The Silent Mind
Sri Chinmoy gives several practical ways to keep the mind silent during meditation.
What can we do about thoughts on a practical level? Let us take thoughts as individuals and take the mind as a room that we live in and own. We have to bolt the door to our mind-room from the inside and not allow anybody whatsoever to enter. We will not only keep out our enemies, which are bad thoughts, but also our friends, the good thoughts. We are determined to enjoy only silence, complete silence.
- Sri Chinmoy [1. Sri Chinmoy, Sri Chinmoy Answers, Part 6, Agni Press, 1995.]
Another technique Sri Chinmoy encourages is to use the power of the heart rather than the mind.
How will you make the mind calm and quiet? The mind has its own power, and right now this power is stronger than your present eagerness and determination to meditate. But if you can get help from your heart, then gradually you will be able to control your mind. The heart, in turn, gets constant assistance from the soul, which is all light and all power.
- Sri Chinmoy - [2. The Silent Mind at Sri Chinmoy Centre]
My mind,
Keep your thoughts silent.
Keep your words silent.
Keep everything that you have
And you are silent
To make me and my heart
Extremely happy.
- Sri Chinmoy [3. Sri Chinmoy, Seventy-Seven Thousand Service-Trees, Part 6, Agni Press, 1998.]
Related- Photo credit Menaka Sri Chinmoy Centre Galleries
Stories
First-hand experiences of meditation and spirituality.
Is it unspiritual to care about winning?
Tejvan Pettinger Oxford, United Kingdom
President Gorbachev: a special soul brought down for a special reason
Mridanga Spencer Ipswich, United Kingdom
My love of spiritual poetry
Manatita Hutchinson London, United Kingdom
Connecting the dots
Lunthita Duthely Hialeah, United States
'It was like I was seeing who Guru really was: this extraordinary, beautiful being inside a physical body'
Jogyata Dallas Auckland, New Zealand
I felt a bell ringing in my heart
Charana Evans Cardiff, Wales
So much longing, for something
Pushpa rani Piner Ottawa, Canada
A 40-Year Blessing
Sarama Minoli New York, United States
If I can smile like that, it's worth becoming a disciple
Mahatapa Palit New York, United States
The spiritual life is normal to me
Shankara Smith London, United Kingdom
Sri Chinmoy's biography, written by one of the most famous Bengali authors
Mahatapa Palit New York, United States
'I could find out myself, but it was so much easier asking your soul'
Mridanga Spencer Ipswich, United Kingdom
Celestial experiences
Antaranga Gressenich Munich, GermanySuggested videos
interviews with Sri Chinmoy's students
What is it like on the Peace Run?
Nikolaus Drekonja San Diego, United States
What drew me to Sri Chinmoy's path
Nikolaus Drekonja San Diego, United States
How can we create harmony in the world?
Baridhi Yonchev Sofia, Bulgaria
How meditation helped me swim the English Channel
Abhejali Bernardova Zlín, Czech Republic
No prior experience needed
Samalya Schafer Berlin, Germany