Integrating Ancient Wisdom in Modern Life: Obstacle to Practise
- Three more techniques for quietening the mind.
- 1st method: If yogi is Meditate on the saint who has transcended desires his mind will be steady. Which is righteous, saintly. You hit what you see. You become what you focus on. With this meditation slowly slowly you will find that your thoughts, behaviour, feelings will become like that saint.
- By doing this meditation you will become alert as soon as your Mind is moving towards misery, with this alertness you can shift your focus to something which gives you joy. With a change of focus immediately you will find that misery has changed, transcended into joy. You will find Midas Touch in you. Once you know how to transcend your misery into joy, an environment around you will also be joyful.
- The obstacle to practising this method is that you are a disciple of a great saint. Ego will start giving you social prestige and popularity. You will spend your energy and time to protect your reputation and popularity. Practice consciously as an insignificant disciple of that saint.
- 2nd method: By bringing awareness of the nature of self-knowledge in a dream and in deep sleep you will find your mind has become quiet. By doing this meditation you will get messages in the dream. Be careful without the awareness of self-knowledge if any message you get in a dream is your desires. Obstacle to practising this method is Desire. Desire is divine. With your discriminate mind you will realise that no object can fulfil your desire. By this understanding one will purify the desire for all the objects worldly and otherworldly.
- 3rd method: Contemplate on Ishta Devata in whom you find, the self-discipline which you love to practise. Let us understand what Manan, contemplation, means. Thinking and contemplation are both processes of the mind, but they are very different, even opposite. The process of thought is linear and in contemplation the journey inward begins.
- By 3 steps you can contemplate on Ishta Devata – Be total to Ishta Devata. Unless you are total to him you will doubt. Trust will not arise in you. Totality will be missing in your relationship with Ishta Devata. Give life to Ishta Devata with single pointed devotion. And 3rd Ishta Devata becomes an authentic experience if you offer something which really belongs to you.
- Obstacle to practising this method is doubt. Doubt has gone very deep in our memories. Because to live in the world we need doubt. But when we are moving inwards trust is needed. Inside the seed of doubt is the tree of trust. So if you plant the seed of questioning and work on it you are bound to reap a harvest of trust.
