We remain troubled by the thoughts that keep arising in our mind.  We want this thought to go away and we become calm.  But the more we run away from these thoughts, the more strongly these thoughts catch hold of us.  Because we use thoughts to calm down our thoughts, and the thoughts we use are related to those thoughts of yours which you want to leave.  So how is it possible for you to become calm?  You should understand that solutions are not found by worrying, solutions are found by thinking.

A disciple of a guru was meditating very deeply, but he was not concentrating. His mind was always full of thoughts. He tried a lot to empty his mind but all his efforts failed. At last, when he had tried everything, he went to his Guru and said to his Guru, Gurudev, my mind is always full of thoughts. I can’t concentrate on one place. When I try to remove the thought, I move on to another thing. Then while doing the third and fourth thing, thousands of thoughts keep running in my mind. And I don’t even know when this happens. After a long time I realize what I was sitting to do and what I was thinking. O Gurudev, I want to empty my mind of thoughts. I want there not to be a single thought in my mind. Thoughts arise only when I want. Guru said that the solution to any problem comes when we reach the root of the problem. Understand and know the problem properly. Have you even known the mind which you want to empty? The disciple said, Gurudev, I have tried very hard to know the mind, but the more I know about it, the more mysterious it becomes. The Guru said, go and bring a pitcher filled with small stones. Then the disciple brought a pitcher filled with small stones. And kept it with the Guru. The Guru said, consider this pitcher as your mind and the stones filled in this pitcher as your thoughts. Now start putting stones in this pitcher. The disciple started putting stones in the pitcher, the pitcher was already full. After throwing a few stones, all the remaining stones started falling down. Then the Guru said, wait and look carefully, now the stones are not coming into the pot, rather they are falling down. Because it is full. Whatever could have come in it has come, now no more stones will come. If second stones are to be inserted, the first stones will have to be removed.

The disciple said, Gurudev, I am not able to understand anything, if the mind is always empty then why do we keep trying to empty it. What is the need for that. The Guru said, take out all the stones from this pitcher one by one, the disciple did the same. He kept taking out one stone from the pot one by one and finally the pot became empty. The Guru said, see, when you took out each stone, this pot became empty. Now you can put any stone in this pitcher. The disciple said, Gurudev, I am also saying that the mind has to be emptied, these are stones, they can be easily removed and the pitcher can be emptied. But how do I clear my mind? The Guru said, put one stone in this empty pitcher and take out two stones. The disciple said how can this happen? When there is one stone in this pot, only one stone will come out. How can two come out? The Guru said, come on, do this, put two stones in this pitcher and take out four stones. The disciple said, Gurudev, how can this happen? This is not a miraculous pot that if you pour one, you get two out, if you pour two, you get four. The Guru said, this pot is not miraculous, but the pot you have, i.e. the one you have in your mind, is miraculous. If you just extract one thought from it, Two thoughts emerge behind it. When you hold on to those two thoughts, four thoughts follow them. And when you hold on to those four thoughts, many thoughts follow them. And by doing this, a long chain of thoughts gets formed. And you don’t stop anywhere, you keep catching thoughts one after the other.

This earthen pot will be filled with stones but your heart will never be filled. It is always empty and never remains empty. The disciple said, Gurudev, I understand what you are saying, but will I always remain trapped in the web of my thoughts? Is there no way out of the illusion of the mind? The Guru said, fill this earthen pot half with stones. The disciple did the same. Then the Guru said, now choose one of these stones, and make a small idol of that stone and give it to me. I know you are a good artist. The disciple took out a stone and started carving that stone. Then he felt that this stone was not good so he took out another stone from the pitcher. He didn’t enjoy that stone either. Then he took out the third stone and he did not like its color. Then he took out the fourth stone but he found fault in this stone too. By doing this he took out almost all the stones. Seeing him doing this, the Guru said, the stone which you had taken out for the first time, you would have carved the same stone considering that you did not have any other stone. Then the disciple started carving that stone itself. And with that stone he made a very beautiful statue of his Guru. And told his teacher, I could not even imagine that such a beautiful statue could be made from this stone.

The Guru said that when we do not have a choice, we put all our energy into whatever we have. And make it the best. And when there is a choice, we just keep choosing stones. Our mind also leaves thousands of options open to us behind just one thought. And we get trapped in those thousands of options without leaving one main idea. The disciple said, I have understood your point very well. But guide me what should I do now. The Guru said, do not get trapped in the trap of the mind. Don’t try to empty your mind. Gather your attention. Concentrate, whatever you are doing, do it considering it as final. Do it in such a way that after this you don’t have to do anything. And when you work on another idea, work only on that one. Not on any third thought. It is not so easy to get out of the illusion of the mind. But everything can be achieved with practice. We all keep trying to empty our mind. We remain troubled by the thoughts that keep arising in our mind. We want this thought to go away and we become calm. But the more we run away from these thoughts, the more strongly these thoughts catch hold of us. Because we use thoughts to calm down the thoughts.

Therefore, we should control our thoughts. Otherwise they dominate us.