Monkeys on the mind?

Q.: Whenever I open my book to study, my thoughts go somewhere else, to some girl I saw in the bus, or something I saw on the road. I want to study, but I am constantly distracted. Is this okay or is it wrong?

Sadhguru: Naturally, whatever you are interested in, that is what you will think about. There is nothing okay or wrong about it. Your problem is just that when you are doing this, your mind is there. When you are supposed to be there, you are thinking of this. Anybody who is not in the place where he is supposed to be, is wasting his life.

So, you must have the intelligence to see. You saw the girl and maybe it gives you some pleasure, that is fine, but why are you carrying her home? It is not necessary. But you cannot help it because you are at a certain age, so it is happening. If you say, “I do not want to think about it,” only that will happen.
Once upon a time, a man wanted to acquire supernatural powers. He went from guru to guru but nobody was willing to entertain him. Then somebody told him, “See, Indian gurus are too conservative. Go to Tibet. There is an old Buddhist monk there who is willing to share his powers with you.” Our man immediately set forth on a journey to Tibet.

He crossed the Himalayas and reached the Tibetan monastery. If you go to a Buddhist monastery, nobody asks you who you are. Not because they don’t care for you, but because for them, their whole life’s work is just to find out “Who am I?” So, a new person has come but they don’t want to embarrass him with “Who are you?”

If you do not ask him “Who are you,” the next question is “Where do you come from?” Do you know where you come from? Right now, you came from your office, home or whatever, but do you really know where you come from? You don’t know where you come from, you don’t know where you will go, but these few years you are here and very busy. So, they don’t want to embarrass him with this question either. There isn’t much room for conversation, so they didn’t talk to him. This was a very strange situation for our man from India.
Nobody even asked him come and eat. Lunch means there is a bell, if you want, you can go and eat.

If you are not eating, that is also hugely respected because fasting is an important part of Buddhist life. Our man struggled in this strange situation. One day, two days, three days... when hunger overtook him, he went and ate, otherwise he just hung on. Three weeks passed. Then the old monk called him. He knew why the man had come. He said, “What will you do walking upon water? The first three days when you go and walk on Hussain Sagar, there will be a crowd. After that they will say, ‘He is there, he is a water walker.’ Anyway, after three days you will seek a boat. So, what will you do with these fancy things? I will teach you the way of meditation. With this you can live a fulfilling life.” But our man said, “Nothing doing. I want supernatural powers.”

Then, the monk said, “Okay. Tomorrow morning at 4 o’clock, have a cold-water bath and come here.” That’s not Andhra, that’s Tibet. Temperatures are always in minus. But he had a cold-water bath, turned half-blue, and went and sat before the monk. The monk said, “I will teach you three secret mantras – Buddham Charanam Gatchami, Dhammam Charanam Gatchami, and Sangam Charanam Gatchami. If you utter these three mantras three times, all the supernatural will be yours. The only thing is, when you are uttering the mantras, do not think about monkeys.”

Our man came out of the monastery jumping with joy. “That foolish monk revealed all the secrets. He did not even ask for Guru Dakshina. And he tells me not to think about monkeys. Why will I think about monkeys? I have not seen a monkey in the last ten years.” Like this, thinking about monkeys, he walked all the way back home. 

He came home, had a cold-water bath and sat down. “Buddham” – monkey! He had another cold-water bath and again sat. “Buddham” – monkey! If he just says, “Bu,” monkey comes. In one week of intense practice, he reached a stage where he doesn’t have to do anything – he is thinking of monkeys all the time. Tormented like this, he walked all the way back to Tibet and said to the monk, “I don’t want your supernatural powers. Somehow relieve me of these monkeys first.”

This is the nature of your mind. The moment you say “I don’t want something,” that is exactly what your mind will do. So, there is no need to struggle with it. You saw something and it is there in the background of your mind, but you do what you have to do right now. If you get very involved with something, all the other things disappear. If you do not involve yourself in anything and try to remove something from your mind, you can never remove it; it will become a fulltime occupation.