Thoughts Theory.

[Guest guest]

With all the posts on "thoughts" going on, I felt like sharing my

theory of thoughts which has been revealed to me so far by

Life/Existence/God/Guru/Amma whatever name you like to attribute it too.

 

Like a scientist's theory, it's open to revision if more data compels

me to change it, which theory of course, I have gathered by thinking,

, and receiving.

 

 

It may be boring to many, so feel free to skip this post. But if you

have the inclination for such read, delve right in and let's share ideas.

 

 

It may also be too radical a concept for most of you or it may simply

be unconnected to your idea of spirituality, and the traditional

reaction to something like this is defence and later offence. I can

almost hear sniggers and sarcastic comments come out in the form of

posts, and that's ok - i will accept you as is. each person proceeds

on his unique path to the infinite; i choose the thoughts theory as

one of the components of my path.

 

 

If nothing else, it will be a different type of topic for you to mull

upon in this list. (Moderator: If you think this is not Amma-related,

you may express it and we will abide by your ruling, no offence will

be taken).

 

Please read below.

 

 

I will take off from the definition of mind I mentioned:

MIND is a flow of thoughts.

 

What is a thought? and how is it different from an idea?

 

Before defining Thought, let's examine 2 types of thought.

1. Automatic Thought.

These are the biggest killers of time and energy. These are thoughts

that flip through our thinking apparatus during times when we have no

sense of purpose. Times can be as short as seconds, or minutes, or

even years.

 

Let's say a meeting is supposed to start at 10:30 am and time is 10:28

am and you are alone in the meeting room. You got two minutes to kill,

and if you are like most people, you will have no sense of purpose for

these 2 minutes (or till somebody comes into the room).

If you are like most people, you switch into AUTOMATIC THOUGHT -

random, useless, time-killers flit through your brain while you are

asking yourself this question: when will something meaningful start? A

person comes in, and you are suddenly relieved because the sense of

purpose is now somewhat established.

 

In such a situation from what I have seen, when Amma is in a situation

like this, Amma either actively pays attention to what's going and

involves Herself or closes her eyes and channels her energy

effectively. Either way, She tries not to waste her energy, and that's

a great role model for us.

 

This small "lost sense of purpose" phenomenon can be extended to

larger timeframes as well, but there the dynamics and interactions

vary and are more complicated, and we get "lost" in the labryinth of

thought.

 

I took this example because most people would identify with

time-killers like this and would have liked to avoid this (whether

they actually ever expressed that idea to themseleves or not)

 

Properties of such thought:

a. There is no "sense of purpose"

b. It is a waste of time and energy.

c. Is a result of an unsure "state of being"

d. Is wishing for a "later" instead of being in the "now"

 

Recommended Action:

SUCH THOUGHT MUST DEFINITELY BE ELIMINATED FROM OUR LIVES TO GET

CLOSER TO THE STATE OF NO-THOUGHT. I relaize it's hard, but I can

atleast see the roadmap clearly and just wanted to share this with you

all.

 

 

2. Self-directed (or Conscious) Thought.

This is when we are consciously involved in thinking. Let's say we are

reading a book or listening to an speaker and digesting the thoughts

being expressed. THIS IS A VERY HEALTHY USE OF TIME, and ideally all

100% of our time should be spent in such Self-directed thinking.

 

ACTIVITY is also included in thoughts, and must also be a form of

Self-directed Thought (in the sense that we can also easily identify

senseless activity which would belong to the realm of AUTOMATIC thought).

 

Properties of such thought:

a. Purposeful.

b. Serves atleast oneself, or others, or both.

c. are a result of a sure "state of being"

d. is in the "now"

e. Healthy distribution channel for our energy.

 

In my opinion (and this is just my humble assessed opinion, ok?), if

we are able to kill the AUTOMATIC THOUGHT component of our lives, we

are REALIZED, or atleast as close to REALIZATION as possible. (please

note that REALIZATION itself can be of many levels; every realized

being does not have to become a guru or a person of the stature of

Amma. further sadhana may be required from this level to manifest a

guru-like life. and this is why I have tremendous respect for the some

great achievers of people who lead a worldly life, because they are so

unusually successful it can only mean that they have chosen to spend

LARGE AMOUNTS - if not 100% - of their time in conscious thought.

Which means they may be close to the 'real thing', and may possibly

have no idea how close).

 

AMMA has shown that she only has CONSCIOUS THOUGHT in her visible life

(which is usually 18-22 hrs of almost every day). If I can achieve to

do atleast that in this life, then I will consider myself blessed.

 

So, what's the definition of a thought? (This is not the dictionary

definition, BTW; it's my own struggle to name concepts that help me

frame the theory with appropriate keywords)

 

Thought is the verbalized (not necessarily mouthed out) expression of

an idea. for e.g. the words "This is a mango and it is sweet" is a

thought. It gives us the idea behind the word mango.

 

What's an idea?

An idea comes from the intuitive and spiritual domain of ourselves. It

is a unique abstraction of the environment.

Somewhat tough to explain, and can only be understood by a question.

for e.g. WHAT REALLY IS A MANGO? and WHAT REALLY IS SWEET? Everybody

has a different unique understanding of mango and its sweetness, and

what sweetness really is.

 

 

Offered humbly for reflection. May this be Amma's wish that I felt so

strongly to write this out.

 

Jai Ma!

[Guest guest]

Namah Shivaya.

 

Manoj, dear brother. Really appreciated your thoughts on thought. Made this

child think of mantra. Then just ran into this, humbly offered to this

thread:

 

 

The word "Mantra" comes from the root "man" to think. "Man" is the first

syllable of manana or thinking. It is also the root of the word "Man" who

alone of all creation is properly a Thinker. "Tra" comes from the root

"tra," for the effect of a Mantra when used with that end, is to save him

who utters and realizes it. Tra is the first syllable of Trana or liberation

from the Samsara. By combination of man and tra, that is called Mantra

which, from the religious stand-point, calls forth (Amantrana) the four aims

(Caturvarga) of sentient being as happiness in the world and eternal bliss

in Liberation. Mantra is thus Thought-movement vehicled by, and expressed

in, speech. Its Svarupa is, like all else, consciousness (Cit) which is the

Shabda-Brahman. A Mantra is not merely sound or letters. This is a form in

which Shakti manifests Herself. The mere utterance of a Mantra without

knowing its meaning, without realization of the consciousness which Mantra

manifests is a mere movement of the lips and nothing else. We are then in

the outer husk of consciousness; just as we are when we identify ourselves

with any other form of gross matter which is, as it were, the "crust" (as a

friend of mine has aptly called it) of those subtler forces which emerge

from the Yoni or Cause of all, who is, in Herself Consciousness (Cidrupini).

When the Sadhaka knows the meaning of the Mantra he makes an advance. But

this is not enough. He must, through his consciousness, realize that

Consciousness which appears in the form of the Mantra, and thus attain

Mantra-Caitanya. At this point, thought is vitalized by contact with the

center of all thinking. At this point again thought becomes truly vital and

creative. Then an effect is created by the realization thus induced.

 

http://www.sacred-texts.com/tantra/sas/sas24.htm

 

pranams,

premarupa