A Question for Anyone re: Shanti within Stress

[Guest guest]

Hi Steve,

 

In my opinion:

 

I have been learning about this for the last several years. Before that I simply

didn't care if there was stress. Now I care and that awareness is allowing me to

be stressed. There are many levels of awareness we must pass through to know

ourselves. So unfortunately dealing with stress is just one of many stages we

must pass through.

 

During my new relationship which has evolved into a wonderful marriage I went

from fairly unaware to very much desiring a conscious marriage. This desire has

caused stress as I slowly allow mother to show me the truth of who I am (and

thus who I'm not, same thing).

 

It is not possible for the mind to think its way out of stress. Most of the

meditations taught, and relaxation techniques I've seen all deal with ways to

trick the mind into letting go. Of course my intellect is too smart for that and

thus I found myself caught between a rock and a hard place.

 

The only thing that has worked for me is accepting that the stress is necessary

for my evolution. To stop defining stress as something negative, in other words

to stop labeling it. And lastly, prayer. I ask mother to show me more and more

truth and as the new stuff comes in, I am able to let go of the old stuff.

 

The last trick is to mentally acknowledge that everything associated with stress

in our lives can be called by another name: Durga. Accepting that its her coming

to us to teach us enables true surrender. And once we surrender the stress

becomes bearable. That's when she starts piling it on. That's when we realize

that it is she who bears all burdons, and that our minds are incapable of doing

anything peaceful in life.

 

Stress is a disease of the mind, cast off your mind identification, cast off

your mind, and stress will not bother you.

 

Good luck and goddess bless,

 

Brian

 

 

--- On Sun 06/20, Steve Connor < sconnor > wrote:

Steve Connor [ sconnor]

Sun, 20 Jun 2004 15:32:24 -0000

A Question for Anyone re: Shanti within Stress

 

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[Guest guest]

Jai Ma!

 

I can’t say that I have welcomed stressful or chaotic situations in order to

cultivate an inner calm. However, I definitely feel like Devi has placed me in

such situations in order to hel me grow and develop. Most of the time, I try

very hard to create a peaceful, ordered life, and I avoid stressful situations

when I can. Due to seva commitments, though, I’ve had to endure some rather

stressful times. The boot-camp analogy is very apt! It always amazes me how

much growth occurs during these times. I definitely get the feeling that I am

being given an opportunity to learn how to maintain a reasonable inner calm and

think clearly, even when things are absolutely crazy.

 

I have faced a lot of emotional maelstroms, from bosses, or relatives, or seva

associates. This has taught me to develop faith in my inner core, in a sense.

It’s important not to be swayed or rocked by external forces. I used to watch

my reactions, and notice how I would suddenly doubt myself, or become incapable

of normal thinking due to the emotional energy being thrown my way.

 

Over the years, I’ve started to learn to remain calm while dealing with

difficult circumstances. As one holy person said to me once, “Everything is

Divine Mother’s prasad—-everything.” In other words, every experience comes to

us through Her grace, better to take it as an opportunity for learning. This

universe is really Divine Mother’s “university”, and our lives are perfect

classrooms to help us grow into the divine state that is our destiny. This

comment was made to me after a particularly difficult seva experience, when I

had to hide in my car several times to “cry myself out”, from feeling so much

emotional stress (due to one rather negative person). So the message was, not

only can I not reject this experience as merely annoying or unpleasant, but I

need to feel grateful for it, because it’s Devi’s blessed prasad!

 

At times of sheer exhaustion, I’ve struggled to remain focused and polite, even

when all I wanted to do was either snap at someone or just go to bed. I feel

that these difficult times help us to strengthen our minds. It’s one thing to

be calm, kind and polite when everything is going just fine. It’s quite another

to do so when we’re under real stress. By developing the ability to “weather

life’s storms”, we really do strengthen some very important mind-qualities,

like spiritual willpower, inner resolve, discipline, and so on.

 

Ultimately, I think that a truly unshakable inner peace is not something that

we can “work on” and perfect. I believe that such peace resides within us

already, although in a hidden form. Divine Mother resides within us in the form

of peace, love, joy, strength, and so on. We’re not able to perceive or express

those divine qualities right now because of the many layers of samskaras we all

have. True peace will only be unveiled after intense purification through our

steady sadhana. So there seems to be a combination of doing sadhana as

prescribed by one’s guru to purify the samskaras, and then facing difficulties

periodically so that we can “stretch our spiritual muscles”, and see how far

we’ve come.

 

So it’s important to keep practicing, even when things are difficult. We may

have to reduce the amount of practice we do, but to keep the thread of sadhana

unbroken is really important to keep our minds from exploding. Aside from that,

what I find to be most important is to tune into the guru’s essence as much as

possible. By praying to the guru, imagining that they are there listening, and

by reciting mantras in our guru’s lineage, we strengthen our connection to the

guru. So much grace and comforting energy flows to us from the guru when we

tune into them. I have felt the most intense blessings come to me during the

most difficult times, because my heart and mind were calling out to Devi with

the most intense fervor. So now, when things get hard, I use it as an

opportunity to call to Ma with all my inner strength, and feel that close

connection within. In the Mahabharata, Kunti Devi prays to Sri Krishna to

always give her difficulties in life, so that she will always remember Him and

experience His grace.

 

For me, another aspect of staying focused during difficulties, is to try to

forget my “self”. Instead I focus on seeing myself as part of the structure of

dharma itself. I figure out how to align my actions with my personal dharma as

well as universal dharma, and then I commit myself to simply carrying out my

dharma. I just focus on doing what I need to do, try to keep Devi uppermost in

my thoughts, and see myself as part of a whole, not a separate being struggling

against the tide of life. Giving up attachment to a particular outcome, as

advised in the Bhagavad Gita, also helps a lot.

