Segulot for Warding Off Bad Thoughts According to the Book Pele Yoetz

Bad and Intrusive Thoughts — How to Overcome Them

The yetzer hara is very powerful, and no one can control the thoughts that enter his mind. Nevertheless, every person is obligated to strengthen himself, replace thoughts that are evil and foreign to the Torah with pure thoughts, and let the yetzer tov prevail over the yetzer hara—even a thousand times a day. His reward will be help from Heaven. Whenever a person notices that he is occupied with idle or evil thoughts, he should do the following.   Segulot for Warding Off Bad Thoughts 1. Visualize or say aloud: קרע שטן — “Kera Satan” (tear Satan apart);   2. Recite the verse from Vayikra (6:6): אֵ֗שׁ תָּמִ֛יד תּוּקַ֥ד עַל־הַמִּזְבֵּ֖חַ לֹ֥א תִכְבֶּֽה — “Esh tamid tukad al hamizbe’ach lo tikhbeh” — (“A perpetual fire shall burn on the altar; it shall not go out”); 3. Recite the pasuk from Tehillim (119:113): סֵעֲפִ֥ים שָׂנֵ֑אתִי וְֽתוֹרָתְךָ֥ אָהָֽבְתִּי — “Se’afim saneiti, veTorat’cha ahavti” — (I hate those of divided minds, but I love Your Torah); 4. Then run your hand across your forehead three times, and, with G-d’s help, this will be effective. 5. To overcome the yetzer hara, it is worthwhile to hold the name “Tarniel” in one’s thoughts (without saying it aloud). Its gematria is 300, the same as the gematria of the word יצר “yetzer,” which refers to the yetzer hara. In the book Reshit Chochmah by Rabbi Eliyahu de Vidas, it is written that if a person immediately drives away bad or sinful thoughts and does not allow them to remain in his mind, he will not be punished, because the Holy One, blessed be He, does not seek to catch a person in wrongdoing. But if a person allows the thought to linger, he will be punished, because such a thought causes harm.   (Based on the book Pele Yoetz by Rabbi Eliezer Papo, Part Two, “Thought”)