Sri Adi Sankaracharya gives a beautiful definition to the truth that cannot be defined in three verses as something that is eternal and pure consciousness. The verses in Atma Bodha are very helpful in the seat of meditation.
In this way when one goes through a constant practice of reflection on the words, a special thought cycle called ‘I am Brahman’ is created. That thought or fragrance is called the akhandakara vritti.
A vritti or thought is an activity. It is a wafting movement of mind. Sri Ramana Maharshi says the first activity is the thought called I, and the other thoughts flow after it. Abhyasa means repeated practice of projecting one particular thought, to the exclusion of all other thoughts. This has to go on for a considerable long period, as if endlessly.
Presently, the thought impression we have is alpaiva asmi or ‘I am Limited’. Our desires have their origin in knowledge. If we have the right knowledge, the desires will be right, our striving will be in the right direction and actions will be in tune with our desire. If the knowledge itself is limited, our desires, thoughts, efforts and actions will be limited.
The text, which has the teachings of the Upanishads as its basis, tells us that the right thought that we need to feel and experience is the impression groove in our subconscious, which has the thought ‘I am Brahman’. It helps us to meditate on that ultimate reality. The practice of meditation must be diligently adhered to continuously over a long period of time.
Only then this thought becomes empowered and strong, and it easily strikes out the thought ‘I am a limited entity bound by time, space, quality and matter’.
Once that thought is weakened because we remove our focus and invest our energy back into the Brahman, it falls off due to lack of attention. A thought that has been ignored will go away on its own. A thought
we feed on by thinking, stays for a long time.
The example given here is beautiful. Just as a sick person is treated with medicine, we must treat the sickness of ignorance in our mind in the form of dull and limited thoughts and the resultant restless agony and agitations of the mind with the medicine of the right contemplation that: ‘I am not the limited body, mind and intellect, which I presently believe I am, but I am the pure, infinite and blissful consciousness.’
The Yoga Sutra defines abhyasa or practice of a thought as something done for a long period, daily, with all respect and love for the sadhana. Then the movement of the single thought of the truth gets stabilised till it removes all other distractive and ignorant thoughts in its speed of rotation.