THE POWER OF THOUGHT
THOUGHT IS A LIVING FORCE
Thought is a vital, living force, the most vital, subtle and irresistible force that exists in the
universe. The thought-world is more real relatively than this physical universe. Thoughts are living things. Every change in thought is accompanied by vibration of its matter (mental). Thought as force needs a special kind of subtle matter in its working.
Subconscious Mind assumes the form of anything it contemplates. When you think of an object, your Subconscious Mind shapes itself into the form of that object. When you change your thought, your mind also changes its shape. Many modifications continually arise in the mind. Your thoughts rapidly change. Your Subconscious mind also changes its shape rapidly. Every moment, mind is continually creating hundreds of these thought-forms and continually dispersing them again. It never holds on steadily to one thought-form for some time. Every thought has a certain name and a certain form. Form is the grosser and names the finer state of a single manifesting power called thought. But, these three are one. It is the unity in trinity, the three degrees of existence of the same thing. Wherever the one is, the others also are there.
Suppose your Subconscious mind is now perfectly calm, entirely without thought. Nevertheless, as soon as thought begins to rise, it will immediately take name and form. Thus you find that every idea that man has, or can have, must be connected with a certain word as its counterpart. Language is different, but thought is one. Mental image is the same in all. Sound has got four forms, viz., Para, Pasyanti, Madhyama and Vaikhari. Vaikhari is the ordinary speech. It differs in different countries. But Para, Pasyanti and Madhyama are one and the same. Para is undifferentiated sound that lies dormant in Brahman. The language of the Devatas, the language in the mental plane is one. It is Madhyama. The rotatory vibration of the causal body (Karana-Sarira) is Pasyanti. That is your real name. When you operate through your Karana-Sarira, (lower Prakamya or lower Divya Drishti), you will hear the Pasyanti sound, your real name.
THOUGHT IS SUBTLE MATTER
Thought is subtle matter. A thought is as much solid as a piece of stone. You may die, but your thoughts can never die. They have form, size, shape, colour, quality, substance, power and weight. A spiritual thought has yellow colour; a thought charged with anger and hatred is of a dark red colour; a selfish thought has a brown colour; and so on. A Yogin can see directly with his inner Yogic eye all these thoughts. The stronger the thoughts, the earlier the fructification. Thought is focused and given a particular direction and, in the degree that thought is thus focused and given direction, it is effective in the work it is sent out to accomplish.
THOUGHT IS A CREATIVE FORCE
Thought is a great force. Thought is a dynamic force. Thought moves. Thought is infectious. Thought creates. You can work wonders with the power of thought. Through the instrumentality of thought, you acquire creative power. There are nowadays numerous books on thought-power, thought-dynamics and thought-culture. Study them. You will then have a comprehensive understanding of thought, its power, workings and usefulness. The power of thought is very great. Every thought of yours has a literal value to you in every possible way. The strength of your body, the strength of your mind, your success in life and the pleasures you give to others by your company. All depend on the nature and quality of your thoughts. You must know thought-culture.
THOUGHT GIVES HEALTH
If you entertain healthy thoughts, you can keep good health. If you hold on to sickly thoughts in the Subconscious mind, thoughts of diseased tissues, thoughts of weak-nerves, thoughts of improper functioning of organs or viscera, you can never expect good health, beauty and harmony. The body is the product of the mind. If you hold on vigorous thoughts in the mind, then the physical body also will be vigorous. Evil thoughts of all kinds befoul and infure the Subconscious mind and, if persisted in, will become veritable diseases and maiming of the mind, incurable during the period of life.
THOUGHT BUILDS CHARACTER
As a man thinketh, so he is....Man is created by thought; what a man thinks upon, that he becomes. Think you are strong; strong you become. Think you are weak; weak you become. Think you are a fool; fool you become. Think you are God; God you become. A man forms his own character, becoming that which he thinks. If you meditate on courage, you shall work courage into your character. So with purity, patience, unselfishness and self-control. If you think nobly, you shall gradually make for yourself a noble character, but if you think basely, a base character will be formed. Steady persevering thought sets up a definite habit of the Subconscious mind and that habit manifests itself as a quality in the character. The thread of thought is woven into mental and moral qualities and these qualities in their totality form what we call character. You can build your character as surely as a mason can build a wall, working with and through the law.
The first step towards a deliberate creation of character lies then in the deliberate choosing of what we will think and then of thinking persistently on the quality chosen. Ere long, there will be a tendency to evince that quality; a little longer, its exercise will become habitual. Thought makes character. You spin the thread of thought into your destiny.
THOUGHT WEAVES DESTINY
That which man thinks upon in one life, he becomes in another. If the mind dwells continually upon one train of thought, a groove is formed into which the thought-force runs automatically and such a habit of thought survives death and since it belongs to the ego, is carried over to the subsequent earth life as a thought tendency and capacity.
Every thought has got its own mental image. Every man has a mental world of his own, his own views, his own sentiments, his own feelings, his own habitual thoughts, his own experience and his own mode of thinking. The essence of the various mental images formed in one particular physical life is being worked out in the mental plane. It constitutes the basis for the next physical life. Just as a new physical body is formed in every birth, so also a new mind and a new Buddhi (Knowledge-Brain) are formed in every birth. It is difficult to explain the detailed workings of thought and Karma. Every Karma produces twofold effects, one on the individual mind and the other on the world. Man makes the circumstances of his future life by the effect of his actions upon others. Every action has a past which leads up to it; every action has a future which proceeds from it. An action implies a desire which prompted it and a thought which shaped it. Each act is a link in an endless chain of causes and effects, each effect becoming a cause and each cause having been an effect; and each link in the endless chain is welded out of three components. Desire, thought and activity. A desire stimulates a thought; a thought embodies itself in an act. Selfish coveting of the possessions of others, though never carried out into active cheating in the present, makes one a thief in a later earth-life, while hatred and revenge secretly cherished are the seeds from which the murderer springs. So again, unselfish loving yields as harvest the philanthropist and the saint; and every thought of compassion helps to build the tender and pitiful nature which belongs to one who is a friend to all creatures.
