices, People often have certain great experiences. But the problem with spiritual practice is the experience itself. How much you have a great experience during meditation, We tend to expect similar experience to arise during the second meditation. This is not open-mindedness. This is like putting a condition that yes, In this second meditation, I will have previous experience be repeated again. Or even worse, I'll have better experience than the last time. Nothing of that sort. Remain open whatsoever it be. And then you see what sort of experiences we face, We come across and become one with. And as we move on and on and on in this daily practice and observing the kinds of attitudes we have before meditation, We realize that love runs supreme. In love, The other is always predominant, Not yourself. In meditation, It is the interaction between myself and the higher self or myself and the Lord. In love, The other dominates. What about me? The selfishness will move away. We move away from selfishness to selflessness. We move away from thinking to the feeling of the very thought we put in the beginning. The thought was the presence of divine light. It was an idea. It was the thought, Suggestion that we made. It translates into a feeling, A state of feeling comes. We experience something very profound. And later on, We get also fed up of daily experiences, Actually. One profound experience after another profound experience. Just as in the beginning, Most people, They get tired of thoughts. Advanced seekers of spirituality also get fed up of experiences, How many experiences? Though they are so good, Heart is yet not fully satisfied. It is still longing for something great.

Reviews

This talk was very helpful!!!
Thank You!! ❤️

Very nice and helpful tips! Thank you!