We're back with another reflection on the daily pedantic and today's reflection is a succinct one. It is about thought flow. What precedes desires if our goal, if our entire objective within this philosophy is to reduce our desires, is through knowledge of the self that we reduce our desires. And it is using our propensity to think, think, think and put those thoughts on the self in a practical sense is to put those thoughts as you learn about the self as you learn about a concept like identification with another as being the definition of love.
And you start to identify your significant other like you identify with your right hand as you start to cultivate that type of identification. And maybe you heard that in one of our previous episodes as you cultivate that identification through that knowledge that you've gained. Our desires start to reduce to where, well, you want to do something for that significant other that spouse, that friend that you identify with, because you want to take care of them, you see them as an extension of yourself. And what have we done in that exercise of knowledge applied to our life?
You've acquired the knowledge, you've cultivated and experienced what that can be where, well, let's say you just experience, wow, the harmony at home when I see my spouse as an extension of myself is as much harmony as there is when I take care of my body, or I don't strain my wrist. Or say the other way, it's as much disharmony when I act poorly, unrighteously, selfishly towards my spouse, as much disharmony as there would be if I strain my right hand. It's a very subtle and simple and yet profound concept that once acquired and applied, maybe it just works. You've taken thoughts from the world or from yourself and you've put them on the higher.
Instead of, you know what, I'm going to acquire more for myself. I'm instead you say, okay, I'm going to put my thoughts on this age old philosophy of Adanta because maybe it's going to improve me in some way, so that I can be of more use to my community, to that significant other. You've taken thoughts of grabbing, I don't know, a dozen donuts that morning, and you've put them on wisdom, on knowledge, on acquiring that knowledge. You've adjusted your thought flow and becomes reinforced when you see it just work.
You see that harmony that I just tossed out there as a concept. You experience it as reality. You see it happening and you invest more thoughts in that direction. Maybe you pick up another concept like the intellect is another internal equipment that can guide the mind that has driven by likes and dislikes preferences, emotions.
There is this wise guide within us that can guide that sometimes aimlessness, emotional, preferential part of us. You apply it. Insleeced is the capacity to see the end in the beginning. You hear that and you say, wow, okay, let me direct my thought on that.
Let me reflect on it and see if it's, is that, does that even make sense? Is there a part of me that can kind of play out these events and see the end in the beginning and then maybe changes the decision I make today right now because it's going to have pretty big impacts on a pretty big impact on tomorrow the day after. I could go through any number of the concepts we cover in our daily episodes, but that thought flow towards the higher can sound really vague. I'm not saying a thought flow towards the higher in terms of some vague definitionless God.
I'm not saying that I'm saying thought flow towards higher ideals than just serving yourself. That thought flow Swami mentions this very briefly in one of his books he's references as far as I've seen only once as thought lava. Wherever we direct our thoughts in the beginning it flows. It comes out fast and it is liquid like water and how quickly how efficiently it flows in a certain direction.
When his time passes, it is like lava gets thicker and harder. The pathways those thought flows get set in stone to where your thoughts on yourself get stronger over time. The selfish desire like we chatted about Macbeth in a previous episode hearing that yeah, maybe I should be king in the Shakespearean tragedy. That thought flow, maybe I should be king.
Maybe I should be king. What would be king be like? Oh, wow, that'd be pretty amazing. I'd have everything.
I'd have all the power. I, I, and that thought flow then led to well, the calculation that I should kill the king and that thought flow that lava that was set in stone that I should be king started as an idea put forth by his wife just lightly placed in his ear before you know it. Everyone is dead at the end of the play. These thought flows can start seemingly innocently small little way.
Someone plants an idea in our ears. We plant an idea in our heads ourselves. You think I should be that and you invest in that thought flow and it becomes as rigid as stone. It is very hard to change, but the antidote is recognizing, okay, well, this is how thoughts work and you can actually start to invest in a different direction quite easily.
It might not stick. It might not be stone in the beginning, but over time you can establish a brand new thought flow. The three daily practices within the Dante art to question everything to not take anything for granted to study and reflect every day. It might be five minutes, 10 minutes of studying reflection, but actually all three of these practices are investing in new thought flows to question everything is to wonder, okay, this thought pattern that is in stone, is it the only thought pattern?
Not taking anything for granted is, okay, is this tiny little spring of a new thought pattern flowing like a tiny little stream of lava? Maybe that's a different and more beneficial thought flow that you can invest in. And after that daily reflection, a few weeks, a few months, and look at that, you got a brand new thought flow that's as strong as any other that you got, except it's pointed towards the higher. This is the power of thought flow.
And that is today's reflection on the daily Vedantic. We'll see you next time. Thanks for listening to the daily Vedantic. This reflection is part of a free repeating to your course in Advaita Vedanta.
Rooted in the timeless wisdom of the Upanishads, arguably the oldest philosophical texts on earth, you can begin with episode one, which gives the 15 minute overview of the whole philosophy of Vedanta, or you can join the journey with any episode at any point. But the critical aspect of this course of understanding and mastering anything is to study and reflect even for 10 to 15 minutes on the timeless each day, preferably at the start of your day. As is said in this philosophy, reflection is 100,000 times as powerful as listening. So listen, journal, sit with, discuss these concepts or ask questions at thedailyvadantic.com with our AI powered chatbot informed by about 700 episodes here, as regularly as one can if you want to see clarity and peace, almost effortlessly unfold in your daily life.
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