How to Remove Negative Thoughts? Sadhguru Answers

Sadhguru: There are no subtractions and 
divisions in our mind, there is only addition  and multiplication. ‘I will just remove negative 
thoughts and I will have positive thoughts,’  all the best, it’s not going to work. It’s just 
that you need to pay little attention as to how  it functions. You will see there is a distinction 
between what is you and what you have gathered. Well, see the way the question is asked and also 
the way normally it’s addressed is, people think  there is something called as negative thought and 
positive thought. They want to remove the negative  thoughts and have only positive thoughts. For 
such people, I would ask them to just experiment  for ten, fifteen seconds. Let them forcefully 
remove one thought from their mind. For example,  next ten seconds, just don’t think of 
a monkey. Try not to think of a monkey  for next ten seconds – you will see, you will 
be full of monkeys. So, what I am saying is,  this is the nature of your mind, because 
in this mind, all the three pedals are  throttle – there is no brake, there is no clutch 
– whatever you touch, it will only go faster. In this kind of mind, people have been taught 
from moral teachers and religious teachers,  “Do not think about bad things. ” Well, 
since then, it’s been a full-time job.   So, there is no way you can handle the mind like 
this, this doesn’t need any great enlightenment.   If you spend two minutes with your eyes 
closed, you will realize, you cannot do  anything forcefully with this mind. So, ‘I want to 
remove negative thoughts,’ do not ever go in this  direction, because what you want to remove will 
become your quality, always you will be on it.   “So, what should I do?” The thing is this – 
without understanding the fundamental mechanism of  this mind, because our mind, human mind is the 
most sophet… sophisticated computer on the planet.   Even all the supercomputers have come out of this.   When this is the case, is it not important that 
we understand the mechanics of how it functions?One simplistic aspect of how 
it functions is – there are no  subtractions and divisions in our mind, there 
is only addition and multiplication. If you try  to do something with it, it will say, “One more. ” 
If you try hard, it will multiply into many more.   In this mind, you don’t try to identify what is 
positive, what is negative and try to remove it.   First of all, one needs to understand, this 
mind of yours, this body of yours is supposed  to serve you. The life that you are is important.  
Body and mind are vehicles that must serve us. If you sit in a vehicle, it must go , 
where you want to go. If it goes to its own  destination, what is the point of such a 
vehicle? It’s just a nuisance. Right now,  most human beings are unfortunately, experiencing 
this fantastic possibility of human mind  as a nuisance, as a troublesome thing. Well, 
this is the most beautiful thing you have.   It’s just that you need to pay little attention 
as to how it functions. One simple thing is this –  first and foremost process is… that’s why 
we put out this process called ‘Isha Kriya. ’  This is to distance yourself from your 
physiological and psychological process.   There is something called as, “You” which exists.  
This is not a composite of all your thoughts and  emotions and physiological processes. Beyond 
that, there is you. If you close your eyes,  even if you cannot see anything, you’re still 
there. It is through the window of your eyes  that you are looking out, but if you close your 
eyes, it doesn’t mean that you don’t exist,  you still exist. So, beyond your thought you 
still exist, beyond your emotion you still  exist, so that you, the life that you are, 
this has to come into your experience. Why is it that you’re not allowing 
that to come into your experience,  which is the most significant aspect of who you 
are? Who you are right now, the most significant  aspect is – you and me are alive right now, 
this is it. ‘What I’m thinking, what you’re  thinking’ is not the important thing. We are 
alive right now, that is the important thing.   So, it is important that you focus on this 
fundamental sense of aliveness within you,  and then you will see there is a natural 
distance between you and your thought process. Once there is a distance between your 
psychological process and your physiological  process, this is the end of suffering. Because 
there are only two kinds of suffering that human  beings go through – physical suffering and mental 
suffering. Once you create a little space between  you and your mind, between you and your body, this 
is the end of suffering. This is something every  human being has to experience and know, otherwise 
thinking, “I will just remove negative thoughts  and I will have positive thoughts,” all the 
best, it’s not going to work. One hundred percent  it’s not going to work, because nobody can 
remove it, they can avoid it for some time. So, when negative thoughts come, you say, 
“Ram, Ram, Shiva, Shiva,” whatever you want,  but this is just avoiding, it’s not gone. The 
moment you stop that, it will pop back with  great force, otherwise it will come back in your 
dreams. So, it’s very important. First of all, you  need to understand – your anger, your resentment, 
your fear, your anxieties, the negativity that  you generate; generally resentment, anger, 
it is always directed towards somebody.   But we need to understand this is poisons that we 
are drinking and expecting somebody else to die. Fortunately, life doesn’t work like 
that. If I drink poison, I die.   If I drink poison, you don’t die. So, we need to 
understand this. When I say, “Poison” – today,  you can have yourself chemically analyzed. Right 
now, ‘what is your blood work?’ What it says,  five minutes of intense anger, check your blood 
work and see, there will be lots of negative  elements in it. Literally, you’re poisoning 
yourself. So, do you want to poison yourself?  Definitely not. Now the very question is coming 
from certain helplessness, ‘What shall I do?’Don’t do anything. Just sit back and just concern 
yourself with something which is the life process,  maybe your heartbeat, maybe your breath, 
maybe just the sensation of being alive.   Depending upon how sensitive or how perceptive 
you are, accordingly, find something, it could  be a sensation in the body, it could be breath, 
it could be heartbeat, it could be anything,  something which indicates life to you. Just pay 
attention to that for some time. Slowly, you will  see there is a distinction between what is you and 
what you have gathered, which includes both your  physiological and psychological possibility 
or mess, whatever you’ve made out of it.