The Need and Method for Observing One’s Thoughts

Avoidance of suffering may be considered as a ‘negative’ status. Achievement of happiness is the positive pole of this continuum. Both states are rooted in the mind and the standpoint that the individual takes. When the scriptures speak of “evil thoughts” or “purified thoughts” this is not directly intended to be a moral judgment; rather it is a statement of the energetic source and impact of the thoughts that are entertained and held in the mind. Those that are based in the ego-personality and the desire-soul, that bring disturbance, enhance suffering and cause pain are ‘evil’ thoughts. Those that are serene, widening and uplifting, and that are based in the universal consciousness are considered to be ‘purified’ thoughts. The one state brings suffering, the other brings happiness. Neither of these states is dependent on the outer circumstances, but on the inward response to those circumstances.

The key, therefore, to achieving happiness is in obtaining mastery over one’s thoughts, with the first step being the observation of those thoughts.

In the book Commentaries on the Dhammapada, The Mother provides insight into a number of verses from this classical Buddhist text. The Dhammapada states: “Mind predominates. Everything proceeds from mind. In all things the primordial element is mind. If a man speaks or acts with a purified mind, happiness accompanies him as closely as his inseparable shadow.”

The Mother notes: “This is the counterpart of what we read last time. The Dhammapada contrasts a purified mind with an evil mind. We have already said that there are four successive stages for the purification of the mind. A purified mind is naturally a mind that does not admit any wrong thought, and we have seen that the complete mastery of thought which is required to gain this result is the last achievement in the four stages I have spoken of. The first is: to observe one’s mind.”

“Do not believe that it is such an easy thing, for to observe your thoughts, you must first of all separate yourself from them. In the ordinary state, the ordinary man does not distinguish himself from his thoughts. He does not even know that he thinks. He thinks by habit. And if he is asked all of a sudden, ‘What are you thinking of?’, he knows nothing about it. That is to say, ninety-five times out of a hundred he will answer, ‘I do not know.’ There is a complete identification between the movement of thought and the consciousness of the being.”

“To observe the thought, the first movement then is to step back and look at it, to separate yourself from your thoughts so that the movement of the consciousness and that of thought may not be confused. Thus when we say that one must observe one’s thoughts, do not believe that it is simple; it is the first step, I suggest that this evening in our meditation we take up this first exercise which consists in standing back from one’s thought and looking at it.”

Sri Aurobindo and The Mother, Living Within: The Yoga Approach to Psychological Health and Growth, Disturbances of Mind, Unruly and Perturbing Thoughts, pp. 35-43