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POWER OF CONCENTRATION OF MIND

Dear Brothers and Sisters,
When I came here, I saw the beautiful trees and the beautiful scenery. I was thinking, “God is a great painter. He has all the fantastic colours, combinations.” He is more than the painter. He is more than compassion. He’s more than mercy. He’s more than anything that we can comprehend or imagine. And that’s why people call Him Infinite, the Infinite One.
But the problem with infinity is that when we try to comprehend it, when we try to imagine it, or think about it, we make it finite. For instance, if you are dreaming and when you dream about infinity, infinity stops and becomes finite. So, infinity is an experience, which is beyond comprehension even.
I’m here because you are here, the devotees are here, and the devotee, who has devotion, is concerned about his spiritual evolution. This situation is like a seed, which simply wants water. The seed doesn’t say “I want eastern water,” or “I want western water.” The seed simply needs water to grow. Similarly, we need meditation, inspiration, and satsang, which is spiritual discourse, so that we can grow in spirituality.
So, I am here to talk about concentration of mind, and many people don’t really understand what power concentration has. For example, if the sun shines on a piece of paper on the earth, nothing happens to the paper. But if we concentrate the rays of the sun by a magnifying glass, and when we reach that focus, the paper begins to burn.
In the same way, if we concentrate light that is traveling, we turn that light into a laser. And when we do that, we all know that we get enormous power. So when a devotee concentrates his mind, he begets power, he begins to comprehend, he begins to understand, he begins to experience that power which is all-pervading. What happens is not a chemical action, but a spiritual action.
We all know that the scriptures talk about God as being omnipresent, about God being everywhere. That power is all permeating, like radio waves. Radio waves are everywhere but we cannot feel them. The reason is that we don’t have a transistor, we don’t have a radio.
In the same way, when a devotee has that Knowledge, and with that Knowledge begins to meditate, to concentrate his mind, that meditation acts like a receiver, it acts like a radio. It acts like a transistor and it attracts, it translates, it makes us experience that power within.
In ancient times, people had so much mental power that whatever they uttered, used to happen. There was so much power behind them that the words they uttered were no longer words but mantras (words of power). Whatever they said, became true. If they cursed someone or blessed someone, it took effect.
There is an example of Anusuya. She was so powerful and so devoted to her husband that everyone used to sing her glory. Even St. Narad praised her in front of Saraswati, Lakshmi and Parvati, the wives of Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva respectively. This made the goddesses jealous of her and so they sent their husbands to test her.
Anusuya’s mental power was so strong, so concentrated that she saw no duality at all, in anyone. She was so evolved spiritually that whatever she wanted, used to happen. So when the three gods approached her to feed them unclothed, she promptly agreed and with her mental power, turned them into babies!
The scriptures have not one but many incidents like this. They are full of such examples. They tell us of the mental power, which can be acquired through meditation, through concentration of mind.
As I said earlier, the example of laser light is a good analogy. When light photons become so focused, so concentrated, that they turn into laser beams. That beam is so powerful that there is no deviation, no dissipation of it at all. Its width, direction etc. will not change, no matter how far the laser is projected. It doesn’t dissipate at all.
Similarly, the ancient sages and devotees made a laser of their mental energy and this is how they were able to make the impossible happen. Their mental power was so strong that they made the impossible possible.
There has been a lot of research in the West in para-psychological phenomena, into what kind of capacities a human being possesses. Sometimes we feel a sudden urge to a call a loved one, only to find that the person is ill, or in trouble. It means that there is some kind of link there. Everyone has this kind of telepathic experience at one time or another.
So it proves that there is an invisible connection between people but we haven’t developed it. Neurologists and psychologists say that we haven’t tapped even a fraction of our full potential. If we could tap that, we can even make the impossible, possible. We see people who can do amazing things, such as bending steel by a mere thought!
History gives us the example of Mira Bai. The king sent a snake to kill her but she was so totally concentrated on Krishna that when she opened the basket, it turned into a statue of Krishna—that was the effect of her mental laser.
St. Kabir says, “Once a person gives his mind to the Lord, he has given everything, whereas the one who hasn’t surrendered his mind, keeps wandering in the world.”
Now, many waves arise in the mind and these waves unsettle the mind, make it unstable. But when the mind is tuned to the wavelength of the Holy Name, its wanderings cease and when it becomes stationary, it experiences the bliss inside.
