MAN IS MORTAL BUT HIS THOUGHTS ARE IMMORTAL

Thoughts are not destroyed even though man is born to die. That is why when a man is born again after death, he lives a happily or miserable life depending on a good or bad thoughts cultivated by him in his previous life. Suppose some thought comes to your mind again and again which for some practical reason they could not be immediately put in to action, such thoughts takes birth again when you are free from preoccupations and make you act as its will. Sometime you are compelled to do something which you do not wish to do in your heart of hearts. Let us take the example of the person who keeps on harboring the thoughts of stealing for days together but is not getting the right opportunity. Let us further suppose that he later finds himself in a company of good men and regrets that misdeeds of his earlier days. And under the changed circumstances he promises never to steal again in this context it may be remembered that his tendency to steal is not completely dead. It lies in a dormant state. But the moment he sees an opportunity to steal, his former tendency asserts itself and allure to make him steal in spite of his unwillingness and best efforts to restrain it. In this way, the thoughts occurring in one's previous life will make the person helplessly commit to theft forcefully in the present. Such is the strength of thought. Thought survives death. How can we develop our thought? Let us take the case of vehicle which runs along the same lane again and again or that of a rope, which rubs against the same stone as it draws water from well. You can easily imagine that the vehicle in question creates a deep track. Similarly, you can well imagine that the rope creates a groove as it runs up and down. Much in the same way if a thought is repeated again and again in the mind, it will strengthen those particles of the brain which are involved in that thought-process and corresponding sensory organs will be accustomed to function accordingly. But brain and body work automatically without any conscious effort. When you concentrate your energy on one particular pattern of thought, it becomes transparent. Once the thought is properly rooted there will be no difficulty in proceeding to another group of thoughts. Just as regular exercise tones up the muscles, the thought-power gets stronger and stronger as we think regularly. If you wish to reinforce your thought-power, you must set in motion the same trend of thought repeatedly. Similarly, if you can destroy the trend of evil thoughts, you can speedily go ahead on the path of progress without any difficulty. For it is the evil thoughts that keep us entangle in petty things and retard our progress.

Just as fragrant thinks are used to neutralize the effect of bad smell and just as warm clothes are worn to relieve from cold in a similar way you have to resort to good thoughts to vanish the evil thoughts. To destroy angry thoughts we must concentrate on tranquil thoughts. Similarly, to escape the evil effects of greed we must rely on generous thoughts and rise above discontentment. Envy should be replaced by love, arrogance by humility and fear by courage. In the same way, good thoughts should be marshaled in opposition to evil thoughts. In the yogic texts it has been described as counter thought. When a farmer wishes to dry his harvest, the first he does is to cut of his irrigation. As a result the harvest ceases to grow and the drying process starts. Similarly, if you wish to clear away the evil thoughts collecting like silt in your minds, you must stop the inflow of water. In other words, entry must be denied to such thoughts in the first place and if they happen to make force entry, they should be weeded out immediately. Just as plants wither away for lack of water, evil thoughts lacking support from environment will be destroyed within a short space of time. Our first step in our battle against evil thoughts is to give them no chance to raise their heads. Step number two is to increase the number and strength of good thoughts. The result will be to ensure the death of evil thoughts in no time. Such is human nature that evil thoughts get more time to strike root and grow. In contrast, good thoughts get less chance to multiply themselves. Evil thoughts give birth to fear and anxiety, diseases and despair because the sources of all the sorrows are evil thoughts. It should be remembered that the amount of energy consumed by evil thoughts is at par with what is consumed in the production of good thoughts.

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