YOUR QUESTIONS ANSWERED | SEL0004 | KRISHNANANDA

|| CHAP 04 | TOTAL THOUGHT & MEDITATION | SEL0004A ||

Meditation is an integration of consciousness . It is not a routine or a ritual . It is not a religious exercise belonging to some religion . It is an opening of yourself to the final realities of life .

YOUR QUESTIONS ANSWERED | SEL0004 | KRISHNANANDA

|| CHAP 04 | TOTAL THOUGHT & MEDITATION | SEL0004B ||

Dont think like a person thinking . We are ultimately , in what we call a spiritual sense , neither human beings , nor gendered , but only forces of Nature which have concentrated themselves in certain space-time points , looking like individuals . This is how self-analysis has to be carried on . When you think along these lines , you will find that your mind becomes " total " instead of fragmentary .

Generally , nobody thinks in a total fashion . You always think of something other than yourself . It is taken for granted by the mind that what you are thinking is something different from yourself . If it is not different from you , there is no need of thinking it . You dont go on thinking yourself . So , every thought of every person is directed towards something which is assumed to be totally different from the process of thinking . This is a mistake .

YOUR QUESTIONS ANSWERED | SEL0004 | KRISHNANANDA

|| CHAP 04 | TOTAL THOUGHT & MEDITATION | SEL0004C ||

There can be benefit only if your thoughts are harmonious with reality . If you dichotomise your thought from the reality of the world and consider it as an external object , then it will be finite thinking , and finite thinking will produce only finite results . So , I am again coming to the point of total thinking , which is called meditation .

All the thoughts of everyone and of everything will be comprehended within the total grasp of your mind in this act . When you sit for meditation , what should you do ? I am thinking of some object , person , situation . Your mind has to consciously , vitally , involve in itself the object which it is thinking ; otherwise , you cannot even be conscious of the object .

The very fact that you are conscious of some object outside you implies that it has already entered the mind . It has become part and parcel of your consciousness . Now , here is the technique of total thinking . You cannot think the object unless you accept that it is a part of your thought itself . Thus , the thinker is not person so-and-so . It is something in between the object and the so-called subject . It is a connecting link , transcendent .

In our ancient scriptures we use words like adhyatma , adhibhuta , adhidaiva , etc . Adhyatma is the thinking subject ; adhibhuta is the object , but we dont know anything else . We think only two things . I am here and I am seeing and thinking something else .

But you cannot think something else unless there is a connecting link of consciousness between you and the other object . The thinker is actually that connecting link . That is called adhidaiva , the superintending divinity . So , who is the meditator ?

Now I am coming to another more advanced step . You are not meditating , because if you consider yourself as the meditator , you cut yourself off from the object . But I mentioned to you that you cannot cut off your consciousness from any object , inasmuch as , unless it is involved in that object , thinking is not possible .

So this involvement-consciousness is a transcendent consciousness which is above both you and the object . Do you understand the point ? It is a very subtle thing , and very difficult to catch that little crux of the matter .

You transfer your consciousness , as it were , to the middle connection , transfer your consciousness to the centre where you contemplate both sides , as if the body is thinking of two hands . This is the subject and this is the object , but the thinker of both is the body ; so you are not one person thinking of another thing .

Meditation does not mean thinking of an object ; it is a transference of consciousness from the subjectivity of yours and from the objectivity of the object to a central point which is transcendent to both . That is the divinity which is called Ishtadevata .

You contemplate like this . This is what they call total thinking , and this is the essence of meditation .

YOUR QUESTIONS ANSWERED | SEL0004 | KRISHNANANDA

|| CHAP 04 | TOTAL THOUGHT & MEDITATION | SEL0004D ||

Consciousness of an object implies the presence of a connecting link of consciousness between you and the object . Actually , the thinker of the object is not you .

There is something else in the middle which thinks you and the object at the same time , which fact is not known to you , due to which you get stuck up with an object . You must transfer yourself to the middle point where you will also look like an object only , so that you have no attachment to yourself any more .

Neither are you attached to yourself nor to the object ; you are a totally impersonal , isolated , transcendent Being which is the devata , the controlling principle of both yourself and the other . And there are degrees of this involvement until it reaches the Absolute .

This is how you have to meditate .