Once, scientists did an EEG on three people. One was a Christian meditator, one was a Zen Master, and one was an Indian Yogi. Now, do you know how many types of brain waves are there? There are four waves—delta, theta, alpha and beta.
They found, after measuring, that the Indian Yogi was like totally in deep sleep. In deep sleep, your waves are from 0.5 to 4 cycles per second—that’s the delta wave. In that you are totally relaxed. It’s called deep sleep. In the Western world the idea of samadhi isn’t there.
Here, we have the idea of alpha state of consciousness. We don’t understand what is delta and what is the ultimate. Actually delta is more than relaxation. It is totally being unconscious; there, we have the negation of all ideas. Through Raj Yoga you can achieve that level. Raj Yoga means the Knowledge, the technique of spiritual insight.
Then they checked with the Zen Master. Beta waves, then some alpha waves and theta waves showed up. Beta indicates tension. Then the Christian one was also the same; there was no difference.
We have two things here. One is more like trying to be mentally alert, one actually totally inert, like deep sleep, and a little above that. Now real Samadhi is more like deep sleep, but at the same time you can harness that mental energy, so that you are totally inert, you are just like the perfect man.
Achieving the delta is more like Nirvikalpa samadhi and having the alpha state of mind is like being physically alert. What is it like being totally in samadhi and achieving the delta point? There we have negation of all ideas, no thoughts at all. The line becomes straight, there is no up and down, no fluctuation.
There were many saints and seers who were meditating just like that and there are stories that the ants built their houses around them and they were not aware of it. They totally lost body-consciousness. It’s not that you don’t live in the world, it’s more like you live in the world but you don’t become of the world, you become totally neutralized. I think that people’s minds are not neutralized, they are towards materialism, because everybody wants material things. So, in order to be impartial, you have to have that neutral thing and I think hardly anybody has that.
So the most important thing is to understand the goal of human life. What is the point, why do we have a human body? Why is it here? If this human body has to suffer, if it has to enjoy, to go through pain and suffering, all these ups and downs, then why do we have it? Automatically when you see this, then you begin to understand that it’s not made for pain, it’s not made for happiness. It’s not made for worldly knowledge but for something else—that something else is inertness, peace, God-realization.
That’s why people who achieve it, attain it, and become liberated. It’s just like a person who gets a gun. With that gun he can save himself, or he can kill others and commit crimes. In the same way, with this body, we can attain God or we can fall from where we are. Can’t we do that? That’s why it is said that mind is the cause for salvation and mind is also the cause for the fall. We have this mind, we have to have the knowledge of how to utilize the mind, how to concentrate the mind.
So, first of all, we have to understand that many people commit more crimes in their mind than they commit in reality. And we have so many; we do so many crimes in our mind with the result that the mind is very, very unhappy.
Once a monk was traveling, and with him there were other monks and there was a river flowing. That monk saw that a lady was standing on the other side. She wanted to cross the river, but she couldn’t because the water was very deep. So, out of compassion that monk went to the lady and said, “Can I help you?” The lady said, “Yes, I want to cross the river. Please lift me up.”
The monk knew that it was forbidden for a monk to touch a woman but out of compassion he lifted the lady, he picked her up, he crossed the river and he put her on the other side. All the other brothers were watching. They were horrified that this monk had touched a lady. They went to the monastery and started complaining. They told their head priest that this man must be excommunicated because what he has done has broken the law. The law was that a monk should not touch a woman.
So, the head priest called everybody. He summoned all the priests. He told the monk, “There is a complaint against you. I have heard that you have touched a woman.” He said, “Yes, I have made a mistake, but these people have also made a mistake and that is greater than my mistake.” The head priest said, “Okay, I understand about your mistake, but what is the greater mistake that these people have committed?”
And that monk said, “I made a mistake. I only lifted that woman and put her on the other side. That was my mistake. But greater than my mistake is these people’s mistake because they have still lifted that lady in their mind and have brought her here.”
So, the point is that we have different impressions in our mind; we carry them. Many people have dreams, but what we have to do is to steady our mind. That is why the definition of yoga is: “Chitavriti nirodhasya yoga.” To actually steady the mind is yoga. How can we do that? Now we need a discipline, because everybody in the world contemplates. An artist contemplates his art, someone meditates on his wife; people are doing that because the nature of the mind is to meditate, to think.
It is constantly being done, nobody can stop it and the energy is flowing just like a river flows. But if you want to take out the potential energy, if you want to make electricity from the water, first of all you have to build a dam. You have to have discipline to control the water. You make certain channels, the water flows through the channels, turns the turbine and you have electricity.
