Attention is destiny, guaranteed" meaning what you give your attention to has the power to influence and direct your activity in consciousness in the so-called "future"
When Adi Da says this, he refers to his statement that the essence of MIND is attention, and where attention goes, feeling, breath and action follow.
Adi Da also suggests that the accumulation of attention in given directions is the basis of TENDENCY or the inclination of a person or animate beings to experience and re-experience life in particular ways. In other words:
"you become what you meditate upon"
Freud was on to the the same general subject under his title
"repetition compulsion", but he was talking about compulsive hand-washers, etc. He did not quite cotton on to the fact that "repetition-compulsion" was one of the basic mechanisms of egoic existence.
My first Guru, Meher Baba wrote a lot about "sanskaras" or the tangible attachment created in mind in a given moment of attention. He talked in terms of positive and negative sanskaras, depending on the nature of the action. Enlightenment without the help of a Guru required (he said)
the ABSOLUTE balancing of all positive sanskaras with all negative sanskaras in a given moment (virutally impossible since new sanskaras are created in every moment).
The Buddha, I believe spoke in terms of something like 1 million + sanskaras being created in any mind-moment (a mind moment being a tiny fraction of the blinking of an eye).
So, in short, you create your destiny by what you give your:
-- attention
-- feeling
-- breath
-- bodily action
to.
Having a Guru (or transcended Being) is more than a little handy because of the process allowable via:
-- you become what you meditate upon
-- the Guru as a liberating FORCE
Namaste!
Jim |
