Management of Thought, Breath & Time

Direct Questions From the Book – The Path Divine – Pages 124-140

1. Give three definitions for excellence
   Ans: Excellence is not doing extra-ordinary things, But Excellence is doing ordinary things extra-ordinarily well. Excellence is not doing one thing 100% better, But Excellence is doing 1000 things 1% better.Excellence is not competition with others but competition with oneself.
2. Who said this?
   “In the glare of footlights, wherever you put a fool on stage, he may rise upto the occasion but it is only in the small insignificant things of life, that greatness is exhibited”
   Ans: Swami Vivekananda
3. It is said that _______ leads to perfection, but perfection itself is no ________.

   Ans: Trifles, trifle

4. Balvikas is the spirit of _____________ in oneself.

   Ans: Excellence

5. Complete the sentence: The secret of success and happiness lies on achieving __________

   Ans: Something that others thought we couldn’t do and we too probably thought we couldn’t do, but we are able to do it because of the divine grace acting as catalyst.

6. ____________________ is the very framework of existence.

   Ans: Time

7. To get the output of ______________ in our life, we need the inputs of _________,________ and __________ and the process involved is ____________.

   Ans: Excellence, thoughts, breath and time; Management

8. Definition of management

   Ans: Management is the art and science of optimization.

9. What does optimization mean?

   Ans: Optimization means that when you have many possibilities, you choose them in a certain manner and use the scarce resources in such a way that your best interests are served.

10. Define thought.

    Ans: Thought is a spark of energy.

11. What is mind?

    Ans: When sparks of energy come together, if forms a desire and when a number of these desires come together, they form the mind

12. What is called control of mind? How do we achieve it? Explain using handkerchief?

    Ans: The ability to have the mind in your body, under your control is what is called as control of mind. It is achieved by controlling our thoughts. Example: handkerchief
    If you want a clean handkerchief, if you want it to be white, washing with only a special kind of detergent will not help, spinning will not help. What is essential to restore its whiteness is the quality of cotton. Where there are no waste components in the cotton, quality of cotton is controlled and the handkerchief will be good. And it will be white. In the same way, the control of the quality of your thoughts and your mind is taken care of.

13. What is speed of our thoughts?

    Ans: Infinite

14. What travels faster than wind?

    Ans: The mind of man.

15. What is more numerous than all the blades of grass put together in this world?

    Ans: The number of thoughts in the mind of man at any part of time is numerous than all the blades of grass put together in this world.

16. 1Define silence.

    Ans: Silence= SAI+LENS

17. During silent sitting, __________ of the mind is reduced.

    Ans: Chattering

18. Define intuition.

    Ans: When we reduce the speed of thought to the speed of light, it produces illumination within. This is called as intuition.

19. What is self audit?

    Ans: Self audit is a daily affair where in everyday before we go to sleep, we must sit down and ask ourselves what we did during the day. We must ask ourselves whether we contradicted Bhagawan’s message, whether we committed the breach of Dharma. We should then pray to God that we should not lose again and again.

20. ______________ and ___________ will lead to management of thoughts.

    Ans: Silent Sitting and Self Audit

21. ___________ is manifestation of Brahman.

    Ans: Breath

22. Define Breathing.

    Ans: Breathing is a biological process that involves inhalation, retention and exhalation of air.,/p>

23. a. Slower the breath, longer the ___________. b. More rhythmic the breath, more there is __________.

    Ans: a) Lifetime, b) peace

    1. When something is not in a continuous rhythm, it is called ____________
    2. When something is in a continuous rhythm, it is called _______________
    3. In order to be able to manage breath and have peace, we need to be in _____
    4. __________ is the symbol of peace
    5. Whenever there is peace, there is _________ and whenever there is _______ there is peace.

    Ans:

    1. Cacophony
    2. Symphony
    3. Rhythm
    4. Rhythm
    5. Rhythm, Rhythm
24. What is Baba’s prescription for attaining rhythm?

    Ans: Namasmarana and listening to music

25. Baba says “A person who says he has no time ________________________

    Ans: is the biggest fool on this earth.

26. When we say we do not have time, it really means that we do not have ______ space. To create space, we must follow ________ and we must ensure that there is _____________.
    Ans: Mental space, nine point code of conduct, ceiling on desires
27. Desires are of ____ kinds and we should put a _________ on these desires.

    Ans: Four, ceiling

28. What are the desires on which ceiling must be placed, according to Baba

    Ans: Time, Food, Money, Energy, Knowledge

29. If our mind is controlled our __________ intake will go down.
    Ans: food
30. “More people die of overeating than starvation” – Who said this?
    Ans: American Economist John Kenneth Galbraith
31. ___________ is God and it is placed with us as a trust.

    Ans: Money

32. Who evolved the 6/4 technique? Explain it briefly.

    Ans: John Hislop evolved the 6/4 technique
    Whenever we read a good thing, we should note it down in a paper of a fixed size (say 6*4). Whenever we are upset or when things go wrong or when we feel troubled, we can pick up one paper from the pack and we will find a solution.

33. Enemy no.1 of time is _________.

    Ans: Anger

34. The greater our ________, the more the ________ of time. (vice versa)

    Ans: Anger, mismanagement

35. If we lose our temper, how do we come out of it?

    Ans:

    1. drink a glass of water at room temperature.
    2. Walk away from the place where you lost your temper
    3. Lie down
    4. Look at yourself in the mirror
36. Negative energy can travel only on a ___ plane and not on a _____ plane.

    Ans: Vertical, horizontal

37. 80% of our character, attitude and personality are formed between age groups of ____

    Ans: 6-14

Adapted from Sri Sathya Sai Balvikas Quiz Bank, Group III by past Balvikas Students of Tamilnadu