Day: October 12, 2024

Swami ji said…

It is very common , nowadays , for us to feel stressed, hassled, weighed down under the pressure of managing the never-ending needs and requirements – that ‘life’ seems to ask from ‘us’. It is during moments like these – when we blame ‘life’ for putting us in the spot where we find ourselves – instead of doing this – we should look within
ourselves – fairly and squarely – and determine exactly – to what extent are we responsible – for feeling a sense of disquiet, lack of peace, restlessness within us – that is difficult to define clearly. On screening ourselves – we might not be too surprised at seeing what is revealed to us – as somewhere deep down – we always knew this to be true in our case. The feeling of discontentment that seems to be our faithful companion – seems to have nothing to do with an unfulfilled burning ambition or a dream not realised – but the reason for it could be most puerile and silly.

The mind thrives on a healthy nutrition of knowledge , information and new learning.It is curious and inquisitive about everything and wants to know more – all the time – and we follow its directions obediently. But , somehow , somewhere – our curiosity gets the better of us in an unwanted, undesirable way – by making us think , talk and discuss a lot – about ‘others’. ” पूरा समय हम दूसरों के बारे मे- उनके जीवन में क्या चल रहा है ? कौन क्या कर रहा है? वह जो भी कर रहा है कैसे कर रहा है? और अगर वह कुछ कर रहा है तो क्यों कर रहा है? – इन्ही सब चीज़ों के बारे में सोचते रहते हैं…” Why is he doing this?And why now? How has she obtained this? Why is she or he behaving this way? How do they make money? How did they manage such wealth?” These are the sort of nonsensical questions that we let our minds get engulfed in. And, without realising it, we waste precious time on trying to solve these useless questions and riddles.

To make matters worse – we further add two plus two from our end ; create either a dream like or a nightmarish sequence to what must be happening in their lives – come to a conclusion – good or bad – depending on our perception and what gives us happiness- and we are cat’s whiskers after that ! Most of us are prone to this indulgence – which comes at no cost. All we need are some ‘like – minded’ people whose keen ears will absorb every bit of gossip said by us attentively ; add some more spice to what’s been said and their wagging tongues will pass it on to others. One could understand , if , we slipped on the threshold of gossip, once in a while , but , there are some amongst us – who will just not stop – दूसरों के जीवन मैं ताँक झाँक करना… उनके बारे मे मन गड़िथ कहानियाँ बताना..”

All of us are familiar with the proverb – ‘ Curiosity killed the cat ‘ – but when it comes to people as curious as us – in this particular scenario – we come across as fearless, intrepid – and do not hesitate in taking the lead in ‘discussing’ others – as we seem to know so much about them. Is this what we are going to do through out our lives ? Day after day – without a break ? And for what purpose? To gain popularity of a kind that should be least desired by us ? Imagining, vividly, about all the good that is happening with others – we , unnecessarily, become morose and sad – at the way our lives are shaping out and lose our peace of mind. We end up feeling unhappy – as it always appears to be greener on the other side – “इन सब बातों से हम जितना दूर रहेंगे , हम उतना ही खुश रहेंगे…”

As it is , in today’s world, we, are just a few seconds away from finding out what the other person is doing. A few clicks on the internet, a bit of scrolling on the phone and we know what someone has eaten, what did he do over the weekend, where had he gone on a holiday, all about the new things that have been bought by him. In fact, most of us spend an unreasonable amount of time doing exactly this – finding out what the other person is up to. In a physical or digital form – we are always engaged in some sort of chatter or gossip – trying to find out what the other person is doing.

While it is always good to be curious, and, there is certainly nothing wrong in knowing about one another; it is altogether an unhealthy habit to stick our nose into other people’s business. And, unfortunately, we are often guilty of indulging in this habit. We love to discuss about someone else’s life with others.We spend a tremendous amount of effort on dissecting other people’s lives.

For those on the spiritual path, this is the biggest obstacle to overcome. For even when they are trying their best to live a life that is principled, disciplined and virtuous – they still, often, end up observing others, and , before long – their mind starts to wonder – ” Why do these people not try to seek God? Why do they lie? How can they live like this?” Should a spiritual seeker be doing this ?
Just because he is attempting to take a few tiny steps towards God – he starts differentiating himself from others and feels he is superior and better than the ‘others’. And, eventually, he begins to waste time – as the precious time that could have been spent in self-reflection and worship – is now wasted on passing judgement on other people’s way of life. Such thoughts often displace thoughts of God. What we end up doing – is giving precedence to other people’s lives – over our own. We find ourselves getting agitated, distressed – and all these negative emotions – severely affect further progress of his spiritual growth.

The solution to this is to learn to find comfort in God. When we find ourselves – thinking about and voicing our opinions on others, we , must pause and tell ourselves that – “Thinking of them will change nothing. Let us focus on the glory of God instead.” Doing this repeatedly
will let the spiritual seeker focus on his spiritual development, instead of getting the mind embroiled in such frivolous matters.

We need to remember that nothing will give us greater peace than minding our own business.