Freedom from Thoughts

Our thoughts are the cause of all problems, suffering, darkness and evil in daily life. God with thoughts is man, man without thoughts is God. In deep-sleep-state you are freed from thoughts, and the result is timeless peace and joy, a life without grief and sorrows, a life free from worries and suffering. As we begin to sink into deep-sleep our thoughts grow smaller and smaller, fewer and fewer, and finally disappear. Suddenly the thoughts are gone altogether and we have become unlimited, unborn, all-perfect stillness, peace and joy.

But the state of deep-sleep is impracticable. Nothing in your nature changes. You remain the same old person. As soon as the sleep is over you are thrown back into the ocean of unending thoughts.

In order to overcome thoughts, one has to lead a simple life. The more clothes you have, the more numerous are your thoughts on clothes; the greater the variety of your food, the more are your thoughts on food; the more unnecessary friends or the more foes you have, the more your thoughts revolve around them.

Desires produce thoughts. And as soon as a few of them have been gratified, new desires arise. Once more you gratify them, and again they are replaced with new desires. It is an endless vicious circle. Therefore, we should lead a simple life, reduce our desires and instead of occupying ourselves with unnecessary things, pray without ceasing.

Prayer purifies the inner soul and heart and simplifies the thoughts. It enlightens the intelligence and clears the way to go beyond mind and thoughts. Again and again the soul has to anchor itself consciously in timeless, spaceless stillness, peace, joy, in spite of the endless noise, chaos and problems that surround us. The soul remains untouched by these, in the same way as the peace of deep-sleep remains untouched by the environment and its conditions.

Mantra is that which enables us to go beyond mind. With its help we attain a state of consciousness, where there are no thoughts, where there is God-experience, boundless wisdom, absolute and all-perfect wisdom. It is the source of unending knowledge, beyond human thought.

All spiritual disciplines, self-control, the removal of low emotions and sentiments, like hatred, envy, jealousy, likes and dislikes, prejudice - all have but this one goal: to go beyond thoughts, to conquer mind.

One should constantly cultivate divine thoughts. At first bad thoughts have to be replaced with positive thoughts, good thoughts, noble thoughts, peaceful thoughts. Good thoughts then have to be exchanged with divine thoughts. Divine thoughts totally free man from his mind. And where there is no mind, there are no thoughts and feelings. Where there are no thoughts and feelings, there is no suffering, no worries, no limitations or problems, no death or disease. There is no sickness in deep-sleep, for it is a place where God dwells as timeless, spaceless, unborn, infinite stillness, joy and perfection.

The greatest message is: 'Bhaja mana narayana'. O mind, praise the name of God, think of God, repeat the name of God. What is Narayana? Endless silence, joy, unending fulfilment and perfection. What happens, when the mind constantly reflects on stillness? It becomes stillness.

This requires great purity. Other thoughts keep disturbing and destroying our God-thoughts. With God-thoughts one conquers all other thoughts. But the precondition is a simple life.

- Swami Omkarananda