Manifestation — How It Works and Why It Doesn’t Chaitanya Charan

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Transcript

Disclaimer: This transcript was generated using AI and may contain occasional errors or inaccuracies.

Thank you for coming today. So let's talk about manifestation and I'll talk about this in three broad parts. Let's first begin with where we are.

When you hear the word manifestation, what does it mean to you? Okay, how many of you have heard the word manifestation? I think almost every one of us has. When I do this talk in India, many people have to look at the dictionary to understand what manifestation means. Okay, so almost all of you.

So what does it mean to you? What do you think it means? Yes, please. You can share your name and then you can share what. So it's vivid imagination.

So it's vivid imagination of what? Of something that we? Yes, of something desirable, of some desirable thing. So it's more concentrated visualization, vivid imagination. Yes, that's generally understood meaning.

Anything else? Being at the right frequency of the desire. Can you explain what you mean by the word frequency? So frequency, are you talking more about like a frame of mind or attitude, the vibes that we are giving out, the right frequency? Yeah, it's important aspects to it. That's true.

So it's not just what we imagine at a particular time, it's also the state of mind that we are having while we are cultivating that visualization and imagination. Thank you. Anything else? So it's like what is spiritual, so its manifestation is a way of bringing the spiritual down to the physical, like a bridging.

It's a beautiful way of looking at it. Yes, anything else? Yeah, I was thinking your manifestation is about a cat, I was thinking. Sorry, sorry.

It will happen, there's a divine timing to it, we can't control it. This brings a very devotional perspective to the idea of manifestation. Yes, thank you.

Anyone else? An act of faith. So faith in what? Faith in one's agency or ability to. Yeah, so faith, faith in one's agency or ability.

Yeah, thank you. These are very valid points and valuable inputs. I'll talk about this, I'll try to integrate this, and we'll talk about this from the perspective of the yogi.

Tradition, especially the Bhagavad Gita, and I will talk about, I'll use this. Okay, let's put it this way. So as those of you, okay, how many of you are there for the previous session? Okay, four of you.

So many of you are not there for the previous session. It's okay, it doesn't matter. What I will do, so there are a few points of repetition from the session which we had on Thursday.

So I'll use an overall framework that I call as a map. So M is, I'll talk of a model, model of the world, the model of the self. Then I'll talk about the analysis, how that model can help us to analyze what is happening in our lives.

And finally, I'll talk about practicals, what we can do about it. So see, all of us, when we function in life, we generally, when we meet someone, one of the first questions we ask them is, so what is your worldview? That's not the typical question we ask about when we're doing small talk. But actually, all of us have some worldview.

It is, our worldview underlies every view. So how I see you, how I see my, the things that happen in my life, how I look at world events, all of that is shaped by my worldview. And that's where when you talk about a model, a model of what the world is, how it functions.

So within the yoga tradition's worldview, there's a model of the self and the model of reality, both, of who we are and what the world is all about. So basically, it's understood that there are three levels of reality. There is the physical reality that we study.

So this, my mic stand, this table, all is a part of physical reality. Then there is mental reality. And finally, there is spiritual reality.

So reality has three levels. Now, all these three are considered real. Now, this distinction is very much Eastern and I would say, not just Eastern, largely an Indian worldview, Indic or Vedic worldview.

In much of Western philosophical thought, there is not this three level. There's only two levels of reality, that the physical and the non-physical. And quite often, the mental is equated with the spiritual.

So that's why many times we ask people, what is, oh, I went to that trip, it was just a spiritual trip. What does it mean? Oh, I felt very calm and peaceful. I felt very good at that particular place.

And that's true. Spirituality can help us feel good. But emotions are more associated mental level than the spiritual level.

So this differentiation, so that is important to understand in much of Western thought. Now, I don't want to simplify complex truth. There have been many thinkers in the West and many thinkers in India also.

But in much of Western thought, there is a divine domain and a mundane domain. Now, if we have a much of, I'm talking of Western means, you could say Western religious thought, Christianity or Judaism. And in science, there is no idea of anything divine, at least in mainstream science.

It's all materialistic. So there are different worldviews. The science worldview is that most of reality, all of reality is basically material.

Now, so why I'm starting with this is that especially at the start of the last century and the early part of the 20th century and a little bit later after that, there was one school of thought which was very much physicalistic. It was called physicalism, not just materialism, but physicalism. That we human beings are simply stimulus reaction creatures.

So this is called as physicalism. In psychology, this may be called as behaviorism. That if we want people to change, just change their stimuli and their reaction will change.

So this is how we have carrot and a stick approach. We have heard that in corporate world. You want a person to work harder, you show them a carrot.

Or you give them a stick, you'll be fired if you don't work. But the idea is just change the stimulus and people's behavior will change. So in this idea, to a large extent, if you consider the complexity of reality, reality is almost made into only physical.

That we are creatures who are motivated by physical rewards. And there is nothing beyond physical causes. And the inner world was considered to be like a black box.

The black box means it's unknown, it's unknowable, it's not really worth knowing. Whatever happens inside doesn't matter. You just give the right stimulus, people will have the right reaction.

But much of the prosperity that came in the Western world belied this idea. That on one side, people's external started becoming better and better. Yet, more and more people seem to be lonely, depressed, having negative emotions.

