Nature of the mind is that there are lot of thoughts which come in in a random, haphazard way. If you are trying to pay attention to them then your mind will become chaotic, if you are trying to control it then there will be conflict and a lot of energy and time will be wasted. On the other hand, if you allow the thoughts to flow freely and pay attention to the thoughts relevant to the task at hand then you will be able to accomplish the task and hence it will be productive.
It Doesn't Matter if You Die For It ~ J. KRISHNAMURTI
First see what is happening. You want to concentrate on something, then thoughts come in and then you push them out, again thoughts come in and again you push them out. So, you really are not concentrating, are you? Because thoughts come in and disturb you.
You have understood what you have said? Not quite. You are trying to concentrate on this, other thoughts come in, then you try to suppress thoughts, only the other thoughts except this. Right? So, what is happening when you suppress? I suppress, I am uncomfortable.... And so, there is always this conflict - wanting to pay attention to that, thoughts come in, and so there is constant chattering of the brain - chattering, chattering, chattering.... Meditation can only take place when there is no effort, when there is no contradiction.
THE BOOK OF SECRETS ~ Osho
I remember, I was working in a university, and there was a lady professor who would always be saying something or other. It was impossible for her to be silent in any situation. One day I was standing on the verandah of the college and the sun was setting. It was tremendously
beautiful. And she was just standing by my side, so I told her, “Look!” She was saying something or other, so I said, “Look! Such a beautiful sunset.”
So, very reluctantly she conceded. She said, “Yes, but don’t you think there should be a little more purple just on the left?” It was not a painting; it was a real sunset!
We go on saying things, not even aware of what we are saying. Stop verbalizing; only then can you deepen your feelings. If feelings are deepened, then this technique can work miracles for you.
And we go on saying, “These are my thoughts.” But feel – are they really yours? Can you say “my”? The more you feel, the less will it be possible for you to say that they are yours. They are all borrowed, they are all from the outside. They have come to you, but they are not yours. No thought is yours – just dust gathered. Even if you cannot recognize the source from where this thought has come to you, no thought is yours. If you try hard, you can find from where this thought has come to you.
Only the inner silence is yours. No one has given it to you. You were born with it, and you will die with it. Thoughts have been given to you; you have been conditioned to them. If you are a Hindu, you have a different type, a different set of thoughts; if you are a Mohammedan, of course, a different set of thoughts; if you are a communist, again a different set of thoughts. They have been given to you, or you may have taken them voluntarily, but no thought is yours.
If you feel the presence of thoughts, the crowd, you can feel this also – that they are not yours. The crowd has come to you, it has gathered around you, but it doesn’t belong to you. And if this can be felt – that no thought is mine – only then you can throw the mind. If they are yours, you will defend them. And the very feeling that “this thought is mine” is the attachment.
Then I give it roots in myself. Then I become the soil and the thought can remain rooted in me. If anything, that I can see is not mine is uprooted, then I am not attached to it. The feeling of “mine” creates attachment.
You can fight for your thoughts; you can even become a martyr for your thoughts. Or, you can become a killer, a murderer for your thoughts. And thoughts are not yours. Consciousness is yours, but thoughts are not yours.
And why will this help? – because if you can see that thoughts are not yours, then nothing is yours because thought is the root of all. The house is mine and the property is mine and the family is mine – these are the outer things. Deep down the thoughts are mine. Only if thoughts are mine can all these things, the superstructure, be mine.
If thoughts are not mine then nothing matters, because this too is a thought – that you are my wife, or you are my husband. This too is a thought. And if basically thought itself is not mine, then how can the husband be mine? Or how can the wife be mine? Thoughts uprooted; the whole world is uprooted. Then you can live in the world and not live in it.