We as humans are a very paranoid species. When things go our way, we feel that we are in complete control of everything and when things do not go as per our plan we become anxious, angry, frustrated, disappointed, unhappy, etc. Why does this happen? What is the driving factor that keeps us in the same miserable loop throughout our life?
As Buddha said, the root cause of all suffering is desire. Desire leads to either greed or anger. When our desires are satiated, they come back with double the intensity. This is greed. When our desires are not fulfilled, it leads to anger. Any suffering that a person goes through is somehow connected to that person's desires. If we can give up desire, then we will be free from this vicious circle of suffering, pain and heart break. But how can we give up desire while living in a material world? The answer to this is quite intricate.
We must practice the art of detachment from external entities while performing our worldly duties. For instance, a husband does everything that he must do for his family and provides them with a good life but he must do so without expecting anything back from his family. The attachment grows out of expectations. By being detached from the results, we will realize that we are happier and self-satisfied.
As per Buddhism, everything in our life is impermanent. The only certainty in our life is death. We are conditioned in such a way that when a change takes place in our lives we become fearful of the unknown and try to resist that change. According to Buddha, it is not the change that hurts us but our resistance to change that does. So, when the conditions around us change, we must accept the change and look forward to what the future holds for us. By practicing this simple yet difficult thought process, we will enrich our lives.
Our mind is very notorious. It wanders off to places where we don't want it to go. The more we remind ourselves to not think of something, the more we end up thinking about it. The common solution to this problem is to suppress the thought. However, that leads to problems in the long term as these bottled up feelings might just erupt violently some day. Swami Mukundananda has beautifully put together this three step process to overcome these thoughts:
- Dilution
- Substitution
- Sublimation
Dilution
Here our intellect tells us that the thought is bad and unproductive but the mind keeps thinking about it. We must use our intellect to dilute that thought by engaging in some other work or by preparing the mind the think about something else.
Substitution
Substitute the bad thought with a positive/happy thought. The intellect must instruct the mind to think about productive/positive thoughts.
Sublimation
In this step, we go into this mode where keep reaffirming the positive thoughts until the bad thought sublimates. Swami Mukundananda tells us that the best way to do this is by engaging in bhakti.
Bhakti is different from bhajan or reciting prayers in that it refers to a spiritual aspect in an individual. The act of singing prayers and doing rituals is an aspect of religiosity. Swami Mukundananda says that bhakti is that practice where you constantly think about God and try to realize his presence. When you are sharanagat (surrendered to God) then you will have his grace. Sharanagati (surrendering to God) does not mean that we remain idle and not do our duties. It means that we must do our duties and have faith in God that whatever is the outcome of our actions will always be in our best interest. However, that does not mean that the outcome will always be in our favor or to our pleasing. Even if the outcome of our actions or duties is unfavorable to us, we must have faith that it is also in our best interest.
Adversity is the best teacher. It is during these bad times that we learn some of the most valuable life lessons which help us to be better human beings. Swami Mukundananda says that we are not the doers. God is the doer. But you might argue that if God is the doer then why should we bear the karmic results? In order to understand this we must truly know what it means when we say that God is the doer. We are all a part of God's creation. God has given us the power to see, smell, touch and hear, in addition to so many other capabilities. The most important thing given by God to us humans is the power to choose. What you choose to do with these powers is up to you but you have been equipped with all these necessities to live a blissful life. Once we realize this, we will see the same world as others see but with a different lens.
Hare Krishna.
Comments
Post a Comment