Sanatan Weekly Online
Issue No. 257 · January 9, 2005
Editor: Mr. Pruthviraj Purushottam Hajare

Articles

Need For Spirituality

Common Misconceptions

Practical Guidance

Messages to Seekers

Upcoming Religious Festivals

Children's Corner

Spiritual Experiences

Implied Meaning

Memorable Quotes

 





Need For Spirituality
Regular spiritual practice for effective removal of unwanted thoughts

    According to a recent report, approximately 1.5 million Americans suffer from Harming Obsession, a form of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD). People suffering from Harming Obsession are tormented by violent thoughts such as willfully hurting others, brutally harming their own children, inadvertently hitting someone while driving, etc. They wage a daily war with these recurring, distressing thoughts but the more they try to banish the thoughts, the more the thoughts seem to recur. Patients with Harming Obsession are currently recommended Exposure Therapy, which basically deals with ignoring the harmful thoughts by telling oneself that it is not they but the OCD that causes them to behave in the way they do.

    According to the science of hypnotherapy, the repetitive, involuntary, oppressing thoughts, which are the predominant feature of OCDs, stem from deep-seated impressions in the subconscious mind*. Due to repeated ruminations these impressions form a big center in the subconscious mind from which thought impulses reach the conscious mind. Thus, in order to rid oneself of these recurring thoughts, one has to eliminate the center in the subconscious mind. This is achieved in an effective, relatively rapid and side-effect free way through the spiritual practice of chanting** (repeating) The Lord's Name as per one’s religion. This spiritual practice works on deep-rooted impure impressions by building a dominant, pure center of devotion unto The Lord's Name in the subconscious. Besides the psychological benefits like freedom from obsessions, one derives other long lasting benefits*** like improvement in personality, tolerance to difficulties in life, etc., by following this simple spiritual practice.

- Editor.

* Refer to Issue 23, Clarification of Doubts section for a visual explanation of the subconscious mind and how chanting works at the subconscious level.

** If one is not currently doing any spiritual practice, one can begin with the simple, but powerful spiritual practice of chanting or constantly remembering God's Name according to one's religion.

  • Seekers in the initial stages of spiritual practice (less than one year) can repeat The Name of the Lord as per their religion (refer to Issue 3 Clarification of Doubts section for details).

  • Seekers who have been doing regular spiritual practice for over a year or so can determine the appropriate chant for them from the experiment given in Issue 124, Message to Seekers section.

*** Refer to Issues 126 through 150, Science of Spirituality section for examples of various benefits of spiritual practice



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