The Art of Controlling the Mind.....

What is concentration? What does the word concentration mean? It means to focus. Concentration, the word concentration, means to fix one’s mind on something for an amount of time without being disturbed by any emotions or anything. This means you sit down and you focus without wondering “What is this object, 
why is this object, for what use is the object?” Just sit and focus. Just concentrate on the object only for five minutes a day. At that moment, you should not think of anything. You choose the object and just look at the object and how it is. This will help you to bring your mind into a controlled state where, later on, you can utilise the power of this realisation. A part of this realisation is one’s greater power. We develop our inner strength. We are not just this human aspect that you see on the outside, but we also have a Divine Self. In that Divine Self there are many qualities. The qualities of the Divine Self are still only the qualities of the Divine, not the Divine itself. This gift comes when you can handle it, when you can control it. After that, you can meditate. Whenever you talk about meditation to people, first they sit and close their eyes. That’s what you will do when you talk about meditation. You make yourself straight and then close your eyes. When you close your eyes, what do you see? You see thoughts. How are these thoughts at that moment? They are jumping around! We have one word about the mind, which is manasa puja. When you do everything in a visualised form within yourself, this increases the power of concentration and this is considered one of the most powerful ways to control the mind, to control yourself and to attain the Divine. Manasa puja, have you heard about it? I will tell you a story. Once there was a great king. He wanted to build big temples for Shiva. At the same time there was a poor man sitting in front of the place where the king wanted to build the 
temple. Inside of him he was also building the temple for Shiva, but even bigger. When the temple of the king was finished, he sent an invitation to Shiva, which said “Shiva, my Lord, I have built up your temple and I request you, please, come for the inauguration of the temple”. Shiva sent a message back saying “My dear king, I would be very happy to come for the temple opening, but I have to go on the same day to another man. He has built a bigger temple than yours and he lives in your kingdom. His temple is much bigger 
than yours and I have to go, because he is opening it also and it’s at the same time as yours.” The king was wondering about this. He didn’t know that in his kingdom somebody else had been building a bigger temple, so he inquired. He found out that it was this man who had been sitting there, who Shiva had said He had to go to, because he also had been building a temple. The king went to him and said “You have built the biggest temple for Shiva in my kingdom. I thought I had been building the biggest one .” The man was shocked and said “What are you talking about? I am a poor man, I can’t build anything for Shiva.” The king replied, 
“Shiva said to me that you have built the biggest temple.” Then the man realised that in his mind, when they were building the temple outside, he was building a temple three times bigger than the one they were building. His concentration was so intense when he was inwardly opening the temple that Shiva was really present there. You see, the power of concentration is very powerful.Like it is said, man can use only five percent of the human brain and ninety-five percent is sleeping. As the mind is sleeping we also like to sleep and let it always sleep. After so many lives we attain a human body. A human is very special. A human is gifted with 
the grace of attaining and merging with the Divine and becoming One with the Lord, of realising the Lord within himself. Why do we always limit ourselves? Why do we always like this limitation? Why are we not free?It is there. It has been given to you, but you forget about it. Work to concentrate, to focus your mind, to make your mind positive. Work through increasing the power and the strength inside of you. When you know that the Divine is with you, you really know He is with you. Whenever you chant the Divine Names, don’t think that the Divine is far away. The Divine  is present, is nearer than your heartbeat. So close is the Lord, you know, but yet we see Him as if He is so far away. When we talk about attaining the Lord, it seems like some distance but, actually, it’s not that far. When you have learned to control your mind, when you have learned to concentrate and focus it, you will see that He is ever sitting in each part of your body, because the human body is not just made of flesh and bones like we say. It is indeed, but when we look at the mystical form of the human body, there are all the Deities present inside. A certain Deity is responsible for each part of your body. This is beautiful. If you can look beyond the physical body and see the Divine, which is seated in each part of you, you will learn to respect this body. You will learn to love it.