Medi(s)t tion

Meditation and thoughts are interrelated.

Most of us, as we are, are identified closely
to our mind. Mind is the source of our
thoughts. Our discussion of thought
management here also applies to mind
management. I feel that managing our
thoughts also manages our minds.

10 Tathaastu
 T
Management
hought
DR. KRISHNA BHATTA

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 Medi(s)t tion
Mind is always working
Just imagine that you had to work 24 hours a day; seven days
a week, 365 days a year. There is no rest. There is no vacation.
There is no sleep. It is not possible. You and I will go crazy. The
body will revolt.
Yet, in case of our mind that is exactly what is happening. Osho
has suggested that we call mind “Minding.” It is at work all the
time. Thoughts keep transiting the mind all the time. They take
the form of dreams when we sleep. There is no rest. There is no
sleep for the mind. Yet, we do not always go insane. And it is
no wonder that some of us do go astray.
I was invited by a friend of mine, my wife and I went to his
house for dinner. He is a gastroenterologist and his wife is a
psychiatrist. We got into a discussion of the mind among many
other things. My friend said, “My mind is always busy. Even
when I look calm and composed my mind is working at full
speed. I am always looking into all the ramifications of my
decisions. I am constantly living in fear that something is going
to happen to me. I have always had to work hard for my
achievements. Luck does not seem to come to me.” This is a
family that is “successful” as we know what success should be.
He has a great family and he is a wonderful person himself.
Does this sound familiar? Does your mind work overtime?
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The thoughts may be different. But, do you keep thinking all
the time?
This is not a new problem. It is not just a problem of our times.
Arjuna raises this question 5000 years ago to Lord Krishna in
the Bhagavad Gita (one of the holiest Indian scriptures):
Chnchalam hi manah Krishna, pramathi balawaadriham
Tasyaham nigraham manye, vayorivasudushkaram
“My mind is always busy. Even when
I look calm and composed my mind
is working at full speed.”
Krishna, the mind is very unsteady, turbulent, tenacious and
powerful; I consider it as difficult to control as controlling the
wind. //6:34//
What are you thinking? What
channels are you tuned to?
We believe that thoughts that transit our minds are our thoughts.
Many of us truly believe in this theory. However, if you are an
Indian, you may have one way of thinking. If you happen to
be the same Indian brought up in the U.S., you may have a
different way of thinking.
These are what we call “our” thoughts. These thoughts appear
to be different depending upon when, where and what
surrounding you live in. The point I am trying to make is that
the relationship between thoughts and “I” is not as close as we
think it is. You must have watched television at home… There
are hundreds of channels. You can tune into a news channel, or
a sports channel or an entertainment network. Even if you
subscribe to 100 channels, do you watch all of them all the
time?
The reason I am bringing TV channels into discussion here is
because our mind is like a TV station. We may not realize it.
It is worth taking a deeper look into our minds. We had a
medical association meeting in Bar Harbor. My wife Lekha and
I visited Brian and his wife for afternoon tea. We were again
discussing about our thought process. Brian’s wife left the group
to go to her room. It was not clear why she left. Brian mentioned
that he could think in two different ways. She might have
something important to do. This gives reassurance to Brian’s
mind and he can stay cool and undisturbed. The other reason
could be that she did not like our company and she left to avoid
us. This thought process could be disturbing to Brian’s mind.
Thoughts keep transiting the mind
all the time. They take the form of
dreams when we sleep.
The idea is to explain any event such that the mind stays
undisturbed. I am not saying that this is the correct or right
approach. The point here is that there could be different channels
of thinking. What Brian thinks depends upon which channel
