Nature is wise: she always gives her children what they ask for. Like a mother, she makes every concession for them. And if her children choose a path that goes against cosmic laws, Nature has alternatives even for that choice. If there is no mental aspiration towards the spiritual and the universal, something else takes its place: another kind of “food” for the mind, in the form of constantly and meaninglessly “digesting” the same things over and over, with the apparent conviction that they are different things, each with an independent existence and its own individual order of arising.

The mind is a wonderful instrument of the Soul, and its nature is always spiritual. There is not a single flaw or imperfection in it: everything in it is perfect and beautiful. The mind is a divine substance and an infinite space encompassing the entire manifested world, with its infinite Universe, times and subspaces. The only thing that can satisfy the mind is Infinity; then it will be completely fulfilled and completely at rest. Only Infinity can fill the space of the mind entirely. This is why a person repeatedly and unsuccessfully tries to fill that space with a limited perception of the world, a fragmented sense of life, and material ideas and thoughts… This path is as futile as a squirrel running in a wheel while imagining that it is racing faster than the wind. It is a path of illusion and self-deception, leading to an endless succession of incarnations and suffering… Today you have a human body, a good education and favourable conditions for practice. In your next incarnation, these may be absent, and favourable conditions may not return for a very long time. That is why it is so important to value what you have now and do everything possible for your spiritual growth.

Many people, on beginning meditation, suddenly discover that their mind, independently of their wishes, starts a dialogue with itself that gradually gathers momentum and grows stronger. It may enthusiastically assign new roles to the characters of the day just gone, making them act out a new script. Before you know it, you too are drawn into this new game, replaying past events in what you consider a better way. This game can continue endlessly until you tell the mind, “Stop, enough.” Yet even then, like a playful kitten, it quietens down briefly before returning to its interrupted game with the ball of your thoughts…

So, if you have had quite enough of this and would like to improve matters, use the technique below, bearing in mind what I explained at the beginning: the mind finds peace only when it receives the whole, rather than fragments.

How to practise

1. Relax the muscles of your face and, at the same time, the muscles of your whole body.
2. Feel your tongue. Sense its entire volume. If necessary, move it a little inside your mouth to feel it more clearly.
3. Relax your tongue as fully as possible. Feel it becoming heavy, as though filled with lead. You will notice it seeming to spread out sideways and press lightly against all your teeth.
4. Now imagine two points, one to your left and one to your right, as far away from you as possible. You could imagine two stars in the night sky, positioned directly to your left and right, or simply spheres or something similar.
5. Concentrate on these two points to your left and right.
6. Keep your attention steadily on your tongue and on these two points, while keeping your tongue, facial muscles and whole body relaxed.

Notes

• You can use this technique at any time and in any convenient place.
• With time and practice, you will learn to stop your inner dialogue and control your thoughts.
• Always remember: close to the ground, countless small, restless sparrows fly about. Above them, in smaller numbers, fly the “all-knowing” crows. Higher still, and fewer again, fly beautiful, graceful swans; above them all, eagles soar in proud solitude. And above the eagles there is nothing. So it is with our mind: the higher it rises, the fewer and more elevated its thoughts become, until at the greatest height they disappear, dissolving completely into Infinity.
• You can also use the sound meditation to bring your brainwaves into the alpha rhythm.

Technique given on 28 March 2007.
© Author: Sergey Veretennikov (Om Shanti)

See also the online training: Completely Stopping the Inner Dialogue.

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