Inner peace is a much talked about subject, nowadays. Wherever we see, in newspapers, magazines, social media reels, videos or any other platform, there are millions of advisers and billions of advices on the ways to attain peace in life, especially inner peace. So, what exactly is inner peace? Inner peace is when there is ‘no mind’. You must be wondering, how that is possible. How can one be without a mind? Let’s discuss this in this article.
We human beings are complex, ignorant beings. We live in a body-mind-ego complex. We think that we are the body and identify ourselves with it. We also think that we are a product of the mind and are driven by our mind. And lastly, our ego is a product of the mind and we identify ourselves with our ego. Our mind causes our ignorance and the ego, caused by our mind, enables it. What is this mind? Have you seen this mind? Do you know its shape or size? The interesting thing is that when we talk about the mind, our mind misdirects us to form a picture of our brain and our ego believes that the brain is the mind.
But is it? No, the brain is not the mind. Then, what exactly is the mind? The mind is a bundle of thoughts. When thoughts pour in and bombard us, the mind appears and when thoughts stop bombarding us, the mind disappears. So, we can say that when we are in a state of mind, we are bombarded with thoughts and ultimately, there is no peace.
How, then, can we attain peace? We can achieve peace when we flip from a mind state to a state of Consciousness. When our Mental Thought Rate or MTR is 1 thought per minute instead of the usual 50 thoughts per minute, when thoughts stop pouring like rain on us and instead, come slowly and steadily like flakes of snow, we are in a state of Thoughtlessness, Mindfulness or Consciousness. In this state of Consciousness, the mind is stilled and killed and our intellect shines, with which, we gain the power of discrimination that helps us take decisions on every thought, individually. When we are not bombarded with a barrage of thoughts by our mind and we are in a mindful state, we also attain peace, calm and quiet. When we are able to discriminate each thought and take composed and thoughtful decisions, we are in a state of peace.
Inner peace is nothing different from peace. Peace is the foundation of happiness and Eternal Bliss and peace is always within us. It is never outside. So, any peace that we find, is inner peace. The outer world is full of chaos, noise and drama. One has to shut all the senses that bring the outer chaos inside and only then can peace or inner peace be attained.
What is the best method to attain inner peace? The most talked about method is also the best method to attain inner peace – meditation. Meditation is nothing but controlling the MTR or the Mental Thought Rate and slowing down the barrage of thoughts that our mind attacks us with. Meditation is calming ourselves and reaching the state of Thoughtlessness or Consciousness where we are able to discriminate each thought.
There are several techniques of meditation prescribed in various theories and schools of Yoga. Pranayama or breath control is the most widely taught meditation technique that helps us focus on our breath and go within ourselves to attain peace and tranquillity. But the easiest technique of meditation is to sit still in silence and observe all our thoughts. We should strive to become the witness rather than be the victim of our thoughts. Only then can we delve deep inside ourselves, slow down the thought rate and reach a state of Mindfulness, Thoughtlessness or Consciousness.
Different kinds of silence, focusing exercises, Pranayama and Yoga, are all popular prescriptions and advice but they all boil down to being different forms of meditations that can help one attain a state of inner peace, calm, tranquillity and take rational and correct decisions based on the Power of their awakened intellect in the sunshine of Truth Consciousness.
The author is a Happiness Ambassador, Author, Spiritual Mentor and Philanthropist