he is tuned into at that moment in time.
What channel we turn to depends upon what kind of person
we are. The kind of person we are depends upon what kind of
person we train ourselves to become. A true change of a
transformational nature in my thinking only happens from
meditation. We ought to find out what channels we tune into
most of the time. Let us focus on two kinds of channels. The
first group of channels is negative channels, and second group
of channels is positive channels. Does your kind allow more
negative thoughts to come in your mind or does it not?
Consuming thoughts
Some thoughts appear to stay with us and almost consume most
of our time in a day. Sometimes they last for weeks and months…
They do not give us a break. They keep going in circles. You go
to work and your boss says something derogatory. How dare
he? What does he think of himself? I have to do something
about it. These thoughts can consume the whole individual
existence. Sleep is disturbed. Nothing else matters. Does it sound
familiar? Someone dear to you dies. The same thing happens.
How do you deal with consuming thoughts? These are hard
ones to deal with. The exercises below help you deal with these
consuming thoughts effectively. The situation does not go away,
but you can get a break and get a life while these consuming
thoughts go in the background.
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 Medi(s)t tion
Addictive thoughts
Addictive thoughts are a little different compared to consuming
thoughts. They are not there all the time. There may be an
undercurrent, but it is subtle and only appreciated when the
first portion of exercise goes deep. They are not there all the
time but when they come, watch out. They are so strong that
you are not able to control them. You want to smoke a cigarette.
It is a benign thought. You smoke one and it is over. You want
to smoke another cigarette. Again you smoke and it is gone.
You want to quit smoking. There is no problem. The thought
of “no smoking” comes and you make a promise. It is all fine.
Then the thought of smoking comes and your no-smoke-promise
goes to sleep. It is interesting that conflicting thoughts can stay
side-by-side with addictive thoughts. The same is true with
alcohol addiction or pornographic addictions. You keep addictive
thoughts and wish to get rid of the addiction side-by-side. These
are the hardest thoughts to recognize and deal with… Yet, with
practice it is possible to get there.
Urgency of thought output
You can find out what channels you tune into. This is possible
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by watching your thoughts. You can tell if you tune into negative
channels majority of the times, or do you tune into some positive
channels at certain times. You also have to pay attention to what
kind of processing goes on when you watch these channels.
Once the processing is done, what is the mode of output for
your thoughts? Do you suffer from urgency of thoughts output?
I am a urologist. I see many patients who have urinary urgency.
This is common problem in women. When they have to go
they have to go. Crossing legs may help, but, not for long. Some
may leak while trying to hold. It is also common in men with
enlargement of prostate.
Some thoughts appear to stay with
us and almost consume most of our
time in a day. Sometimes they last
for weeks and months…
It is hard to believe that this can be a problem with thoughts.
I do this simple exercise to see how common this problem is.
It happens without warning or recognition. It always helps to
watch others. You can see in any party. All you ought to do is
observe. Try to separate yourself for a little time from the
discussions and just watch. Conversation is going on. Mr. A is
saying something; Mr. B tries to respond; Mr. C can’t wait. He
has to make his point. He intervenes not even knowing or
acknowledging that Mr. B had already started. Mr. C gets
interrupted because Mr. B had “urgency of thought output.”
He could not hold.
Can we control the flow of thoughts?
It is possible to change the flow.
Thoughts control our existence;
thoughts (Mind) is the master. It is
possible to change the control. It is
possible to become the master of
thoughts. Practice is the key.

