Tuesday, September 2, 2008

How To Remain Concentrated-Youth Conference

Sri Amma Bhagavan Sharanam!!!

The Following Message I have received from a Friend..... regarding a wonderful discussion during All India Youth Conference and a Youth has shared this through his mail which I have received and I am sharing the same here with all of you.......

Best of Grace

Savitri

Dear All,

Namaste!

There was a wonderful discussion during All India Youth (Male) Conference, which was addressed by Acharya Vimal Kirthi ji (Director, Oneness University) on CONCENTRATION. Acharya ji asked the crowd, "How to remain concentrated?" In other words, one can say, "how to increase concentration"?

The crowd went on giving a variety of answers and few of them were "Through Meditation, By Controlling Panch Indriyas, Prayer, Deeksha Program, Blessings of God, Through Yogaasanas, Listening Music, Doing Pooja, and what not" Acharya ji and other Dasas (Guides) were simply laughing listening these answers and hence the crowd. People were laughing because none of those answers were correct.

Acharya ji said, "One can't increase concentration directly rather one can identify distractions and after removing all identified distractions what is left is pure CONCENTRATION".

Mind is always associated with a pool of thoughts. And, "thought is just a THOUGHT, there is neither a good thought nor a bad thought." Every thought is capable enough to give a psychological pleasure. This is very important to understand that since every thought is pleasurable, one can be diverted from PRESENCE.

What is PRESENCE? If one is doing what one is supposed to do at a given instant of time, one is said to be in PRESENCE.

What one is supposed to do at a given point of time is highly individual matter and that's why one can choose which thought is of prime importance at that very given point of time. Once the thought of prime importance is chosen, rest all thoughts are distractions at that very moment.

For an instance, one is studying. One may get a thought of what had happened yesterday. At the same time, one may get another thought of doing something, which is supposed to be done tomorrow. In a similar fashion many other thoughts would be coming. What is happening here, one is not in present. One needs to remove the distraction one by one. How???

Remember, "To see itself is to free!". One need to just tell oneself that this particular thought is a distraction. This is a kind of trick, when one says, "this thought is a distraction for me", awareness comes in a very natural manner, and one is free from that very distraction (thought). There is no need to struggle with thoughts, all attempts to push the thoughts out of the mind is futile. It will not work, because this is how mind functions or one can say this is the nature of the mind.

One can get rid of thought(s) only through bringing awareness and understanding that any thought can take away from the prime business or prime focus.

I do agree with the people who say, "there are lots and lots of thoughts pour in... every moment and ...when there is so much of distractions... If one tries also to see each distraction and remove it one by one will consume a lot of time to bring the state of pure concentration Is there any short-cut?".

The answer is "No, there is no short-cut, one need to see each and every distraction one by one only". This is a kind of practice and gradually one will be able do it within no time. In case, one is unable to do so, definitely there are several other aspects, which need to be resolved, and for such cases Oneness University is the best place. However, I am sure, each one of us can make an attempt to apply this knowledge here itself and see the difference.

From above discussion one should not form an opinion that one must not think of future or past thoughts at all. One needs to plan for future; one needs to visit past in order to take lessons from past actions. In such cases, those future planning or past inspections are of prime importance, they are not distractions, this is just contemplation. Innovation starts when contemplation is done with concentration.

That's all for the day I wish we all remain concentrated to our prime work 24x7.

Thank you and have a pleasant evening!

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Contemplative Questions

Here is a set of questions that would provoke you and put you through some soul searching. They are not about religion nor about ethics. They are merely about you.

They are not meant to serve as solutions nor are they meant to lead you anywhere. These questions are meant to serve as tools to discovering yourself.

1) Do you perceive the Presence of a benevolent force guiding, protecting and shaping your life? What name do you give that Presence? When did you best feel this Presence?

2) What is your opinion of God? Is your opinion drawn from religion, books, parents and or your personal experience of life?

3) Do you pray? Do they get answered? How often?

4) Do you think it is possible to relate to the Divine? What relationship would you opt?

5) Here is a story for you - Two fierce enemies once did a penance to placate god and receive boons vying with each other. God appeared to the first man and asked what he wanted. He said "give me twice of whatever you give my enemy". Then God appeared to the second one. Even before God could say anything he asked, "God, would you please tell me what my enemy asked for? On knowing his prayer request, he said, "then God, blind me in one eye."
Now what would you wish for yourself, your best friend and your worst enemy if God gave you a chance?

6) Have you ever experienced a coincidence or chance that seems to have involved so many people and factors that you can't stop wondering if a mastermind was behind this operation? If yes, do you savour the experience often and have you shared it with someone close to you?