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From the start of this century, there

have been two topics that have attract-

ed attention in the media as well as in

books. They are terrorism, and positive

thinking and living.

Although both are 180 degrees from

each other, there is an inherent correlation

between both, which I will point out later.

Presently my focus is on positive thinking,

which leads to positive living.

Positive thinking entered the mainstream

in India from 2003 onwards on account of

one book, which has gained massive popu-

larity and created a shift in anyone who has

had the opportunity to read it. The book

is The Secret, written by Rhonda Byrne. A

phenomenal best-seller everywhere in the

world, it brought even those not acquainted

with spiritual truth to the notice of the fun-

damental laws that govern the universe, and

that determine our health, happiness and

success. Indeed, even before the book was

made, came the video, a powerful and effec-

tive piece of communication that made its

message accessible even to those not given

to reading books. In addition, the video

was recently translated into Hindi, and

is readily available at leading music stores

and bookshops, enabling it to penetrate

deep into the minds of Everyman.

The basic premise of positive thinking

revolves around thought. It arises from the

understanding that ‘thoughts are made of

energy (matter).’ This revolutionary insight

has also been scientifically proved with the

help of sensitive instruments such as EEG

and MRI, that have traced the impact of

thoughts on our mental and physical being

revalues around.

Positive thinking in its modern avatar

(i.e. freed from religious beliefs or practices)

got its start in America during the Great

Depression. The stock market crash of

1929 led to the worst financial crisis of the

twentieth century. People lost their life sav-

ings, businesses closed, and unemployment

rose to 25 per cent. In the middle of the

Depression, two classic books on positive

thinking promised to change everything:

How to Win Friends and Influence People

(1936) by Dale Carnegie, and Napoleon

Hill’s all-time classic, Think and Grow Rich.

Dale Carnegie’s book focused on humani-

tarian ways of dealing with people in

the industrial age, but it was Hill’s book,

Think and Grow Rich which truly focused

on the concept of positive thinking and the

power of thought.

It can easily be said that the initial footing

or base that popularised the concept of pos-

itive thinking and the power of thought, was

provided by Napoleon Hill. It is said that in

the days of the Depression, every business-

man, especially the leaders of corporations,

carried Hill’s book, and distributed copies

to his employees to boost their morale.

Though Napoleon Hill was one of the key

influences, positive thinking as a concept

goes even further back, promoted by several

authors, previously obscure, but enjoying a

the secret has popularized the concept of positive thinking

all over the world, including india. where did it originate

from and what are the guiding principles that will enable

us to determine our own destiny?

by Dilpreet Singh

revival of interest currently in the wake of

The Secret’s overwhelming popularity.

Early exponentsJames Allen was one of the early authors of

the 19th century whose famous contribu-

tion to the world of Thought and Success

was his book, As a Man Thinketh, which was

published in the early 1900s. The essence of

the book was that ‘a man is literally what

he thinks, his character being the complete

sum of all his thoughts. As the plant springs

from, and could not be without, the seed,

so every act of a man springs from the hid-

den seeds of thought, and could not have

appeared without them.’

As a Man Thinketh, is written in old style

English, and it may take some time to absorb

its message, but patience will pay.

The Science of Getting Rich, by Wallace

Delois Wattles, is a classic that remains in

the forefront of motivation and success lit-

erature. Written in the early 1900s, it dwarfs

the other books he has written.

Its popularity may have something to do

with the motivation with which he wrote

it. The book, he said, was “intended for the

men and women whose most pressing need

is for money; who wish to get rich first, and

philosophise afterward. It is pragmatical,

not philosophical; a practical manual, not a

lot of theory. It is for those who have, so far,

found neither the time or the means, nor

the opportunity to go deeply into the study

of metaphysics, but who want prosperous

results and who are willing to take the con-

clusions of science as a basis for action.”

Wallace asserts, “The science herein

applied is an exact science, and failure is

impossible” and I thoroughly agree with

it. If there is one book you want to read

or start with, I highly recommend this

one. In fact, if you Google on the net,

there are a few sites that are offering it free

of cost, in the form of an e-book, as long

as you register with them or subscribe

to their newsletter.

The French pharmacist Emile Coue

(1857-1926) is another pillar of positive

thinking who introduced the concept of

autosuggestion as a method for applying

positive thinking in life. Coue is known

as the forefather of all inspirational writ-

ers and self-help authors, and the inventor

of autosuggestion. A hypnotist, he had his

patients repeat the affirmation, “Every day

in every way I am getting better and better,”

20 times, using a string with 20 knots to

tick off the repetitions. He called the mind

a sublime instrument to decide a person’s

destiny. It is said with just these words, he

was able to cure those patients, who had lost

all hope from medical science.

