Q (Sri. Jayaraj): In His talks to his disciples, Gurdjief used to say that the chance of fruition of a plan becomes less if it is spoken about. The reason He gives for this is that, when the plan takes the word form, it attains an identity and energy is lost. To what extent is this true?
Krishnan Kartha: This is a fact. Hope you remember a discussion held in Theosophical society about thoughts in the formative state. We had discussed about the formation of thoughts. I don't know whether you remember that. Thoughts take a gross state from a subtle state which means that even thoughts have gross and subtle states. Energy is consumed while a thought is converted from the subtle to the gross state. The energy thus consumed is not a vital energy. Not the vitality of a person. It is a karmic force.There have to be causes. Unless there are causes, a thought cannot be taken to a gross level. It may originate as a subtle thought but needs some food to transform into a gross thought. A thought originating in a subtle form, inorder to pass through our mind in a wave form needs some karmic force and not vital energy. Thought is not static. It has kinetics. Hence the karmic causes collected in our existence are the deciding factors for the transition of a thought from the subtle state to a gross state. Unless there is a cause, nothing will materialize. When there is a cause a thought attains a gross level from a subtle level in a wave form which gets registered as a thought in our observation. These karmic causes come from different sources. The primary source is our own causes ; causes which we have created in the past by thought ,word or deed.These causes are not the only factors which turn a subtle thought into a gross thought. There will be an external influence also. When we are in an independent thought process an external influence may hinder our thoughts and change the thought pattern. This is of different types.
One is , thoughts formed through a hypnotic effect.We can call them hypnotic induction for the time being. Hypnotic induction means the generation of a subtle thought as a result of a powerful message or command received through reading or hearing. It should be realised that even the most subtle emotion can be generated thus. The subtle thoughts thus generated can transcend into the gross form with the power at the time of initial formation. Thus it can emerge as a full-fledged thought.
The power to evolve into a total thought is attained because it has been inducted from outside.Hypnotic induction. Hypnosis may be known to you. Everyone has different types of hypnotic states. While talking I am able to bring about a hypnotic effect. Whatever meaningless words I may utter, the listeners take it as truth.Later on they may feel that it is nonsense. Hence, knowing all this, we should present things vigilantly. The reason is that any careless mistake or passing remark will influence the thought pattern of the listener knowingly or un knowingly. Once I address , it can create a chain reaction by generating a subtle thought in somebody else leading to a karmic cause. This is something to be very careful about.
We should not make a passing remark.It is not like casually talking to someone. There is a receptivity when five persons or any group listen to something.A group has dangers just as it has possibilities. The receptivity of a group becomes a gross receptivity. Gross receptivity is a potency. That potency is maximum utilised by the speaker. This is the reason why scientists say that a speaker or an orator creates a hypnosis. When such a hypnosis occurs there is sufficient force to penetrate into the mind as well as transform the subtle form into the gross wave form. No other energy is required. So, we have discussed about the two sources. One is our own cause. Potent causes result in the transformation of forms, ie subtle to gross. Some thoughts remain in the subtle state. Some thoughts die the moment a need for generation is felt. It does not see light and dies in the beginning stage. Actually this thought returns. It is a thought which can reccur.
This is the reason why in Buddha's formless meditation and in Mahaadipana Literature the need for thoughts to be observed closely is stressed. A subtle thought may just make a visit. We think that it is the end , but actually this thought reccurs cyclically . We know that even according to Science , the brain has a cyclic function.
When a subtle thought just makes a visit we fell that the process has ended. But actually the thought will reccur cyclically and in the second or third reccurance it takes the gross form imbibing our energy . It is then that we realise that there was such a thought within . So many of the thoughts we now experience may have visited in the subtle form many times. Using forceful methods like moral values, religious values and ideologies, such thoughts are suppressed with the hypnotic effect. Thus the transition from the subtle to the gross state from abstract to the concrete form is curbed . It is crushed and destroyed. But the seed remains. It will return. This is why suppression is discouraged.
Suppression will lead to a more powerful return.Dormant unknown and unused causes are available to make this happen. These causes are collected for the powerful return of the thought. The uprooting of this is self hypnosis. All sadhanas are self hypnotic. Hypnosis is the technique to curb the generation of subtle thoughts; knowingly or unknowingly , implicitly or explicitly, directly or indirectly.
Next is hypnotic induction.What is the most powerful aspect of hypnotic induction? The successful experiencing of a thought in its gross form happens just with its initial power. No other energy is needed. The only question that remains is, whether it has to be turned into action.
Thus a hypnotic thought attains this stage by itself. So all the sadhanas we undergo in different religions especially in Buddhism where there is a strong inner interrogation we give signals unknowingly which results in a self hypnosis. A hypnotic power that we generate.The very seed of thoughts are removed by this hypnotic power. We do not remove the seeds one by one. Nothing like that is done. A general cleansing is done. But, as a result everything gets destroyed. The good also gets destroyed. Since there is a chance of good qualities like compassion getting destroyed, a scene from the past which had evoked a seed of compassion and may have blossomed tends to get crushed by this cleansing. This is the reason behind the biforcation of thoughts in the Sathipandha sooktha of Gautama Buddha. Moha,Raaga and Dwesha are each divided into two which results in a total of six divisions which are then separately observed. "With and without Raaga, With and without Moha, With and without Dwesha." Only such a careful scrutiny can lead to the experiencing of nothingness. Otherwise it cannot be experienced. Passing through a regular sadhana will not enable one to experience this beauty. Most of the sadhanas can be compared to the throwing of stones into a lake. Only in a still lake ,the beautiful reflection of nature can be seen. This is brought out in Adishankaras words,"Nischala tatwam Jeevan mukthi".That is liberation. It is there only in this perfect stillness. Hence the need to scrutinize the mind. If not, a seed may remain to take shape in future. After hypnotic induction, the third is the interference in the subconscious level.
