Inverse Karma

Have you ever thought about your thoughts? This question may seem weird but the fact is 90 % of the people don’t. We identify ourselves with our thought. We derive our sense of self from the content and the activity in our mind. But the truth is, we are not our thoughts. Ok so if we are not our thoughts then who are we you may ask; We are the silent consciousness behind this incessant thought process. That is the real you. Now some may feel this post is philosophical and/or spiritual – but believe me, it is not.

Now let me ask a simple question – How many times in our life do we act and react just based on our thought without really knowing what we are thinking? Well almost all of the times. How many times have we been overpowered by our emotions? How many times have we thought about the past and the future without realizing that we are in the present? You may be reading this post now but your mind is thinking about something you did yesterday or pondering what to do after reading this. Get my point? You are simply not in the present moment. You are not in the now. What do we do about it? Well the philosophers and the spiritual masters all say one thing – “control your mind”. What is this control of mind? How do we do it? In plain English, its simply “to stop thinking”. This state of no thought is called enlightenment. Now you are really pissed off, I had promised its not philosophical and spiritual but you find it otherwise. Take a look again. I had said that’s for the spiritual gurus and not for us. So what’s in store for us? If you really want to find out, read on.

In our everyday life we do a lot of mundane activities that are really boring, we experience emotions, pain (both physical and mental) and we live our lives as a line segment from birth to death. Ever wondered why it is like this? Its because of our perception that nothing is in our hands. Its because of our craving for an identity. Its simply because we think so and associate ourselves with this thought. What is the solution for this? Dis-identification of course. What is this Dis-identification? It is the capacity to observe yourself (living consciously, that is); and how do you do that? Its simple – just watch your thoughts. The moment you realize that you are not present, you become present. What do you get by watching your thoughts? When you watch your thoughts you are not drowned  in your sea of thoughts, you are just standing on the shore and wetting your feet in them  .You have found out the real you. You have activated the silent consciousness which was blurred by our ever thoughtful mind. The moment you become the silent observer of your mind a higher level of consciousness gets activated, That is enlightenment for people like us. But there is a catch in it – its not easy to watch your thoughts and to detach from them. It takes a lot of patience. I’ll give you some ways and guide you on how to achieve enlightenment. The first way, as said earlier, is to watch the thinker. Listen to the thoughts in your mind. Just observe them, do not judge them, do not label them or brand them as good thoughts and bad thoughts but just observe them. What are you thinking? What are you feeling? What is your reaction (both in mind and in body) to your current thinking? Just observe them and feel them. After all, thoughts are just thoughts. You don’t have to believe them and you don’t have to do what they say. What do you gain by it? Well believe it or not you are present in the current moment. You are aware of what you are thinking, what are your actions, what are your reactions, You are aware of yourself. (The first step in self-realization, and you thought its not for people like us!). The next step is to unite the presence of your physical and mental sense. How do you do it? Just be active with all your senses now and always. For example, when you walk just pay attention to how you do it, pay attention to your breath, your ears (what they hear), your eyes (what they see) and of course your mind (what are you thinking). When you eat, try to feel the tastiness of your food. Don’t watch TV or keep your mind occupied by thoughts that are not related to this moment because when you do, you have missed the joy of being in the present moment, you have missed the joy of being with the one. Whatever you do be fully present, because as I said earlier, the moment you realize that you are not present you become present. Don’t live in the past or in the future, live the moment. Live consciously because the past and future are illusions, they exist only to the degree we focus our attention on them right now. Well if the future is also an illusion, then what about your goals in life that you want to achieve, are they an illusion too? If that is what you are thinking right now, you haven’t really grasped the point.

Living in the present doesn’t mean you shouldn’t have goals, it means you should stop worrying about them. Worry by its very nature means thinking about the future. Supposing your goal is to become a millionaire and you are working hard for it, trying your heart out, working tirelessly and hating it but still doing it because of the promise of a bright future – then you are not living your life. You are sacrificing freedom in the present in order to achieve supposedly greater freedom in the future. Well then how do you do it? Its easy , enjoy the present, savor your moments in the present. Relish your journey into the future and not your destination. Live your live as it unfolds. Don’t project yourself in the future, be present in the present. As the Bhagavad Gita puts it -

“Give much more attention to the doing than to the result which you want to achieve”

The same thing goes with the past – “Stop being sad about being sad because it prolongs the sadness”.

Now I would like to address another aspect in our life – Emotions. What are they? Emotions are a result of your mind-made thoughts. All emotions (and by emotions I mean only negative emotions because mankind needs to tackle them quickly and consciously) are a result of our imagination and our association of our Self with them. Emotions arise mostly from the unconscious or the subconscious mind and inhibit our presence in the present, our connection with the moment. We experience fear, anxiety and stress when we worry about the future and we identify our own Being with the thoughts about the future. We experience sadness when we ruminate our thinking of the past and identify our self with that kind of thoughts. So how do you avoid them? Observe them as usual. Because when you do, you are aware of your emotions and you don’t react to them unconsciously but consciously. You may not be able to resist the emotions but you will be able to resist the impulse of the emotions. What do you gain? You will find that instead of feeling angry or sad you realize that you are having a feeling of anger or sadness. Don’t find any difference? I bet you would when you start watching them.

Lastly, another way to be present in the moment is to follow your breath. Why breath you may ask; Its because its with you all the time, its in the present moment, there is no such thing as past breath and future breath. Its only breath and its present now. Just relax and focus on your breathing, allow the moment to be as it is, get absorbed in the moment. If any thoughts pop up, just observe them quietly. Don’t judge them or try to shut them up. Just watch them and you will realize that the thought just rises like a bubble and bursts. Its gone. Do it for all the thoughts that arise. when you experience a moment of ‘no thought’ then congratulations, you have just experienced Shunya (Absolute Bliss as called in Hinduism). In general when you are able to do it all the time then you achieve enlightenment (and if you are still thinking that’s for yogis then you are wronged). You have encountered the real you. You are conscious of yourself. You have gained control of your mind. (And by the way, if you close your eyes while doing it, it becomes meditation).

Now that all is said, when do you start following these simple guidelines (if you wish that is) – obviously now. I would like to finish this post with an old saying which goes – “Watch your thoughts, they become words”.

• Watch your words, they become actions.
• Watch your actions, they become habits.
• Watch your habits, they become your character.
• Watch your character, it becomes your destiny.

I would like to thank my friend Ganesh for allowing me to write this post in his blog and to all the readers for their patience in reading this post. If you really want to bring about a change in your life I recommend you get a copy of the book – The Power Of Now by Eckhart Tolle.

Always remember – Conscious Living is all about making choices and not the choices making you.

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