Negative thoughts will always be there, but they will come to you only if your thoughts are on the same wavelength. If your thoughts are pure and positive, you will reject negative thoughts automatically. This is the way.
Every thought has an effect. Swami Sivananda has written about this in his book Thought Power. In fact the nature of a thought has an effect on three things. If it is negative firstly it will negatively affect the subconscious mind of the person who has sent the thought. Secondly it negatively affects the person it is directed at; and thirdly, it joins with the thoughts of others who are on the same vibratory level, and forms clouds, black clouds of negative atmosphere which can affect whoever is on that same vibratory level. But if you have a pure mind, if your thoughts are good, if you repeat your mantra and practise meditation, you develop a protective psychic armour and your thoughts will not tune to the negative thoughts of others; you will repel them and not be affected by them. But you will attract positive thoughts. You attract a thought of a particular nature because you are on the same wavelength. Thought waves are just like radio waves. You can hear me talk and I can hear you laugh because we are tuned to some extent. If there is no tuning then we would not understand each other. If your wavelength is purified, you will not be affected by negative thoughts. But if your vibrations are low, if your thoughts are negative and you live amongst negative people whose vibrations are also low, then you will be affected by their thoughts. The only way you can protect yourself is to increase the vibratory level of your thought. And then you will not be influenced by the negativity.
When thought is negative it is very painful; when it is positive, it uplifts you. You meet a person on the street, you fall in love. In this process of falling in love the thought waves from each person are vibrating at the same frequency and there is a meeting of thought. The thought waves merge. Then after some time, perhaps, the thoughts change and instead of “I love you, honey,” it becomes “I hate you!” It is not that the person has changed, it is that the thought waves are no longer converging and merging and there is now no communication. The result is friction, separation, suffering. Wherever there is union of thought it brings peace, love, happiness and joy. Whenever thought diverges due to different or opposing wavelengths there is suffering, pain, war and calamity. The whole world is nothing but a projection of your thought. There is nothing but thought. Our reality is thought!
You can only experience happiness or peace by bringing the mind under control. Mind alone is the cause of your bondage. Mind alone is the cause of your liberation. If you think that you are a mortal sinner it is the mind that has created this illusion. There is no such thing as a sinner in yoga. Who is a sinner? Who is a saint? The Self is the diamond shining equally in all. The soul, the Self, is the same whether in a woman’s body, a man’s body, a saint’s body, Hitler’s body, Mussolini’s body, or the body of Jesus. The soul cannot be tainted. It is the mind that is the cause of bondage. It is the negative mind that is filled with lust, anger, greed and hatred making the world appear to be impure, bringing suffering and pain. But the moment you realise the Self the pain will disappear just as the mist dissolves when the sun rises. Overreaction to words, jumping to conclusions are weaknesses of the mind. The vrittis, the thought waves, must be restrained, not only during meditation, but at all times. One must be particularly wary of praise also, for this too is verbal delusion and the ego is ever ready to pounce on any opportunity to see itself as better or different from others. Spiritual pride is one of the most difficult problems that swamis, yogis and spiritual people have to face within themselves.
Happiness is a state of mind. When the mind is agitated thoughts become blurred and unstable. Just as the sun is reflected clearly on still water and the reflection appears agitated if the water is agitated, when the mind is in a state of oscillation, it creates a feeling of disturbance in the reflected self (not the real Self which remains unaffected). We identify with this agitated reflected self and feel “I am suffering,” “I am angry,” “I am doubtful.” The level of agitation depends on each person’s ability to control the mind. Praise and censure are the same for one who has control over the mind. Heat and cold are one and the same for a yogi; victory and defeat are one and the same.
Your destiny is not in my hands nor in anyone else’s. Your destiny is in your own hands. My destiny is in my hands. I can show you how to stand on your head, but only when you learn to stand on your own two feet, can you help others!! That’s why you are here, to learn this discipline, to gain this knowledge, the great knowledge of yoga, the secret of discipline. Discipline means controlling this wild horse, this wild mind. There is nothing secret about it. You don’t have to go anywhere to find out that the enemy is within. The enemy you are fighting is not outside. Where is it? It’s in your own mind. Everything originates from thought power.
When thought power is intensified and made pure it becomes willpower. When willpower becomes stronger and purer, it converts into action. By repeating the action the willpower strengthens. Practice is the only way to develop willpower. We have lost this power by wrong living, wrong thinking. We have to relearn everything, just like one who is paralysed and has to relearn how to use body and limb. In the same way, our willpower is paralysed. When you have willpower can you do anything you want. Then nothing can stand before you. But what stands before you now is lack of will. The real achievements of anyone on this planet, good or bad, are done through power of the will. You have to learn to train this mind. Make the mind the way you want it. Never allow it to have control.
Yogis know how to control the mind, to diffuse the ‘fight-or-flight’ tendency of the mind which manifests as anger and fear. The mind of a yogi remains calm by the practices of chanting, repetition of mantra, meditation, pranayama, puja (worship) and many other practices.You have infinite power in your mind. Believe it. Use it. Assert it. Infinite power is within you. Only when you understand that can you call yourself a yogi.