Thoughts Become Things -- The Power of Thought
The following story is found in the Sawan Singh book, Tales of the Mystic East.
Love Begets Love
When Akbar was once taking a walk, accompanied by Birbal, one of his ministers, they saw a peasant coming from a distance. King Akbar told Birbal that he would like to shoot this man and asked Birbal:
"When we meet the peasant, please find out what is passing through his mind."
When the peasant came near, Birbal, pointing to King Akbar, asked the peasant what he thought about him, saying:
"Please do not hesitate nor cheat, but speak out your mind truthfully."
"I would like to pull out every single hair in his beard," the peasant told him, with some venom.
When Birbal repeated this to the King, he sighed, and said:
"Ah, Birbal, it is as the holy men who visit my court have so often told us. It is love alone that leads us to find a Saint and by him be taken to the mansion of the Lord. Hatred brings only hatred in return, and binds us still tighter to this world." (Tales of the Mystic East)
"Love is the key to the secrets of God." (Rumi)
"This is my commandment, that you love one another." (Christ)
"The Truth do I utter, let all hear:
Who loveth, he alone findeth the Lord." (Guru Gobind Singh)
Thought Elevation -- Focusing Upon Spiritual Things
"Your worst enemy cannot harm you as much
as your own unguarded thoughts." (Buddha)
"With our thoughts we make the world." (Buddha)
"Whatever man thinketh, that he obtaineth. If he were to dwell on the Absolute, he would become immortal." (Sant Namdev quoted in the Adi Granth, Sikh Scriptures)
"Wherever one's thought dwells, there will that person rest. At his pleasure, he may go to the delusion of unreality or he may merge into the Lord of the self. Where thou keepest thy mind while living, to that abode shalt thou go after death. The soul finds lodging in a place wherein it has hitherto been immersed." (Dadu Dayal)
Accumulated thoughts of living beings cause births and deaths for them again and again
"The thoughts are of various types and each thought has its hidden import. The thoughts which are soaked in attachment and illusion, form the basis of transmigration. But the thoughts which are immersed in selfless service (seva), lead one to salvation. The flow of thoughts in the mind knows no end. Not a single moment passes without those, so much so, that during sleep even, they occur in the form of dreams. What are those thoughts? Desire for anything assumes the form of a thought. The moment a desire to attain something or the other, arises in the mind, that very moment, man is thrown into an ocean of thoughts. These very thoughts become the basis of resolutions and options which cause one to enter into different forms after death. Whatever the nature of thought at the time of death determines the next form or birth for that soul.
"All the doubts and desires should be made to merge with the Shabd or Word [the Divine Current of Light and Sound], to get rid of horrible consequences of innumerable births and transmigration. Except for the desire to recite Naam, no other desire should take hold of the mind... By remembering the Lord, one attains God-realization and when this stage is reached, then there is no need to resort to any other means of attain salvation [moksha]." (The Second Master, The Shri Paramhans Advait Mat Granth)
