Dr. Vijai S Shankar MD.PhD.
Published on www.academy-advaita.com
The Netherlands
28th March 2016
Where do thoughts come from?
“Mystery of life”
Thoughts come and thoughts go, but man is not sure where thoughts come from or where they go to. Thoughts are present right through the waking state and rare are the moments when man is free from thoughts. Man is not sure what will be his next thought or what will be the last thought before sleep sets in. Similarly, he is not sure what will be the first thought when he wakes up from sleep and what will be the thoughts that follow after the first thought. Man is not surprised by this, but he accepts thoughts as a matter of fact.
It is obvious that man does not make thoughts come, because if he were able to make thoughts come he would only make thoughts, which he approves, come and not those which he does not approve. This implies that thoughts happen to man, but he merely believes that he is the one who thinks. Every man’s thought is not another man’s thought, which implies that the same thoughts do not happen at the same time to two men. This means that thoughts certainly do not come from outside because, if thoughts did come from outside, the same thoughts would happen to two men, but this does not happen. This means that thoughts do come from within each man.
It is obvious that a word is sound that can be heard. This means that a thought is sound which cannot be heard, meaning subtle sound. It is fortunate that thought cannot be heard, because if thoughts that are not spoken could be heard, man would become insane by constant sound in his mind. This is obvious, because man wishes for quietness. Life indeed is compassionate by not making thoughts heard.
The question to be answered is how do thoughts come? Since a word and a thought is sound, it is imperative that how sound comes has to be understood. Wherever there is a movement, there is sound. The sound is superimposed on the movement and they cannot be separated. The sound may be heard or may not be heard, and similarly the movement may be seen or may not be seen.
Whenever man moves there is sound. The sound may be obvious or not obvious, but it does not mean sound is absent. Sound nevertheless is present, but it just cannot be heard.Similarly, growth, which is a movement, is accompanied by sound, which is not heard, and it implies that though man remains still he nevertheless moves, because he is growing. This movement of the body due to growth is accompanied by sound, which mysteriously transforms as thoughts and is stored in memory.
Therefore thoughts come as a consequence of movement of the body. Similarly, what the thoughts will be or when they will come or go cannot be determined by the mind. This is because when or how the first man came to exist on earth or how he began to move can never be determined with any certainty. Thoughts are a mystery of life.
Author: Dr. Vijai S. Shankar
© Copyright V.S. Shankar 2016
Editor’s Note:
You and I are no strangers to thoughts. They comprise a substantial portion of our waking life. ‘A penny for your thoughts’ has accordingly become a traditional offer to relieve those who seem to us to be withdrawn or even burdened as a consequence of their thoughts. This article presents thoughts in an entirely new light. The understanding revealed here that thoughts arise from nature’s phenomenon of growth also relieves thoughts of their extraordinary authority, albeit illusory, in colouring men’s lives.
Julian Capper, UK.
German Translator’s Note:
Thoughts are a necessity, is a central thought in man’s conditioned mind. But how come that the first man on earth just moved without a thought? And even now, we move most of the time without any thought about how we move in the present. Thoughts focus on the past and on the future but rarely on the present. And the present in the mind is not synonymous with the Now in life. So how could a thought ever be the reason for a movement in the present? Dr. Shankar’s article „Where do thoughts come from“ reveals that it is the movement of life which brings along thoughts and the thoughts do not make life move. What a great insight in how life really happens, as a meticulous illusion.
Marcus Stegmaier, Germany