The article is written on the basis of Serebryakov's Vedic lectures, in particular, the lecture "The Nature of the Mind" from the seminar "Secrets of the Mind". The material of this seminar is based on the "Yoga of Patanjali" and "Manasa-shastras", which describe the deep structure of the mind.
Mind is the most subtle matter that exists, it is the subtlest substance. Like the body, the mind is arranged in a certain way, it has its own functions and obeys certain laws.
The brain can be compared to a computer, while the mind is the very energy that allows this computer to work. Consciousness or "I" uses the mind as a tool through which it acts, including controlling our nervous system and subtle physiology.
The mind has the ability to penetrate. It spreads throughout the physical body, penetrates the senses and in general into every cell of the body, but it can also spread further - into clothes, apartment, house, city, country and the whole world. The ability to penetrate depends on the strength of the mind. The mind moves with consciousness, attention. Where we direct our attention, the mind moves there.
It (the mind) cannot be detected with the help of material devices, but can be identified by activity.
There are only two functions of the mind - acceptance and rejection. The mind tends to accept what is good for the senses (like) and reject what is unfavorable to the senses (not like). And here we are not talking about the rationality of acceptance and rejection, since rationality is already a function of the mind, which is above the mind (this is an even more subtle substance). The mind knows what is useful and what is harmful; and unlike the mind, the mind is not affected by the senses. But if the mind is weak, the mind and feelings prevail in a person, about which the person goes, in pursuit of pleasures and entertainment that destroy the body, make it degrade and lead to other negative consequences.
The mind gets pleasure through the senses - we love to look at something beautiful, eat tasty, touch what brings pleasant sensations, inhale pleasant aromas, etc. - and thus the mind enjoys. Accordingly, the mind rejects what it does not like - ugly, tasteless, unpleasant smelling, etc.
Why control the mind and senses
If the mind is not controlled, if given free rein, it will cling to everything, and if a person does not control his feelings, he is wasting time, he can get many unnecessary problems and mental disorder.
The mind is able to move into the past, present and future. There are people living in the past (in permanent memories), present or future. Constantly thinking about the past or the future is already a mental deviation, and if you also worry, worry, try to solve the problems of the past that are already impossible to solve, or problems that have not yet arisen, but may arise in the future ... this can lead to serious mental illness.
A mentally healthy person lives mainly in the moment "now", his mind and feelings are under the control of reason - such a person is reasonable.
One of the properties of the mind is to be identified with something, be it with a body, name, nation, position, position in society, etc. Identifying with something, the mind begins to worry about this object, to protect, etc. A person can dwell on it and suffer because of it.
Since consciousness is reflected in the mind, we (consciousness) consider ourselves to be the mind, while the mind is just a thinking entity, and consciousness (soul, "I") is an aware entity, and these two functions (thinking and awareness) should not be confused.
Since the mind accumulates records of previous experiences, both good and bad, sooner or later it becomes the cause of illness. When too many negative emotions and experiences have accumulated in the mind (the mind is polluted), this negative energy begins to manifest itself clearly in various diseases. The mind (psyche) is closely interconnected with the body, therefore, everything that accumulates in the mind is certainly reflected in the physical state. Correct control of the mind automatically clears the mind, which leads to deliverance from many diseases.
Therefore, the mind must be controlled, and for this the mind must be stronger than the mind. A person with a strong mind will not be led by the senses (mind), because he knows what this or that action leads to. He prefers to refrain from any action than to suffer later because of his stupidity. The mind develops with the study of wisdom. If a person controls his mind, he will become happy.
Clearing the mind
Since the senses and the senses themselves are connected with the mind, the mind can be polluted through these senses, or it can be purified.
For example, through hearing, the mind can become polluted when a person listens to scolding, unpleasant sounds, obscene speech, gossip, terrible news and all sorts of nonsense. And through hearing, the mind can be cleansed - when a person hears about the sublime, beautiful classical or spiritual music, the speeches of sages or real spiritual teachers, prayers, mantras, bells ringing, sounds of nature, etc.
Pollution through the sense of taste occurs when a person eats unclean food (in any sense of the word), thereby contaminating his mind. Spoiled food, tasteless, ugly food, food in an unclean place, disgusting taste, prepared by a bad person, food containing the energy of violence (killed animals, as well as fish, eggs) and some other types of food - all these pollute the mind. You can clear your mind with the help of fresh, properly prepared, delicious, beautiful food, consecrated, cooked with love.
Vision. The mind can be polluted through sight, for example, when a person contemplates something bad, unpleasant to the eye, unreasonable, ignorant. And also the mind can be purified through sight - by contemplation of the beautiful, for example, beautiful nature, works of art, as well as churches, icons, etc.
The same goes for smell and other senses.
In addition, thinking about a specific person, we connect with him mentally (at the level of the mind). If he is a bad person and we think badly of him, our mind is polluted by the bad qualities that this person has. If a person is good and we think well of him, our mind is purified by adopting his positive qualities.
The mind needs to be cleansed constantly, as we brush our teeth and my body every day. If the mind becomes more polluted than purified, a person's life becomes worse, and vice versa.
The mind should be the instrument and the mind the master; when the mind takes over, problems begin.
Purifying the mind purposefully, and doing it intelligently, as well as not allowing the mind to become polluted once again, a person gradually becomes happier.
As much as purity, purification of the body is necessary, it is equally necessary that the mind should also be purified and purified, and perhaps even to a greater extent. As irregularity in the work of the physical organism, and any pollution cause disease.
This applies equally to the mind. There are pollution related to the mind that can lead to various diseases, and by purifying the mind, one can help create both physical and mental health.
By health, I mean the natural state. Isn't spirituality natural?
Few think that way. Most people believe that being spiritual means being able to work miracles, to see extraordinary things, amazing phenomena; and few know how simple it is and what being spiritual means being natural.
Cleansing the mind can be done in three different ways. The first way is to calm the mind, because very often it is the activity of the mind that causes its pollution. Calming the mind removes impurities; it is like attuning the mind to its natural fundamental tone. The mind is like a pool: when the water is calm, the reflection is clear. If the mind is in a restless state, one cannot clearly perceive either premonition or inspiration. As soon as the mind becomes calm, it takes on a clear reflection, like a lake when the water is calm.