So what is happening in the inner world also became very important. So now there are some schools of thought, which now there are different names for this, and I'm not going to get into the philosophical technicalities of that. But the idea is that reality is only mental.

Only mental means whatever happens inside you, that is all that matters. So there are some inspiring quotes like that. Whatever the mind can conceive, you can achieve in your life.

So the mind is made into not only the supreme reality, but the only reality, or the only reality that matters. So it's like a pendulum, it moves from one extreme to another extreme. So the mind does not matter, only your actions matter.

And the mind alone matters. Now, the only the physical aspect, this is, as I said, it was belied. It was challenged, it was falsified by the idea that in much of the Western world, there was physical progress, but still there was mental distress.

Now, the idea of something being, the mind being supreme, all that matters is your state of mind. There is a little bit fascination with that. But the fact is that while the state of mind does matter, it does not change the physical reality.

Like some people may say, oh, age is just a number. If there is some sports player who is 40, 45, and that player performs very well, wins some extraordinary matches, you say, oh, it's amazing. Age is just a number.

But is age just a number? Well, no. Age is also a function of physical reality. And if that athlete is fit at the age of 45 and is able to perform, that is remarkable.

But even then, that athlete will not be able to perform as well at 45 as they could have performed at the age of 25. There is a physical reality and that cannot be denied. So now, when somebody says age is just a number, if somebody starts thinking constantly, oh, I have grown old, I have grown old, I have a crippling effect.

So the mind is one aspect of reality. So we could say that instead of going in these two extremes, so much of New Age spirituality, now that term is not very common, but a few decades ago this was very common. Now New Age spirituality was all about just mental adjustment.

Just change your frame of mind and you will change your entire life. And yes, there is some truth to that. But there is a physical reality also.

So what the Gita, the yoga worldview is, there are three levels of reality. And each level of reality matters. There is spiritual level, there is a mental level, and there is a physical level.

So this is a more holistic vision of what are the aspects of reality. Now, just a little elaboration, what is the difference between the mental and the physical level, sorry, mental and the spiritual level? The mental level is associated with thoughts, emotions, desires, and that is all there. But underlying the thoughts is the thinker of the thoughts.

Underlying the feelings is the feeler of the feelings. Underlying the desires is the desirer. So that thinker, feeler, desirer is spiritual.

So our desires change, but our sense of I-ness, it does remain the same. Our sense of I-ness remains the same, although our body changes, our age changes, our financial level may change, our frame of mind may change. Somebody might grow up in a particular world where there's a particular worldview, they might be very, very conservative, very narrow minded.

And they might become more liberal, they might become more open minded. Somebody might grow up in a very open minded worldview, but somehow they meet some people, whatever happened, they become very narrow minded and bigoted and biased or whatever. So our minds also change, our desires change, but we at the core remain the same.

So beyond the desirer, feeler, beyond the desires, feelings and thoughts is the desirer, feeler and thinker. And that is at the spiritual level. So this model of the self is that the self has, there are three levels to the self.

There is the soul, there is the mind and there is the body. Soul is the spiritual level of reality, the mind is the mental level and the body is at the physical level of reality. And all this is like a computer system we could say, where the body is like the hardware, the mind is the software and the soul is the user.

This is a holistic vision of reality. Now within this worldview, what is the role of manifestation? So this is where I will, so this is a model of the self I explained. Now let me move back to the MAP.

A was the analysis. I already started some level of analysis, but let us move forward. See the mind is one level of reality.

The mind is not the only reality. And our state of mind matters, but it is not all that matters. So our experience of life, there is an objective component to it, but there is also a subjective component to it.

So objective and subjective components means that if somebody is wealthy, how do we know somebody is wealthy? Now if somebody has a lot of greed, then the greedy are always needy. Somebody might be, not as a millionaire, they might be a billionaire, but they are looking at all those people who have more money than them, and they will feel still a sense of scarcity, a sense of shortage. So there is a subjective side to it.

Now we could say who is wealthy? If a person's basic needs are comfortably taken care of, we can call them wealthy. So is wealth a state of bank account or is wealth a state of mind? It is both, isn't it? It is both. You can say somebody is living in poverty and still they may be emotionally wealthy, relationally wealthy, and that is true.

But then we are slightly expanding the definition of wealth. So wealth is a state of mind. It is a state of physical reality also, state of our bank account.

So there is an objective side. Now the objective is real, and the subjective is also real in the sense that it really impacts our experience. So if I am feeling tired, now if I am feeling tired, is it because I am tired or is it I am just bored? Sometimes you may say, oh I am tired.

Okay, did you not get rest? Did you not able to sleep well yesterday? No, I am tired of you. That's a very impolite thing to say to anyone. But the idea is psychologically we will think like that.

When I am tired of you, that is not physical tiredness. That is emotional tiredness. So now but that person may just feel tired.

I just don't want to be here. I just want to move away from here. So our experience is both based on the objective and the subjective.

So now when we interact with the world, let us get back to the black box kind of model, that when we talk about experience, it is more of what is out there and what we are going to do or what we feel about it. But then we also, if this is the self, we interact with the world in the sense that not only we take in stimuli from the outer world and experience it, but we also act in the world. We have a sense of agency by which we try to act in the world.

