The making of a Sarvodaya Sannyasin

Thoughtless awareness – “come to present” technique

Theory – all past moments came as present moment and all future moments will also come as present moment. Every yesterday came as today and every tomorrow will also come as today. Present is the more solid reality of life, because past is memory and future is uncertain dreams and in reality, past was also experienced as present and future will also be experienced as present only. So, living in present is the real essence of life. Every thought/desire/fantasy/image belongs to either past or future. When one is fully in present, one is in thoughtless awareness and likewise, when one is in thoughtless awareness, one is fully in present.

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. Watch the present thought/desire/fantasy/image in mind. Observe if it belongs to past or future. If it belongs to past, say to yourself, “This thought/desire/fantasy/image belongs to past. Come to present now.” few times (2-5 times should be enough) and focus the mind on dark space before yourself (when one closes one’s eyes, there is a dark space before the mind.). Similarly, if present thought/desire/fantasy/image belongs to future, say to yourself, “This thought/desire/fantasy/image belongs to future. Come to present now.” few times (2-5 times should be enough) and bring the attention to dark space before yourself (when one closes one’s eyes, there is a dark space before the us.). If it is done correctly, one will experience thoughtless awareness.
5. 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 technique may suit some people. Find out if it suits you or not. I am including it because it suited my elder sister very much, so I thought, who knows some more people may find it suitable to them. And second reason is, it has a good philosophy of “live in present”. So, even if one practises other thoughtless awareness techniques, just reading this technique will give them a positive approach of life.
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.