In the 1950s, several authors provided

a Christian version of positive thinking.

Illustration: Doll�� Dasil�a

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Water ��our thoughts and gather a bouquet!

Foremost in this field was the Rev. Norman

Vincent Peale (1898-1993), founder of

Guideposts magazine. Peale called his best-sell-

ing 1952 book, The Power of Positive Thinking.

Although positive thinking is usually secular in

nature, Peale created a Christian version of the

new thought philosophy.

Though of a religious bent, overall it is an

excellent book, highlighting the basic concept

and methodology of changing your life for the

better. In addition to this, there are a series of

other books, which too are correlated with the

same concept. Some of his other books have

elaborated on the various techniques to cultivate

positive thought, such as imaging for instance.

The book and movie, The Se-cret, sparked off my journey

into positive thinking. On reading how peoples’ lives had changed by changing their thought patterns, I too was inspired to try it out.

It worked! I will be taking up the job of my dreams in a month’s time. I had a very strong de-sire to do something spiritual, and I discovered that I was good at writing. During the last two months I kept visualising myself doing spiritual writing. I even wrote a resignation letter to my boss and colleagues in my present job as engineer (although I didn’t send it to them!). I went for all the workshops I could get my hands on, energy workshops, meditations, even Vipassana. Then I started writing short articles, so that I could get a job if someone liked them. The path unfolded itself slowly. One thing led to another, and just yester-day I got a confirmation, and will be joining Life Positive as a journalist.

Two very important requirements are intensity of desire and trust in the Divine. Don’t expect things to happen on their own. Opportunities will come up but you will need to catch and then pursue them.

Sharukh Vazifdar

the write work

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A good amount of positive literature,

which came to the forefront between the

later 1800s and early 1950s, had its roots in

Indian philosophy. In fact, even the modern

positive thinking gurus of today, have freely

borrowed it and some of them have even

accepted it, in their acknowledgements.

Hinduism and other Indian religions

have always given importance to the power

of thought in defining your life and des-

tiny. Here is what the Bhagavad Gita has to

say on the subject: “The last thought of a

man governs his future destiny. It is the last

thought of a man that determines his future

birth.” And again, “Whosoever at the end

abandoneth the body, thinking upon any

being, to that being only he goeth.”

Paramahansa Yogananda carried forward

Indian philosophy in a new avatar when

he founded the Self-Realisation Fellowship

(SRF) in Los Angeles in 1920. SRF pub-

lished a series of booklets on positive think-

ing and related new thought topics drawn

from Yogananda’s lectures. His famous,

all-time favourite book, The Autobiography

of a Yogi, has various examples that

highlight the power of thought and positive

mental attitude.

The Vedas have also acknowledged the

power of mind and thought. Thought has

the potency of creating or undoing the

world in the twinkling of an eye. Mind cre-

ates the world according to its own ‘sank-

alpa’ or thought. It is the mind that creates

this universe, say the Vedas. ‘Manomatram

jagat; manahkalpitam jagat’ and also

‘yad bhavam tad bhavathi’, you become

what you think.

The thought manifests as the word.

The word manifests as the deed. The deed

develops into habit. And the habit hardens

into character. So watch the thought and its

ways with care.

Swami Vivekananda articulated that seed

thought when he declared: “Whatever you

think, that you will be, if you think your-

selves strong, strong you will be. If you think

yourselves weak, weak you will be.”

Towards positive thinkingThe momentum to bring positive think-

ing out of the religious world and into the

secular started right around 1900. The man

who is known as the bridge between new

thought and positive thinking is Orison

Swett Marden (1850-1924), founder of

Success magazine. Success, first published

in 1891, offered a lightly religious version

of new thought for an audience of main-

stream businessmen. The magazine had

a unique stable of writers, including Napoleon

Hill and others who had best-selling books.

dreaming up a job

I got married a year ago and shifted into an area where I knew no one. Always interested in working with children, I gave my resume

to several neighbouring schools and nurseries. However, nothing worked out. Yet, I kept the faith. I even set a target that in one year’s time I would reach out to hundred children, directly or indirectly. I didn’t ‘hope’ for it to happen, I ‘knew’ it would happen.