This state of mind is caused by the practice of physical rest. Sitting in a certain position creates a certain impact. The mystics know many ways to sit in silence, and each way has a specific meaning. And this meaning is not only imaginary, each method leads to an exact result. I have had many experiences, both my own and with others, confirming that a certain way of sitting changes the mindset of a person.
In the old days, people knew about this and found different sitting positions for different people. There was a pose of a warrior, student, meditator, businessman, worker, lawyer, judge, inventor. Imagine how wonderful it is that the tremendous influence exerted by a certain posture on a person, and especially on his mind, has been discovered and experienced by mystics for thousands of years.
We feel this impact in our daily life, but do not think about it. We happen to sit in some way and we feel anxious; we happen to sit in a different way and we feel calm. A certain posture makes us feel inspired, another way of sitting leads to a feeling of loss of energy, lack of enthusiasm. By calming the mind with a particular posture, one is able to purify the mind.
The second way to purify the mind is based on the way of breathing. It is very interesting for an Eastern person to note how sometimes in the West people in their inventions unconsciously apply principles from the mystical realms. They have an apparatus that cleans carpets by sucking in dust. This is the same system turned inside out: the correct way of breathing sucks the dust out of the mind and throws it out. Scientists have gone so far as to talk about exhaling carbon dioxide; harmful gas is excreted from the human body during exhalation.
The mystics go further, saying that excretion occurs not only from the body, but from the mind as well. If a person knew how to remove dirt, he could remove more than one can imagine. The impurities of the mind can be removed through the correct way of breathing; that is why the mystic combines posture with breathing. The pose helps to calm the mind, breathing helps to purify the mind; they work together.
The third way to purify the mind is based on attitude, on the right attitude towards life. This is the path of morality and the royal road to purification. A person can breathe and sit in silence in a thousand postures, but if he does not have the right attitude to life, he will never develop; this is a fundamental thing. But the question is, what is the right attitude? The correct attitude depends on how supportive a person is about his own shortcomings. Very often we are ready to justify our shortcomings and mistakes and willingly turn our error into rightness.
However, we do not have the same attitude towards others. We will reprimand them when the time comes to express our opinion of them. It's so easy to judge others! It’s so easy to take one step and dislike others, and it’s not hard to take another step and hate other people. And in doing so, we don't think we are doing something wrong. Although it is this state that develops within us, we only see it from the outside; all the bad things that accumulate inside, we see in others.
Therefore, man is constantly in illusion; he is always pleased with himself and always condemns others. And the most amazing thing is that the one who condemns others the most is worthy of blame. But it is better to put it another way: because a person blames the most, he becomes worthy of the most blame.
There is beauty in form, color, line, manners, character. Some people lack beauty, others more; only comparison makes us think that one person is better than another. If we didn't compare, then everyone would be good; it is comparison that makes us think one thing is more beautiful than another. But if we look more closely, we will see that there is beauty in that other thing.
Very often our comparison is wrong for the reason that although today we define in our mind what is good and beautiful, but we can change these concepts within a month, a year. This shows us that we are able to appreciate what we are looking at when the beauty of this thing appears before our eyes.
It is not surprising that if one person reaches the stage where he says: “Everything that I see in this world, I love, despite the pain, struggle and difficulties; it's all worth it, "then the other says:" It's all sad, life is ugly; there is not a grain of beauty in this world. " Everyone is right from their point of view. They are both sincere. But they differ from each other because they see the world in different ways. Each of them has their own reason for approving life and condemning it. Only one person benefits from the vision of beauty, while the other loses it from underestimating life, from not seeing beauty in it.
Therefore, due to a wrong attitude, a person accumulates in his mind undesirable impressions coming from people, since no one is perfect in this world. Everyone has a side that they can criticize and want to fix. When one looks at this side, he accumulates impressions that make him more and more imperfect; and then it all becomes his world.
And when the mind becomes a sponge full of unwanted impressions, then what it emits from itself also becomes unwanted. No one can speak badly about the other without it becoming his own, because the one who speaks badly about others is bad himself.
Thus, clearing the mind from a moral point of view must be learned in our daily life, trying to view things with sympathy, sympathetically: looking at other people the way we look at ourselves, putting ourselves in their place, and not blaming others when we see their weaknesses. Souls born on earth are imperfect and manifest imperfection, and from this state they develop in a natural way, coming to perfection.
If we were all perfect, there would be no purpose in our creation. And the manifestation is such that every being here can rise from imperfection to perfection. This is the purpose and joy of life, and for this this world was created. If we assume that every person is perfect and the circumstances are perfect, then there will be no joy in life, no purpose in coming here.
Cleansing the mind therefore means clearing it of all unwanted impressions; and not only from the shortcomings of others, for it is necessary to reach the stage when a person forgets his own shortcomings as well. I have seen righteous people who blamed themselves for their mistakes until they became mistakes themselves. Constant concentration on the error means its imprinting in the mind. The best principle is to forget others and ourselves, to tune our minds to the accumulation of everything that is good and beautiful.
Street boys in India have a very symbolic occupation. They take the earth from anywhere to find some metal such as gold or silver, and all day their hands are covered in dust. But what are they looking for? They are looking for gold and silver.
When in this world of imperfection we are looking for the good and the beautiful, we have many chances of disappointment. And at the same time, if we continue to search for gold without looking at the dust, we will find it. And as soon as we find it, so we will find more and more.
Here, in a person’s life, there comes a point when he can see something good in the worst person in the world. And when a person reaches this point, he will lay his hand on the good, even if it were covered with a thousand covers, for he was looking for the good and attracted what it was.
from book Hazrat Inayat Khan "Clearing the mind "
A pure mind is objective and justifies the commandments of Christ. An impure mind is subjective and justifies human desires or existing public opinion.
