You need concentration of mind if you need any success in the world. Even perception is not possible unless mind is attached to the eyes. Similarly you can’t hear anything unless mind is attached to the ear. When you are completely absorbed in study, the striking of clock even five or six times is not heard. Why? Vibrations of sound are there. They have been passed through the organ of hearing but could not go to the brain-centre because mind wasn't attached to it as it was drowned in deep study.
The astronomer concentrates his mind through the telescope. No knowledge of any science can be had unless we concentrate our mind upon that subject. In the lives of all great men, past and present, we find the tremendous power of concentration. Those are men of genius, you may say. Gurudev Shri Swami Vishvas Ji says, “we all can be genius if we realise ourselves through meditation. The potential is the same within all of us. The difference is only in manifestation and transformation and not at all in conversion. There cannot be any conversion in human beings.”
We can all do the same. Some come into this life better fitted and will to do it quicker perhaps, but with an effort, we all can concentrate on our job when we take an interest in it. Mind does not concentrate when the work before us becomes a burden or drudgery. The same work taken as a play or game gets our full attention.
Concentration comes from various sources. Through the senses, you can get concentration. Some get it when they hear melodious music, others when they see beautiful scenery. It is a common experience of everyone that it is not easy to control the mind. Mind is likened to be a maddened monkey, drunk with the wine of desire, stung by the scorpion of jealousy at the success of others, and possessed with the demon of pride. So it is a daunting task to control such a mind. It becomes easy to concentrate your mind if mind is pure. The purer the mind, the easier it is to control it. The mind takes every thought that arises and works it out. The grosser the mind, the more difficult it is to control it.
The immoral man will never be able to concentrate his mind on the duty assigned to him. He may get a little control as he begins, get a little power and even those little powers will go from him. The men, who control serpents by the power of magic, will be killed by serpents. The man, who attains any extraordinary powers, will in the long run succumb to these powers. There are millions who receive power through all sorts of ways. The vast majority of them die raving lunatics. Quite a number commit suicide, the mind being unbalanced. It is stated here that in order to concentrate or control your mind, no extraneous practice such as lying upon beds of spikes – sharp iron spikes or sitting upon pebbles, are required. All you need to be is to be moral. No injury, perfect purity, perfect austerity, if a man is free from all enmity towards any being, all animals will give up their enmity towards him. Even for being moral, no formal oaths or forced resolutions are required. Spiritual pauperism generates from the formal readymade commandments of Do’s and Don’ts. Just embark upon the Inward Journey towards your own source, remembering that there is but one Reality and that is You. You will be mindful for outer world and mindless for inner world.
“When the lotus of the heart has bloomed, the bees will come by themselves.” When you dive deep into meditation, which means that you go beyond mind, you get the power of concentration. In meditation, by watching your thoughts wakefully and persistently, you get rid of them.
Once a young boy came to a holy person and asked him to tell the quick method of controlling the mind and tell him quickly as he was in a hurry. The sage said, “Just have rest, come in and sit down.” “I haven’t got time,” was the reply. The saint said, “Come in. It won’t be long. Tea is just ready. Have a cup of tea.” Unwillingly the youth came in and the sage poured the tea into the cup. He went on pouring after the cup was full and then the tea overflowed. The youth asked the sage why he was pouring tea when the cup was full.
The saint replied, “How you can control your mind when it is over-brimmed with thoughts. Learn to empty your mind from the thoughts, which is very difficult without meditation.” Gurudev Shri Swami Vishvas Ji shows us the way of mindfulness for the outer world and mindlessness for inner world, through meditation, which is not at all concentration, but concentration, comes out of it.