I had stopped over at a workshop in Lonavla for a couple of hours. While walking in the rain with other participants towards lunch, a woman holding an umbrella in her hands, urged me to share it with her. The walk to the dining room was just two minutes but the right conversation unfolded. I asked her what she did. She replied, “I am the principal of a school.” Enthused, I told her I loved working with children. She asked where I stayed. She looked surprised, her school was in the same area – in fact, it was the only international school in the area and just 10 minutes away from my house. I asked her if there was an opening. She too seemed surprised at the coincidence of it all and responded, “As a matter of fact there is. One of my teach-ers handed in her resignation only last week.” The rest, as always, is history. I went in for my interview and conducted a demonstration class and I got chosen. The biggest surprise came to me when I found out that the number of children in the school was about hundred!

Megha Bajaj

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Success is still published and the editors published

a book about Orison Swett Marden in 1999.

The first positive thinking audio recording

came along in 1956, when Columbia Records

released, The Strangest Secret. Earl Nightingale

(1921-1989), which is in demand even today.

The strangest secret is, “We become what we

think about.” Through word of mouth, the

recording sold a million copies and won a Gold

Record for the first recording of its kind. It made

Nightingale the most recognised voice in

America for his daily radio programme.

In the second half of the 20th century, Jane

Roberts is believed to be the person who brought

the concept of ‘thought power’, again in the

open. Though she is relatively less known this

been there in mind, and hence, in life

It all started in July 2008, when I had this epiphany on how rotten my life really was. I was broke, in

debt, trapped in a hellish job that made me feel like a worker and not a human being; my partner and I were at each other’s throat all the time... in short, it was where I never wanted to be.

Just then, like a prayer answered, a friend intro-duced me to audio books. I begged, borrowed and stole and got my hands on The Secret and Anthony Robbins’ Awaken the Giant Within. It was like being woken up by a bucket of ice-cold water! For two whole days I devoured The Secret. I listened to it over and over and over, and I just knew I’d struck gold! I decided I was going to go on a challenge of the mind – two weeks of manifesting a big, fat juicy order for my partner, one that was going to make us enough money to cover our debts, and then some. I daydreamed all the time. Sure, it didn’t take two weeks, it took a month... but not only did we get that order, we also received a payment of Rs. 30,000 that we’d painfully written off as bad debt!! For the first time in two years, we were debt-free... and, we could afford a weekend out of town.

Shriyansi Jain

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side of the world, her books are famous in

the west, especially The Seth Material, and

Thus Spoke Seth. Jane Roberts was a natural

psychic and an excellent medium. She was

able to translate and speak the thoughts of

a spiritual entity called Seth, who transmit-

ted loads of information especially on the

power of thought. The essence of the mes-

sage was, we create our own reality, and our

point of power is the present.

One more noted personality was Prentice

Mulford and his famous book, Thoughts

are Things. Although Prentice Mulford

was one of the earliest pioneers of the new

thought teaching, he is still comparatively

little known or read, chiefly on account

of the high price of the six volumes known

as The White Cross Library, a compilation

of his essays.

Stephen R. Covey’s The Seven Habits of

Highly Effective People (1990) is a brilliant

example of a modern positive thinking

book. Covey was a business counsellor and

teacher who conducted effectiveness semi-

nars for large corporations. Other stars on

the positive thinking constellation include

Bob Procter, Oprah, from the Oprah Winfrey

Show, Brain Tracy, Famous for books like

beyond the half-full glass

So you are manifesting ob-jects of desire to the right

of you and to the left of you. Magic seems to be spraying from your mind wherever you turn. Your life is finally coming under your control and you are

racing along the fast lane of success and happiness. That’s wonderful, but look out for these speed breakers.

It’s not that the Law of Attraction does not work. Of course it does. But the fact is that positive thinking can sometimes be a trap. None of us (save the sages) are going to think positive all the time. There will be times when despair takes over. Or anger, pain, sadness and fear. If we have bought too deeply into the positive thinking mindset, we will actively re-sist these feelings. The more we resist them the greater their power, and very soon our positivity will be in shambles. In one of his books, Sri Sri Ravi Shankar narrated the case of a woman whose son had just died, and yet she kept repeating how positive she felt. Her need to be upbeat prevented her from getting in touch with her pain.

What is the way out? Nothing except solid hard inner work. Positive thinking needs to be made a state of mind – a natural extension of ourselves and not something we think ourselves into. For this we need to go deep into our mindstuff – thoughts, feelings, belief systems, fantasies, fears and so

on – become aware of them and accept them. Not only will we then know ourselves intimately, but we will have come to terms with who we are. We will befriend our shadow side, embrace our pain. Thus the dichotomy within us will heal and our positivity will be solid, unshakeable.

