TV Channel

Recall the image of a beautiful pond with clear, motionless water. When you throw a single stone into it, waves are created. Similarly, every thought is like a stone thrown into your consciousness. There are five indriyas, or senses. These senses are the doors through which the vṛttis, the thought-waves, enter consciousness. They enter through looking, smelling, tasting, hearing, and touching. These are the five senses, which is why it is said: control your senses. This means to control the thoughts. There is a very old teaching in Vedānta: don't see what is bad—close your eyes—because when you see bad things, that vṛtti will always come to you. Don't hear negative words and critiques—close your ears. And don't speak. These are the three mudrās. If you can control these three, you will have controlled many things, many vṛttis. Otherwise, vṛttis can make you unhappy. Sometimes, the truth and the knowledge of the truth are things you cannot digest. Truth, or knowledge, can make you unhappy. Knowledge can make you aggressive; knowledge can kill you, and knowledge can lead you to kill someone. You are all searching for knowledge, for reality, but you are not ready for it. You cannot digest it. As long as you do not know, you are happy. But when you come to know, you will be so unhappy that no one can help you. That unhappiness can create fear, jealousy, anger, hatred, sadness, and suffering. Therefore, knowledge is not easy to digest; it is a very rich nourishment. This means that we have not mastered the vṛttis, the thoughts in our mind. That is why God did not give us memory of our past life or knowledge about it. You do not know how your past life was. Be happy about this, because you are not able to master this life. This life has become a burden for many. Many say, "My life is miserable. Why did God give me such a life?" Problems, illnesses, sufferings, friends die, parents die—so many things. And if you knew how it was in a past life, now you would have two burdens. And if you knew the life before that, a third one, you would hang yourself immediately. And in the next life, you would again see that you hanged yourself. So, thanks to God that He did not give us that memory from the past. Also, God did not give us knowledge about the future, and thanks to Him we can only gaze and imagine, through our intellect or through some instruments, how the future will be. But that is only gazing and imagining, and that is good. If you knew what would happen to you in five years and it was good, then you would be happy. But if it was something bad, today you would already be nervous. So, thanks to God, He did not give the memory of past and future, so that we can master our present situation, our present life. However, as far as you develop spiritually and your inner self becomes pure, above everything, then your knowledge will be widened. At that time, you become Trikāl Darśī, a knower of the three times—past, present, and future. That means you now become one with the Supra Consciousness, the Supreme One, the Cosmic One. So, vṛtti is, again, the problem. Our thought is the problem. With thinking, you develop love for someone, and with thinking, you lose the love for someone. Always think: What are you thinking? What did I think? Why did I think? What should I think? And why should I think? What is the purpose of my thinking? Every thought is creative—either creative or destructive—but destruction is also a kind of function. Humans have the willpower to put their thoughts into reality. You imagine; that is called the mental program. First you imagine, then you draw, you make a plan, and then you work out the plan. That is the human will, human knowledge. So, everything is in your vṛtti. Therefore, try to learn to control your thoughts. Then there will be no depression, because depression means that you withdraw yourself. Your mind goes away; it does not take responsibility anymore. And when your mind does not take responsibility, then your situation becomes very critical. You cannot master the situation. And when you cannot master the situation, the mind is like that fearful monkey which runs away. For example, you drive a car and your mind is so happy. New car, new driver, new license. You drive and you overtake, thinking, "These are all stupid people, how they are driving slowly." That is new blood, a new driver. You go at a hundred, a hundred and fifty, a hundred and sixty speed, and there is a sign: "Curve." But you do not care if there is a curve or no curve. You have a license; you are not driving for an examination. At 160 kilometers per hour, your mind is full of ego, happy, proud, and then a curve comes. Now the mind cannot control the speed, and the mind says, "Sorry, it was not me." The mind goes away, and you are alone, and you cannot master it. So it is said in German: "The understanding takes away its responsibility, and the state of understanding is dangerous." A situation without clarity in your mind is very dangerous. So, this is a vṛtti. Young people have such a strong vṛtti; they want to change the whole world. They think: What parents are doing is stupid. They are too old. We study more. We know the computer and everything. We know how science is working. But my parents do not allow us. Better they should go on holidays. They should leave the car here, and the car papers. We will manage everything. Then they telephone the holiday place: "Father, how are you? When are you coming?" When such a sweet telephone call comes from children, then you should be prepared. Calm down your nerves and do not ask what happened. So, vṛtti—control the vṛtti. And the same thing applies for yogīs, on the yoga path, for meditation, for your sādhanā. "Yogaḥ citta vṛtti nirodhaḥ"—through the practicing of yoga, you can control your vṛtti. Without controlling the vṛttis, there is no success, no development in yoga. And you can control vṛttis only if you have discipline. No means no. You tell your children no. N, O. When they do not understand, I say N, O—it is no. Or yes—yes means yes. So, discipline. Saying yes and no is easy to say to children or to someone else, but very difficult to say to oneself. Your inner child must be educated. Try to learn to say to yourself no, and try to say to yourself yes. No means no—you will not sleep too long. And yes means yes—you will get up. Recording location: Czech Republic, Trencin, Weekend seminar