Before talking about cleansing the mind, let's define for ourselves the very concept of mind. God created man in His own image and likeness, giving him a living soul. And just as God is simple, so our soul is simple. The simplicity of the soul just testifies to the impossibility of knowing the essence of the soul. God creates our soul outside of time and space - instantly. A moment is a point, and you cannot look inside a point. We can look at the thoughts themselves, but the essence of thinking defies investigation. The previous chapter examined four basic questions that the mind can ask. A typical case of the fourth question is the definition of the concept of mind - this supreme creation of God. And if everything created by God delights us, then the beauty of our immortal intelligent soul evokes a special delight.
There are questions that are insoluble for us not from a lack of the art of thinking, but fundamentally by the nature of our mind. And, indeed, how can the mind know the mind itself? After all, except for the mind for knowledge, we have nothing.
The free will that we possess allows us to pose and solve more and more new questions, but freedom, being unlimited, in the end will lead to impossible questions and will only confuse our heart.
The human soul is as simple as a simple and disembodied angel, and represents a continuous mind. Even with the separation of mind and heart, we say that the heart is the middle of the mind. The soul itself is whole and one.
When we try to understand what the mind is, we think about the properties of the soul, we find in it virtues, vices, conscience, memory and so on, but all these qualities of the soul arise and disappear depending on our activity.
The soul itself, if it is pure, is a kind of whole intelligent nature.
However, one can admit the study of an intelligent soul, but only, of course, a sinful one, or, say, demonic. An impure (sinful) soul has certain "formations" inside in the form of memory, inventing intrigues, malicious intent, hypocrisy and constantly building various intrigues, such as doing good for temptation. In such a soul, there are many so-called psychotraumas that turn into resentment, desire for revenge, and so on.
The soul is pure - simple and artless. A person with a pure soul sleeps peacefully at night and at every new moment of life makes decisions according to new conditions, according to the commandment of Christ: "there is enough for every day of his care" (Matt. 6.34). This is a necessary condition for a blissful heavenly life.
When we call the soul simple, we in no way belittle it. On the contrary, by doing so we make it clear that the soul has power over itself, over its nature. The soul is called simple and artless, since it does not have an imposed structure and device as in the body, and it defines itself. As God has life in Himself, so our soul freely chooses its spiritual essence.
The mind, by its nature, can act in both sin and good. The criterion for determining a pure and impure mind is only God (the commandments of Christ).
Since God created the world, His will is the basis of the entire universe. Therefore, we "always turn to God for help.
Since the mind fulfills the mandate of the human spirit, the purity of the mind depends on how our spirit does not contradict the Holy Spirit.
Just as for the life of an earthly person, it is necessary to have skin on the surface of the body for protection, the soul of a celestial person also needs an intelligent shell that protects the soul from random thoughts. As soon as flaws appear in this shell, the chastity of the soul is violated.
A person can gain peace with God if his mind does not come into conflict with the mind of God. This is called light. Those beings who have a different opinion on this matter destroy the world created by God. (That is, they cut the branch on which they sit.) These are, first of all, Satan and demons. By their resistance, they are trying to introduce concepts that are different from those that God created. And this is called darkness, since there is no reality and truth in these confused misconceptions. A pure mind is in the light and sees everything as God created. The impure mind is in darkness and blind in its own delusion.
How can you tell if your mind is already partially cleared? A pure mind is objective, therefore it justifies the commandment of Christ, and an impure mind is subjective and justifies its human desire.
In the Church life, an unclean mind leads to grave consequences: heresies, delusions.
Many are heretics not because they oppose the Orthodox teaching, but because they simply do not know it. The carelessness of such pseudo-Christians places them outside the Church. Here it is appropriate to quote the words of the Savior: "The narrow path leads to salvation, and the wide path leads to destruction."
True teaching is always one and requires an accurate, concrete understanding and, like a narrow gate, does not allow deviations. When there is no specific knowledge, and there are only guesses and fantasies, then the worldview is a kind of chaos of wandering ideas. At the same time, the soul involuntarily arises constantly blasphemy against God, various criminal thoughts in relation to the Church sacraments. It is not in vain that there is an exclamation in the Liturgy, "Come out of the catechumens, but none of the catechumens."
In ancient times, there were catechism schools with two-year training, and before the sacrament of Baptism, an examination was taken for those wishing to join the bosom of the Church. A person who does not know the Catechism and the foundations of Orthodoxy cannot be admitted to Baptism, and he is prohibited from participating in the sacraments. According to the words of the Apostle, "if anyone comes to the cup of the Lord without judging the Body and Blood of the Lord, judgment eats and drinks to himself" (1 Cor. II, 27). Simply put, such people are numbered among the murderers of Christ, who looked at the crucified Lord and laughed at Him. not recognizing God in him.
Psalms in the Orthodox Church are composed in the form of Divine services: Vespers, Compline, Midnight Office, Matins, Hours and Liturgy. When starting to study and assimilate this saving step of ascent to heaven, the believer will face the need to study the Divine service. Learning a new subject always involves learning the basics. For example, when studying a foreign language, we must learn the letters, that is, the alphabet. Naturally, there is no logic other than historical and ethnographic in writing the typeface. Therefore, the first communication with a new language is rather boring and requires just memorizing a new system of signs. The beauty of language appears when words and sentences are composed and speech is formed. Likewise, learning about divine services, a person will initially encounter minor difficulties in learning the church theological language and the sequence of services, that is, the Rite. Fortunately, the teachers of the church did a lot for us, and the service with all the theological terminology was translated into our native language. But many words are simply borrowed from the Hebrew and Ancient Greek languages \u200b\u200band therefore require little effort to memorize. The divine service itself, in its structure, is a kind of wonderful creativity. Therefore, you just need to learn by heart the sequence of services. The most gross mistake in the study of worship is that a person tries to logically link all his worldly knowledge with the church service. The church charter is just drawn up in order to tear the Christian away from sinful customs and immerse his emotions, feelings, joys and experiences in the environment of heavenly, saints, Christian concepts.