This means the power of other minds to influence us with thoughts due to some superiority. The power to make one do something , to direct something, all this is violence with highly dangerous consequences. Some people do it in a light vein. There may be existing minds .Also there can be minds with or without body. The interference may be from a subtle or a gross body. Now we have discussed own causes, hypnotic effect. The third one cannot be proved and hence not believed widely. Only those who experience believe it. This sub conscious interference results in vegence and enemity in many cases. Persons who were very close tend to part for silly reasons which may surprise others. This may be mainly due to the external subconscious interference with or without body. In most of the cases nearly 60% interference may be from minds without body. Minds which had our association but now without a body ,can induce their thoughts and act through others to harm us. There is only one remedy for this. To keep our mind concentrated and be self confident and fearless. Occult practices are mainly for building this self confidence. Self confidence has to be generated. Then nothing will affect. If we concentrate on our karmic causes, there will not be room for external influence. In a factory , which is busy with its own production, time does not permit to take an outside order. Since batch production is high, there cannot be an outside job production. Thus we have to generate our thoughts. If this does not take place, we get easily influenced by many outside factors like a talk, advice etc. There will be a hypnotic influence. To avoid a downfall we should build up self confidence. There is no sadhana greater than this. When one become self confident truth unveils itself.
So coming back , thought generation occurs in three different ways. I feel that there is no need to repeat this. We talked about the generation of thoughts. If anyone of you happen to read this anywhere, please let me know. The brief generation of thought. The subtle state, prior to the formation of a thought. As we had discussed in the theosophical society they are: 1. Self generating causes 2.Hypnotic induction from political, religious ideologies 3.Sub conscious interactions. All these attribute to the generation. The transition from the formative state to the gross state in the wave form needs causes. Further in a future instance, when a sufficient karma is attained, this thought turns into action. All gross thoughts need not necessarily be turned into action. Instead they remain dormant .
Again they come out cyclically and may get suppressed due to various moral, religious, political, hypnotic inductions or by sub conscious interference. But , that thought attains potency. Just like Robert Bruce finally conquering a country from the motivation he got from a spider's repeated effort to spin it's web , thoughts too behave similarly. If a subtle thought does not succeed in transcending to the gross state it attains the needed energy and returns for its completion. If a gross thought is not turned into action the same process is repeated.
The destruction of such thoughts by continuous contemplation is practiced in 'Theravada Buddhism'. The action state also gets aborted many times. Finally , at a particular moment the action takes place and we identify it as a mentally weak moment. Actually , this weak moment is the time when the karmic causes are strong enough to overcome all the inducted thoughts and interferences.
We have to succumb to the action. If so much energy is required to turn a thought from a subtle state to a gross state how much more energy will be needed to turn it into action. So when we use this energy to bring out a word, there will be energy loss. Energy should be conserved. So when we lack in energy for turning thought into action , no energy should be dissipated by turning into word. What is a word? The primordial word is the cause of the universe. The revelations of John say that 'the beggining was a word'. The primordial manifestation of the material world. When a thought is turned into word, what are the possible outcomes? 1. Well wishers might help, but in this present day it is improbable. When man is running short of time for even his own activities, this is highly improbable.
2. Cheating by pretending to be favourable and acting just the opposite. Other than these, one can work against this in the mental state. Since our energy to transform a thought into action is weak ,we are in the process of conserving energy from different sources. Just as we accumulate the required resources for a material cause, we are in the process of conserving energy for the thought transition. It is in this accumulation of energy that the negative thoughts enter. These negative thoughts weaken our accumulated positive thoughts. This is why it is told that a plan should not be spoken about.
So , when a thought needs to be turned into action we have to nurture it carefully. Some film makers nurture a seed for a movie silently for a long period receiving many elements. Some directors make a movie after ten or twelve years of nurturing of the seed. They might make many small movies in between, but in a meditative state of the other seed. Tarkovsky, *Sanusi and *Brett are some of the famous directors who make slightly less appreciated movies before they launch their main movie. What we learn from this is that,they continue to be in a meditative state till the completion of their masterpiece. This is found in other art forms too. There is no one who is not involved in a creative process. From dawn to dusk one goes through this. Man is most creative being in the universe. He is on a creative process totally. When his creation becomes appreciable to others, he is referred to as being creative. They are creative personalities. Others enjoy their talent. What we do, is a self indulgent creation. We create for our needs. All creatures in the nature do this. But the other creatures do it in a less wavelength. In the case of man ,due to his immense potency, great creations are produced. This is an immense possibility of man. When does he use this possibility? When does it become possible? When his thoughts become a will ,it becomes possible to attain. When he realises that the potency lies in his consciousness . Earlier such thoughts had passed through without being able to be turned into action. There may be thoughts which he feels will not be proper to pass through his mind.