'Thoughtlessness State'

In the past few articles, I have emphasized on thoughtlessness state. It is easy to say it rather then doing it. Constant practice required in achieving and staying on that state.  Various methods have been passed on from generation to generation with the ultimate goal to be in that state.

            I found it easier to be in the state with holding on a single thought. Whenever a thought arises, concentrate on that particular thought and hold on to it. Don’t let other thoughts to come following that initial thought. If we observe closely, each thought will be followed by another thought and the train of thought will start with a never-ending process until we sleep. Even in sleep, sometimes it will manifest as dream in the rapid eye movement (REM) sleep stage. The stage of sleep in which we are able to recall our dreams. So we are all aware that the train of thoughts never stops. If we observe closely during a conversation with friends or relatives, the topic will shift from one to another till at the end of the conversation, it will be a completely irrelevant topic from the beginning. The same goes with our thought process. The moment we woke up, the thought process will start with no whatsoever reasoning or correlation between each thoughts. It will continuously arise and dies off. The moment it dies, it will be given birth to another one. Sometimes one thought gives birth to many thoughts. Other times many thought will run concurrently at any one time. The whole process is a continuum.

            Holding on to a single thought is not an easy task. Initially, it is not even possible to identify a single thought. It is impossible to dissect a single thought from many thoughts. There will be so many thoughts running at the same time and it is not possible to hold on to a single thought. The ability to even observe the thought process without identifying with it, by itself a great achievement. We will call it the first step. The first step is important before we can go to the next stage. The first step is important to realise that thoughts are just thoughts. The problems with us are, we get identified with our thoughts. We have too many ‘I’. We will perfectly agree with one opinion and after a while we will change our opinion. We have too many opinions. We have too many questions. It is perfectly normal for us to change opinion according to the ‘I’ that we have adopted. It is perfectly normal for us to keep on changing our opinion and we are proud of it. We call it ‘evolution’. The constant change of opinion as a result of constant change of thoughts defines our so called ‘I’. It is also perfectly normal for us to day-dream, the identification with one’s thoughts without much attention to surroundings. Many of us day-dream at any one point sometimes on daily basis. We justify the act of day-dreaming by giving a name for it, deep thinking.

The state of thoughtlessness is unimaginable for the beginners. For a very simple reason, we have grown up thinking and we are thought to think. Our parents ask us to think. Our teachers ask us to think. Our professors ask us to think. The whole humanity is asking us to think. And now suddenly, when we are asked to stop thinking and just ‘let go’, it becomes a burden. Actually, it should be the other way around. The act of thinking should be a burden rather than stop thinking. Our natural state during birth was in a thoughtlessness state. Somehow along the way, during our childhood we learned how to think and forget about our natural state. So the whole process of the exercise now is just to rewind ourselves to go back to the state where we belong. We are going to unwind ourselves. We are going to put a reverse gear to go back where we came from.

OK, I will stop digressing and come back to the methods of how to do it. As I mentioned earlier, we need to hold on to that single thought. Initially, many thoughts will pass together. Later on, once you manage to identify a single thought, many more thoughts will come following that single thought. Never mind, hold on to that single thought. Let few other thoughts pass following that. After constant practice, it is achievable for a short time. Slowly the number of thoughts following the initial thought will reduce. I realized holding on to the breath is a good method to suspend temporarily the thought process. If holding on to the single thought is impossible, just inhale a long breath and hold on to the breath. Hold on the breath till the body allows. Hold on to the breath till we can feel our own heart beat. Momentary control of thoughts is achievable by regulating the breathing process. Alternatively, inhale via the left nostril and exhale via the right nostril. Alternating nostril breathing helps to calm down the whole mental process. Both process of concentrating on a single thought that arises and breathing technique should be done concurrently. Another method is observe how the air filling up the lungs during the inhalation process and how it exits slowly during the exhalation. It might take months and years to master the technique of controlling the thought process and breathing, but it is achievable with the blessing of Guru/Masters.

Over time, with constant practice, the duration of thoughtlessness state will prevail compared to the normal state in which we are pre-occupied with thoughts. In that thoughtlessness state, a state of clarity will come. A paradigm shift will happen in our life. Things will never look the same again. In that thoughtlessness state, a tremendous energy will arise. The state of thoughtlessness will gives birth to the state where we came from and we belong. Aum Sadguru.