Secondly, not all dreams manifest. There is such a thing as karmic entitlement. Only that which is meant to come our way will; what is not meant to will not. So if despite your best efforts something does not manifest, console yourself with the thought that it was never meant to be. And who knows, perhaps it is in your best interests that you didn’t get your way.

Which brings us to the zone beyond manifesting your de-sires. There comes a time on the path when you no longer want your ego to drive you. You recognise more and more clearly that the Supreme Power has your interests at heart much more than you ever could and you actively start to pre-fer what He has in mind for you rather than what you want. “Thy will be done” becomes your mantra. You joyously re-ceive all that comes your way, using it as an instrument of your growth. Instead of attracting things to you, you simply surrender and allow life to bring you what you are meant to receive. The paradox is that with all resistance gone, your path will be strewn even thicker with magic but none of it is of your making. You are simply one with the Universe.

Suma Varughese

there are limits to positive thinking

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Maximum Achievement, Eat That Frog, and

Goal, Abraham Hicks’ publications, famous

for a plethora of seminars and books, most

popular Ask and it is given etc.

Let us end as we have begun, with Australian

Rhonda Byrne’s The Secret. She happened

upon the ‘secret’ of positive thinking or

‘law of attraction’ as she puts it when going

through a low phase and business trouble.

Amazed to find that it was indeed possible to

control one’s destiny, and fired with a mis-

sionary zeal to spread the word, she brought

together a team of film-makers, taught them

the philosophy, waited until they had ingested

it and then set out to make the path-breaking

video. She used it herself to lose excess weight

and to get her eyesight back to normal. And

with the shekels pouring in through the phe-

nomenal success of the book and the video,

her business troubles, one imagines, are

well behind her.

Thinking positiveSo how can one use the principles of posi-

tive thinking in one’s life?

The philosophy behind this concept is

that everything in this universe is made up

of energy or vibrations. Every part of the

universe, even the rocks and minerals, is

basically energy that has been transformed.

Similarly, our thoughts and words are also

subtle energies or vibrations.

Quantum Physics confirms that anything

and everything in the physical universe is

the result of varying degrees of vibration.

Secondly, similar vibrations and energy

are attracted to each other. This is a univer-

sal law that is applicable to all things, called

the ‘Law of Attraction’.

The simplest definition of this law is ‘like

attracts like.’ All forms of matter and ener-

gy are attracted to that which is of a like

vibration. For instance, you are drawn to

like-minded people (similar vibrations). We

are basically living magnets who are trans-

mitting our ‘thoughts (thought vibrations)’

into the universe and also attracting ‘similar

vibrations’ to us, constantly. It is because

of vibrations, that for no logical reason, we

are sometimes immediately attracted to

some persons and also repelled to some

people, though we are meeting them for

the first time.

Whatever we think about, good or bad,

is transmitted into the universe, in the

form of thought energy or vibrations. The

stronger our thought or the more often

we think about a particular thought, the

manifesting negativity

Our house construction had started. Based on some ear-

ly experiences with the builder, I came to believe that he was not to be trusted to deliver a good product and it was upto me to supervise and crosscheck. I was constantly looking out for errors,

and as one can imagine, there were plenty. It even extended to the other vendors I interacted with for the house construction. For exam-ple, while the marble slabs were being delivered to our house, two slabs got broken! After the staircase steps were laid the third time, (for some reason, the experienced workers could not get it right in my house alone…), there was a mishap and two steps were broken by the workers! I seemed to be exuding an aura of negative energy.

I had a veritable war of words with everyone I dealt with for two years. Finally, I had to go abroad on a business visit for five months. And during my absence, things went smoothly! Everyone seemed to be doing their part very well, without any supervision. The house was ready for me!

I realised that what I had constantly thought about was what hap-pened in reality for me. Now I know better. Murphy’s Law manifests now and then, but so what? I look for the silver lining in the cloud. Believe it or not, the builder and I are good friends today. And I have not replaced the broken steps since they symbolise a great learning for me. ..

Akila Jaikumar

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stronger become its vibrations. We are

all radiating that which we are; we are all

giving and receiving vibration signals on

many different levels. What you are seeking

to be or do in this life has a vibrational pat-

tern to match.

Everything you have ever dreamt, wheth-

er spoken or unspoken has been transmit-

ted by you on one level or another. Your

consistent thoughts and feelings about any

particular subject are being brought into

your experience whether you intend them

or not.

