Once we are able to detach ourselves from the thought process, if we then choose to allow certain thoughts into our meditation-hall, we must be extremely careful and cautious in our approach.
During meditation, our awareness is heightened and everything is intensified – including the power of thoughts. As Sri Chinmoy has written: “During meditation, if a wrong thought comes, it is like an arrow entering and piercing your inner life.” Yes, positive thoughts can assist and elevate our meditation – but one wrong or negative thought is like releasing rotten egg gas in a perfume shop; it can completely wreck our meditation and leave us in a worse mood than before we started.
So, the guard we post at our door must be extremely vigilant and adept at checking the ID and establishing the credentials of each thought before allowing it access to our meditation.
Thoughts almost never travel alone. They come in “trains of thought”, and these trains can be endless. When one thought appears at our door, inevitably its extended family and friends will be ready to come pouring in the moment our door is slightly ajar. Once we “entertain” one thought, our door is effectively thrown wide open: each thought will summon all its friends, and our party becomes a free-for-all. Among the uninvited guests, some may be disreputable characters who revel in creating disturbance, refuse to leave, trash our home and leave our consciousness a complete mess.
We keep our homes neat and tidy. To allow negative thoughts to run amok during meditation is the same as to have an open sewer running through our lounge room.
In meditation, mind your mind! Treat every thought as an explosive hot potato. Invite only your most trusted, pure, uplifting thoughts – or better, none at all.