Steps Toward Achieving a Calm Mind

Everything comes to the seeker based on his ability to tune his focus and maintain that focus in an unwavering manner over time. Sri Aurobindo, in his book The Mother, sets forth the methodology as “aspiration, rejection, surrender”. Aspiration is the will from the depth of the being to achieve the divine connection. This represents the tuning of the consciousness. Rejection is the process whereby the focus remains fixed on the intended result, eliminating all distractions and static. Surrender is the removal of any contrary will and maintaining the focus over time, so that the divine force can operate constantly and continuously upon the being.

When one applies this overarching principle to the process of attaining to a calm mind, the actual specific methods chosen by the seeker are not as important as the maintaining of the focus, will and constancy. Each individual will find that a specific method or methods tends to work best in their specific case, and thus, will gravitate to one or another approach. Once the seeker finds what works best for him, he should stick with it.

The Mother notes: “One could justifiably add a question: You tell us ‘Be calm’, but what should we do to be calm?… The answer is always more or less the same: you must first of all feel the need for it and want it, and then aspire, and then try! For trying, there are innumerable methods which have been prescribed and attempted by many. These methods are generally long, arduous, difficult; and many people get discouraged before reaching the goal, for, the more they try, the more do their thoughts start whirling around and becoming restless in their heads.”

“For each one the method is different, but first one must feel the need, for whatever reason it may be — whether because one is tired or because one is overstrained or because one truly wants to rise beyond the state one lives in — one must first understand, feel the need of this quietude, this peace in the mind. And then, afterwards, one may try out successively all the methods, known ones and new, to attain the result.”

Sri Aurobindo and the Mother, Growing Within: The Psychology of Inner Development, Chapter IV Growth of Consciousness First Steps and Foundation, pg. 76