We have to understand what happens during any form of meditation.
While meditating, the mediator tries to bring one’s mind and thoughts under
control. There is an effort to streamline the process of thinking and then to
regulate the thoughts or flow of ideas. This is done in many ways but the whole
exercise is meant to bring some discipline to the mind. But the mind is
responsible for almost all the actions we perform and excepting the rarest
breed of people who have completely mastered their minds, the mind dictates
what to do and what not to do, all the time. So, when the mind sees that
discipline is being enforced upon it, it very strategically diverts the
attention of the meditator to something else.
Source – notes taken from the editorial of Prabuddha Bharata Magazine June 2018
Our mind plays tricks on us and tries to divert our attention to
things that take us away from our pursuit of controlling or disciplining the
mind.
The mind plays tricks on us to protect itself whenever we try to
discipline it or try to kill it by annihilating all thoughts, in order to
transcend the mind and know our true nature, Brahman.
The disturbance in your mind asks you to do something other than
meditation or the controlling of thoughts.
Sometimes, the mind also asks you to get up from your meditation
and attend to some work that you had completely forgotten and remembered just
when you sat for meditation. This is also a trick of the mind. It could have
reminded you of that task before, but it keeps it hidden and brings it out as
its trump card, just when you want to discipline or restrain it. Not just that,
it creates an urgency and tells you that you have to attend to that task
immediately.
Your mind also asks you to do something other than meditation or
the controlling of thoughts like singing devotional songs or reading
scriptures. Through this technique, the mind has successfully made you believe
that you are doing something very spiritual and at the same time obviating the
possibility of its being controlled or disciplined.
All distractions and addictions are psychological. An addiction
feeds off a weakness that you have. One has to identify that weakness and go to
its roots. A weakness can turn into a chain reaction.
The first step to conquer a weakness is to break the chain. Relax
your mind and body and think of how a weakness or addiction is coming into your
mind. Calm your mind and try to think ennobling thoughts; think about your true
nature, which is all consciousness and bliss. Try to think what makes you the
most anxious and try to think of the worst possible outcomes of that event. By
practicing in this manner, you can clear your mind of all the cobwebs that
cause that weakness or addiction.
The best method to ignore an addiction or weakness is to ignore it
by thinking about all the bad things it causes to our life.
Source – notes taken from the editorial of Prabuddha Bharata Magazine June 2018