Attention

Chitta; The whole of the canvas of your being (1980-0526); Enlightened attention… has a nature which is very transitory… and when this is happening you have to steady yourself with meditation, with hearing the enlightened talks, with seeing the good things of life without thinking about them, and by seeing the goodness of others and then you start seeing the goodness of yourself also (1986-1221)

Where is your attention is the point. If your attention is on the correction and nourishment of yourself and of others, then you are first of all a Sahaja Yogi, and once you rise above the gravitational force of materialism, then you could be called as the Guru (1986-0706)

Then you should not pay attention to nonsensical things, but try to put your attention while walking or anywhere, on the Mother Earth. If there are thoughts coming just you see that you stop the thoughts; And you can’t afford to have wobbly eyes in Sahaja Yoga… that’s very wrong. If that happens, try to put down your eyes, because these eyes cannot allow your Kundalini to rise (1987-1224); People have their attention here and there… attracting people… it is one of the ways we allow our attention to fritter away… this attention has to be brought under control. When it happens, just point your eyes down, keep your eyes down (1987-1219)

The liver looks after your attention… and those who have liver problems, their attention is horrid… when they walk… they don’t walk straight… but their eyes are going this way… that way… their attention is wobbly… because of a bad liver (1982-0514); Our attention, our awareness, is based in the stomach, in the void, and can be spoiled by drinking alcohol, reading bad books, following wrong or bad Gurus, fanaticism, identification with one religion to the exclusion of others, by materialism… (1978-1005); Attention also works through the eyes (1978-1005)

We should cleanse our attention, so that it is silent, witnessing, not involved, but dynamic (1987-0408); Improve your attention by meditation, by thinking of good things, witnessing, seeing beautiful things all round, and not reacting too much. The deep penetrating attention of concern will solve all problems (1987-0408); We can use vibrated water to improve the attention, by drinking it so that it works on the void area (1978-1005)

Care needs to be taken, because the time may come when the Mother’s attention may recede, and then we will just drop out (1979-0422), but if anybody comes into Mother’s attention, then you have to accept that person (1980-1116)

Attention should be on our Hearts, on the Self, the Spirit (1980-0613); Ideally to be kept on the Divine at all times, whatever our activity, just like the boy flying his kite, or the lady carrying the pitcher of water on her head (1990-0923); Stabilise your attention on the Feet of God, by Bhakti, by surrendering, by worship, singing songs – settling yourself at the Lotus Feet of God (1980-0613); In Puja, whatever pleases your Spirit, is used… is to be given… when you give honey then your attention gets enlightened (1980-0927)

The attention has to be congenial to the Spirit. The Spirit is a sensitive thing, and if the attention is not congenial to the Spirit, then the Spirit doesn’t shine. So steady the attention by balancing the eyes, the thoughts, the desires (1980-1116); If your attention is turned somehow towards your Spirit, then what happens is that you become the Power of the Spirit, and the power of the Spirit is the highest power that you can think of. The Spirit is the one that loves, unconditionally – it just flows. It is also the source of Peace, and of Joy, and is the source also, of Truth (1998-0320); When the attention goes to the Spirit, then you become Gunatit, beyond the gunas, Kalatit, beyond time, and Dharmatit, beyond dharma, and then you become like the ‘drop’ in the ocean (1998-0321)

There are various states of attention:

Cunning attention. The worst attention, when we see from a cunning angle, to see what advantage we can take, what money we can save etc. A calculating mind is a destructive mind – and ego oriented people are extremely calculating. The so-called positive people… those who are self indulgent are mostly miserly – attention should not be on saving worldly things, but it is attention itself that must be saved. Ask the question, ‘where is my attention?’ The most important thing in Sahaja Yoga is to save your attention – Chitta Nirodh. We save our attention through concentration, watching the Photo of the Mother is the best. When we are concentrating in Sahaja Yoga, absolutely fully in Sahaja Yoga, then we are controlling… then we are saving, our attention (1983-0723.3)

