Day: August 18, 2024

Swami ji said…

Joy or sorrow; relief or anguish, freedom or fear – these emotions and feelings, though complete opposites, have one thing in common. They are all felt by us within. It is the mind that is relieved. It is the mind that is tense. It is the mind that is frantic, and , it is the mind which is at peace. We can be seething hot with anger on a cold winter day and be cool, calm and collected on a sweltering hot day. Clearly, when God made us, He did not intend Nature – around us , outside of us – to dictate our moods and emotions – within us.

But, as time passed by, we have increasingly allowed – the state of our mind to be dictated by that which is outside. A constant want for money, physical comforts, a great physical appearance, approval from others, gratification of the senses, a hunger for power and influence – all these – greatly affect and disturb our peace of mind now. There is no moment when we can simply be and accept our circumstances – without complaining.

If the mind is already a slave to ‘maya’, and its thoughts are borne from the myriad experiences that we have in the illusionary world – then we might not have complete control over our actions, and , thereby on our lives. Yes, we, do have to consider circumstances ; we do have to consider actions of others towards us, but, whether we simply react to them in an unmeasured, uncontrollable manner , or , assess and act in a wise manner is always a function of the state of our mind.Thus, the inner world, must be made independent of the outer world.

But, do we allow that to happen ? Very few of us succeed in doing so. In this short lifetime of ours we do meet quite a many people. People – those who are known to us ; some not very well known and some complete strangers – but , if, we were large hearted enough and appreciated the fact that we could learn a great deal from one another – we would, undoubtedly, benefit tremendously by doing so. Don’t we, at times, recall words of great import that had been said by someone we had met in the past, and, profit greatly by imbibing and making those words a part of our life ? At times, a person’s behavior could have such a lasting impression on us – that it could bring about a transformation in our behavioral pattern – which, but, naturally, would work in our favour from then onwards.

We can , I’m sure, recall the time when we might have met someone – who had come across as the epitome of happiness , positivity and cheer during our entire interaction with him – but , later on – we were left stupefied on learning – about the heart wrenching
personal tragedy that – that very person had undergone and had overcome grief that had tested his limits of endurance – without lamenting or blaming anyone for the painful incidents in his life. On becoming aware of the unfortunate events that had taken place in his life – we are left surprised – that there was not an inflection of pain in his voice ; no sign at all that he was seeking self – pity from anyone ; no visible trace of the anguish and suffering that he had gone through. It is very rare to come across such individuals. Isn’t it ? And, we are left wondering as to how did he manage to steel himself in the face of such melancholy and misery ? When we meet individuals like them – we react by saying – ‘ उनको देख कर ऐसा कोई भी नही कह सकता कि उन्होंने इतना दुख देखा होगा …’ And , we are left wondering as to how did he not raise a hue and cry about the cruel manner in which he had been treated by God. The answer to this is very simple – ” जो मनुष्य सुखी रहना चाहते हैं – वो अपने आतंरिक जगत् को मजबूत बनाते हैँ और वो मनुष्य हमेशा दुखी रहते हैं जो हर बात के लिए बाहरी जगत् को दोषी ठहराते हैं …”

We need to remember that – happy people build their inner world and unhappy people blame their outer world. Thus , we must work steadily to strengthen our inner world with layers of faith and belief in God and happily surrender ourselves to His will.