Many of us may not be good listeners. But we are good talkers. I mean, may not be proficient talkers but profusive talkers 😉
Can we use this talkativeness to hone our focusing skills? Afterall, tongue is a very powerful tool that we have.
 |
| Vishnu as an all pervading God |
I was amazed. Not that I have any doubts about what faith can do. Many episodes ago, I had discussed about the miraculous power of faith which is even scientifically analyzed and verified.
Is there anything more to it other than faith alone?
I have seen many Hindus who believe that chanting some God’s name gives them lot of peace and relieves them from stress. I am not challenging religious faiths. But is there something more going on there? Can we explain the effect more logically?
When we speak normally, we underestimate the kind of complex activity that goes on in our brains. Production of any speech needs coordination between different brain centers. Coordination means lot of attention. A little bit of lack of attention can produce gibberish speech.
Now think of uttering a long series of words each of which by themselves are tongue twisters. More so if the words are from a rich language like Sanskrit. You need to pay lot of attention if you don’t want to make a mistake. If you are a religious person, you cannot dare to do mistakes.
Listen for example, a clip from Vishnu Sahasranama that I mentioned a little while ago. The words themselves are quite tricky to pronounce. Added to this there are sudden variations and twists. All these make you concentrate on what you are uttering.
That is where we have our good focusing exercise for those of us who are talkers. You continue to talk but pay attention to what you say 😉
I am not suggesting that uttering Vishnu sahasranama is just training your attention system. There may be more to it. But honing our focusing skills is definitely an important byproduct.
But Vishnu Sahasranama is not something unique. Almost every religion has some such chants that is equally useful in improving your concentration.
Islam has its list of 99 names of Allah. Though not as tricky as Sanskrit names of God Vishnu, these Arabic words and the way they are uttered need lot of concentration. Faithful would not like to utter them in a wrong way.
So, if you are tongue dominated person, try one of these. That may be the easiest way of training your attention system.
There are of course other simpler ways. One is mantra chanting.
A mantra is just a sound or a word or a series of words that are chanted repeatedly. Each sound or word may not be difficult in itself. But the act of repetitive utterance can keep your attention system busy with a single point agenda.
There are many types of Mantras each with a different purpose. Many of these are either religious or having mystic overtones.
I believe that this mantra helps us in focusing on a small set of tasks at a time rather than get latched on to one single task. That is the kind of focusing skill we normally need in our day-to-day life. We need focus, but not overfocus.
In contrast, there are Mantras that give us single pointed focus. Those are more useful in meditation for a person who wants to attain advanced stages of Yoga. These Mantras are not normally recommended to ‘normal’ worldly people.
So, depending on your religious affinity, choose a name list, or a chant or Mantra to better utilize your tongue power. Even that is a very powerful tool 😉
But many of us are more ‘physical’ than just staring, listening or talking. What do such people do to improve their focusing skills? Let us see that in the next episode.
A series revolving around Mind – Science of Mind, Philosophy of Mind, Notions of reality, Mind modulation, Domains beyond Mind, and so on. © Dr. King,Swami Satyapriya 2019-2020
No comments:
Post a Comment