Achieving a Silent Mind

Enlightenment is a still mind. Peace is a silent mind. Happiness is a grounded mind. Insanity is a turbulent mind. Distress is a chaotic mind.

Every experience, every thought and every action that we manifest create an energetic impression, a samskara, within our subtle nervous system. Each impression contains both a memory and a feeling quality arising from the specific energy of the impression.

Some are sattvic, or pure, like love and compassion, and energetically are peaceful and evolutionary.

Some are neutral, like brushing our teeth, and energetically hold little emotional content.

Some are rajasic, or over-active and emotional, like anger and fear. The feeling quality they impress within us is unsettling.

And then some thoughts and actions are tamasic, or dark, like hate and murder. These create dark feeling qualities like depression, shame, guilt and sadness.

Our mind is the creative impulse of consciousness. It creates thoughts which lead to action. As consciousness manifests, it always starts out pure, but each creative pulsation of consciousness is filtered through the accumulation of samskaras. Negative samskaras clog the creative pipeline and influence the energetic quality of thought, increasing their volume and decreasing their power and intelligence. So basically, a busy or turbulent mind is a result of an accumulation of rajasic and tamasic experiences, thoughts and actions.

Yoga is evenness of mind. Enlightenment is stillness. We can achieve this through:

1. Detachment: Detachment allows us to watch our thoughts and actions. Detachment is not disinterest or apathy. Detachment is allowing our consciousness to be remembered and dominate our experience. All thoughts are an activity within consciousness and all thoughts arise from pure consciousness. When we are no longer captured by the thought and no longer experience that we are the thought, we have the ability to detach from the grip of the thought and witness them. This lessens our attachment to thoughts, their power and volume. Neutrally watch our thoughts.
2. Replacement: Samskaras tend to lessen our ability to control the creative process. The mind was made to create thoughts. When we lose control, the mind takes over and creates uncontrollably. If we replace the uncontrolled current of creating thoughts with something positive, we can influence and improve the energetic quality of that process. Repeat a mantra, pray to God, chant God’s name and remember God.
3. The value of time: When we consciously remember the value of time, we realize what a waste endless or negative thoughts and actions are. Spending our time creating trivial, insignificant, negative or useless thoughts, stories and judgments lessen self-respect. If we were told we would die in one week, what we allow our mind to do? It would focus on what was important and supportive. Remember our worth and what is achievable when we harness the power of our consciousness. Value time and both spiritual and worldly achievement.
4. Purify the mind: Spiritual practices were created to purify the impressions. Service, prayer, meditation, chanting, compassion and samadhi all purify the samskaras that cause the monkey mind and the restrictiveness of consciousness. It is spiritual energy, Shakti, that has the power to neutralize the energetic impressions, neutralize the negative feeling qualities of samskaras. Spiritual practices increase Shakti and purify us.
5. Discipline: We tend to allow old habits, conditioning and pleasure to rule our life. Step by step, decide what we want in our mind, in our life. Allow what will support our evolution. It is our decision if we will live, day to day, in a heavenly or hellish mind. We fill our minds every moment, but we can fill them with preciousness or garbage. Choose.
6. Honor the Self: We become what we hold in our mind. We become what we worship. We become what we respect and love. The Self is Consciousness, God, Awareness, the enlightened one, Presence, the Absolute. They are one and they are us. Thoughts arise from this pure awareness. Practice living in respect and love of our Self and all others, who are our Self.

To live a full, powerful, expanded life it is necessary to consciously experience this level of your Being – this level of pure intelligence and existence.

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