And then what is the inflow that is associated with our knowledge acquiring senses, our eyes, ears, like that, that the inflow. Now the outflow is what is associated, can be said more associated with manifestation. That how do I impact the outer world? So how much can I impact the outer? Of course, how much the outer world impacts me also matters.

There also the mind plays a role. But when we are using the word manifestation, manifestation is that how I impact the outer world through my thoughts, through my visions, through my conceptions, through my visualizations, that is about manifestation. Now the word manifestation, I just distinguish it from a few words.

Manifestation is not exactly the same as creation. Although there is a creative side to it. Like creation means, you know, somebody build a building.

There is a raw material and from the raw material we build a building. So if somebody has certain ingredients, if those ingredients, they cook something. So now we won't call it, oh, you manifested this.

Oh, you cooked it. Is it okay? You can call manifestation over there. But the idea is creation generally involves, there are certain ingredients and we bring them together.

So manifestation is not exactly the same as creation. Now manifestation is also not just imagination or visualization. Because visualization does not lead necessarily to something changing at the physical level.

So for example, if we are very tired, sometimes there are visualization exercises, there are thought exercises. Okay, imagine that you are on the banks of a river or you are in a forest and there is greenery all around and you can feel the birds chirping and you can feel the wind moving through your ear, near your ears. You are feeling calm and relaxed and you are at peace.

You are one with nature. Now this can, this kind of visualization can be helpful. But it is not that suddenly around us we are in a forest right now.

So visualization is more of imagination but that imagination is not changing the physical reality. Creation is basically in one sense, we are taking one physical state and changing it to another physical state. Like I am taking these ingredients and putting them together and I am making something.

Now manifestation is, so manifestation is also not just about something, it is not just something like a miracle. Now when I say miracle, that means, sometimes the word miracle is used and something which is amazing that has happened. But sometimes the word miracle is used in the sense that something that has no rational explanation.

Something against the laws of nature, not against necessarily something above or beyond the laws of nature. So it is not exactly a miracle also. So when generally when we say something is a miracle, what it means is that we don't know the process by which it happened and we can't replicate the process.

So I am using the word miracle in that sense. It is non-replicable. It was a miracle, say we had a friend and childhood friend, we were very close and we made that friend after 25 years.

And we had no plan to meet, it just happened to be at a particular place and we met. It is a miracle that we met. So you could say that there are some mysterious forces in the universe and that is how we happened to meet at that particular place.

That is okay. But manifestation is not about a miracle. Because in manifestation we also try to understand the process and then we try to see whether that process can be replicated.

So then what manifestation is not, if we understand, then what is manifestation? Now when I said that the mental level is also real. So let us try to understand what is the mental level, at the level of the mind, what is it composed of? When we say it is reality, what does it mean? Now there are a few terms I will use over here and these terms can mean different things at different places. So I will try to take four terms and this may be a little exhausting.

But bear with me, it will only become a bit more exhausting afterwards. So these are all related with the mental domain. There are many other things associated with mental domain.

You can have conceptions, worldviews and all those things. But let us look at thoughts, emotions, desires and intentions. Now if we start with the word thought.

Now thought can be said to be the basic currency of the mental domain. At the level of the mind, what we do is nothing. Now the word thought itself has two different meanings to it.

Say, I just use a sentence, two sentences and then you can tell me the difference between the two. I just got a thought. I have given this a lot of thought.

Can you give this some thought? I just got a thought. I have given this a lot of thought. Is there any difference between these two? Got a thought, given this a lot of thought.

Okay, thank you. What is the difference? Okay, good. One is casual, the other is intentional.

You could say conscious, intentional. Anything else? Yes. So we have paid attention to it.

So you could say it's almost like this. When I got a thought, it's almost spontaneous, not just casual. It just came to me.

But this is more conscientious. So now this, can you focus on the word got and given? What does that signify? I got a thought. I gave this a lot of thought.

What does got and give, what does that signify? Those two words from? Okay, that's interesting. We are looking at it. It comes from the spiritual.

Okay, let's put it generically as it comes from somewhere. Not all thoughts necessarily come from the spiritual. Isn't it so? I got a thought that I should beat you up.

That's right, not come from the spiritual domain. That might just come from a short temper. But the idea is that if I consider this is the soul, and this is the mind.

In the previous session, I had mentioned how from the soul, consciousness comes out through the mind and goes outwards. So consciousness is like the energy of the soul. So if I put it over here, so if I have this flashlight over here, this source of light is the soul, the beam of light coming from that is consciousness.

So now, why is this relevant for our discussion is that when I say got a thought, means that it is a pop up that just came up on the screen of my mind. On my mind, okay, let me use this. On the screen of the mind, there's something just popped up.

And then I got a thought. It just popped up like on my phone, some notification came up. That's I got a thought.

And then now there might be many pop ups over here. Now, I have given this a lot of thought. So God is what comes towards us almost given is we go towards it.

So I have, I have deliberated, I have analyzed, I have contemplated. So it's more like we go towards it. So now, why am I saying this is important is this is where we will this differentiation between the idea of thought as something which is pops up like a notification comes up on our phone, I just got a notification, then, okay, some notification, okay, I pay attention, what is the message over here? Do I need to do something about what do I do about it? I have given this a lot of thought.

