The sage Patanjali, who wrote the Yoga Sutra, around second century BCE, had averred that if you want to get rid of any particular thought, then you should instantly raise a counter-thought of the opposite nature. Like, if you have a certain negative thought of fear, then introduce a positive thought of courage. If you have a negative thought of hatred and hostility, create immediately in your mind a positive thought of love, friendship and brotherhood. This can be done at any specific instant, with reference to any specific negative thought. It is an invaluable inner discipline for your ethical unfoldment and progress.
Set apart some time daily and, in silence, reflect upon the glory of kindness, compassion and forgiveness. Reflect positively upon the great advantages and desirability of a sweet and even temper. Meditate upon the sublime personality and life of Jesus Christ or St. Francis of Assisi or any such greats. After persistent practice, anger thoughts begin to drop away entirely. They are unable to remain in the mind, because the mental stuff has been altered. If you do not fill the mind consciously with deliberately chosen thoughts, then it will always fill itself with its own wayward thoughts allowing the mind to grow wild into its own self-willed nature.
Keep noble thought pictures frequently before the mind. You will be inspired and elevated. A new personality will be born within you. Through outer sense as well as inner mental vision, the mind is remade and cast into a new mould. It is a psychological re-birth. This could well be, and actually is, the precursor to ‘becoming reborn in Spirit’, patiently explained by Jesus to the earnest and enquiring Nicodemus. Having thus renewed the nature of your mind totally, you will begin to see that you are not the mind. You will realise that you are the inner artist who is to mould the mind-stuff into a beautiful form of your choice. You have to work upon it just as a great master chiseling away at the marble to bring out of it a wondrous beauty. Remember, so long as you think yourself to be one with the mind, the true power of thought is denied to you. You need to assert your independence.
Remember, the mind is an instrument which has to be used, and kept under control. You are the master. This way, power is aroused in you. This is the truth. Look upon the mind as something distinct from you and soon you will be able to grasp it and chasten it. Every habit can be broken and the whole mind can be totally renewed. In this renewal, a stage will surely come when you seem to have two minds – a higher mind and a lower mind – a pure mind and an obstinate, unregenerate, mind. This change implies an overcoming of the negative thoughts of one’s personality which is followed by the stage of enlightening contemplation. Life then becomes based upon virtue and self-control, and the lower mind ceases to function. Your glorious inner nature, full of bliss and peace, begins to manifest. You realise your real self, and this knowledge sets you truly free.