YOUR QUESTIONS ANSWERED | SEL0004 | KRISHNANANDA

|| CHAP 04 | TOTAL THOUGHT & MEDITATION | SEL0004E ||

➤ But the mind gets tormented by thinking of other people .

It is tormented by any kind of thinking . Neither you should think yourself , nor the other . The torment comes either because you think yourself or the object .

You must transfer yourself to another impersonal thing , which is neither you nor the object .

➤ Even when you are thinking of yourself ?

Why are you thinking of yourself , as if you are protecting yourself ? The protector is somebody else . The whole mistake is that you are representing yourself so much , as if you are the only important thing . This is not the important thing , nor the other thing .

There is something else which is controlling everybody . You have to transfer your consciousness to GOD . GOD is sitting between yourself and the other thing , and GOD is the thinking principle .

If that concentration can be done , all problems will be solved .

Neither you should think yourself , nor another thing .

This art is a difficult thing , but there is no other solution for it . It must be done with great effort , and there will be no problem afterwards .

➤ Whats the difference between total thought and meditation ?

They are the same thing . Total thought means a perfect form of thought , and meditation means the same thing . It is a total thought , not little bits of thinking , one thing at a time . Generally , we think little things , but that is not correct thinking because when you think something , you exclude something else . You should exclude nothing and include all things in your thought ; then it becomes a total thought .

It is something like GOD-thought . That is the perfect form of thinking .

Then you will have no troubles from the mind afterwards . There will be cooperative forces working together . If you exclude something , that something which you exclude will not cooperate with you . That is why troubles arise .

➤ But , Swamiji , in our general life . . .

General life does not mean imperfect life . It also should be perfect . You have been taught wrongly ; your education itself is faulty , right from the beginning . That is why everybody is suffering . Technological education is not real education . One requires also psychological education .

➤ Swamiji , we have so many mantras .

That is a different matter . You may have a mantra , or no mantra . If your mind is not thinking correctly , even a mantra cannot help . Your mind should be adjusted perfectly , even to the mantra . Even the mantra is a total thought ; it is not only one thing that you are thinking . All things are combined in the mantra . The total divinity is in the mantra , so even the mantra is a total thought .

All spiritual practice is an attempt at maintaining total thought , complete thought , which is called perfect thought — or you may even say it is GOD-thought .

Everyone is meant for that ultimate attainment . Nobody is excluded .

YOUR QUESTIONS ANSWERED | SEL0004 | KRISHNANANDA

|| CHAP 04 | TOTAL THOUGHT & MEDITATION | SEL0004F ||

You must try to overcome that limit by learning the art of a new way of thinking , which is called the spiritual way of thinking , about which we have been discussing now . You have to forget all the old ways of thinking , and start a new way from today onwards . Then you will find a new psychological strength arising from your mind . You will feel confident in yourself ; you will not feel diffident .

When you are sure that your thinking is correct , you will receive cooperation from all the forces of the world . But if you start excluding things one by one , those things will also exclude you . Then you will have difficulties . If I exclude you , you will exclude me , also . That is the law of the world . If I include you in myself , then you will also include me in yourself . This is how the world is working .

YOUR QUESTIONS ANSWERED | SEL0004 | KRISHNANANDA

|| CHAP 04 | TOTAL THOUGHT & MEDITATION | SEL0004G ||

You cannot refine your desires except by directing them to GOD ; then they become purified . Ultimately , your desire must be for GOD only .

We were mentioning about perfect thought . Perfect thought is GOD-thought , and that only is the way of purification .

Desires are all selfish and they have to be converted into unselfish desires in the next stage . Then , the unselfish desires also should cease in the Universal desire for GOD . The desire by itself is not bad . It all depends upon to what object you are directing it . If it is directed to your personal physical gain only , it is selfish desire . If it is directed to the welfare of all people , it is unselfish desire .

If it is directed to GOD Almighty , it is Universal desire .

So all are desires only , but there is a difference in the manner in which different desires work .

There are three stages : selfish , unselfish and Universal . Gradually , you have to rise from the lower to the higher .

YOUR QUESTIONS ANSWERED | SEL0004 | KRISHNANANDA

|| CHAP 04 | TOTAL THOUGHT & MEDITATION | SEL0004H ||

Universal desire is unthinkable . Such a thought cannot arise ordinarily in the mind of a person . A person who entertains a Universal desire cannot be regarded as a human being . Such a one is super-human .

SOURCE | SATYAVEDISM.ORG