Things that influence our thoughts

83% of the knowledge we receive is through our eyes, 11% of the knowledge we receive is through our ears and only 6% of the knowledge is received through tongue, nose and skin. Therefore, it is clear which are the two senses we need complete control over. The pair of eyes has considerable influence in our life and similarly what we hear also influences our decision fairly significantly. Therefore, if we are planning to follow disciplines in our lives and build character, it is very important we regulate the two important senses namely eyes and ears. In using both these senses, focus becomes extremely essential. Unless we pay attention to what is happening right in front of our eyes, we can’t visualize and if we don’t pay attention by hearing carefully, we will not be able to digest the knowledge. Audio-visual media plays a very significant role in our life and let us look at a few life changing influences.

Television - This is a very powerful audio-visual medium that was introduced in the last century. Ever since it was introduced, it has a considerable influence in the life of many including children. Cartoons have the effect of positively or negatively changing the mindset of children. The adults watch several other shows including reality shows, mega serials, audio-visual news, game shows, sports, movies, etc. Most importantly, it takes away a lot of time away from the adults and prevents them from doing other activities and interacting with the spouse and children in their spare time after work. But there are some very rich content that significantly enhances the knowledge as well.

Movies – This media is moving towards reality for the past several years but no one can still say that it is completely out of exaggeration. We still see the hero and heroines run around the trees and singing a song, very violent action made by the hero against multiple villains, hero becoming a rich man just because he challenged someone else (effort part is not emphasized or not communicated), a rich girl marrying a poor man and vice versa and so on. There are some movies that convey wonderful messages as always is the case with every audio-visual media.

Internet – Now we have access to the internet through our desktop, laptop, iPad, smart phones and other gadgets. This instant access results in our ability to gain knowledge 24/7 if we so desire. But it also poses a danger of many of us getting addicted to the use of those gadgets and wasting our time on unnecessary websites that are neither useful to build character nor provides a rich knowledge. Nowadays, it is rare to see youngsters speaking over phone and they do texting all the time. The parents never get the knowledge of what is being texted to their friends.

Books, Magazines & Newspapers – These are now mostly moving into the digital media as people are losing their patience to read them. The activities of newer generation are many fold and they don’t have enough time in a day to the activities earlier generation did systematically to gain knowledge. Even today, many parents spend time with their children by reading books for them which is a very healthy practice. Reading is a very important habit and it develops our attention span. When we read it in digital media, the tendency is to switch to other communication needs. For example, if someone is reading a text in their computer, if an email comes in, they see a popup and immediately switch to that which reduces the concentration. The earlier generation used to get rich knowledge from holy books.

Speeches and Music – The motivational speeches and learning the teachings in the Vedas from knowledgeable people used to be a great way people used to gain knowledge. Even today, new generation speakers like Visaka Hari are providing rich content of knowledge. Listening to soothing music while we meditate, commence our sleep, exercise or on severe stress, etc. have profound impact in our mind.

Life Visuals – On our day to day activities, we see and hear so many different things including a conversation with a friend, parent, relative, professor and a teacher or watch a bird, insect, pet and an infant and each one of those actions in the nature will provide plenty of information to us.

But all of the above actions are only to receive information. The most important part is our ability to contemplate on such audio visuals, interpret, analyze and conclude the lessons. This part is done by the analytical mind and more we develop that ability, higher the knowledge we get. The recent scientific studies indicate even our visual is not a direct vision of the objects but it is the mind that interprets the visual in comparison with previous visuals and make us see the object. That is why what we see sometimes differ from what others see in this world. Therefore, it is all the more important to develop the analytical skills of our mind. Most importantly, the development of inner vision to watch, analyze and interpret our own thoughts, words and actions significantly influence our habits.

Life is full of choices. Similarly, our habits of receiving, reacting and responding, three essential elements in our audio-visual world, determine how we shape up in our life with wonderful character. We have to watch our thoughts as they become words, we have to watch our words as they become actions, we have to watch our actions as they become habits, we have to watch our habits as it becomes our character and we have to watch our character as it becomes our destiny.

 

Dear Akila,

Thank you for your kind feedback and your comments made me smile very early in the morning. Thank you for stepping in.


Viswa

 

Dear Pallavi,

Thank you for your wonderful feedback. Your visit regularly to my blogs makes me so happy. Reading is a very important habit that has many fold benefits. I am glad your dad trained you to do that. My son reads a lot thanks to my wife. Many of the science fictions and great spiritual books were recommended to me by him. He buys books he likes every month from Barnes & Nobles. I read books like "Holographic Universe", "Einstein's Enigma", "The Biology of Belief", "Nano Technology of the Mind over Matter", "Anastasia" and many others because he liked them.

Viswa

 

Dear Honeybee,

Thank you for your valuable comments. My wife spends a lot of time chanting slokas every day. This habit she had developed also because of her background with her grandparents and parents. Discourses fascinate me even today. As a young boy, I used to enjoy the discourses of Anandarama Dikshadar, Kripananda Varirar, Pulavar Keeran and many others. Even now Visaka Hari's discourses makes me feel very emotional.

I am so happy to hear that you practice all the things your parents and grandparents did even today. I am also very glad to hear that the spiritual discourses shaped your life. That is a very strong foundation and the distance you travel spiritually will pass so easily for you. My best wishes.

With kind regards

Viswa

 

Dear Suryakala,

Thank you for your wonderful feedback. As you rightly said speech should be mostly for sharing knowledge or to clear our doubts, spread the message of love and for Namasmarana to the extent possible. All other efforts are wasted energy.

Viswa