A wrestler went to a master, complaining that in private he could beat his own master, but in a public match, he could not win even against the weakest opponent. The master told him to sit in front of an ocean and become the wave. He sat down and meditated. Many thoughts invaded his mind, but slowly he could visualise that he was a powerful wave. From then onwards, he won all his public matches.
Choice, and not chance, determines destiny. Let your choice be to have a silent mind. Understand that a noisy mind has no centre. It is like both a man and a woman playing on a piano. There will be no harmony. But when a musician plays, the notes are in harmony. A noisy mind has no harmony and hence it is hell in motion.
When we have a silent mind, the magnetic centre will allow us to see a fact as a fact. When a silent man gets angry, there is beauty in the anger, for it is filled with the purity of silence.
In Egypt, they found wheat seeds that were many thousands of years old in a tomb. When they took them out and planted them, they started sprouting. In the same way, the words of enlightened masters are seeds of silence. When planted in a noisy mind, they will not sprout. Be silent and invite heaven. Man has a choice to decide whether to be in hell or heaven.
How do we lighten a noisy mind?
One is busy in a rat race. In a rat race, even if one wins, one continues to be a rat.
Our busy thoughts are looking out for peace and joy. In the state of deep sleep, one experiences peace and joy. Where did it come from? Joy is within us. The kingdom of heaven is within us. But out of ignorance, we are busy searching for peace and joy outside, and not within. It is like a man searching for teeth in a crow. Our search can be efficient if we do not chase mirages.
Off and on, we should stop and look within. We should develop the art of looking ‘within’. We should teach ourselves to keep the mind silent. In the presence of a silent mind, the dance of joy is experienced.
Unless one discovers oneself, one remains on the periphery. The moment one discovers oneself, one has found one’s centre. The centre is absolutely silent, an empty space. The periphery is full of noise and garbage. Even God would not like to enter such a space.
Be empty and find yourself filled with the fragrance of a thousand flowers. You become a part of an eternal flow. You become a channel, a means for a divine flow.
If the mind is all thoughts, how do we manage our thoughts?
Our thinking takes shape from the mental pictures that we have. If we picture a person as bad, then our thinking becomes an extension of the picture that we have of them. Such thinking is not right thinking. We are not conscious of the pictures that we have of others and ourselves. To become conscious of our mental pictures is a part of wise living.
As you think, so you become. Thought is powerful. Think strong, and you become strong. Think weak, and you become weak. The world of thought is more real than the external world. The food for the self is thought. So, choose thoughts as one chooses healthy food.
The Vedas tell us to picture ourselves as infinite and blissful: 'Aham Brahmasmi.'