The making of a Sarvodaya Sannyasin

Thoughtless awareness – “observe the thought/desire/fantasy/image” technique.

Technique:

1. Sit in Sidhasana or any other sitting posture or even on a chair and make the spine and head erect in a relaxed manner.
2. Place the palms on the knees and close the eyes.
3. The breathing should be natural throughout the entire practice. No attempt should be made to regulate either inhalation or exhalation during the practice.
4. Now, watch the thoughts/desires/fantasies/images of the mind with complete neutrality (neither judge them as good or as bad, neither feel attachment nor aversion to them). Imagine that the mind is a screen and thoughts/desires/fantasies/images are pictures on this screen and you are an observer of these pictures. Observe each and every thought/desire/fantasy/image with full awareness and say to yourself, “I am not this thought/desire/fantasy/image. I am only its observer/witness.”
5. After practice of step 5, a time comes when the mind becomes thoughtless (this is the state of thoughtless awareness). Simply be in it till this state is disturbed by any thought/desire/fantasy/image, in which case repeat the process of step 4.

Benefits:

1. This is a technique which is very effective if one’s mind is already relaxed to a good extent. But, if one’s mind is not relaxed to a good extent, this technique may not work. In such a case also, “observe the breath“, “observe the origin of I-thought” and “observe the origin of thought/image/sound“ techniques will work with a high probability. Hence, those who are able to successfully practise latter 3 techniques need not bother about this technique. But, if one is not able to experience good state of thoughtless awareness in latter 3 techniques, there is no harm in experimenting with “observe the thought/image” technique.
2. Note: please practise 3-5 minutes of Abdominal exhalation (also known as Kapalbhati pranayama in yoga) just before practising any thoughtless awareness technique in sitting position. This increases the quality of thoughtless awareness practice to the extent which one can’t even imagine without trying it first. Never miss it.
   
3. This can be and must be practised even with open eyes to keep the mind free from thoughts during free time like bath/meals/travels etc and thus, to enjoy peace and relaxation of thoughtless awareness whole day. The practice of this technique during free-time apart from in sitting position for 30 min, is indispensable to gain maximum possible amount of peace and relaxation whole day.
4. Note: please practise this technique for 30 minutes (more is always welcome) in sitting position for satisfactory result. Less than that will be too little practice and will not give satisfactory result.