Thoughts, feelings, and mental images

are made of matter, just a very subtle kind

of matter. This subtle kind of matter, is

the soil of the universe. When you focus

your thoughts, feeling and mental images

(some also call this a mental hologram),

you launch your creations into this soil

of the universe.

If you know how the law of attraction

works, you know that you get what you

vibrate. Your vibration is based on your

thoughts, since thoughts drive feelings,

and feelings are what comprise your

vibration. The universe returns what you

have given freely a thousand times over.

What you sow is what you reap. In order

to receive you must give. If you wish some-

one to have more blessings and love, you

will receive blessings and love a thousand

times more. If you wish someone illness and

misfortune, you will receive bad luck and

misfortunes a thousand times more. I am

sure you have noticed that when you are

in a good mood, everything seems to fall

into place. However, when you are angry

or depressed a string of bad luck seems to

follow you all the more.

When you think about anything very

strongly with emotions, it becomes your

dominant vibration, which is being sent to

the universe. Based on the Law of Attraction,

the universe then creates such circumstanc-

es, which will bring that particular thing or

event in your life. There could be a delay in

manifestation of that thing, but if you are

consistent in your thought, it will come. It

is said that our work is to throw our desires

and goals to the universe. How it manifests

in your life, is the work of the universe. The

more clear and consistent you are in your

desire, the quicker that particular thing will

manifest in your life. It could be a material-

istic thing, a relationship, a particular self-

improvement, anything for that matter. In

addition, for the universe there is no differ-

ence in manifesting Rs 100 or Rs 1 crore.

The difference is in the extent of our faith

or, in our own self-worth.

This universal law is working in your life

right now, whether you are aware of it or

not. You are attracting the people, situa-

tions, jobs and every other circumstance of

your life. Once you are aware of this law and

how it works, you can use it to attract what

you want into your life.

How do you create your desires using the

NapoleoN Hill

A pioneer in the field of

positi�e thinking and the

power of thought

a streetcar named desire

After I learnt driving and was confident on the roads, I developed a fancy for a Honda City. And when one of

my friends said that ladies could not drive the Honda, I was sure I wanted to have it, but we could not afford it. Just then my husband Santosh joined an MNC and the package included a car.

But when the actual package was worked out the allotment towards the car fell short of a Honda City. If we still wanted it, we would have to shell out Rs 4,000 from our pockets every

month. I could not get over it. I wanted a Honda City and that was that. My resolve became even stronger. To my immense surprise the very next day there was an email from his office saying the car al-lowance has been increased as the taxes are higher in Mumbai. And there came our Honda City without anything extra from our pocket.

Aruna Joshi

june 2009l i f e p o s i t i v e 33

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powerful law?

• Be very clear about what you want

• Visualise and raise your vibration

• Start feeling good about it, just as you would

feel if it is already with you.

You must be very clear on exactly what your

desire is. Focus on it. Give it all your positive

energy. Feel good!

A major factor behind this universal law is the

energy and vibrations of our emotions and feel-

ings. Any thought you might have, when com-

bined with emotion, vibrates out from you to the

universe, and will attract back what you want.

It’s also important to take the necessary action

to make your dreams come true.

Now all you have to do is allow it. Sounds easy,

right? This can be the most difficult part to do.

Be doubt-free. All you need to do is expect it. Act

like you already have it. Be grateful.

To get it right be very careful about some factors.

First is ‘right speech’. Avoid negative language, for

negativity will attract negativity in your life. Be care-

ful about what you say, either about yourself or oth-

ers. At the same time do not get paranoid. We will

almost never be able to be positive all the time, for

many of our thinking patterns are unconscious. Stop

worrying if you have been running yourself down or

someone else. It’s okay. Simply use the opportunity

to recommit yourself to the goal of self-awareness.

Secondly, use the power of affirmations and

visualise your object of desire vividly, as if you

already have it. Visualise or imaging it in detail

with colour and feelings, as much as you can.

Never forget your focus. Even if it takes time, you

will finally get it.

Oh yes, terrorism. If we focus on insecurity,

fear, terrorism, and recession, we indirectly

attract terrorism in the world. So use the law of

attraction to draw a happy, peaceful and loving

world around us. Voila! Problem solved. [Dilpreet Singh is a trainer, with a leading life insurance company, in New Delhi.

Contact: dilpreet111@gmail.com, Mobile: 9873552617

We welcome your comments and suggestions on this article. Mail us at editor@lifepositive.net