Question related to sadhana..

[Guest guest]

advaitin, "Sundar Rajan" <avsundarrajan

wrote:

> Basically, the subject can be broken down into 2 parts:

> (1) Learning to live in the present - Books by Dr. Wayne Dyer,

> Eckart

> Toole, Dr. Jon Kabat-Zinn and the whole subject of 'Mindfulness'

> deal

> with this. All these describe ways of effectively managing the

mind

> in

> stressful situations.

> (2) Spiritual disciplines that let you habitually live in the

> present

> without having to consciously 'manage' on a on-going basis. more

> about

> this latter.

>

> Here is an example of (1). will try and post more on the subject

> when time permits..

 

Pranams Sunderji

 

Simply superb!

 

I eagerly look forward to your future posts as your time permits.

 

It is indeed strange that I was going to post the exact same "red

light bell" example later today, and was so glad to see your post

with reference to it and with beautiful real-life examples to drive

home the point - thank you for that!

 

I too would recommend the book "Peace at every step" by Thich Nat

Han to everyone as an excellent book on this subject.

Here is a link to an excerpt

http://www.thinkingpeace.com/Lib/lib088.html

 

Perhaps I can add some more perspectives.

 

To begin with one sure way to lessen our mental agitations is to not

allow situations or people in our lives that can lead to it to begin

with - i know it sounds obvious, but often times we neglect to

critically examine this. If we add on to the denominator incessantly

of wishes fulfilled/wishes entertained then our agitations will

increase in direct relation to how small that proportion becomes.

 

Now with regards to the mental agitations that overcome us inspite

of this.

Every mental agitation starts with a small thought - just as every

windstorm starts as a slight breeze.

Developing awareness of the problem as Sunder-ji so nicely conveyed

is always the first step.

 

I will take anger as i consider it to be the most destructive of all

our negative emotions.

 

Let us try a simple thing. Let us try to get angry right now. Not by

thinking of something - just get angry for its own sake. Is it

possible? No. This is because we cannot get angry as a choice. We

are incapable of this emotion spontaneously. Yet we (i really should

say i!) get angry so often! - How? By erroneous thought patterns

 

Let us take an example - your boss just called you a donkey in front

of all your coworkers. Objectively speaking you should realize that

this statement of his reflects either a delusion or a optic problem.

But subjectively what you feel is

anger/rage/frustration/resentment/embrassment/depression all rolled

into one! How dare he? Does he not know this office runs only

because of me? Does he forget when it was my idea that bailed him

out at such and such time? I am boiling. Tat tvam asi is a distant

memory!

 

How may I handle this?

First try to train myself in recognizing the beginnings of this

emotion at the earliest juncture.

Then it is more easily controlled.

At some point you cannot stop it - it is a raging tempest - others

can only take cover!

But when you recognize it prior to this stage - first thing you do

is try to smile. SMILE?? What is there to smile about??? The fact

that you have become aware of it. You have become aware of your own

angry self just like you would have become aware of your drunk

friend. Smile because now by simply becoming aware of this angry

self you are in a position to help "him." It is amazing how quickly

the physical act of smiling can transform to a limited extent your

thoughts and emotions.

Next, try to understand why it is that you are getting angry? Is

this anger justifiable. The answer always is yes! Is it beneficial?

The answer always is no. third question - is it optional? As

Sunderji explained Yes. So we are dealing with something which is

justifiable but nonbeneficial and optional. Worse, it is harmful.

This much understanding - and I am already on my way to controlling

it. In all this mental exercise the vicious thought process that was

fuelling the impending tsunami has been at least temporarily curbed.

 

Slowly we can get better at becoming aware of these thought-build-

ups earlier and earlier in their course.

 

 

With regards to the past selfcondemnation is severely looked down

upon esp in Vedanta. The whole message is positive. How then to

account for my millions of misdeeds. The injurious things I told so

many people, the hurt I caused to hundreds - there is only one way

to settle those accounts - settle accounts with Ishwara. That at

once settles accounts with each and every one.

 

The wonderful prayer "Karacharanakrtamva...." or similair other

kshama prarthnas. "I have caused great harm but I did it in

delusion. Please give me the strength to accept whatever be the

logical fruits of my misdeeds happily and with a cheerful

disposition - after all these fruits are being bestowed by you -

they are nothing other than your own prasad and I touch them to my

eye and accept them."

 

Another wonderful tradition we have is the vedic japa "kamo'karshit

manyurakarshit namo namah" (Sastri-ji please correct me if

misspelled!)

We accept anger and desire as potent divine forces and we ask them

to help us. What does this do? This helps us understand our

helplessness against them. We appease them by saluting them as our

most powerful enemy and requesting them to please be merciful on us.

This way we wonderfully transform our basest negativities into

something divine. So next time I watch my anger rising I can smile

at the presiding deity of anger and ask "O Lord, did I not ask for

your mercy? Did I not raise the white flag of total surrender? Why

then do you not heed my salutations" This is also a nice way of

avoiding the trap of selfcondemnation for a negative action - we

acknowledge the negativity of the action, we are prepared for the

result we are going to get, and at the same time we avoid selfblame

and remorse - we transfer the blame to the presiding deities of lust

and anger and ask that they "bless us" in the future!

 

Lastly, with regards to undesirable situations in ones life, the

serenity prayer is one that Swami Dayananda-ji often quotes in

beautiful-

"O Lord Grant me the serenity to accept the things i cannot change

the strength to change the things I can change, and the wisdom to

know the difference"

 

Thus far I have left out what I find to be the most effective method

we can utilize, and that is to develop a opposite reaction -

pratipaksha bhavana. How to do this without acting like a neurotic?

I will try to cover this in my next post - soon as time permits.

 

 

Mahaadvaita-ji, my best wishes to you and my thanks for your

question.

 

Hari OM

Shyam