In the same way, the mind is flowing but actually that unsteady mind can do nothing. You have to discipline the mind, concentrate the mind and by channeling the mind in the right direction, people have had mystical experiences of that Divine Reality. They totally go into a different world.
There is a story about a man who found a bottle, which had a genie inside it. The genie called him saying, “Friend, if you free me from this bottle, I will be at your command.” So this man thought to himself, “This poor genie is imprisoned in this tiny bottle. If I let him out, he could prove to be useful. He’ll be my slave.” So he opened the bottle.
The genie appeared before him with a broad smile, saying, “I’m free! A magician cast a spell on me, but at last I’m free! But I’m very hungry and you’re right here in front of me, so I might as well eat you.” The man thought, “Look at this! I freed him and now he’s going to eat me. What’ll I do now?”
Then an idea occurred to him. He said, “Okay, you can eat me, but first please explain to me how such a huge genie could fit into this bottle.” The genie said, “There’s nothing to it! I can change into any shape I like! I’ll show you how I can do it.” He made himself tiny and slipped into the bottle and as soon as he entered the bottle, that man put its lid on and sealed it. From inside the bottle, the genie said, “You are very smart. Still, I beg you once again to let me out. This time I promise that I won’t trick you. I’ll do whatever you say. But the moment you can’t give me anything to do, I’ll eat you.”
The man thought, “Well, he has promised.” So he freed the genie, who said, “Your wish is my command.” The man answered, “First of all, I need a palace. Build me a palace.” A palace immediately appeared before him. The man said, “You’ve granted my first wish, but now I need servants and attendants for my palace.”
In the twinkling of an eye, the genie produced a whole variety of servants and attendants. The man then said, “Very good. Now I’m hungry. Bring me something to eat.” Immediately a variety of dishes appeared before him.
But soon he began to run out of wishes. There was nothing to get the genie to do. He had nothing left to ask for. The genie said, “I promised to do anything for you, but I also warned you that when you ran out of work for me, I’d eat you.’ The man thought to himself, ‘Now, I have a problem. I’ve taken on more than I can handle.’
When someone is in distress, he remembers God. For instance, if a person is involved in an accident, but manages to escape, he immediately remembers God and thanks Him. This man was in a terrible fix, so he remembered his Guru. He went to him and told the whole story. The Guru said, “That’s not a very serious problem. I’ll tell you what to do.”
So the man returned to the genie and said, “Now listen carefully. These are my final instructions. First of all, find a long bamboo pole and plant it right in the middle of my palace.” Immediately the pole appeared and the genie threatened again, “Give me work or else I’ll eat you!” The man replied, “Very well, this is what you do now. Climb up and down this pole, counting the knots in the wood as you go. Do this until I give you something else to do.” The poor genie thought, “What a strange job! It’ll never be finished.” So for the rest of his days, that genie had to climb up and down, up and down.
We have let this genie of mind go free and whatever we want it manifests before us. It thinks of one thing after another. You’re sitting here, but your mind is producing all kind of thoughts. How can you stop it? It’s become so overexcited, so wound up that it is ready to devour you. It’s really terrible. People’s minds are so hyperactive that they can’t control them, so they go to psychiatrists to try and find the solution.
The mind drags you all over the place. It is so turbulent. It creates more waves than an ocean. It presents a person with so many combinations and permutations that he can go crazy wondering what to do. So how can we save ourselves? The spiritual Master shows us the way out. Like the genie and the bamboo pole, he tells us how to make the mind climb up and down the ‘pole’ of the Holy Name. And by means of meditation, a person gains mastery over his mind.
There was a great Master called Mahavir. Do you know why he was called that? ‘Vir’ means champion one who has conquered his enemies. ‘Maha’ means great. So this Master was called Mahavir because he had gained victory over his mind and senses. He wasn’t just a victor, but a ‘victor of victors’.
Saints have always taught that we have to conquer this unstable, speedy mind. Patanjali’s definition of yoga is ‘prevention of the fluctuations arising in the mind.’ But how can we do that? It’s a big problem. People read what the saints have said but don’t understand what they mean. For instance, people think that all that saint Kabir did was criticize. But why did he do that? A doctor may prescribe a medicine, which is very bitter but also very beneficial. Similarly, saints’ words may sound harsh but this is to make people realize the Truth.