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 Medi(s)t tion
Meditative Exercises for
Thought Management
Goal: Knowing yourself
We are what we think. It is important to know ourselves before
we can think of having a change. Thoughts are flowing like
waves. What thoughts are going to flow through my head is
important to know. We all talk about positive thoughts. Nobody
needs to tell me that. Yet, everyone is telling everyone else the
same thing, “Have positive thoughts.” When the crunch happens,
negative thoughts flow uninterruptedly and positive thoughts
stay outside. How do we change this flow? The first exercise
deals with this aspect - Knowing yourself.
Control flow of thoughts
Now that we have learned about what kind of thoughts flow
through our heads, can we change the flow? Is it possible to
manipulate the thoughts? Can we control the flow of thoughts?
We believe that it is possible. It is possible to change the flow.
Thoughts control our existence; thoughts (Mind) is the master.
It is possible to change the control. It is possible to become the
master of thoughts. Practice is the key.
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Take a break from thoughts
We have not known thoughtlessness. We have not known an
existence without mind. We keep on thinking when we are
awake. We dream when we are asleep. It is possible to get to
“no-mind.” It is possible to be without thoughts. I suggest two
exercises that may help you in this.
* It is important to remember that the exercises are just exercises.
This is not a way to live life. Once practiced regularly, life may
change.
Space and time
You need to set aside at least half-an-hour for this exercise. It
is always better to keep same space and time for any “meditative
exercise.” I call it a “meditative exercise” because this exercise
makes meditation easier. However, any time and any space are
better than not doing this exercise. I use flight time for this
exercise as well. You can do it on a break in office too. One
place I find most useful for any meditative exercise is temples
We have not known an existence
without mind. We keep on thinking
when we are awake. We dream when
we are asleep.
or churches, etc. The vibrations are more conducive to help you
get to deeper levels of any meditative exercise in these situations.
Posture
Sitting position is preferable. Straight back and neck alignment
has minimal gravity effect. A back support may be desirable.
Sitting on a non-conducting surface is energy preservation.
Eyes closed and one palm over the other palm also keeps the
energy from going out. The same posture in future can be used
for meditation. If sitting on the ground is not practical, a chair
will do. This exercise can also be practiced lying down just before
going to sleep. Again a quiet surrounding is preferable.
Exercise 1
Knowing the mind - Sit upright with spine and neck aligned
We are what we think. It is important
to know ourselves before we can
think of having a change.
as mentioned above. Eyes should be closed or half open looking
at the tip of the nostril. I find it easier to close the eyes completely.
Now, just watch the thoughts that travel through your mind.
Try not to get attached to any of the thoughts. Also, try not to
interrupt or stop any thoughts. Many good thoughts may start
to flow. Again, just because these are good thoughts, there is no
need to get attached to them. Mind does not like to ignore and
tries to allure you to become attached to some kind of thought.
Just try to continue to maintain neutrality towards any and all
kinds of thoughts.
At times you will get attached to some of the thoughts. Once
you realize it, you need to start again as fresh as ever. You behave
as if no interruption has happened. Mind can now start getting
bored. You need to be careful. It also starts telling you that you
have done enough for today. Let us try doing more tomorrow.
You ought to treat all these as traffic on the road. Let it all just
transit. You set your time before you start and complete the
project, come what may. A half hour is the minimum time I
would suggest. If you are doing it on a flight in a plane, you
can extend it to the time of the flight or make it an hour. After
certain time, it is not boring at all.
I would do this exercise for at least a week. After that it will be
easier to move on to the next exercise. Try to resist going onto
the second phase before completing a week. You need to practice
this for a week to become proficient in knowing your mind
fully before moving forward.
Exercise 2
Mind Control, Dropping of thoughts - This exercise should be
done after one or two weeks of doing Exercise 1. Then it becomes
a combination of Exercise 1 and this exercise. The idea is to
drop any thought that comes through. No discrimination is
needed. All thoughts that traverse the mind need to be dropped.
Once you start, bad and good thoughts start coming. They need
to be dropped too. Good, bad and ugly - all thoughts need to
be dropped.
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 Medi(s)t tion
I was describing this technique to a psychiatrist friend of mine.
She was quite interested and even fascinated by the concept.
The question she had is: What happens if the thoughts reappear
after dropping them? Some thoughts will reappear and keep
reappearing. There is no problem with that. You have to drop
them, and keep dropping as many times as they reappear. You
have to remember that the exercise is just to practice how to
drop thoughts. It is not a judgment on your capabilities. The
thought’s reappearance should not be taken as a defeat. No one
is winning and no one is losing in this exercise. The idea is to
reverse the control. The fact that you can drop any thought at
will, takes you one step closer to getting control over your
thoughts.
Some thoughts are easier to drop than others. Consuming
thoughts are a lot harder to drop. They are very tenacious. You
almost have to separate them from yourself before they can be
dropped. Once you practice this exercise for sometime, you can
see the deeper thoughts have stayed attached for quite awhile
and tend to stay there. The practice needs to continue.
Indiscriminate dropping of all thoughts is the key. Again, this
exercise is meant only for the half hour to one hour session in
a day.
However, once you have learned to drop the thoughts, it can
be applied to real life as and when needed. Here is an example.
I drink a lot of coffee. I decide to cut my coffee intake. I like
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the morning coffee that I get from my favorite coffee shop which
is on my way to work. I sit in the car and decide that I will not
have coffee today. As I get closer to the coffee place, the thought
comes that I could have it today and start not having coffee
tomorrow. I drop this thought. The thought keeps getting
stronger as I come closer to the coffee place. The dropping of
thoughts is also getting stronger. I am getting more powerful
as well. The coffee shop passes, and I have driven past without
having coffee and without having an internal fight.
The alternate approach which is common is to fight it. I want
to fight my desire of having a coffee. The harder I fight - my
desire for coffee gets stronger. The tension shows on my face.
In the earlier example of dropping of thoughts, there is no element
of stress or tension. Dropping of thoughts is not a fight.
Some thoughts are easier to drop
than others. Consuming thoughts
are a lot harder to drop. You almost
have to separate them from yourself
before they can be dropped.
Krishna Bhatta, MD A practicing
Urologist in the United States, Dr. Bhatta
is an authority on the Indian scriptures
the Bhagavad Gita. He developed an
interest in the Gita from a very young age
when he was exposed to its teachings from
his father. He has a love for the scriptures
including the Upanishads and is involved in producing a
television serial on the Gita as well. Dr. Bhatta is also the
author of a book titled “Gita Today” – a refreshing look at the
Bhagavad Gita with reference to modern times.