“Watch thou thy thoughts”

           Published in Central Chronicle Feb 23, 2010

        Whatever a person does, is an extension and expansion of that person. If an artist draws a picture, it is the extension of his own thoughts, he expresses his very self. The way one talks, walks or behaves and executes his actions, through all these things a person expresses who s/he is. There is never a time when a person doesn’t express himself. Even when somebody is quiet or silent, s/he still conveys a message. We express ourselves through various ways, by our dressing style, by our walking style, by our talking style even by our writing style. There are experts for each of these fields to read and interpret our style.

          It is said ‘as you think, so you become.’ Our thoughts give direction to our actions and our actions give direction to our life. Good thought will result in a good life and conversely bad thoughts will result in a bad life. So one needs to pay a great attention to one’s thinking and thus the whole life as Great Greek philosopher Socrates would say, ‘Unexamined life is not worth living.’

        From where do we get our thinking? It is simple, human brain works like a computer. It processes huge amount of data everyday and analyses the same for its application. The computer works on the principle of ‘garbage in, garbage out’ means what input a computer is given; it will be the basis for output. So is the case with human beings. Whatever thinking we entertain so will be our actions. We cannot get good actions out of bad thinking neither can we get bad actions out of good thinking. Jesus says, ‘a tree is always known by its fruits. A good tree cannot bear bad fruits and a bad tree cannot bring forth good fruit.’ In other words, ‘a good person will not do bad deeds similarly a bad person will not do good deeds.’

         One may ask ‘how are our thoughts affected?’ There are various factors that affect our thoughts. We need to evaluate how we provide input to our mind. Our five senses play very important role in this matter. They provide a variety of food for our thoughts. Gandhiji had hinted when he presented it with three monkeys, two of whom were directly indicating to the input devices of man. Whatever we see with our eyes, it gives platform for our thinking. Watching television can be a simple example. If a child watches programs full of violence; do you think late on that child will turn into a pious and non-violent person? This is the case with everybody, not just children alone. One needs to constantly refine and examine so as to what one chooses to offer to one’s eyes and how that can affect one’s thinking.

       Our thinking also depends on what we hear. Similarly a great role is played by what we read. It is said, ‘reading makes a man perfect.’ But if person enjoys useless reading or unhealthy reading automatically his/her actions will be fruitless and leading to misery. Swami Vivekananda said, ‘even if somebody sits whole life reading all the good books of the world, s/he cannot finish reading all the books in whole life time.’ There where is the time to read bad and useless books? There are several people, no matter to what religion they belong; many of them have not opened their scripture for a long time. We get wisdom and God’s message in the scriptures and once we have God’s message for guiding our life then what else do we need?

- B. Johnson Maria