By: Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

Q: Can we stop unnecessary thoughts from arising?

A: It is impossible to know a thought before it comes. You know them as they come, and if they are stupid, you will simply laugh at them and they will move away.When your inner faculties are strong, you will let go of the stupid thought, and not act on it. You will act only on those thoughts which you will find beneficial. Thoughts arrive anyway. But you choose to act or not act – through awareness.

If you are not aware, you simply act on the strongest impulse or thought. But if you are alert, then you choose to act or not to act. A sleepwalker has no control over where he is or what he is doing. He simply walks. But the moment you are awakened, and you are walking, then you choose to walk either left, right, or straight... you know. Today, mostly everyone is a sleepwalker;few act out of awareness. We act on the strongest impulse. If you are aware and acting, that is the right action.

Once you are born, slowly, you start enjoying this world. A newborn is neither rejoicing nor rejecting the five senses. He does not even recognise his mother for a couple of weeks. He is in himself. Even when he appears to be looking at somebody, he does not look at anyone. But gradually he starts enjoying the world. First he looks around, he gets accustomed to seeing, and then hearing, smelling and tasting, and then, when he grows he will hold and touch. But is the child not joyful even before experiencing the world through the five senses? A chid is joyful. He is experiencing joy even before he comes into contact with the world of the five senses.

Are the joys that we find in the object, or are they in your senses? Most people think the joy they feel is in the object, but joy is in their senses. Joy is in the capacity to relate the object with the Self. And the peak of any sensory or sensual experience takes you inward. If you look at beautiful scenery you say “Wow!” And you close your eyes immediately. If you smell something good, you take a deep breath and say, “Aha, very nice!”

Each of the senses leads you to a point deep inside you that is the fountain of joy. The joy from a touch, sex, sight, music, smell, or taste, comes from a source deep within. And if you don’t move within to that point, joy is short-lived. And if you are just clinging to the external object, it no more gives you joy or pleasure. People are not joyful, they are the opposite – they are miserable. This is because they are clinging on to the sense objects rather than the source of joy.

The word is a beautiful package. The world is not bad. It is gift-wrapped. But if you are stuck with the wrapping paper, you will not even open it. You will not see the gift inside the package that has been given to you. That is what most people do, hold on to the wrapper outside.

As long as you hold on to the wrappers you cannot get past them. If you are holding on to stones in your hands, your hands will not be free to take flowers, because your hands are full of rocks. You have to drop the rock in order to enjoy the flowers. ‘Be a witness’.

By: Sri Sri Ravi Shankar