After the basic elementary truths of Christian worship are learned, real interest begins. An example of worship. At the beginning of the all-night vigil, the 103rd psalm is sung and the censing of the entire church is performed as a sign that God created the world, and the Creator's grace filled the blessed paradise. Then the closing of the Royal Doors means the expulsion of the sinned Adam from paradise ("paradise, my paradise!"). And so the whole divine service. Naturally, without firmly knowing the basics, it is impossible to participate in worship. According to many Christian ascetics (for example, John of Kronstadt), the existing Orthodox divine service is a kind of frame in which, like diamonds, the sacraments are located. Therefore, disputes about what the Charter should be are completely inappropriate. The charter must be unchanged. And already on the basis of this, approved at the councils. Church spiritual knowledge is built in the Rite, in which the Holy Spirit dwells, to whom we sing glory forever and ever.
After studying the basic principles of liturgical practice, a Christian can practice psalmopening both in the temple and at home.
The criterion that the degree of psalm singing is mastered is a constant burning desire to regularly participate in the service of God. And not just "defend" mass, as careless schoolchildren wait out the lesson, hiding in the back desks so that the teacher does not call them to the blackboard, but strive to visit the temple on weekdays, when there is no one to sing and read in the kliros, in order to take the "holy place" "and actively sing the glory of your Creator.
Here it is necessary to immediately warn beginners that, along with true knowledge, various superstitions, prejudices and delusions can touch them. Therefore, it is necessary to carefully check all knowledge so as not to become a "devout person". Everything must be studied in essence with common sense, and then the lies and inventions of the ignorant will not stick to you. Let us immediately make a reservation that the psalm is preserved for life, as well as the knowledge of letters for a literate person. After that, it is necessary to proceed to the next step - purification of the mind.
Cleansing the mind is a deeper comprehension of those Orthodox truths that have already been mastered. For comparison, we will again give an analogy with the study of a foreign language. Reading with a dictionary or memorizing words mechanically implies constant stress during translation, since a person thinks in one language, but tries to speak and listen in another. It is much more important to learn to think in another language. The peculiarity of the significant difference between these two methods is visible in the spiritual life. For example, it is one thing to learn good manners, while remaining a scoundrel and an ignoramus in your soul, and it is quite another thing to become a really different person so that good manners are a need of the heart, without thereby causing internal struggle or contradictions, as in the first case.
This is precisely the kind of rebirth that should take place during the purification of the mind. When the mind not only remembers how to act so that everyone around a person considers him good (the example of a Pharisee), but changes his entire nature and assimilates Christian truths, first of all, with his heart. That is, a pure mind thinks in Orthodox categories, and does not perform a titanic inner work: having sinful categories inside, it speaks of good deeds.
This stage of cleansing the mind is already associated with the heart, therefore, the method of cleansing the mind described in this book, as taught by the holy fathers, begins with the simplest concepts to which we treat dispassionately. The first four days of creation are the area in which one can begin to purify the mind to assimilate the depths of the Orthodox world outlook. The monk lowers his eyes down, so as not to be tempted, but to reflect within those limits where the heart is sober and pure.
Those Christians who practice this method of cleansing the mind immediately notice how in a completely different way they begin to understand worship services more deeply, and how lost zeal and joy return to them when participating in worship. And the most amazing thing: disputes and discord between Christians stop, since all feelings are absorbed by the deep meaning of the words spoken and the sacred rite. Before moving on to the fifth chapter, that is, the very practice of clearing the mind, we will give one piece of advice.
The study of Six Day (especially the first four days) is gradual. It can sometimes take several years to achieve the desired purity of mind. But don't let the reader be intimidated. The first successes come pretty quickly, but they are achieved with a certain amount of effort and effort. Over time, gradually, with deeper assimilation, the mind will easily and naturally live in the purity of the Orthodox worldview. Then the difficulties will pass, and the purification of the mind will bring true pleasure. How, in due time, psalm chanting from the works of studying the Church language and the thicket of statutory laws grew into a blissful chanting of psalms before God.
Looking ahead, let us say that when the mind becomes free from the labor of contemplation of the first four days, it will rush into the depths of our soul, exploring the heart's thoughts associated with our human nature. And since by that time he will be united with Christ, then in his heart he will receive the Savior and Creator of all - our Lord God, to whom be glory forever and ever.
No matter which path you take to meditation, the first and foremost task is to try to keep the mind quiet and calm. If the mind is in constant wandering, if it is the victim of merciless thoughts all the time, then you will not be able to make any progress. The mind must be made to become quiet and calm so that at the time the light comes from above, you can fully realize it. In our conscious observation and conscious acceptance of that light, you will go into deep meditation and see the purification, transformation and enlightenment of your life.
How can you make the mind be quiet and calm? The mind has its own power and now this power is stronger than your current aspiration and willingness to meditate. But if you can receive help from your heart, then gradually you will be able to control your mind. The heart, in turn, receives constant support from the soul, which is the very light and the very energy.
Freeing the mind
You should not think that when there is nothing in your mind, then you become a fool or act like an idiot. This is not true. If you can keep your mind calm and quiet for ten or fifteen minutes, then a new world will dawn within you. This is the basis of all spiritual progress. Now you can force your mind to be quiet and calm for only a few seconds or a minute, but if you can maintain this silence, equanimity and calmness for half an hour or even fifteen minutes, I assure you that within your calmness a new world will grow with a huge divine light and energy.
When there are no thoughts in your mind, please do not feel completely lost. On the contrary, feel how something divine is arising in your pure and aspiring nature. You cannot expect immediate results. The farmer sows the grain and then waits; he never expects the seedlings to rise immediately. It takes several weeks or months until sprouts appear. Your mind can be likened to a fertile field. If you plant the seeds of silence and equanimity and nurture them patiently, sooner or later you will surely reap a bountiful harvest of enlightenment.
For meditation, mind is not needed, because thinking and meditation are completely different things. When we meditate, we do not think at all. The goal of meditation is to free yourself from all thoughts. A thought is like a dot on a blackboard. Good or bad, it's there. Only if there are absolutely no thoughts can we grow to the highest reality. Even in deep meditation, thoughts can come, but not in the highest, deepest meditation. In the highest meditation there will be only light.
