How do we form our personalities?

“The things that a person thinks will also affect his personality”

Thoughts are very whimsical. Thoughts also leave an impression on the mind, whether good or bad. The things that a person thinks will also affect his personality. If someone is thinking of beauty, if a person is constantly reflecting on beauty, it is quite natural that it will also make his personality more beautiful. If someone is thinking about God, about the divine, and his thoughts revolve around this, it is natural that his life will become filled with the divine. If someone is thinking about truth it is natural that truth will become part of him. In this context I would like to ask you to reflect on the things which are constantly on your mind. What do you think about all the time? Most of you are either thinking about money, sex or power.

So much depends on what you think about all the time. If you are constantly thinking of money and you are trying to meditate, then you are moving in two opposing directions. It is just as if you were to tie two buffalos, one on each end of a cart. The cart will break in two with the force of the buffalos pulling in opposite directions, and it will not move forward. If your thoughts are pure then you will find that there will be immense changes in even your smallest acts. Life is not made of great deeds, it is made up of small things. How you get up, how you sit, how you talk, what you say – much depends on this. And the main source from where all this action emerges is the mind. So your thoughts should be oriented towards truth, goodness and beauty. Let there be a constant remembrance of truth in your life. Whenever you find time, reflect on truth, reflect on goodness and on beauty. And whenever you are about to do something, before you begin, think for a moment whether what you are about to do will be in harmony with truth, goodness and beauty or against them. If there are thoughts in your mind, consider whether this flow of thoughts is conducive to truth, to goodness and to beauty. If it is the opposite, then stop these thoughts immediately, don’t encourage them. They will be harmful to you, they will pull you down and ruin your life. So be aware of the kinds of thoughts that are running through your head and with courage, effort, perseverance and determination divert them towards purity and truth. Many times you will feel that you don’t even know what the truth is. Many times you will think that you don’t even know what goodness is. It is possible that you may not be able to decide, but at least you have thought about it and have tried to find out. This in itself is good and will bring about changes in you. And someone who is continuously reflecting will slowly, slowly realize that he knows what truth and what goodness is. Before every thought, every word and every act, stop for a moment. There is no hurry. See what you are about to do, what its result will be. What does it tell you? What will happen as a result of it? It is very important for a seeker to think this way. So the first thing about the basic purification of thought is to observe what the central focus of your thoughts is. If you don’t focus in any one of the ways that I am talking about, then it will be helpful for you to develop this practice.

You will be surprised to know that of the three aspects truth, goodness, beauty – if even one is active in you then the other two will also automatically become active. And I should mention to you that there are three types of people. One type has a possibility for a quick awakening of the truth aspect, the second type has a possibility for a quick blossoming of the aspect of goodness and the third type has a possibility for a quick blossoming of the aspect of beauty. For each of you there will be one dominant aspect, but if even one aspect becomes active then the other two will automatically become active. If a person is a lover of beauty he will not be a liar because lying is such an ugly thing. If a person is a lover of beauty he will not be able to do any wrong because it is so ugly to do any wrong. This means that he will not be able to steal because stealing is so ugly. So if he is totally devoted to beauty, much can become possible because of it.

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