Hindu monk, entrepreneur and motivational speaker, Dandapani, using language that is simple and employing a style that is easy on the eye, elucidates the importance of always maintaining focus, and the means to accomplish the same, in his book, The Power of Unwavering Focus. Taking recourse to a wealth of experience gathered during his tenure as a monastic, Dandapani offers a new and reflective way to fathom the operations of the mind and the key role played by the attribute of awareness in enhancing and embellishing the workings of the mind.
Contrary to received wisdom, Dandapani postulates that the mind is always static. The “monkey” mind is not an agitated and an unsettled mirror image of a primate after all. It is in fact, awareness that travels to various regions of/areas in the mind. “Where awareness goes, energy flows” (a quote attributed to Dandapani’s master, referred to throughout the book as Gurudeva). The areas inhabited by awareness in the mind are touched by energy which in turn leads to a manifestation of the emotions attributable to such areas, first on a mental plane, and finally in an identical fashion, on a physical plane.
For example, if awareness travels to the region of the mind populated by anger, then energy flows to the region and anger is manifested in a physical form either verbally or physically. Hence the secret is to direct awareness to those regions where it is most beneficial and to those spheres where the influence of energy would be most desirable. In the vast garden that is the mind, one must be careful to water only the plants that grow while at the same time pruning the weeds that could cause distress.
How does one ‘direct’ awareness to the proper spheres in the mind? Is this an act that is within the conscious grasp of a twenty first century human being whose constant and faithful companion is distraction? For Dandapani the answer is a resounding yes! According to the author, there are two formidable weapons using which we can control, guide and direct awareness to the most appropriate regions of the mind.
Will power and concentration are allies in the endeavour to harness the power of awareness. Will power is finishing what one has begun to do, finishing it much better than anticipated and doing a wee bit more than what one originally set out to do. Dandapani illustrates this concept with various practical examples, which even though seemingly mundane, act as steppingstones to further will power to higher degrees.
Making one’s bed in the morning is one such example. Instead of just making it up in a cursory manner, if one was to take a little more effort to dust the pillows, arrange them in the right order and perhaps curl up the ends of the bed a la a hotel, this practice becomes a habit that fosters and furthers the act of honing one’s will power in various other areas.
Similarly, Dandapani also offers certain exercises to perfect the art of concentration. These are small, scalable and sensible steps whose progress can also be monitored in a sustained manner. Along with will power, concentration facilitates the maintenance of focus to a predominant degree which in turn enables the channeling of awareness in the right direction and towards the right path.
“The Power of Unwavering Focus” – a reflective journey into the subconscious.
