How does one master the thought?

Environmentalists across the world have been expressing concern over global warming, soil erosion, oil spills, deforestation, hole in the ozone, depleting groundwater reserves, endangered species etc. While there have been campaigns to check pollution of air, water and earth, many environmentalists have ignored the pollution of space. Space or ether is contaminated by thoughts.

Just like air, water, earth and fire need space to come into contact and form physical objects, in the same way, the thoughts are the breeding ground for other contaminants to foster and cause pollution. In fact, any phenomenon manifests first in thought and later indeed. The atom bomb was first a thought that later translated into the destruction of mankind. In this sense, if we check pollution at the level of thoughts, the need for conservation will never arise.

Our physical body, too, is the five elements. Thus, the root cause of all bodily ills, too, is just a thought. Every time a thought is born, our eyeballs move. Eye muscles are the most volatile of all muscles in the human body. While the entire body is in a state of rest while sleeping, eye muscles work constantly, that is we are constantly thinking. How then does one master the thought? Vedic masters had conquered the pollution of thoughts through what Patanjali calls ‘chitt vritti nirodh’. Quite simply put, through Yog and Sanatan Kriya. A simple yogic practice called ‘tratak’ involves focused gazing and is an effective technique to purify and eventually still your thoughts.

For this, sit in vajrasan. Take a lamp lit using desi cow’s ghee and place it at a distance of two feet, exactly at your eye level. Stare at the flame without batting the eyelids for three-four minutes. Thereafter, fill your mouth with water and splash cold water in your eyes a couple of times. After some time, the water in the mouth will become warm. Throw away this water. Mastering thoughts enable you to control thoughts and not let them control you. This facilitates the removal of internal and external pollution.