So this differentiation will be important. When we come to the point of manifestation later. Now, let's look at emotions and desires.

Are they the same emotions and desires? Clearly not the same. What do you think is the difference between the two? We've all experienced emotions and we all experienced desires, isn't it? So at a simple level, we could say emotions are associated with the outside in thing. We see something and we experience some emotion.

Now, desire is more inside out. I want to buy something, I want to go somewhere, I want to do something. So emotions are associated more with our knowledge acquiring senses.

In Sanskrit, they call it gyanendriyas, that what we take in from the outer world that triggers some emotions inside us. And desires are more associated with our working system. When I have a desire, I speak something, I move my hands, I move my legs, I go somewhere.

So that's the broad difference between emotions and desires. Now, lastly, if I consider intentions, where would intentions fall? On the emotion side or the desire side? Desire side. Is there a difference between a desire and intention? What do you think is the difference? Yeah, intention, desires, I may have lots of desires.

But when that desire is translated into or it comes very close and comes more concretized or crystallized, so that it is going to become an action, that's when it becomes an intention. So we could say intention is much more. I may have hundreds of desires, but they may translate into one intention.

If we look at ourselves, we probably just spend five minutes, we can think of 100 desires, we may want to visit this place, I want to buy these clothes, I want to learn this, I want to do that. But how many of the desires become intentions? So intentions become more crystallized about what I'm going to do. So let's look at these four terms and then four points and then let's try to understand how manifestation works.

So manifestation, if it is not just creation, it is not just visualization, it is not just a miracle. Manifestation is what? It's definitely something inside out. Something from inside, it brings about a change in the outer domain.

So all manifestation will begin with a thought. But it's not just a thought, a thought where I have given this a lot of thought, that sense. It is not that something just casually pops up and then will manifest it.

So at the mental level also, desires have energy, emotions have energy, thoughts also have a certain level of energy. So from thoughts, we manifest desires. From desires, we manifest intentions.

Now this is through the process of imagination. So for example, if we come to know that some new movie is released, which features some of our favorite stars, then when it comes as information at that time, it's a thought. From that thought comes a, as we maybe see the trailer, maybe we remember the trailer, we visualize it, oh, I want to watch this.

It becomes a desire. From desire, it becomes an intention. So we could put it this way now, that let's, it's like a funnel, that we could have, we have hundreds and hundreds of thoughts.

The number of thoughts that keep coming within us are many, many thoughts. Now from that, some become desires for us. And then from there, some become intentions for us.

So when this journey is systematized, that is largely a process of manifestation. So among the many thoughts we have, okay, which thoughts, now sometimes this happens automatically. I have hundreds of thoughts.

From there, I get some desires, some desires become intentions, and then I eat something, I watch something, I buy something, those things happen. But if we try to systematize this, that okay, I have many thoughts, these are the desires that are important for me. And then I convert those desires into intentions.

Then when this is systematized, that is largely the process of manifestation. I'll make two more points over here, then we'll open for question answers. I'm not able to manifest these letters over here now.

So if we consider manifestation, now generally we use the word manifestation or in the context of something that we think we really very strongly want to achieve, but sometimes we feel it's very difficult for me to achieve. So maybe we want to make a career move, maybe we want to become fitter, maybe we want to learn a new language, maybe we want to move to a different place. So we may decide I want to manifest that reality.

So quite often there is something inside us that sabotages us. So quite often what happens, say I may have a desire to move in this direction, but there is something inside me which blocks me and which pushes in the opposite direction. And most of us, when we function, it can be that the forward is 100, the opposite is 90.

And then we don't move much forward. Sometimes the forward might be 100, the opposite might be 1000. And then every time we try to improve, we actually end up becoming much worse.

Every time we try to fix or improve a situation, situation becomes worse. Maybe I should not try to improve. So this internal alignment of something against us, that can lead to what we often call a self sabotage.

Well, the self sabotage can happen in many ways. Self sabotage, we can say, is the complete opposite of manifestation. So sometimes it can happen at a level we are even aware of.

Let us say, if we decide, okay, I want to read this book, it is important. Next one month, I will read every day for half an hour, I will complete this book. And there is a part of us, we are not going to do this.

Or we want to achieve, we want to do some regular exercise, we make some resolutions. So there is something we decided, but there's something says, you're not going to do it, you're going to fail, you're never going to amount too much. So this critical voice that is there inside us, that can sometimes sabotage us.

And at a basic level, when we try to manifest, it is that this critical voice that gets removed. And that what happens is, if you understand that the mental is real, and then we sit and actually concentrate, visualize. When we are doing self sabotage, what is happening exactly is that, that often our imagination starts working against us.

See, sometimes our imagination works very well for some impulsive desires. Okay, I want to buy this immediately, I think, Oh, if I buy it, how will I feel I want it, I'll go and buy it and I'll eat it. I'll eat it or I'll consume it or whatever.

So there it works very well. But then there is something substantial that we would like to do in our life, some significant change we want to make in our life. At that time, our mind often works against us.