Negative attention. That which is always on disasters, misery, and mishaps. Those who read newspapers every morning will have this type of attention. All newspaper people have that kind of attention – in a sinister way, they feel happy that there is a disaster. Attention is in finding disasters. Absurd. Or they feel hurt at the slightest touch… are very frightened people, crying and weeping. There’s nothing to be frightened of… anyone. Because someone is going to say some harsh words, that’s why you don’t want to do something – such compromising people. There is no compromise in Sahaja Yoga (1983-0723.3)

Stupid and idiotic attention. In India, they have one word for both – the Moorkhas. The stupid ones derive from the first or the cunning types, whilst the idiotic ones are from the emotional second types. This is the worst type, saying all sorts of stupid things all the time, and can be very boring. Psychologists refer to them by various names and include schizophrenics, idiots, the stupid, donkeys etc. They talk, talk, talk quite irrelevantly, and they are always friends of the cunning. These two go hand in hand – the cunning wants to befool someone, and the fool wants to be fooled. Best is to keep quiet, listen to others, and preserve attention for cleansing, and don’t say things which are stupid (1983-0723.3)

Stuck attention. This is a concentrated attention – those who work well, are organised, but have a very immobile attention like rubber, are very parched, cannot be creative of joy, but get stuck onto something. This stuck attention is of no use in Sahaja Yoga (1983-0723.3)

Another concentrated type is the one which is intense, deep, penetrative – because they have a living mind, not the dead parched mind – they penetrate (1983-0723.3); This penetration of attention has to be seen… for example… if you look at some tree, then just watch it with love… see what the tree is talking to you… what is she saying… or, if you are looking at a mountain, then just talk to the mountain, and see what the mountain is saying to you – put your attention in… completely on one thing… and see for yourself… that will help you a lot.

But if you have an attention which is all the time watching this… and watching that… this, that… if you go on changing your attention all the time… inside is finished… because you see the attention gets broken. Criticising is another way you miss out on attention… lots of attention goes to this. Thirdly could be the… self importance… is the worst thing… in that you do not think anything is important… you just go on, looking after your self importance. There are so many ways… but the best way is to learn… how to handle your own attention… and how to handle other people… that’s very important… how you deal with people is very important for a Sahaja Yogi (2000-0507)

The subject of Sahaja Yoga requires maximum penetration because Sahaja Yoga is learned through experience, and through nothing else. You have to experience, and then believe into it. Those who have penetrating intelligence, penetrating love and emotions, penetrating movement of the understanding, they experience and learn… experience and learn. They don’t let the mind play on them… the mind’s experiences of the past… no… rather they think ‘every day I have to take a new experience… which must be sustained within me’ (1983-0723.3)

Sahaja Yoga experiences are the good conditionings. To get these ‘best’ experiences, the first condition is of Rutumbhara Pragnya, where you should be of that level that you get these experiences – otherwise you will be mundane type of person all of the time. This penetration starts with your meditation, and the ‘Samadhi seed’ sprouting and manifesting the new dimension. This sort of attention, one has to develop by watching the attention – Chitta Nirodh (1983-0723.3)

As you watch your money… as you watch the road when driving… or your child when growing… or the beauty of your wife… or the care of your husband… all these put together – in this way you watch yourself, your attention. Where is it going, where is it lagging behind, what is happening to my attention. Such people have no problems. When you want to do something, it becomes dynamic, you can work it out, there are no problems (1983-0723.3)

If there is a problem which you are facing all the time, then know that there is a problem with you, that there is something wrong with the instrument, and it has to be corrected. We have had experiences of things working out, of many miracles happening before our eyes – but still the attention has not settled down with these new experiences. Still the old experiences and identifications continue – the filth of that is still on your being. Change everything, become a fresh new person. You are blooming out as a flower, and then as a tree – assume your position as a Sahaja Yogi (1983-0723.3); So this attention must be brought round – you judge yourself, where is your attention. And what is the ‘measure’… is to keep the Mother pleased, because She is the attention. If She is pleased, then we have done the job. She cannot be pleased by mundane things, but only by our ascent (1983-0723.3)

