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<p class="paracenter">V
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<p class="paracenter"><b>MIND AND THE MENTAL WORLD </b>
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<p class="para"> The world of the mind is a vast 
field, even vaster it seems than the physical world. The physical world extends, 
science tells us, to minions of light-years. We may say practically, it is an 
infinite extension and mind is a thing which surrounds, envelops this 
measureless extension. Mind surpasses the physical on another count, that is to 
say, in respect of speed. A material body at its best travels at the speed of 
light, that is to say, in a second it goes about 200000 miles (a little less). 
But thought does not meet any obstruction in respect of distance; whatever the 
distance, it reaches its goal immediately, it does not take account of time.
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<p class="para"> Perhaps because of its 
expansiveness and its speed, a Vedic Rishi sends up a prayer to it not to be so 
elusive, not to go away too far but to return and dwell in its home. Evidently 
the Rishi speaks of gathering and collecting together the dispersed uncontrolled 
thoughts and settling them in an ordered way in his consciousness. We must note, 
however, that mind and matter are two different categories and have different 
dimensions. Material space is not the same as mental space and the speed of 
light and the speed of thought are not commensurable.
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<p class="para"> The mental world, the world of 
thoughts, is a world in itself. It is autonomous. It moves in its own way with
</p>
<p class="pageno">Page-21</p>
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<p class="para">its own laws. We human beings, we believe that it is we who 
think, that is, produce or create our thoughts. We are the makers of our notions 
and ideas. But in reality it is not so. Thoughts, ideas, notions, all movements 
of the mind are self-existent realities. They go about or flow on like the waves 
of a vast sea. Human beings are mere instruments, receptacles that capture or 
seize some undulations of this vast ocean. Man is man, that is to say, a mental 
being, because in him the brain has developed to such an extent and in such a 
manner that it serves as antennae or as an aerial to receive vibrations from the 
mental world. Indeed the ordinary human mind is a sort of crossroads where all 
kinds of thoughts from all places meet, cross one another and make an ideal 
market place. In fact, an individual does not possess any thought-movement which 
can be called his own. He only catches a contagion. And like a contagion 
thought-movements pass from one person to another although one may think or feel 
that the movement is one's own.
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<p class="para"> In order to have one's own 
thought, in order to think by oneself, a long process of education and training 
is necessary. A growing personal individual consciousness is the first requisite 
and for that one must do what the Vedic Rishi I spoke of sought to do, gather 
the thoughts that one has, collect them, sift them and try to have a control 
over them. One must develop the habit of admitting certain thoughts and 
rejecting others. Thoughts that are useful, that carry light and peacefulness 
and happiness, are naturally those that are worth accepting. Those
<br>
</p><p class="pageno">Page-22</p>
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<p class="para">that are of a contrary nature should be pushed out. This is an 
exercise that develops the individual consciousness and the individual will.
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<p class="para"> Furthermore, one may try to 
recognise thoughts that are of a different category, that do not seem to belong 
to the accustomed level of consciousness but carry a vibration that is of 
elsewhere, in other words, thought-movements that filter through and come down 
from higher ranges of consciousness. It means an elevation of consciousness, 
your being rises into higher realities.
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<p class="para"> The true individual, the being 
who is capable of living and creating independently, is formed of a stuff that 
lies in these higher regions.
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<p class="para"> It is only when one has found 
one's individual self seated in the Divine centre secret behind, organised 
around the centre all lesser movements, marshalled them according to an inner 
law, that one becomes master of one's environment and creative in the true sense 
of the word.
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<p class="para"> Mind is a force, thought and 
energy but that can be truly and fully effective when it is organised, directed, 
that is to say, it becomes then a guided missile. In an ordinary mind the 
thoughts are, as I have said, dispersed, they go about in all directions, to all 
objectives and therefore their efficacy is at its minimum. It is like light. 
Light-energy becomes immensely, incredibly powerful when it is concentrated, 
gathered towards one point. It is in this way the light-ray nowadays is trying 
to replace the surgeon's knife.
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<p class="para"> Usually when we think of a person 
or a thing, our 
<br>
</p><p class="pageno">Page-23</p>
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<p class="para">thought-vibration reaches its object but because the vibration 
is diffuse—not polarised—it touches or just brushes its object very faintly 
without almost any reaction from it. An organised, truly individualised 
consciousness has its thought-movements too, so organised and controlled and 
directed that it moves with a clear and forceful momentum. A mental vibration, a 
thought-movement becomes fully dynamic, totally effective, however, when it gets 
its support from the vital. The vital too in an organised and individualised 
personality loses its capaciousness and lends its support to the directing 
consciousness. 
<br>
</p><p class="pageno">Page-24</p>
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