So is our imagination working for us or working against us? That negative imagination can happen because of our fears, our insecurities, our pessimism, whatever it is. So self sabotage is often associated with it, with negative imagination. So what manifestation where it can work is that if we learn, if we learn to recognize the power of imagination, that imagination is something which is a very important thing.

And if I am, I'm endeavoring to achieve something, but my mind is imagining the opposite, then I'll not be able to achieve it. Now, that doesn't mean we should never think negative. Yes, if I'm trying to do something, some obstacles are going to come how to deal with obstacles, I need to plan that.

And in that sense, in any major project, risk assessment is a very important aspect. So just the mind imagining negative realities is not a bad thing. But that being the default constantly, that is a problem.

So it's not that somebody is a negative thinker, that is always a bad thing. Somebody says, okay, here we have a barren patch of land, we'll build a 25 story skyscraper over here. Say what a visionary person, you think so positive.

But for that building to be safe and livable, somebody has to think negative also. What if there is a fire? Where will we escape from? You know, what is there some crisis over here? So negative thinking, in the sense of thinking about negative possibilities, that itself is not a bad thing. In fact, I'll go so far as to say, negative thinking is also a gift.

Not everybody can think negative. Now, what I mean by that is, not everybody can actually think negative in a systematic way. Okay, this is a problem.

And this is how it can be solved. Like one of my main services is writing and editing. They're both integral part of the writing process.

But they actually require a very different frame of thinking. Writing is more creative. Editing is more critical.

Writing is hey, this may work, this may work, this may work. Editing is this doesn't work, this doesn't work, this doesn't work. And for a good book, both those are required.

And quite often, those who are good editors are not very good writers. Because they are too self critical. Whatever they write, this is not right, this doesn't make sense, this doesn't make sense, this doesn't make sense.

And generally, no matter how good the editor is, sorry, how good a editor is, because it's very difficult to look at our own creative product very critically. We can, but it actually takes some time. I write something, at that time, it's my baby.

Oh, it's the best baby in the world. Maybe after six months, I look at it. Hey, this is stupid.

This doesn't make any sense. What have I written over here. So my point is that not everybody can be a good editor.

So negative thinking is not a bad thing. Some people have that gift, by which any situation comes up, they can look at what problems can be there. And that's also a gift that that is also an ability.

Now, when that ability becomes a liability is when they cannot turn off that negative thinking. It like say if the editor has a small baby or a small growing child, and the child is writing the first letters, and the mother starts criticizing, oh, this spelling is wrong, this is wrong, this is wrong. No, these are the first letters of your baby.

Don't be an editor over there. Be a mother and appreciate over there. So if when that ability becomes like a conditioning that we cannot turn off, then it will become a liability.

So negative thinking itself is not a problem. So just like positive thinking is visualization, negative thinking is risk assessment. There are distinct roles, which people with positive thinking can work at, and people with negative thinking can also work at.

So for example, like editing, quality assessment, quality control, risk assessment, these are all roles where people who think negative will thrive over there. So positive thinking and negative thinking, both can be abilities. Both are abilities, but they both can become a liability.

If negative thinking makes us blind to the positive, and positive thinking makes us blind to the negative. If somebody is going to invest money, and they say, okay, I'll invest my whole life savings. And in this scheme, in one year, my whole life savings are going to multiply three times.

But that's a Ponzi scheme. Why are you so negative? Well, that's not negative thinking, that's just being cautious, that's just being basic level intelligent. So when you talk about manifestation, it is not that there is no, that negative thinking itself is not always an obstacle for manifestation.

But the point is, we understand that thinking is also an energy, and we direct that energy. Okay, so for example, if I decide that I want to do, I want to write a book. And then I, it's like, almost any person I meet, any person who's achieved a little bit in life, they say, if I had time, I would write a book.

Now, of course, with AI, anybody can become a writer. AI is writing, and you can claim that you have written it. But the point is that writing, it requires not just to have ideas, you have to build a structure to the ideas, to deal with the logical flow and the logical flaw in the idea, there's so much process involved in writing.

But at least, okay, I had a thought, I want to write a book. From there, it becomes a desire. From that desire, it can become an intention.

And from the intention, it will move forward. So now, for that, I may have to visualize, okay, in six months, I'll complete this book. I visualize this at the end of six months, okay, this is a published book, the cover will be like this, and this is like this, and I'll, I'll be carrying this book, I'll show it to my friends, I will give talks based on it, you visualize it.

And that visualization is very empowering. Now, at the same time, while I'm visualizing this, I may also need to visualize, okay, I don't have so many other engagements, I don't have this much time, I don't have that much time, how I'm going to manage this. So visualization also involves dealing with other things, that's fair enough.

We will look at it. So when we visualize, it's like we go on a mental journey, from the thought to the manifestation of that thought. And the more we go on this mental journey, the more we become prepared for the physical journey, prepared for the challenges, prepared with the with the inspiration, the motivation.

So manifestation is where to go from this thoughts to the level of intentions. And then from intentions, actions will come. So, one last point to conclude now this, that when we are talking about manifestation, some of you might have mentioned about having the right frequency of thought, or there is surrender, dependence, divinity is involved.

So one problem that comes up is, we may think that whatever I desire, whatever I try to manifest, it will manifest. And I have seen people who sometimes they try very hard to manifest something, and then they are not able to manifest, they start beating themselves up for not being mentally strong enough, for being mentally too weak. Now that should not happen.

