The Sources Of Thought
Sometimes the thoughts you think are not your own. Your individual awareness may have inadvertently been pulled into an area of the mind that someone else is aware in. So, unintentionally you may be reading someone else’s thoughts as your own, and if they are of a nature that you do not approve, it is possible that you may be disappointed in yourself. Keen discernment must always be employed by the aspirant on the path in order to decipher which is which. This is difficult, but you should always question thoughts that just pop into your head to find out whether they are, in fact, your own or those of another.
A general outline that you can follow in deciphering your personal thoughts from those of another is this. As soon as you begin to question your thinking with this in mind, if the thoughts are yours, you will continue thinking in the same way after the questioning has subsided. However, if they are those of another, through the simple act of questioning whether they are or not, you have removed awareness from the area of mind they are vibrating in. Then when the questioning has subsided, you will forget that trend of thought and go on with one of your own. Their thoughts will fade from your memory in a similar way dreams do when you awaken in the morning.
This is by no means an inference that you should every minute of the day question your thinking as I have just described. For, more than often, with people whom we love as well as with other friends and acquaintances, you would want to be always drifting into the areas of mind they are in, and they with you. It is only on rare occasions that thoughts of an uncomely nature, of an instinctive nature, especially sexual, may militate against your sādhana. My advice is, rather than blame yourself, first question to see if such fantasies are actually your own. Mass hysteria and fear of a national or global disaster can also be picked up by the sensitive individual, sometimes unknowingly. Along the same lines, we should be alert to this.
There is a Śaivite hermit, the venerable Markanduswami, living in a humble mud hut in Sri Lanka. He is very old, and was for many years a disciple of Jnanaguru Yogaswami. In fact, his every utterance is a quote from his guru. One afternoon at his hut he described Yogaswami’s approach to dealing with thought during meditation. He said, “Yogaswami said, ‘Realize Self by self. You want to read this book, that book and all these books. The Book of Infinite Knowledge is here (pointing to his chest). You’d better open your own book.’ The prescription he gave me to open that book is this: ‘When you are in meditation, you watch the mind. Here and there the mind is hopping. One, two, three,…a hundred. In a few seconds the mind goes to a hundred places. Let him be. You also watch very carefully. Here and there this mind is running. Don’t forget Self for a second. Let him go anywhere, but if he goes to a hundred places, you must follow him to a hundred places. You must not miss even a single one. Follow him and note, He is going here. Now he is going there.’ You must not miss even a single one. That is the prescription Satguru Yogaswami gave me to open this inner book. He said, ‘Watch very attentively and learn to pick up things coming from within. Those messages are very valuable. You can’t value them. Realize Self by self and open this inner book. Why don’t you open your own book? Why don’t you make use of it? Why don’t you open your own book? What an easy path I am prescribing for you!’ ”