Yogananda's Tips on How to Overcome Absentmindedness and Fillers

Nayaswami Parvati shares this profound inspiration during her Sunday Service talk at Ananda Village, January 1 2023. You can find the complete talk at here.

Paramhansa Yogananda described the problems of absent-mindedness and energy drain, and provided guidance on living more interiorly by reversing energy flow into the spine through techniques like meditation.

Transcript

The Problem of Absent-Mindedness and Energy Drain

Nayaswami Parvati:

Yogananda said the two most insidious things that we have, that we all have going on in our minds are absent-mindedness and fillers. He said taken one by one, you think, "No big deal, I'm a little absent-minded, or I have a little, you know, look at a magazine or whatever." But he said it is a drip process. The drip is throughout the day: drip, drip, drip of what happens because our minds, we allow it to wander.

We allow it to be absent-minded, and we just, "Oh, look out the window, and think, 'Oh, I wonder what's going on?'" And we remember things from the past, but there's no purpose to it. There's no purpose to it, and therefore it's subconscious, it's absent-mindedness. The mind is just wandering, and we allow it to do that, and it becomes a habit.

The other part, the fillers, are the things that we then do, but they don't do anything for us. We think, "Oh yeah, I'll look through this magazine," or "I'll get on the Internet," or, "I'll...," you know, we've all, we all do it. And I think these things are one of the things that we should really think about and understand how to deal with. Because we don't have just a magazine, or turning on the radio, or, you know, looking around, or whatever. We're interconnected and totally connected all the time.

And so I think for all of us, we really want to look at our lives and say, How can I live this life in a way...because he says these energy seepages matter over days, months, years, and for your entire life, and they really take away from your spiritual life. It's a real big problem.

Techniques for Living More Inward

So just keep in mind that those things are going on, and the answer to it, he said, "Live more interiorly." You know, take the time. And for all of us, in our time, we have to really be conscious about doing this, because it's so...it's all so interconnected. And it's all fine if you don't, [clears throat]  if you don't want a spiritual life. If you do want a spiritual life, then you need to take note of it. But he says, do things like: think about your spine during the day, chant AUM the chakras, ending up here at the spiritual eye.

In other words, and it's interesting, I was caught by looking at this because I thought...but that thought just went through my mind a few weeks ago, and it was, it was more than just a thought, it was, I thought, you need, and it was, "Live more in your spine, live more in your spine." And I thought, "Oh, okay!" I mean, I do that but it was saying it to me, "Live more in your spine." And I would pass that on to you, live more in your spine, you know. Do the things that allow you to become centered more. But why? Because it will give you the greatest happiness and fulfillment that we're all seeking. That's where it comes from.

And how Yogananda phrases it in this Rubaiyat, 31, is that... he said you reverse the energy flow in the nervous system from going outward into the senses, and you reverse it to its beginning of that nervous system and into the spine and brain. And so there's a lot to read there. I would recommend doing so and just to start to get a feel for how you can do this in a creative way in your own life.

Finding Balance in Modern Life

It's not meant to say, "Oh, well now we all need to just cut everything off and we're going to go into a cave and": not real... it's not real. But Yogananda knew that we would be living in this kind of a time, and it's a time when we need to deal with our outer realities and still maintain our spiritual life. And that's our challenge. That's our, that's what we've been given. So let's take it on dynamically and deal with it, because we have the tools to deal with it.

Yogananda described energy flow-wise. What to do? Reverse that flow, go to the beginning of the nervous system and move the energy inward into the spine and brain. So that's one part. But he also gave us, in addition, Kriya Yoga, Energization, AUM technique, Hong Sau— all the ways that we can actually have and engage in a spiritual life.

And so it's really important that we take note of these things that are mentioned specifically, and that can make such a big difference in our lives. That's our, that's our challenge, and it is for our greatest fulfillment and happiness. And along the way, I'm building this up because I don't want to leave you with, "Well, now we need to do this and this and this," but along the way, you will also receive the benefits from this.