Question: How can I purify my mind so that I can have a good meditation?
Sri Chinmoy: In your case, the best thing to do is to feel every day for a few minutes that you have no mind. Say, “I have no mind, I have no mind. What I have is the heart.” Then after some time, say, “No I don’t have the heart. What I have is the soul.”You have to know that the mind is almost always impure, bringing in dark and bad thoughts; even when it is not doing this, it is still a victim to doubt, jealousy, hypocrisy, fear and all that. All negative things first attack the mind. You may reject them for a minute, but again they knock at your door. This is the mind. But the heart is much, much purer. Even if you have fear or jealousy in the heart, the good qualities of the heart come forward. Affection, love, devotion, surrender and other divine qualities are already there in the heart. That is why the heart is much purer than the mind. But again, the heart is not totally pure because the vital being is around the heart. The lower vital, situated near the navel, tends to come up and touch the heart centre. It makes the heart impure by its influence and proximity. But at least the heart is not like the mind, which is always opening its door to impure ideas. The heart is far better than the mind. But the best is the soul. In it there is no impurity. It is all purity, light, bliss and divinity. You must say, “I have the soul.”
When you say, “I have no mind,” this does not mean that you are becoming an animal again. Far from it. You are only saying, “I don’t care for this mind which is bringing me so much impurity and torturing me so much.” When you say, “I have the heart,” you feel that the heart has purity, not abundantly, but it has purity. But when you say, “I have the soul,” you are flooded with purity. Then after some time, you have to go deeper and farther by saying, not only, “I have the soul,” but “I am the soul.” The moment you say “I am the soul”, and you meditate on this truth, your soul’s infinite purity will come up and enter into the heart. Then from the heart, the infinite purity will enter into the mind. So when you say “I am the soul,” you will purify your mind and your heart and you will have a wonderful meditation every day.
