Guest guest Posted October 17, 2005 Report Share Posted October 17, 2005 Om Tat Sat My question is not strictly about Advaita but the veteran Sadhaks on this list can probably help me. Often I have noticed that I can detect and intellectually negate a thought or vasana but it does not go away. It keeps presenting itself over and over. Does it mean that the damage has already been done ? The negation has no meaning ? I am sure Ishwara knows both the thought and the negation. Om Tat Sat Music Unlimited - Access over 1 million songs. Try it free. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted October 17, 2005 Report Share Posted October 17, 2005 Namaste: Negative thoughts/vasanas do not go away as fast as we expect them to do. Negative thoughts/vasanas are like the `weeds' in the home garden or in the field with crops. Those who deal with the weeds know that weeds come back and back again if the field/garden is not cultivated. If the garden/field is properly taken care, weeds will disappear or their presence will have minimal effects. We do need to cultivate good habits and discipline our body/mind/intellect to minimize the effects of negative tendencies. The sages of the Upanishads understood the problem and they suggest that we should focus our attention away from immediate gains (materialism) and divert them toward permanent gains (spiritual outlook)! To grow spiritually, we change our focus away from `selfish desires' divert our energy towards `unselfish service' to the community (Karma Yoga). When we are fully occupied with unselfish activities, less time will be left for engaging in negative thoughts. Learn to become happy when others are happy. The entire Bhagavad Gita is about removing the `negative thoughts of Arjuna' through Vedanta. It was not easy for Arjuna to get rid of his negative thoughts and Lord Krishna has to provide him the necessary guidance which are spelled out in chapters 2 to 18 of Gita. Swami Vivekananda' Vedantic thoughts and quotes that are available in the URL below also provide some guidelines. URL: http://www.vivekananda.org/quotes.aspx Here is a partial list of quotes that address the stated problem: ------------------------- "Understanding human nature is the highest knowledge, and only by knowing it can we know God. It is also a fact that the knowledge of God is the highest knowledge, and only by knowing God can we understand human nature. Watch people do their most common actions; these are indeed the things that will tell you the real character of a great person. We are ever free if we would only believe it, only have faith enough. You are the soul, free and eternal, ever free, ever blessed. Have faith enough and you will be free in a minute. We believe that every being is divine, is God. Every soul is a sun covered over with clouds of ignorance; the difference between soul and soul is owing to the difference in density of these layers of clouds. We came to enjoy; we are being enjoyed. We came to rule; we are being ruled. We came to work; we are being worked. All the time, we find that. And this comes into every detail of our life. We have to go back to philosophy to treat things as they are. We are suffering from our own karma. It is not the fault of God. What we do is our own fault, nothing else. Why should God be blamed? We must approach religion with reverence and with love, and our heart will stand up and say, this is truth, and this is untruth. We must be bright and cheerful. Long faces do not make religion. Religion should be the most joyful thing in the world, because it is the best. We must have friendship for all; we must be merciful toward those that are in misery; when people are happy, we ought to be happy; and to the wicked we must be indifferent. These attitudes will make the mind peaceful. We must have friendship for all; we must be merciful toward those that are in misery; when people are happy, we ought to be happy; and to the wicked we must be indifferent. These attitudes will make the mind peaceful. We reap what we sow. We are the makers of our own fate. None else has the blame, none has the praise. We want to know in order to make ourselves free. That is our life: one universal cry for freedom." Swami Vivekananda" ----------------- In conclusion, the only way to do the damage is allow the same thoughts to occupy our mind. The best way to get rid of them is engage in higher thoughts and preferably on the highest of all thoughts – meditation on the SELF. Harih Om! Ram Chandran advaitin, ABC12 XYZ34 <mahadevadvaita> wrote: > > Om Tat Sat > My question is not strictly about Advaita but the veteran Sadhaks on this list can probably help me. Often I have noticed that I can detect and intellectually negate a thought or vasana but it does not go away. It keeps presenting itself over and over. Does it mean that the damage has already been done ? The negation has no meaning ? I am sure Ishwara knows both the thought and the negation. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted October 17, 2005 Report Share Posted October 17, 2005 OM TAT SAT Sir, You have suggested the remedy for the ill. I appreciate that but I want to know that does mere negation suffice or the fact that the thought/vasana has presented itself, is a setback for the sadhak and would eventually cause rebirth etc ? OM TAT SAT Music Unlimited - Access over 1 million songs. Try it free. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted October 17, 2005 Report Share Posted October 17, 2005 Namaste: Our scriptures provide remedies for all sorts of the thoughts and here are three specific verses in Gita that provides answers to your question. Gita Chapter 8 Verse 5: Antakaale cha maameva smaran muktwaa kalevaram; Yah prayaati sa madbhaavam yaati naastyatra samshayah. Translation: And whosoever, leaving the body, goes forth remembering Me alone at the time of death, he attains My Being; there is no doubt about this. Gita Chapter 8 Verse 10: Prayaanakaale manasaachalena Bhaktyaa yukto yogabalena chaiva; Bhruvormadhye praanamaaveshya samyak Sa tam param purusham upaiti divyam. Translation: At the time of death, with unshaken mind, endowed with devotion and by the power of Yoga, fixing the whole life-breath in the middle of the two eyebrows, he reaches that resplendent Supreme Person. Gita Chapter18 Verse 66: Sarvadharmaan parityajya maamekam sharanam vraja; Aham twaa sarvapaapebhyo mokshayishyaami maa shuchah. Translation: Abandoning all duties, take refuge in Me alone; I will liberate thee from all sins; grieve not. The root cause of all negative thoughts is the presence of 'ego' or doership. The Lord says that even at the last moment before death, if the sadhaka (seeker) can recognize the 'Divine' and recognizes his/her true Divine Nature then such a seeker gets the liberation. Thoughts (negative or positive) are our own illusionary creation and at the very moment when the only thought is on the 'Divine' all thoughts (vasanas) get evaporated! This is God's Deed of Trust and is always available to those who have the strongest conviction on presence and existence of ever present 'Divinity.' Harih Om! Ram Chandran advaitin, Brahmarpanam Brahmhavih <mahadevadvaita> wrote: > > > OM TAT SAT > > Sir, You have suggested the remedy for the ill. I appreciate that but I want to know that does mere negation suffice or the fact that the thought/vasana has presented itself, is a setback for the sadhak and would eventually cause rebirth etc ? > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted October 17, 2005 Report Share Posted October 17, 2005 --- ABC12 XYZ34 <mahadevadvaita wrote: > Often I have noticed that I can detect > and intellectually negate a thought or vasana but it does not go away. > It keeps presenting itself over and over. Blessed self - The thoughts are reinforced every time we think. Habits are very difficult to remove. However, every counter thought will act as detergent - these also need reinforcement in order to eliminate the previous ones. Hence, it is said 'sat sanghatve nissangatvam' - by constant sat sangh one slowly gets to nissangha - or detachment with those previous habitual thoughts. The past thoughts only keep coming until we start reinforcing them with new thoughts with full commitment to them. New thoughts and new actions have to be in unison to fight against old thoughts and their tendencies. However, with commitment you will succeed. The sooner we implement these, the better we are. By deliberate thinking, we got ourselves into rut and by deliberate thinking and effort only we can get out it - By surrendering to Him we can achieve this much easier. Let Him carry the burden of this - then we are free. Yes Iswara knows - but He should know that we are commited to this - not superficially but with manasaa, vaachaa, karmaNaa - by mind, speech, and action - He does not come to our help when there is disparity in these. He is watching our lips and the hands too besides the thoughts. Hari Om! Sadananda Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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