When we try to manifest something, I had explained this example earlier also, if there is a mountain, and there is an ocean, a river moves from the mountain towards the ocean. But some rivers might have a straight path, some rivers might have a more zigzag path. Some rivers might need a very roundabout path before they get to the ocean.

So many times, when we try to channel our visualization, our imagination to achieve something, to manifest something, if it does not manifest, rather than becoming discouraged, or bitter, or hopeless, you know, what we can try to see is, okay, this path things are not moving forward, but maybe they will move forward in a different way. So in manifestation, this is when we are trying to manifest, it's important that rather than being attached, attached is, this is the way it should manifest, or this is the thing that should manifest. So rather than being attached, it's important to be curious.

See, in one sense, attachment, it closes our mind. Because this is how things have to work. But curiosity opens our mind.

So it may turn out that this is for me, I'll talk about one of my books, how that journey worked out. And I'll conclude with this that one of my books, I've written many different, many different genres I have written till now. I've taken stories from the Vedic tradition, my tradition, and have tried to explain them the contemporary way.

I've written books, which are like contemporary conversations between two people who are discussing some spiritual themes. My specialization is in writing short articles, 300-400 word articles can be written in a few minutes. I've written more than about, I think 6000 articles, 7000 articles till now, like in that particular genre.

So structured books, where you start with one chapter, build a second chapter, third chapter, fourth chapter, that somehow, I'm not very, I don't have the patience to do that. That it just, it takes a bit amount of time for development and my brain works, not just fast, it works in too many different directions. So as a friend of mine said, you are very good at having ideas and getting the ideas to manifest, you're not very good at that.

So I said, you are very good at analyzing me. So, so one of my books, I don't think this book, Gita for the CEO, it is a book which is, a book which is flowing, it's not just, it is not a compilation of articles, not an anthology, it's a flowing book. So when I was writing this book, it's like, I can, I can start a project and if the project goes too long, I just want to move to something else.

So to push on, there is too much creativity and not enough persistence. If something happens quickly, great, if not, let's move to something else, it becomes like that. So when I was working on this book, I did two things which helped me and of course, each mind is individual and each one of us has to find what works for us.

So in writing, basically there are two strategies of writing. One is write thin and edit fat. The other is write fat and edit thin.

Now what does this mean? Write thin and edit fat means start with a structure. Okay, this is going to the first chapter, second chapter, third chapter, fourth chapter, you write thin and then each chapter we fill. So as you edit it, you make it fatter.

Write thin and edit fat. The other is write fat and edit thin. That means just get whatever is in your mind out.

Now you can write 20 pages and out of 20 pages, maybe two pages is good. The other we may discard, but at least those two pages are good. So now I have used both ways.

Now again, now going back to the manifestation, it is like first we manifest a very write thin and edit fat means that you first get a very clear vision of what you want to achieve. And then you fill in the details. Okay, I want to build a house, the house has to be like this, like this, like this.

So write thin and edit fat. So have a clear image of what you want to achieve and then fill in the details afterwards. The other is write fat and edit thin.

That means just get what is in the mind out. And then that okay, this does not fit in over here, this does not fit in over here, remove this, remove that, remove that. And then what remains you put it in a proper structure.

So what I found was, when I was trying to write a big book, I was trying with this write thin and edit fat approach. And it was just not working for me. Because what I was, if I start, okay, this is where I want to go.

But then as I'm going along the journey, I get some other idea and I get some other idea and get some other idea. If I don't follow that idea, I feel inhibited. I feel as if you know, I am not following the muse.

So then I decided to shift strategy. I decided I write fat and edit thin. That means rather than trying to focus my imagination on a specific idea of a book that I'll manifest that I will write basically, I thought that, okay, if this is the topic, like the presenting the Bhagavad Gita for the corporate world, that is a topic I want to address, how would I address it? So instead of write thin edit fat is basically like, okay, you if you're building a bridge, one break, one break, one break, or one plank, one plank, one plank, it's more linear.

You set up the planks and you strengthen them. But for me, what happened, write fat, edit thin was that Gita and corporate world, that was one theme. And I approach it from one perspective, another perspective, third perspective, fourth perspective.

Now like this, I had given probably in the last 20 years of my, when I have been teaching for 10 years, I was primarily studying. Last 20 years, I have probably given 100 talks on this topic in different places. So the best of the talks I took, and just put them together.

So what happened was, I didn't try to create a structure, just get the thoughts out. This is the theme that I'm tackling. And then when I got that out, it took some time.

And at that time, I didn't even know whether a book is going to manifest from it. But what happened through this is, because I was exploring different areas of thought. So I also, as I was feeling creatively also nourished, hey, this also is good, this also is good, this also is good.

And then after that, rather than trying to impose a structure, first have a structure and then like create the texture on the structure, I tried to see what in the content could fit in the structure. And what didn't fit, I put it aside for future books. I don't know whether I'll write those books.

But that way, it helped me a lot. When we are trying to manifest, each mind is unique. And we have to work with our mind.

So I have a friend who who's a very good writer, he's writing style is the right thing. And in fact, he has to have a structure. And then even if he writes a novel, he will have a summary of each chapter first.