Our attention should not be on material things… is not a very good idea to have attention on material things… because these things spoil the joy of everything – if you have to spend on someone… say some friends are coming or something… then you should be happy to do that. Instead of that… if you start counting your pennies… it is joyless. Generosity is the most enjoyable thing I think. War does one good thing sometimes… that people get out of the materialistic attitude. Lots of bad things are there… but this one thing I have seen… when the war shakes a man… he thinks ‘what’s the value of all these things I’ve been fighting for’. But if you get Niraananda… after that you don’t want to have any joy from material gains… from material things… you just do not want (1985-0502)

Attention should be all the time inside. Like when you are walking on the road, people have a habit of seeing this… seeing that… and like that the attention gets frittered away. What you should do is to see about 3 or 4 feet at most from the ground, and not above… because there you can see all the beautiful children, the flowers, everything… there is nothing very beautiful above that… and also, if possible, to fix your attention so the attention becomes concentrated, and you feel very relaxed and relieved of too much of wobbling of your eyes… eyes are very important (1988-0921)

As far as possible, keep your attention straight, or on the Mother Earth… if you can control your attention, you can overcome your material domination. Now best thing is to put your attention to your Spirit… if you start putting your attention to the Spirit, the sweetness of the Spirit itself will make the whole thing very sweet and beautiful. The attention should be on the Spirit… even when you are ‘getting ready’, keep the attention on the Spirit. If you then develop your witness state… from attention, you become the knowledge… the truth (1980-0927)

Now how do you raise the Kundalini… we can raise it with the attention… but it should not be done, because others should ‘know’ that something has been done… because people, unless and until they see something being done to them they are not going to believe… so you have to raise the Kundalini with your hands… and you can see… that as far as the hand moves, the Kundalini moves… and you can feel it within your spine (1981-0511)

Chitta Nirodh

The saving of one’s attention, which is done through concentration – best is to watch Mother’s Photo. When we are concentrating in Sahaja Yoga, absolutely fully in Sahaja Yoga, then we are controlling, we are saving our attention (1983-0723.3)

Tape References:

Date/Ref – Title – Qual – mins

–1987-1219 Complete your Realisation, Aurangabad – see 1987-1219 Good 25

–1986-1221 Chalmala Welcome Address – see 1986-1221 good 5

–1986-0706 Guru Puja, Gmunden – see 1986-0706 good 55

–1982-0514 You must become the Spirit – see 1982-0514 good 45 1978-1005 Dharma [+ further 30 mins – Qual. not good] good 40 1980-0526 Attention, Dollis Hill

1980-0613 Essence within Innocence good 40

1980-0613.2 Seeking that which lies beyond, Stratford, London 1980-0927 Lethargy – Chelsham Road good 75

1980-1116 New Age – Plaw Hatch Seminar good 70 1981-0511 Lord Jesus, Forgiveness, Caxton Hall not good

1982-0514 You must become the Spirit/Puja on Fighting Asuras

1983-0723.3 Purnima Seminar, Assume your position, pt 3 – Lodge Hill good 65 1985-0502 Niraananda, Vienna Ashram good 60

1986-0706 Guru Puja talk/Pre Puja talk – Gmunden, Austria 1986-1221 Six Puja Talks – India 1986/87

1987-0408 Talk to Sahaja Yogis – St.Martins Lane, London good 45 1987-1219 Complete your Realisation – India

1988-0921 Speech at Ammonk Ashram, New York good 35 1990-0923 Navaratri Puja – Geneva, Switzerland good 75 1998-0320 Felicitations, Delhi good 55

1998-0321 75th Birthday Puja, Delhi good 55

– end – 12 Jun 2003