Guest guest Posted January 23, 2009 Report Share Posted January 23, 2009 hare krishna, namaskarams,been following the current spate of mails by various members of the group and the responses i thought the following piece sent by karla" <docdanes in satsang has a pointer for all of us. {The Upside of Irritation Things That Annoy Us There are many stories of spiritual masters embracing the presence of an annoying student in their community. There is even one story that documents a teacher paying an irritating person to live among his students. From an everyday perspective, this is difficult to comprehend. We generally work hard to avoid people and things that we find annoying so they don’t bother us. From a deeper spiritual perspective, however, irritation can be an important teacher and indicator that we are making progress on our path. Being able to remain centered and awake even when we feel uncomfortable is much more impressive than doing so in an environment where everything is to our liking. No matter how good we are at controlling our circumstances, there will always be factors and people that we cannot control. How we respond to these experiences to a great degree determines the quality of our lives. The goal of spiritual development is not to learn to control our environment—which is more of an ego-driven desire } please note that i am not referring to any of the mails or persons but just that it is useful to remember the above.baskaran Add more friends to your messenger and enjoy! Invite them now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted January 23, 2009 Report Share Posted January 23, 2009 Baskaran,Thank you for this, this helps me alot. Sometimes i get too involved in feeling i need to not be irritated which makes it harder to stay calm, focused but if I know that I have this human body with emotions and things to work on, to reflect, meditate on, it can be a help to me becoming more whole, in connection to Self. And I have noticed i can stay more focused in these times and let the irritation flow through, realizing it is not truly who i am.John Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted January 23, 2009 Report Share Posted January 23, 2009 --- On Fri, 1/23/09, John Miller <johnnyzmilleriii wrote: PraNAms to all Why do we get irritated? and How do transcend that irritation? are direct questions that one cannot but address in ones evolution. First let us face the facts. We get irritated for several reasons. If we go into deeper - it is always due to conflicts between I and you or the other and mine vs yours or his. Irritations, disappointments, anxieties, anger and frustrations will come no matter who it is as long as there is a sense of identification of I- with I am this and this is mine. The thresholds for these may be different but will happen to everyone. First thing to do is not to condemn yourself for having them - by condemning yourself you will be getting more irritated about yourself see you see the gap between the ideal and the actual -you. But do not start condemning others immediately without recognizing that they are having the same problems as you have. There is a saying to the effect that clear out the logs in your eyes before you start clearing the pricks in others. Second thing is that by being conscious of the state of your irritated mind - you have already solved major part of the problem - Essentially you have objectified it as something foreign to you. Third thing is to recognize that facts of life - you are limited and cannot change the world to suite it to your liking to make sure it is always conducive to your liking. The best way to solve these irritating problems is to bring in Iswara into picture - First see HIM in all the things that is irritating you. Your irritating problems will be turn your mind into surrenderance. Recognizing His role in all and just surrender to his divine wisdom - these irritating moments become blessings in disguise that helps to mold my understanding of these transactional realities to help me to transcends these with the mind with His support - Essentially see HIS play in all these. If I recognize His presence in me and in others that are irritating me, I am now looking beyond the little me and little him but see the presence of that all pervading beauty in life. This is not easy - and Krishna recognizes that - Hence He says - abhyaasa and viaragya are the two tools that one needs to slowly overcome these. In the process, you find yourself that the threshold for these is slowly raising even without your knowledge and you are getting insulated or the moments of irritation is getting subsided in no time - Not that you do not get irritated (unless you are a stone) but it get replaced so fast with understanding. That is what is called chitta suddhi. If you control of the irritation then you can play the game of life with controlled (irritation) where you are in the driver seat with Lord Krishna in front. Do not blame that others for irritation - it means your mind is not ready to accept the realities of the world. Take every irritating situation as blessing in disguise to sharpen your mind to see the realities of the fleeting world. This is my saadhana too. Hope this helps Hari Om! Sadananda Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted January 24, 2009 Report Share Posted January 24, 2009 Thank you, Kuntimaddi, beautiful and very helpful. Your posts are always a great help and a guidance for me.John Miller Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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