Gaining quietness of mind

Gaining quietness of mind

The Mind is like a stack or bundle of thoughts. It has tons of desires and fears stacked or bundled up, the strongest one taking precedence. When this one is dealt with, the next one pops up, while a new one is being added all the time. Actions make impressions or deep tendencies in our mind. Those impressions create new thoughts or reactions. This way there is no end of misery. Even the few pleasures are each followed by several pains in one way or the other. This way life goes on due to lack of investigation. 

When there are less disturbing thoughts, it means the mind is relatively quiet. Even when a worldly desire is fulfilled, actually the mind gets quiet because of the satisfaction, and this we call happiness. Therefore, quietness of mind alone is called happiness. To consciously make the effort within to get this quietness in the mind is called meditation.

Here are the words of Nisargadatta Maharaj about the importance of a quiet mind. “A quiet mind is all you need. All else will happen rightly, once your mind is quiet. As the sun on rising makes the world active, so does self-awareness affect changes in the mind. In the light of calm and steady self-awareness inner energies wake up and work miracles without any effort on your part.”

In order to make the mind quiet and peaceful, the best solution is meditation and association with the teachings of Sages. Meditation can be either Self-Enquiry in the form of Who am I, or Concentration on one holy thought, or Contemplation on God or Guru, or Pondering over the teachings of Sages and Scriptures.

When you know and understand something and you do it willingly, it becomes fun and a pleasure. When you force something, it is not fun, but a pain. So we have to understand that meditation is good for us and willingly try to meditate to obtain the peacefulness. We have to regularly contemplate on the guidance given by Wise Ones. These will gradually but definitely produce peace of mind and wellbeing.