Slowly and steadily, if you can, control your restless mind, and immediately and readily God will open his immeasurable heart.
Out of the mind
In light, image and essence are one. You are sitting there and I am standing here. Let's say that I am the image and you are the reality. I need to look at you and go into you to get to know you. But in the highest meditation, essence and image are one and the same. Where you are, there I am, where I am, there you are. We are one. That is why in the highest meditation we do not need thoughts. In the highest meditation, the knower and the knowable are one.
Even contemplation, which is a calm variety of introspective thinking, is far from the ordered space of meditation. The moment we start thinking, we enter the game of limitation and dependence. Our thoughts, no matter how pleasant and delightful they are at the moment, will become painful and destructive over time because they constrain and bind us. There is no reality in the thinking mind. At every moment we are building the world, and the next moment we are destroying it. The mind has its purpose, but in spiritual life we \u200b\u200bhave to go far beyond the mind, where there is eternal peace, eternal wisdom and eternal light. When we go beyond our mind through aspiration and meditation, only then can we see and enjoy the Essence of God and the Images of God.
7 exercises to clear your mind
The mind is almost always impure, and almost always brings unaspiring thoughts. Even when he does not, the mind still remains a victim of doubt, jealousy, hypocrisy, fear, and other undivine qualities. Anything negative attacks the mind first. The mind can resist it for a minute, but it knocks on the mind's door again. This is the nature of the mind. The heart is much, much cleaner. Attachment, love, devotion, self-denial and other divine qualities are already in the heart. That is why the heart is much purer than the mind. Even if our heart suffers from fear or jealousy, the good qualities of the heart will come forward.
And yet, the heart cannot be completely pure because the vital is next to the heart. The lower vital, which is located near the navel, tends to rise and touch the heart center. This makes the heart impure because of its influence and intimacy, but at least the heart is not like the mind that deliberately opens its door to impure ideas. The heart is much better than the mind. And the best thing is the soul. The soul is purity itself, light, bliss and divinity.
1. Becoming a soul
In order to clear your mind, it is best to feel every day for a few minutes during meditation that you have no mind. Tell yourself, “I have no mind, I have no mind. What I have is a heart. " Then, after a while, feel: “I have no heart. What I have is a soul. " When you say, “I have a soul,” at that moment you will be flooded with streams of purity. But again you have to go deeper and further, saying not only, "I have a soul," but also, "I am a soul." At this time, imagine the most beautiful child that you have ever seen, and feel that your soul is much more beautiful than this child.
The moment you can say and feel, “I am the soul,” and meditate on this truth, the infinite purity of your soul will enter your heart. Then, from the heart, infinite purity will enter your mind. When you can truly feel that you are only a soul, the soul will purify your mind.
2. Inner flame
Before you start meditating, try to imagine the flame inside your heart. Now the flame may be tiny and flickering, it may not be a powerful flame. But one day it is bound to become more powerful and illuminating. Try to imagine that this flame is enlightening your mind. In the beginning, you may not be able to concentrate in a way that will satisfy you, because the mind is not focused. The mind is constantly thinking about many different things. He falls prey to many unworthy thoughts. The mind does not have proper enlightenment, so imagine a beautiful flame within your heart enlightening you. Transfer the illuminating flame into your mind. Then you will gradually see a streak of light within your mind. When your mind begins to receive light, it will become very, very easy to concentrate for a long time and also to concentrate much deeper.
3. Cleansing the breath
Before you start meditating, repeat "Supreme" about 20 times as quickly as possible to clear your breath. Feel that you are truly growing into the very breath of God. Until the breath is purified, the mind will not remain focused.
4. God calls me, I need God
Focus your attention on the image. You can look at a photo of your teacher or at your reflection in a mirror. If you concentrate on your own reflection, feel that you are completely one with the physical being that you see. Then try to enter the image that you see. From there you must take one thought: God is calling you and you need God. Repeat: “God is calling me, I need God. God is calling me, I need God. " Then you will see that slowly, gradually and unmistakably, this divine thought enters into you and permeates your entire inner and outer being, giving purity to your mind, vital and body.
5. Establishing control over the mind
You can tell your mind, “I won't let you think the way you want. Now I want to think about God. " Repeat God's name mentally or aloud. Then say, "I want to be pure in my whole being." Then repeat: "Cleanliness, cleanliness, cleanliness." During this time, you do not allow your mind to think about impure or extraneous things. Don't let your mind wander; just use your mind for your own purpose. Millions of things can be done with the mind. But the mind is so naughty and wayward that if you do not use it, then it uses you.
6. Throw them away
Every time an undivine thought enters your mind, throw it out of your mind. She is like a foreign element, a thief, who has sneaked into your room. Why should you deliberately let the thief stay in your room when you have the opportunity to throw him out? When an undivine thought enters your mind, immediately grab it and throw it into the flame of your inner striving.
7. Suppression of bad thoughts
Whenever a thought arises that is not pure, good, or divine, immediately repeat the word "Supreme" very quickly. The Supreme is my Guru, your Guru, everyone's Guru. Repeat “Supreme” very quickly, and every time you say the word “Supreme,” feel that you are creating a snake that coils around undivine thought and suffocates it.
Question answer
Question: I am a beginner in meditation and I found myself unable to control my thoughts. How can I meditate successfully?
Answer: If you are a beginner, try to allow only divine thoughts to enter you, not undivine thoughts. It is better to have no thoughts at all during meditation, but it is almost impossible for a beginner to keep the mind free of thoughts. So you can start with good thoughts: "I want to be good, I want to be more spiritual, I want to love God more, I want to exist only for Him." Let these ideas grow within you. Start with one or two divine ideas: “Today I will be absolutely pure. I will not allow any bad thought to enter me, only peace will enter me. " When you allow only divine thought to grow in you. you will see that immediately your consciousness will change for the better.