And then he will build on that. I just for me that if I write a novel, I hope to write a novel still now. But it's like I want the story to emerge.

It's almost like the characters are there and the characters have a life of their own and I follow the character. So each person has a different mind. And by manifesting that's why rather than being attached, be curious.

Manifestation is not just an about it's not just about the delivery. Delivery is okay, this is what I had I was planning to do. I'll do this.

It is also about the discovery. It's that through the process of manifesting, we learn more about our own mind, we learn more about ourselves. And in the long run, through manifestation, what we achieve externally may not be as important as what we learn about ourselves.

You know how my mind works, how I can work with my mind. And in that sense, the divine aspect understanding that my my creativity, it's not just my creativity. There is some kind of higher energy that is manifesting through.

And let me be curious about it. That can actually make this much more of an adventure. Adventure not just of I like imposing my vision on reality, but I discovering the beauty of reality.

I think it is Michelangelo who said that, that whenever I make a sculpture, that it is actually the image is already there in the stone. I just remove the unnecessary parts. So it's a very beautiful way of looking at reality, that there is a divinity in reality, there is a higher plan that is working.

And there is a higher reality that wants to give us creativity, that wants to do beautiful, wonderful things through us. And when we have that curiosity or that openness, yes, my particular plan may not work. But curiosity can lead to creativity manifesting in a beautiful way, but may be different from what I. So that is the takeaway, what I wanted to give out creativity and curiosity.

I'll summarize what I discussed today about the topic of manifestation. I talked about three broad points based on the acronym MAP. M was the model.

Many of you gave some very valuable thoughts about what manifestation is about. I talked about model of realities. We talked about how in the Vedic context, there are three levels of reality.

There is the spiritual, the mental and the physical. And visualization is about what is at the spiritual level bring it to the physical level, what is at the mental level we bring it to the physical level. It is bringing to the physical level what is not there.

And then the worldview underlying it is that some people went to the idea that only physical is the real. Now, that is very incomplete vision. Some people go to the other side, only mental is real.

But no, the physical is also real. And we cannot just impose the mental and change the physical completely. Age is not just a number, it is also reality of the body.

So, all these three spiritual, mental and physical. If we consider these three levels of reality, and then we discuss the way these realities interact with each other. So, in the analysis part, I discussed the whole point about, we discuss thoughts, we get thoughts and we give thought.

That means some of the notifications that come pop ups that happen in our mind, we pay attention to them. That is an incremental process like a funnel. You may have many, many thoughts, some become desires, among them some become intentions.

So, manifestation is the process by which from thoughts, we go to desires, and then we finally go to intentions. Now, when we are doing this, this whole process is the process of manifestation. And manifestation is can be so inclusive, that it can include both positive thinking and negative thinking.

Because negative thinking is a problem when we cannot stop thinking negative. But negative thinking can also be a strength, if you understand and anticipate obstacles, and we prepare for those obstacles. So, it becomes a negative thing is a liability when it becomes a conditioning.

But if you understand this is a tool, can use it and then in the practical part, I talked about two main things is that, when we are trying to manifest reality, it is that we try not to be attached. Instead, we try to be curious. So, curious means attached is this is how this is what should happen and this is how it should happen.

Instead of that, be open, be curious. So, I talked about in writing that could be to these two styles, which I experienced, or which I experimented with that you what are the first one, write thin and then edit fat. So, that could mean in generic terms, that we started the specific vision, and then we start implementing the vision.

But the other could be write fat and edit thin. That means, let this be a process of exploration. That sometimes, it may not be that we will know exactly what is it that I should be manifesting.

So, we will say that, okay, some some people may just have some extraordinary talents, and for them, it is very clear, I want to become go to music, I want to go into sports, I want to go into maths. But most of us may not have one outstanding talent, which will be like a self evident calling or career for us. So, then for us, we have to explore.

So, we recognize that there is a mental energy which has power and we try to be open. So, then if we have if we couple creativity with curiosity, creativity is where I want to see what is what are the ideas that are coming within me? And what is it that I am inspired about? But instead of being feeling bad, if something we try to manifest does not manifest, we be open, what do I the curiosity, creativity can often lead to this outer change. This is outer improvement, outer achievement.

But curiosity can also lead to greater inner awareness, inner understanding. Who am I? How does my mind work? What is there at the core of my being? And this in the long run, may well be a greater asset for us through the journey of manifestation. Thank you very much.

Hare Krishna. Any questions or comments? I don't have. Yes, please.

Yes, please. Now, this is entirely about how my mind works. So, I think each of us has to find out what works for us.

So, I am a very verbal person. So, although I use drawings and but my drawings are more like they are conceptographic than artwork. You have to call.

So, it's like it's a more aid for thinking, aid for understanding rather than anything artistic or beautiful. So, I think primarily in words. So, some people may think more in images.

So, we all have to find out what activates our imagination naturally in a healthy way. So, for me, writing things down is very helpful. So, for example, I write down, okay, this is a topic on which I want to write a book or this is the topic I want to explore and learn.

Future, I would like to speak on this topic. So, just articulating that is very helpful for me. So, now for somebody else, it could be an image.

