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I am more inclined towards Advaita which says that for any person pursuing freedom, these qualities are necessary:
So my question set is,
Everything depends on your practice. The more you practice control over the senses the less negative thoughts will be affecting you.
In the Bhagavad Gita also, when Arjuna says that stopping mind is as difficult as stopping wind, Krishna says by practice you can stop it.
6.34 For, O Krsna, the mind is unsteady, turbulent, strong and obstinate. I consider its control to be as greatly difficult as of the wind.
6.35 The Blessed Lord said O mighty-armed one, undoubtedly the mind is untractable and restless. But, O son of Kunti, it is brought under control through practice and detachment.
It means that by practice you can gradually attain anything you desire. Regarding storage of thoughts, I don't think they are stored physically. Because if they are, they will die along with you when you leave the body. But that is not the case. You carry your behavior from one birth to another.
All the emotions are temporary born of senses and ignorance giving only temporary pleasures and their root is self and they stop when one identifies the real self. When body itself is temporary than how can its relatives, emotions, pleasures, ego could be permanent? Subtle, causal, gross body, mind etc., all are sock puppets of One Self Purusha separated by one's ego born from Prakriti Maya and dont exist in reality without the Supersoul Purusha. Entire Creation is made from infinite Omnipresent single consciousness Sat Chit Ananda Parbrahman, source of true bliss, hence only One exists.
“Everybody complains of the restlessness of the mind. Let the mind be found and then they will know. True, when a man sits down to meditate thoughts rush up by dozens. The mind is only a bundle of thoughts. The attempt to push through the barrage of thoughts is unsuccessful. If one can by any means abide in the Self it is good. For those who are unable to do so, chanting or meditation (Japa or dhyana) is prescribed. It is like giving a piece of chain to an elephant to hold in its trunk. The trunk of the elephant is usually restless. It puts it out in all directions when taken out in the streets of the town. If given a chain to carry the restlessness is checked. Similarly with the restless mind. If made to engage in japa or dhyana, other thoughts are warded off: and the mind concentrates on a single thought. It thus becomes peaceful. It does not mean that peace is gained without a prolonged struggle. The other thoughts must be fought out. Mind is accustomed to stray outward by the force of the latent vasanas manifesting as thoughts. So long as there are vasanas contained within they must come out and exhaust themselves. The thoughts comprise the mind. Searching what the mind is, the thoughts will recoil and the seeker will know that they arise from the Self. It is the aggregate of these thoughts that we call ‘mind’. If one realises that the thoughts arise from the Self and abide in their source, the mind will disappear. After the mind ceases to exist and bliss of peace has been realised, one will find it then as difficult to bring out a thought, as he now finds it difficult to keep out all thoughts.
The bliss of peace is too good to be disturbed. A man fast asleep hates to be awakened and ordered to mind his business. The bliss of sleep is too enthralling to be sacrificed to the work born of thoughts. The thought-free state is one’s primal state and full of bliss. Is it not miserable to leave such a state for the thought-ridden and unhappy one?
If one wants to abide in the thought-free state, a struggle is inevitable. One must fight one’s way through before regaining one’s original primal state. If one succeeds in the fight and reaches the goal, the enemy, namely the thoughts, will all subside in the Self and disappear entirely. The thoughts are the enemy. They amount to the creation of the Universe. In their absence there is neither the world nor God the Creator. The Bliss of the Self is the single Being only.
This is explained in Geeta as well
Bhagavad Gita 6.2 What is known as sanyās is non-different from Yog, for none become yogis without renouncing worldly desires.
Bhagavad Gita 6.3 To the soul who is aspiring for perfection in Yog, work without attachment is said to be the means; to the sage who is already elevated in Yog, tranquility in meditation is said to be the means.
Bhagavad Gita 6.4 When one is neither attached to sense objects nor to actions, that person is said to be elevated in the science of Yog, for having renounced all desires for the fruits of actions.
Bhagavad Gita 6.5 Elevate yourself through the power of your mind, and not degrade yourself, for the mind can be the friend and also the enemy of the self.
Bhagavad Gita 6.6 For those who have conquered the mind, it is their friend. For those who have failed to do so, the mind works like an enemy.
Bhagavad Gita 6.7 The yogis who have conquered the mind rise above the dualities of cold and heat, joy and sorrow, honor and dishonor. Such yogis remain peaceful and steadfast in their devotion to God.
Bhagavad Gita 6.8 The yogi who are satisfied by knowledge and discrimination, and have conquered their senses, remain undisturbed in all circumstances. They see everything—dirt, stones, and gold—as the same.
Bhagavad Gita 6.9 The yogis look upon all—well-wishers, friends, foes, the pious, and the sinners—with an impartial intellect. The yogi who is of equal intellect toward friend, companion, and foe, neutral among enemies and relatives, and impartial between the righteous and sinful, is considered to be distinguished among humans.
"For man, mind is the cause of bondage and mind is the cause of liberation. Mind absorbed in sense objects is the cause of bondage, and mind detached from the sense objects is the cause of liberation." (Amṛta-bindu Upaniṣad 2)
Yes they do stop! They are stored in the mind which is just a bundle of desires and fears On knowing the rope is not the snake, fear vanishes completely. Similarly on fixing mind on THAT, our mind will be freed from ignorance. Knowledge of Truth and faith in it is enough to uproot the ignorance of you being 'Jai' and the moment that happens you will laugh at your desires and fears you had entertained. Learn to laugh at your ignorance of you assuming yourself to be a limited human being. Remind yourself that you remain the dreamer of this dream and you will be freed from shad vargas. Tough but the direct way to SELF
