In the practice of antar mouna, we become the observer of the thoughts that arise spontaneously in our mind. We are thinking all the time, yet normally the thoughts that we are thinking all the time are not coming to the surface of our consciousness. We become aware of the thoughts only when they come to the surface of consciousness. If they are not on the surface, if they are intermediate or deep down, we are not aware of them. It is like when you go to the beach and are watching the surface of the water, you do not see any threatening signs on the surface, so you say, ‘Okay, I am going to swim and dive.’ Later somebody screams at you, ‘Get out, there are sharks in the water!’ You do not see the sharks; they are under the surface. If you see the shark and the fin, you would have had the cognizance that something is wrong here.
Thoughts are like that. When they come to the surface, we become aware of them. There are also many underlying thoughts and different kinds of thoughts. Some are spontaneous and natural, some are circumstantial and unnatural. What are the spontaneous thoughts? If I think of my parents and the time I spent with them, that would be a natural thought, for my life has been living with them. Thinking about them is more natural than thinking about something that might have been said to me one hour ago. If you said something to me one hour ago and I am reflecting on that, it is not a spontaneous, natural thought. It is a thought which has been generated and to which I am responding, so it is circumstantial. There are these two levels of thoughts, the natural, spontaneous and the circumstantial, imposed.
Work pressure is a circumstantial situation. It will create thoughts, anxiety, frustration or irritation related to that moment. When you come home, you are expecting to put your briefcase down, sit down quietly with a cup of tea or beer in your hand and rest for five minutes. However, when you come home, you find somebody screaming at you. That is circumstantial and imposed, it is not natural. You begin to react to that. So, both types of thoughts have to be observed.
You become a witness to whatever comes to the surface of the mind. You acknowledge it, remove it and clear the surface of the lake from all disturbances and distractions. Then you go deeper and deeper, until you are able to witness the conscious, the subconscious and the unconscious thoughts as well. Unconscious thoughts are deep-rooted, they do not generally come out, and you can experience them only in deep states of meditation. This will develop through pratipaksha bhavana in antar mouna.
8 April 2023, Pratyahara and Dharana, Ganga Darshan, Munger