So, what activates our imagination, each one of us has to explore that. Once we have done that, because see, there is a difference between inspiration and motivation or not motivation, let me put it this way. Let's put like dedication or commitment.

These three are different words. See, inspiration is again what comes to us. Inspiration is when we get an idea.

Motivation often use it like motivational talks we attend. That means like somebody gives us energy. So, inspiration is when we get an idea.

Dedication is when we give ourselves to an idea. Like I want to commit myself to it. So, inspiration is fickle.

Inspiration may come, it may go. And if we rely on inspiration, you know, if we wait for inspiration, we will become waiters. Of course, sometimes some inspiration has to strike for us to actually be able to move forward.

But we cannot keep waiting for inspiration all the time. That's why during the times when the inspiration has come, if we can crystallize that inspiration some way, maybe write our emotions, if I get an idea, in previously whenever I would get an idea, I would just note the idea. But maybe after a week, I look at that idea, it just seems like okay.

Now, whenever I get an idea, I also try to note down briefly what excites me about the idea. Because then that idea, there's a rational aspect to the idea and there's an emotional component to it. So, that emotional component quite often dies down.

So, if we can note it down in some way, that's very helpful. And then it doesn't literally recreate the inspiration, but some of the emotional energy associated with the inspiration comes back to us. And so, that's the difference between inspiration and dedication.

So, I think when inspiration comes, catch it. Be grateful for it. But then each one of us has to find out how that inspiration can be converted to dedication.

Dedication is where I, as I said, I give myself to an idea. So, now, we may not always be able to do this for every idea that we get. But whatever we are able to do, then try to find it.

So, I would say that if I get some ideas for writing a book, I'll take the idea and I'll try to get the emotional component and then try to create some kind of pathway for us. Now, one trick I have found which is very helpful is to create some external commitment. Now, I am a, at least in India, I am a reasonably well-known author.

So, if I pitch a book to a publisher, the publisher agrees to it, then I get a deadline that I need to submit the book by that time. That can also help. Now, for everything, we can't have a deadline.

But in some ways, creating something outside of ourselves as a push for us, that is very helpful. So, in our life, there are some aspects which are mandatory. If we don't have a job and we don't have money, we have to get a job.

Otherwise, we may not have food to live with. But the creative aspects are not that mandatory. They may not be necessary for survival, but they are necessary for our satisfaction and fulfillment in our life.

So, that's why we need to create some external motivation. Life will not create those motivations automatically, motivators or motivations. So, having some friends who will push us can also help us.

But one thing that has helped me also is my spiritual practices. Because what happens to my, so in our tradition, we do the mantra chanting and we try to practice bhakti yoga. Through spiritual practices, the mind, I won't say it becomes completely calm, but all the disorderly churning that is going on in the mind, disorderliness that is going on in the mind, that decreases a little bit.

Or at least you can say when the mind starts becoming disorderly, I have tools to make the mind more orderly. And then that's how a lot of energies may get dissipated. So, let's say these are some tools, but I don't think there's a clear map.

Each one of us is an individual and each one of us has to find out how best we can work. I hope that helps you some way. It's interesting.

I have always been, I've always had curiosity, but I never had curiosity about my curiosity. Okay, I'll just speak to, it's not a very organized answer because I've not thought about this before. But two, three things.

It's that if I'm open to, like since one of my favorite quotes before I came to spirituality was also what Edison, he said when he tried to make a bulb, it didn't work. He said there are so many ways I learned how not to make a bulb or how a bulb does not work. That is also something we learn.

So, it's like I found that even in areas where something didn't work out the way I wanted, there was, there were, there was something of value to be gleaned from it. Now, so that curiosity, I think it's difficult to put aside. Like I said, I posted post curiosity.

The opposite of curiosity is attachment. So, what I meant by that is that we cannot be completely free from attachment in the sense that if something we have put our energy and emotion and try to do something, if it doesn't work, we'll feel disappointed. But life is not like a hundred meter sprint.

It's like a hundred mile marathon. And even if we fall back or fail disastrously in one lap, we can catch up later. So that again, that spirituality helps to give that long term vision of life.

And then that's why if there is one particular setback or failure, instead of getting completely overwhelmed by that, okay, this happened. Let me just take a step back and see what exactly happened, what I learned. So that's one thing that has helped me quite a bit.

The second thing is that keeping a journal and trying to look back at life. Sometimes at that, at that time, it may be difficult to analyze. But okay, whatever I am, if I'm feeling frustrated, I'm feeling irritated, whatever I'm feeling, just write it down.

No need to wallow in the emotion, but just articulate that emotion. And then maybe if you look at after one week, after one month, and okay, it's like, it's almost like there are times when I felt I'm looking at an incident from my life, and it's almost feel like a previous life. It's like, hey, this is me, but this is not me also.

It's fascinating to get a, to have a picture of our own mind in words. So I want to write a book on journaling. I have the title for the book, I don't know when it will manifest.

But the title I have is for in words, in words. So go in words, in words. So I find that just writing things down, even if we can't process it, even if it just, just note some things down, then that also feeds the capacity for curiosity.

Having some friends with whom we can talk, that's very helpful, but it's not easy to have them at that particular time. But if we have someone with whom we can have deep discussions, with one or two people that helps a lot. So thank you very much for your thoughtful participation.