Start with divine intentions: "Today I want to feel that I am truly a child of God." It will not be just a feeling, but a real reality. Feel that the Virgin Mary is holding the Christ baby. Feel that the Divine Mother holds you in her arms like a baby. Then feel, “I really want to have wisdom-light. I want to follow my Father. Wherever He goes, I will go with Him. I will receive light from Him. "
Some people don't have such thoughts. Creative thoughts and ideas do not come to them. Only emptiness. You may ask which is better - having a lot of silly thoughts or none at all. But this is a negative, unconscious way of meditation in which there is no life. It is not a silent mind. It is not efficient. In real meditation, the mind is silent, but at the same time it is conscious.
Question: Is it true that it is best to reject all thoughts during meditation?
Answer: Your best bet is to try not to allow any thought to enter your mind, good or bad. It is as if you are sitting in your room and someone is knocking on your door. You have no idea whether this is friend or foe. Divine thoughts are your true friends, and ignorant thoughts are your enemies. You would like to let your friends in, but you do not know who your friends are. But even if you really know who your friends are, when you open the door for them, you may find that your enemies are there too.
Further, before your friends can step over the threshold, your enemies will go too. You may not even notice any ignorant thoughts, but while divine thoughts enter, undivine thoughts like thieves will also secretly enter and cause a terrible confusion. As soon as they enter, they are already very difficult to drive out. To do this, you need to adhere to very strict spiritual discipline. You can carefully guard divine thoughts for 15 minutes, and then in an instant the non-divine thought will enter. So it is best not to allow any thoughts at all during meditation. Keep the door locked from the inside.
There was a time when I loved you, oh, the world of my thoughts. But now I love the beauty of the mind, which is silence itself, and the purity of the heart, which is gratitude itself.
Your true friends will not leave. They will think, “Something happened to him. He's usually so kind to us. There must be some special reason why he doesn't open the door. " They are close to you in spirit, you are one, they will wait for you endlessly. But your enemies will only wait a few minutes. Then they will lose all patience and say, "It's beneath our dignity to waste time here." Enemies have their own pride. They will say, “Who cares? Who needs it? Let's go and attack someone else. " If you ignore the monkey, eventually the monkey will leave and stick to someone else. But your friends will say, “No, we need him, and he needs us. We will wait for him endlessly. " So after a few minutes the enemies will leave. Then you can open the door and your dearest friends will be waiting for you there.
If you meditate regularly and with devotion, after a while you will gain inner strength. Then you will be able to invite divine thoughts and drive away undivine ones. If the thought of divine love, divine peace and divine power comes to you, then you will allow this thought to enter you and expand. You will let it play and grow in the garden of your mind. While this thought plays and you play with it, you will see that you become it. Each divine thought you let in creates a new and real world for you, and fills your entire being with divinity.
After several years of meditation, you will have enough inner strength to admit even undivine thoughts. When an undivine thought enters your mind, you will not repulse it, you will transform it. When someone undivine knocks on your door, if you have the strength to make him behave appropriately as soon as he enters, you can open the door for him. Ultimately, you will have to accept the challenge and subdue these wrong thoughts, otherwise they will come back and bother you again and again.
I am so proud of my mind. Why? Because he began to receive joy from small things, from simple thoughts, from a pure heart, from a humble life.
You must be a divine potter. If the potter is afraid to touch the clay, the clay will forever remain clay, and the potter cannot offer anything to the world. But if the potter is not afraid, he can transform clay into something beautiful and useful. It is your sacred duty to transform undivine thoughts, but only when you can certainly do so.
Question: What is the best thing to do if undivine thoughts come up during meditation?
Answer: The moment a negative or unaspiring thought enters your mind, you should try to use your aspiration to reflect it, because during meditation the influence of thoughts is greatly increased. While you are talking or engaged in normal activities, any thoughts are permissible, since your thoughts are not intense at that time. But if some undivine thought comes during meditation, the power of your meditation increases and intensifies it. Your spiritual life suffers from the moment you allow your mind to indulge unaspiring thoughts during meditation. If a good thought comes up, you can try to amplify it, or you can try to raise it to a higher level. But if a bad thought comes up, try to throw it away immediately.
How to do it? If the thought that bothers you comes from the outside world, try to call the will of your soul from your heart and place it right in front of your forehead. The moment a thought trying to penetrate you sees the will of your soul, this thought will have to disappear.
But if you do not have the inner capacity to do this, do not be upset. Sometimes, when wrong thoughts penetrate during meditation, the seeker feels that the power of the wrong thought is so great that even if he has already meditated for two or three hours, everything is useless. An ordinary thought or a bad thought comes in and he feels that he has lost everything. This is stupid. As long as you do not allow your mind to dwell on them, you should not attach any importance to thoughts at this particular moment.
If emotional thoughts, lower vital thoughts or sexual thoughts enter you during meditation and you are unable to remove or throw them out, try to feel that these thoughts are as insignificant as ants. Just don't pay any attention to them. If you can feel that the spiritual power you have received from your meditation is infinitely stronger than the power of inappropriate thoughts, then those wrong thoughts cannot use the power of your meditation for their own purposes. But it often happens that you become terribly afraid of these thoughts and focus your attention on them. By diving into them and feeling fear of them, you give them strength.
It is true that inappropriate thoughts can become stronger during meditation. But you can easily highlight good thoughts, which are infinitely more powerful. During meditation, when inappropriate thoughts come to you, immediately try to remember one of the most pleasant or highest divine experiences. Enter your experience that you had a few days ago, or a few years ago, and try to transfer it into the mental consciousness. You will see that as long as you are completely immersed in your own experience, the thought, the source of which is in the lower vital, will surely leave you, because in your consciousness there is the highest, deepest, purest joy. Divine joy is infinitely more powerful than pleasure. The nectar-delight of your own spiritual experience is infinitely stronger than your lower vital forces. In this way, you can solve the problem without leaving meditation.
Inappropriate thoughts come to attack you and take away your divine feelings, divine thoughts and divine power. But when you give your full attention to divine thoughts, support and care only for divine feelings, in many cases, inappropriate thoughts simply go away. They say, “He doesn't care about us. We have no place here. " Bad thoughts also have pride, and they are terribly jealous of divine thoughts. They don't care about you if you don't care about them.
