Should we concentrate while repeating our mantra?
If you take a magnifying glass and put it against the sun, then the concentrated sun’s rays pointed on an object will burn it. If you remove the magnifying glass, the sun’s rays cannot burn the object. The mind is not psychological stuff. A thought or an idea, what you call mind, is energy. Just like you have energy inside this microphone cable, currents flow in our body. The mind is in the form of energy with voltage and frequency. This mind is also measured in the form of alpha, beta, theta and delta waves having their own frequency and voltage. If the voltage of the mind is concentrated, it works better. Therefore, concentration is a very scientific principle.
Different streams of water, when collected together, create a force and move a generator. Whenever you collect the thought process, it becomes powerful and you should not doubt this. It is a universal principle and I don’t have to prove it. In Western countries the minds of people are different, especially if they are aged thirty-five or forty. Their minds are full of tensions. Their personality is a split personality and they have a lot of conflicts in their minds. If they try to concentrate on one particular point, they can’t. If they try very much to concentrate, there is a sort of split. A part of the mind is trying to concentrate and another part of the mind is opposing it. There is a sort of antagonism which creates a split for the people of that culture and society.
It is perfectly all right; do not try to concentrate. If you do, you will have a lot of headaches and migraines, you will feel giddy and your personality may become schizophrenic. The Indian culture is entirely different. Even if you become modern, there are less conflicts. The personality is less split. Indian society and culture is designed in that way. For Indians, there is no harm if they concentrate.
However, it is not a question of Indians and westerners. It is a question of adults and children. Children have something important – the pineal gland which is situated behind the eyebrow centre at the top of the spine. In grown ups it is the pituitary gland that functions, but in children it is the pineal gland and it is responsible for psychic awareness. Children have greater psychic power. They can feel things much better than we do. When we concentrate it is the pituitary gland which is brought into action, but when children concentrate it is the pineal gland. The rules should be completely different and the analysis is also different. In my opinion, all children can concentrate, there is no harm. Concentration will definitely improve the quality of their brain.
4 February 1982, Vikaasa School, Madurai, Tamil Nadu