First of all, the predominant thoughts have to be screened out from the various
muddle and hotchpotch of ideas that occur to the mind at different times. What are
the predominant or dominating ideas that occur to the mind or occupy the mind,
generally speaking? We can have a review of our thoughts for a single day or for a
whole month to get an idea as to what are our principle ideas. What is the area in
which the thoughts generally move? An engineer’s way of thinking is a little different
from an agriculturist’s or a farmer’s way of thinking, and so on. The way to which one
gets accustomed has something to say about the way in which one thinks. Also, each
one of us has been used to a certain type of living. That kind of living that we are
adopting has a great influence upon us, and we have to use that particular way of
living itself as a tool or instrument in the channelising of the thoughts which are the
predominant features of our mind.
To come to the point which we were discussing previously, there is an invisible
pressure exerted on the mind by certain forces behind it, due to which we do things
without our even knowing that we are doing them. What are these impulses but the
pressures exerted upon the mind by forces other than those of which we have
knowledge, over which we have control? At the spur of the moment—at the impulse
of the occasion or the incitement of a particular urge—we take to some action, not
necessarily as a consequence of deep deliberate thinking but on the push of the
instinct, which is nothing but the course we adopt, or take, due to a compulsion that
is felt from inside, the yielding to which is called pleasure. That is why the fulfilment
of any instinct brings a kind of satisfaction, and is the reason why voluntary directing
of the thought in any particular manner becomes difficult. The urges within are very
vehement.
Again we come to the point of the necessity of bringing the deeper instinct to the
level of the conscious mind—for which a tabulating of our instincts, to the extent they
are knowable, would be necessary. Many of us have been accustomed to thinking
along psychoanalytical lines due to training in that particular field, so it would be not
very difficult to get a general idea of the ways in which we think and the predilections
or the idiosyncrasies to which we are generally subject. It is these predilections, or
tendencies in us—these inclinations—which come as compulsive channels to divert
our thought away from the object of meditation. Hence, it is necessary to have a
correct grasp of our stand, or position, from which we can also have an idea as to our
fitness for meditation. It is not that anyone and everyone can take to the path of yoga,
or meditation. There should be a general minimum prerequisite, at least, obtained
before one steps into this arduous practice. This minimum prerequisite can be gained
only if there is a kind of satisfactory control over one’s involuntary urges. We should
not be involuntary always—that would be very undesirable. We should not be
whimsical or fanciful people who can do anything at any time under the pressure of
impulses.
Great intelligence has to be exercised, even before we actually take to the direct
practice. When we focus the mind with any amount of force, there is a sympathetic
stirring of energies in the entire system. The dormant forces in our body, and even
the mind, get agitated, awakened, and set to action. Many of the forces in us are
generally not working; a few of the forces alone are working. But when the
concentration begins, these dormant energies get stirred up into action. Even
unconscious urges will come to the surface of consciousness. It is only when we take
to deep meditation that we will know what our desires are. Otherwise, we will think