So far, I've talked about thoughts that come from outside. But sometimes undivine thoughts arise from within. At the very beginning, it is difficult to distinguish thoughts that come from outside from thoughts that come from within. But gradually you can feel the difference. Thoughts coming from outside can be banished faster than thoughts attacking you from within. But if thoughts devoid of purity and light rise in you from within, then you can do one of two things. You can try to feel that a hole has formed right at the top of your head. Now make your thoughts flow like a river that only moves in one direction and does not flow backwards. And so they are gone, and you are free of them. Another way is to feel that you are a vast ocean, full of calmness and silence, and that thoughts are like fish on the surface. The ocean pays no attention to the swell from the fish.
Question: What is the reason why thoughts constantly bother me?
Answer: Thoughts constantly bother you because you are trying to meditate within your mind. The very nature of the mind is to welcome thoughts: good thoughts, bad thoughts, divine thoughts, undivine thoughts. Trying to control the mind with human will is tantamount to asking a monkey or a fly not to bother you. The very nature of the monkey is to bite and pinch; the very nature of the fly is to disturb people.
The mind needs a higher power to remain calm. This higher power is the power of the soul. You must bring to the fore the light of the soul from within your heart. You are the owner of two rooms: the heart room and the mind room. At the moment, the room-mind is gloomy, unlit and unclean. She doesn't want to open up to the light. But the heart-room is always open to the light, for it is here that the soul dwells. Instead of concentrating on the mind, if you can, concentrate and meditate on the reality that is within the heart, and then this reality will come forward.
If you stay in the mind room all the time, hoping to illuminate it from the inside, you will be wasting time. If I want to light a candle, I must use a flame that is already on, already lit. The heart room is fortunately already lit. One day you will be firmly rooted in your heart, and when you are overflowing with the light of the soul, at this time you can enter the room-mind to illuminate the mind. But first, you must bring to the fore the light of the soul that is most powerfully represented in the heart. The light of the soul will not torment or punish. On the contrary, he will act like the most loving mother who feels that her child's imperfections are her own imperfections. The heart will offer its light to the mind in order to transform the nature of the mind.
Question: I try to keep my mind from wandering during meditation, but to no avail.
Answer: You are not using the possibilities of your heart; you are only using the power of the mind. Very often when I concentrate on you, I see your mind spinning like a wheel. When the mind is spinning, it is very difficult for the Supreme to do anything in your mind. But when your heart rushes even for a second, the Almighty opens the door and enters.
In the future, please try to feel that you have no mind at all. This does not mean that you will be like an animal or a beast. No! The human mind is not necessary because you have a higher instrument called the heart. If you can remain in your heart for five minutes, even if you do not pray or meditate, your consciousness will rise.
The heart is like a source of peace, joy and love. You can sit at the source and just enjoy. There is no need to pray to God to give you this or that, because you will receive everything you want and infinitely more from this source. But you will receive them by the will of the Supreme Being. If you can please the Supreme by always staying in close proximity to your source heart, your desires will come true best. These may be the same desires that you have always had, but illuminated at a very high level with radiance. Before the Almighty realizes them, He transforms every desire into striving with His light.
Question: If noise or disturbances arise during meditation, which is better: include them in meditation or try to drop them and continue meditating?
Answer: Each seeker should know his own way of meditation. If you are a beginner, you should feel that everything that is not part of the meditation is an intruder, you should not allow an impostor to come in and disturb you. But if you are already experienced enough, and during meditation, disturbing sounds or noise arise, you can go deep into the sound itself and try to dissolve it in yourself. If you have this ability, then in your own mind you can transform the attack of a powerful and daring alien element into inner music that will complement your meditation.
Question: If, during meditation, creative thoughts come to my mind, should I follow them, or just try to perceive with my heart?
Answer: As soon as you have a constructive thought, you should perceive it as a blessing of the Most High. But you must know what kind of inspiration it is. If it is a gifting inspiration, then you must follow it. If it’s creative inspiration to do something really good, then follow it. Any creative thought, anything that sets you a higher goal, should be adhered to. If unusual inspiration brings something new into your life and is able to change it, then such inspiration should be followed.
You can feel that inspiration is only in the mind, while aspiration is only in the heart. But aspiration can be in the mind, and inspiration can be in the heart. Inspiration can approach striving and vice versa. But the inspiration must be of a very high type. Otherwise, it cannot help you in your meditation at all. If during meditation you are inspired by the idea of \u200b\u200bmaking the most delicious buns, then this kind of inspiration is a waste of time.
If this is an illuminating inspiration, then please accept these creative thoughts as your own achievement. When you receive creative ideas, know that they are creations from another world that wish to manifest on the physical plane. When your meditation is over, you should write these thoughts down. Subsequently, you can develop them.
Question: Is it bad to expect any special manifestations when you meditate?
Answer: While meditating, simply try to devote your inner and outer existence to the Supreme. You don't have to think about anything; just give yourself completely to the sea of \u200b\u200blight, peace, bliss and strength. But don't expect any special divine quality or result, because in that case you are binding yourself and you are binding God. This is because human expectation is very limited. When you wait, the mind immediately starts acting, and then your receptivity becomes very limited. But if you don't expect, then the problem of receptivity becomes the problem of God. At this moment, He will definitely give you everything in unlimited quantities, and at the same time, He will create receptivity to accept what He has to offer you.
Meditation of the highest type is carried out in silence with one purpose: to please God as He wants it. If during meditation you feel that you please God as He desires, then this is the best type of meditation. Otherwise, if you start meditating in order to receive joy, you will receive joy, but you will not have infinite joy precisely because you did not please your Eternal Beloved God as He wanted. What he said Savior-Christ, there is a perfect, highest truth: "Thy will be done"... Before meditation, if you can, offer the result of your meditation to the Source and say: "I want to become Your perfect instrument, therefore You can fulfill Yourself in me and through me, as You want it." This is the highest, absolutely highest type of meditation.
There is a stream of questions in your mind. But there is only one teacher who can answer them. Who is this teacher? Your loving silence heart.
PART FOUR.
