I’ve been meditating since I was 8 years old and have been fortunate to have attended many Navratri pujas. Through the beautiful experiences, I’ve had some realizations. This is my take on the power of the mind. All right reserved!
The mind is a strange thing and sometimes can be complicated to understand. However, it is really powerful. It is the nature of the mind to have endless, different thoughts and all of varied intensity. Depending on the intensity of the thought, we attract events and situations that manifest in our lives. Whether we are aware of this phenomenon of attraction or not, it happens anyway.
Science refers to this as the law of attraction. It simply means that we attract whatever we think about – good or bad. Whatever is happening in our lives, we are somewhere attracting that, including you reading this article!
Say, a special friend gave you some money when you really needed it. You really thought, ‘What if money just came to me from somewhere’; you just thought about it but you did not do much for it. Yet, because the intensity of this thought was strong, you attracted that even without being aware of it, and your friend gave you some money. Or, say your client, or co-worker gave you a hard time during the day. You attracted that too.
Attract more positive things in life
Since this phenomenon (the law of attraction) happens anyway, we can use it to our advantage and attract more positive things in life, or manifest our dreams. This happens through sankalpa.
Sankalpa means thinking positive and attracting positive with awareness, or having a positive intention. When we take a sankalpa, we expand our consciousness to the universe. But, how to make it work?
For the sake of ease, let’s take this as a 3-step process.
- Step 1 – Intention: Have an intention (like sowing a seed)
- Step 2 – Attention: Give slight attention to your intention (like nurturing the seed)
- Step 3 – Manifestation: See your intention manifest (like see the seed grow into a plant)
So, when we have an intention and put our attention to it, or focus on it, it starts to manifest.
Get even better than what we attract
When we have a desire, or we follow the above steps, sometimes it can take its own time to manifest. This might bring frustration (at least it does to me!), ‘Oh, it’s not happening’, ‘Why am I not able to make it happen’? We definitely have an intention, or have taken a sankalpa. But, I’ve learnt something: just add something more to the sankalpa, such as, ‘I want this to happen unless something better can come my way, or let it happen whenever it has to’. This way, I realized, I’m giving a chance to the Divine or the higher energy to act for me and give me the best.
So, sankalpa (I want this to happen), when clubbed with surrender (unless something better can come my way), reduces frustration and increases faith (because I know that the Divine or higher energy will work out something even better than what I intended or it will manifest at the time which is the best for it). This perspective made me more accepting of what comes my way.
Increasing the impact of my sankalpa
When the mind is peaceful and restful, then our sankalpa is powerful. The stronger we are in our minds, the stronger is the sankalpa. We can make our mind strong by spiritual practices such as meditation.
My lesson from Navratri
Navratri is an opportunity to go deeper in knowledge and dispassion. Being in the space of meditation, dispassion and knowledge make it easier for our sankalpas to manifest. So, Navratri is the ideal time to take a sankalpa. But remember: whatever you throw out, just throw it out to the Universe, and leave space for ‘either this or whatever is better for me’.
A little about Divya Sachdev
Divya Sachdev currently works as an International Communication Coordinator for The Art of Living Online Properties. Driven by her passion to contribute to society, Divya is also an Art of Living teacher.
