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Years back, browsing through the maze of books at a shop, I came across a title, Thinking About Thinking, and without going through the introductory passages I purchased the book.

The title rang an immediate bell as it was mentioned several times by my Sikh professor who taught philosophy in our college. The professor, Dr Dharmendra Goel, had also taught Osho Rajnish of Pune at Jabalpur University.

It was a small book of around 100 pages and I ran through it in a single sitting. After completing the first reading, I realised that I had not understood anything. I was confused and felt guilty out of fear that my ability to understand things was poor.

I traced the professor, who had by then retired, and went to his house holding the book tightly in my hands. I told him about my dilemma and sought his assistance in decoding the content of the book that he had recommended to all his students.

He promptly advised: Start thinking about every word, sentence, and about each paragraph. You have to learn the process of thinking. Reading is an activity while thinking about the written word is something like ruminating. Every word says something. It may be good or bad, but your attention must follow good sense. When you think about the positive meaning of a word, your thought process, too, would become positive.

The learned professor then quoted a couplet from the Guru Granth Sahib, the revered scripture of the Sikhs. It read: Jo Prabh ko mil boch hain, khoj shabad mein lein. It means if you are in search of god, please go and find him in the word.

He further explained that one can find god only through the good word. The bad word cannot show you the way to god.

As I left his house and proceeded towards mine, I do not remember how I reached home. All along the 6km walk back, I was thinking about the words spoken by the professor. Once home I started re-reading the book, Thinking About Thinking, and was thrilled as I went through the words.

It took me a full week to finish the book. It gave me a new insight into thinking and thinking positively. B Positive is not only a blood group; it is a way of life.