BMW THINKING

Suppose you see a BMW on the road and it draws your attention. What will your next thought be? " How can he afford it?" And then: " A person I work with just bought a new BMW. How can he afford such an expensive car? Last year he did not even have a job.His wife must have a lot of money. I wish my wife had a rich family. When I got married I did not think about money or my future."

All these thoughts started from seeing a BMW and they follow a certain logic. This particular sequence is only one line of thinking. Let us look at another one:
"The German people are quite industrious. Even though their country was devasted during World War II. their economy rebounded quickly. They produce the best scientific equipment in the world."

Where did we start? From BMW. What will come after BMW is anyone's guess. Even in deliberate thinking you do not know what is coming next because thinking is always linear, one step at a time, one thought at a time. The connection between the thoughts can either be a logical, syntactical connection within a sentence or a simple association. But there will always be a connection, be it weak or strong.

In "BMW thinking," the connection between thoughts is not a deliberate one. Therefore, the next thought can be anything. The sky is the limit. The BMW emblem is different. It is not like the Mercedes insignia." The Mercedes insignia makes you think of a star and then your next thought may be, "My astrological sign is not favorable." This movement from one thought to the next is listless thinking, a meandering of thoughts in which there is no direction.

LISTLESS THINKING

In listless thinking, although there is no direcction, there is always some logic, some connection. It may be a simple rhyme, one word reminding you of another, or a variety of other possible connections. The one invariable is that, at any given time, there is always one thought or another in your mind.

In listless thinking, just as in deliberate thinking, you do not know what your next thought will be. But in japa, you definitely know what is coming next. The japa can be a word, a short sentence, a section of veda, or even a whole veda, but, to be a japa, it must be something that is repeated.

If you are repeating a word or short sentence you are sure about what is supposed to come next. If something else comes, you know you are off track. In "BMW thinking," however, to thimk of Germany and then of of a Mercedes or anything else is not to go off track because there is no track. Such thinking just happens. This is what meant by listless thinking. There is no direction to it.