Satsang with Swami Niranjanananda

What is sankalpa? Many people say it is a positive affirmation, a positive thought, but sankalpa is a process of training the mind to develop the will and to develop clarity of thought. Through sankalpa we learn how to train the mind so that the will becomes alive. We lack willpower because we are undisciplined inside. Most of us during our lifetime have wondered what we should or shouldn’t do. Often we are frustrated because we are unable to extract ourselves from a situation dominating our mental behaviour. It is possible to wake up maybe for a week or a month at four o’clock in the morning, but be unable to continue doing that for the whole lifetime. You can do it for a week because the motivation is there, but when the drive is gone, then you say, “Five minutes more, ten minutes more. Today I would like to rest, it’s not necessary to wake up.” When the initial drive finishes, one is left with lethargy.