The practice of clearing the mind can be divided into two groups. The first group is directly purifying consciousness and subconsciousness by bringing to light the awareness of all hidden tendencies, vassans and kleshas, \u200b\u200bliving emotional states and transforming energy. It can be compared to how you collect garbage and burn it with the fire of awareness.
And the second group of practices is the purification of the mind by increasing the luminosity and clarity of our consciousness. It is like taking soap and a brush and water and washing out the space of your mind. Soap, brush and water are special information about the nature of things and God, communication with sages, pondering and discussing holy scriptures, etc.
7. Cleansing practices.
This is a wide range of practices, from cleansing fasting to pranayama. These are various rituals of ablution and bath procedures. The point of these practices is to cleanse the body so that it can conduct subtle energies. And cleanse the subtle energy channels in the body. All of this helps to calm the mind.
8. Repetition of mantras or prayers.
First, the constant repetition of mantras or prayers is a great way to keep the mind busy so that it does not become immersed in various habitual thoughts and emotions. Thus, your thoughts are constantly in God. And the longer you do this, the more the Divine reality of Love becomes for you. As they say, we are what we think about the most.
A mantra or prayer is like a way to connect with God. Through the constant repetition of the name of God, prayer or special words, you tune in to the purity of Love. For example, to catch the desired wave on the radio, you enter special numbers. This very intention and this connection purifies the mind.
9. Various meditations.
Here I use the word meditation in a broad sense, since usually everyone understands it. (This meaning differs from the classical definition of meditation) And by different meditations I mean any attunement to the Supreme Being, or the feeling of I-am, or visualization, or sound, meditation-transformation, well, etc.
The meaning of such practices is to be saturated with subtle energies, radiance, clarity, love. There are meditations in which, for example, you breathe in something that is not a resource, but breathe out love.
And there are plenty of such meditations! Not only in traditional theological schools there are such. They are especially loved by esotericists, healers and psychologists, who invented a great many of them, for all occasions.
Not all meditations are suitable for those who strive for enlightenment, but among such a great many, one can find those that purify the mind and tune in to love.
10. Karma Yoga. Pure life.
Karma - yoga is a volumetric concept. But the most important thing is to treat life and everything that happens to you in life as a spiritual practice. You use any event to clear your consciousness. In doing so, you are trying to lead a pure life.
What is pure life? This is keeping all the biblical commandments. Although they are not biblical, they are universal. These are the universal laws of love and friendliness. It's just that until Love has become more real for us than our desires, we keep the commandments, and many need efforts for this. But when Love becomes our only reality, then we stop making efforts to comply with the commandments or moral laws, they spontaneously manifest in us, as part of our nature.
Be that as it may, a pure life allows you not to accumulate negative karma and tendencies in your consciousness. After all, it's not clean where they clean up all the time, but where they don't litter! A pure life is what is called in the Vedas a life in dharma, that is, in accordance with Divine harmony.
Karma yoga is also living your already accumulated karma with a feeling of acceptance and love. Whatever events happen to you is the fruit of your actions, feelings and thoughts in the past. Therefore, it is important to simply realize this, calmly and with dignity accept these fruits, and no longer accumulate negative results of your activities. And it is better to create positive tendencies in your consciousness in the form of striving for God, spiritual realization, strengthening feelings of love and compassion, friendliness, etc.
11. Good company.
"Tell me who your friend is, and I'll tell you who you are."
We all spend a lot of time in society. And for the purification of the mind it is very important what kind of society it is! A company of people who are looking for people like you and who are practicing helps a lot in spiritual practice. Moreover, the more advanced your friends are, the better for you! The ego can suffer a lot from this, but for spiritual advancement it helps a lot!
In a company united by a common aspiration, we find support, motivation, an opportunity to discuss topics of our concern. We can help each other not only with advice, but simply by reflecting each other's arcs. Therefore in any spiritual tradition there are such communities, sanghas.
12. Selfless service.
This can be any activity we do without wanting to get something in return. And we are not interested not only in material reward, but also in praise and appreciation. Nothing in return for what we do!
Naturally, in our life it is very difficult to do everything in a spirit of service, especially if you need to somehow support yourself and your family financially. But you can learn to selflessly serve your loved ones. For example, without expecting or demanding recognition and praise from them, for cleaning the apartment, doing the laundry for them, preparing food, making money, etc. In fact, any activity can be done by such service. You just do your job well and do not expect anything in return.
Service is not something humiliating! This or that action makes our ego humiliating, which is used to assessing everything in terms of levels. Service is love! This is a manifestation of love, care in its purest form!
And such an attitude towards activity clears the mind very well! From pride, greed, envy, self-worth, evaluation and criticism, etc.
13. Visiting temples and holy places.
Temples and holy places are like special portals for communication with God. Therefore, in such places it is quite easy to feel love, mercy, bhava. And naturally, getting into such a space and attuning to the Highest, we purify the mind.
14. Preaching the dharma.
We do not like it when people come to us on the streets and begin to preach something, shoving some books. Or when they come to our home with a bunch of literature, and begin to teach us how to live.
Therefore, I put this item last.
I believe that it is best to preach or otherwise say, to talk about God, when you have already achieved something on the spiritual path, when you really love everyone and are sensitive to people. Otherwise, it turns into "sectarianism" precisely in the sense that everyone is afraid of. (The word sect, if you look in the dictionary, means any closed group of people united by one faith).
Genuine Dharma preaching is your pure life! You can teach others something only if you yourself correspond to what you are talking about. Then your words will be valid.
In general, the purpose of this practice is not only to spread love and friendliness, Truth, but also to clear your consciousness. How does this happen?
You translate all your abilities, talents into service. That is, if you write, then write about dharma, love, God. If you sing, sing about Love and God. If you are dancing, dance about God and Love or for God. Thus, you purify your consciousness and karma, directing all your tendencies and inclinations into the spiritual path.
And if it's simpler, then the task of all these practices is to reformat your consciousness in such a way as to maximally or completely cleanse of negative tendencies and load positive tendencies and inclinations. And then you can more easily understand the Truth, see and experience it on your own experience.
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