Received this email which I thought I would share with all.
We Live in a Boundless World of Thoughts
Thought alone is the whole world, the great pains, the old age, death and the great sin, earth, water, fire, air, ether. Thought binds a man. He who has controlled his thoughts, is a veritable God on this earth.
You live in a world of thoughts. First is thought. Then there is the expression of that thought through the organ of speech. Thought and language are intimately connected. Thoughts of anger, bitterness and malice injure others. If the mind which is the cause of all thoughts vanishes, the external objects will disappear.
Thoughts are things. Sound, touch, form, taste and odour, the five sheaths, the waking, the dreaming and deep sleep states-all these are the products of mind. Sankalpa, passion, anger, bondage, time-know them to be the result of mind. Mind is the king of the Indriyas or senses. Thought is the root of all mental process.
The thoughts that we perceive all round us are only the mind in form or substance. Thought creates, thought destroys. Bitterness and sweetness do not lie in the objects, but they are in the mind, in the subject, in thinking. They are created by thought.
Through the play of the mind or thought upon objects, proximity appears to be a great distance and vice versa. All objects in this world are unconnected; they are connected and associated together only by thought, by the imagination of your mind. It is the mind that gives colour, shape, qualities to the objects. Mind assumes the shape of any object it intensely thinks upon.
Friend and enemy, virtue and vice are in the mind only. Every man creates a world of good and evil, pleasure and pain, out of his own imagination only. Good and evil, pleasure and pain do not proceed from objects. These belong to the attitude of your mind. There is nothing good nor pleasant in this world. Your imagination makes it so.
Thoughts, Electricity and Philosophy
Thoughts are giant-powers. They are more powerful than electricity. They control your life, mould your character, and shape your destiny.
Mark how one thought expands into many thoughts, within a short time. Suppose you get an idea to set up a tea-party for your friends. The one thought of 'tea' invites instantaneously the thoughts of sugar, milk, tea-cups, tables, chairs, table-cloth, napkins, spoons, cakes, biscuits, etc. So, this world is nothing but the expansion of thoughts. The expansion of thoughts of the mind towards the objects is bondage; and, the renunciation of thoughts is liberation.
You must be very watchful in nipping the thoughts in the bud. Only then will you be really happy. Mind tricks and plays. You must understand its nature, ways and habits. Then only can you control it very easily.
The world's most extraordinary book of practical philosophical idealism of India is Yoga-Vasishtha. The gist of this work is this: "The non-dual Brahman or the immortal soul alone exists. This universe as universe is not. Knowledge of the Self alone will free one from this round of births and deaths. Extinction of thoughts and Subtle Desire (Vasanas) is Moksha(Freedom). Expansion of mind alone is Sankalpa. Sankalpa or thought, through its power of differentiation generates this universe. This world is a play of the mind. This world does not exist in the three periods of time. Extinction of Sankalpas is Moksha . Annihilate this little 'I', Vasanas, Sankalpas, thoughts. Meditate on the Self and become a living-liberated soul (Jivanmukta)."
Mark how one thought expands into many thoughts, within a short time. Suppose you get an idea to set up a tea-party for your friends. The one thought of 'tea' invites instantaneously the thoughts of sugar, milk, tea-cups, tables, chairs, table-cloth, napkins, spoons, cakes, biscuits, etc. So, this world is nothing but the expansion of thoughts. The expansion of thoughts of the mind towards the objects is bondage; and, the renunciation of thoughts is liberation.
You must be very watchful in nipping the thoughts in the bud. Only then will you be really happy. Mind tricks and plays. You must understand its nature, ways and habits. Then only can you control it very easily.
The world's most extraordinary book of practical philosophical idealism of India is Yoga-Vasishtha. The gist of this work is this: "The non-dual Brahman or the immortal soul alone exists. This universe as universe is not. Knowledge of the Self alone will free one from this round of births and deaths. Extinction of thoughts and Subtle Desire (Vasanas) is Moksha(Freedom). Expansion of mind alone is Sankalpa. Sankalpa or thought, through its power of differentiation generates this universe. This world is a play of the mind. This world does not exist in the three periods of time. Extinction of Sankalpas is Moksha . Annihilate this little 'I', Vasanas, Sankalpas, thoughts. Meditate on the Self and become a living-liberated soul (Jivanmukta)."