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Concentration Compilation (view source)
Revision as of 03:06, 15 November 2018
, 03:06, 15 November 2018→Obstacles to Concentration
If there are thoughts which go round and round and round like this (gestures), which come and go, do not look, do not pay attention, but concentrate upwards in a great aspiration which one may even formulate—because often it helps the concentration—towards the light, the peace, the quietude, towards a kind of inner impassiveness, so that the concentration may be strong enough for you not to attend to all that continues to whirl about all around. But if suddenly you say, "Ah, there's some noise! Oh, here is a thought!", then it is finished. You will never succeed in being quiet. Have you never seen those people who try to stop a quarrel by shouting still louder than the ones who are quarrelling? Well, it is something like that. (Mother laughs.) <ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwm/06/8-september-1954#p32 </ref>
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This [stream of thoughts/ restless thinking] is what we call the activity of the mind, which always comes in the way of the concentration and tries to create doubt and dispersion of the energies. It can be got rid of in two ways, by rejecting it and pushing it out, till it remains as an outside force only—by bringing down the higher peace and light into the physical mind. <ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwsa/29/combining-work-meditation-and-bhakti#p36</ref> <ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwsa/31/mental-difficulties-and-the-need-of-quietude#p1 </ref>
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If the mind gets tired, naturally it is difficult to concentrate—unless you have become separated from the mind. <ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwsa/29/concentration-and-meditation#p94 </ref>
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Diabetes or any other physical illness cannot be a cause of absence of concentration. There is always a difficulty in the beginning to concentrate for more than a short time because it is contrary to the habits of the physical mind. Perseverance is necessary. At the same time there should be a call for the help of the Divine Power above the mind; for if one can open to that, the process can be more rapid. <ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwsa/31/the-physical-mind-and-sadhana#p15 </ref>
==Traditional Methods of Concentration==