How to control my thoughts? || Acharya Prashant, with youth (2014)
Questioner: Sir, you always say to live with the thoughts. But at any second there are so many thoughts in mind so how to control it, sir? How to control the mind?
Acharya Prashant: Who will control them? If one is in a dream and the dream is a very confused dream, then who will control the dream?
Don’t say, “How to control thoughts?” Don’t say, “How to control dreams?” One doesn’t control dreams. One wakes up.
But we’re not interested in waking up. We’re interested in changing the dreams. Now if you have one dream and then you have another dream, has your position changed for the better? I am asking you, you’re dreaming of fire and you’re afraid, now you’re dreaming of fountains and waterfalls and you’re happy, has anything really changed?
Don’t say, “How to control thoughts?” Because even the controller is fast asleep. Ask me, “How do I understand thoughts?” - That is waking up. When there are so many thoughts going on in the mind, don’t hold onto them. This much you realize that I’m thinking, right? When you’re thinking you know that you’re thinking. If you can know this much that you’re thinking, you can also remember that every thought is just an external influence, not really important.
Alright, it is there. It is the natural tendency of the mind to think. Let the mind be involved in its own preoccupations. "Can I stand at a little distance from the mind and look at the mind?" That will happen only when you don’t take your thoughts too seriously. Don’t become attached or identified with them. Are you getting it?