 

This is just my tiny experience with working with chaos; I think it’s a really

great topic to bring up for the group!

 

Jai Ma,

Ekta

 

 

--- Steve Connor <sconnor wrote:

> Has anyone been doing specific work on managing peace of mind during

> periods of stressful change, upheaval, chaotic surroundings, etc?

>

> I know some people by nature have less problem than others, or the

> chaos works with their desires so they establish a rhythm and feel

> they are progressing in life.

>

> The householder life! This is what I am talking about, but even for

> the sadhu, there must be times when life requires great changes and

> the usual schedule of devotions is upended ...

>

> I saw part of an otherwise not-so-great movie a couple nights

> ago ... in it a guy was telling how his boot camp sergeant would

> push the cadets long and hard so they would "learn to think

> effectively when exhausted." This was so they could survive in the

> jungle.

>

> Is there anything to this in anyone's experience, consciously

> working to developing the presence of mind to stay focused and calm,

> even when the environment and body are showing signs of going "kaput"

>

> ?

>

> steve c.

>

>

>

>

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Guest guest]

Hi Ekta,

Welcome to the group.

 

I read your response with interest . I tried reading from different

books to see how one could handle stress - from a psychological to a

spiritual angle.

>From a spiritual angle, many of the great saints advise us to

witness the pain and not get identified with it. So if there is a

headache for example - just to say "i have a headache" and accept it

for what it is . Our problems arise when we start off with "why

should i be the one that is having the headache". That is when the

suffering starts - our personalized identification of the pain.

 

Of course, like someone had commented on another subject (Rudran

regarding surrender ), its easier said than done huh ? But we just

have to remember that we have to keep the FAITH when everything is

bleak.

 

I saw a humorous anecdote on "Self Control" and wanted to share with

the group.

 

Enjoy. Jai Maa !

LAtha

================================

 

One day there was an earthquake that shook the entire Zen temple.

Parts of it even collapsed. Many of the monks were terrified. When

the earthquake stopped the teacher said, "Now you have had the

opportunity to see how a Zen man behaves in a crisis situation. You

may have noticed that I did not panic. I was quite aware of what was

happening and what to do. I led you all to the kitchen, the

strongest part of the temple. It was a good decision, because you

see we have all survived without any injuries. However, despite my

self-control and composure, I did feel a little bit tense - which

you may have deduced from the fact that I drank a large glass of

water, something I never do under ordinary circumstances."

 

One of the monks smiled, but didn't say anything.

 

"What are you laughing at?" asked the teacher.

 

"That wasn't water," the monk replied, "it was a large glass of soy

sauce."

 

 

====================================

[Guest guest]

Dear Members:

 

I am reminded of when I was in college taking Budhist courses and the

professor was explaining to us how the ego at times works. For example

when experiencing pain and suffering we tend to say:

 

Why me?

 

But what we really mean by this is the following:

 

Why me? Why not him? He deserves more than I do.

 

Accepting and witnessing our pain/sufferings/stress might seem

difficult but it can be done.

 

I know and realize this: how can anyone understand and talk about pain

if they have never experince the suffering of pain?

 

In theory all sounds good but believe me when you are experiencing

pain/suffering at times all the theory and practice goes out the

window. What is one to do?

 

I have taken the path of Mantra Japa and its has help me tremedously.

I sure dream allot but "dreams do come true." I believe it can help in

matters of stress, health, etc.

 

And yes Latha we have to keep the FAITH and add Surrender and Devotion

to it.

 

Jose

 

 

, "Latha Nanda" <lathananda>

wrote:

> Hi Ekta,

> Welcome to the group.

>

> I read your response with interest . I tried reading from different

> books to see how one could handle stress - from a psychological to a

> spiritual angle.

>

> From a spiritual angle, many of the great saints advise us to

> witness the pain and not get identified with it. So if there is a

> headache for example - just to say "i have a headache" and accept it

> for what it is . Our problems arise when we start off with "why

> should i be the one that is having the headache". That is when the

> suffering starts - our personalized identification of the pain.

>

> Of course, like someone had commented on another subject (Rudran

> regarding surrender ), its easier said than done huh ? But we just

> have to remember that we have to keep the FAITH when everything is

> bleak.

>

> I saw a humorous anecdote on "Self Control" and wanted to share with

> the group.

>

> Enjoy. Jai Maa !

> LAtha

> ================================

>

> One day there was an earthquake that shook the entire Zen temple.

> Parts of it even collapsed. Many of the monks were terrified. When

> the earthquake stopped the teacher said, "Now you have had the

> opportunity to see how a Zen man behaves in a crisis situation. You

> may have noticed that I did not panic. I was quite aware of what was

> happening and what to do. I led you all to the kitchen, the

> strongest part of the temple. It was a good decision, because you

> see we have all survived without any injuries. However, despite my

> self-control and composure, I did feel a little bit tense - which

> you may have deduced from the fact that I drank a large glass of

> water, something I never do under ordinary circumstances."

>

> One of the monks smiled, but didn't say anything.

>

> "What are you laughing at?" asked the teacher.

>

> "That wasn't water," the monk replied, "it was a large glass of soy

> sauce."

>

>

> ====================================

[Guest guest]

Namaste!

Pleasure and pain are temporary and impermanent like seasons of the

year. Please see Bhagavad Gita 2:14 and don't worry, remember: our

Mother is bearing in Her hands the discus of revolving time.

I use this in my life.

With love

Kalachandra

Steve Connor <sconnor (AT) austin (DOT) rr.com> wrote:

Has anyone been doing specific work on managing peace of mind during

periods of stressful change, upheaval, chaotic surroundings, etc?I

know some people by nature have less problem than others, or the

chaos works with their desires so they establish a rhythm and feel

they are progressing in life.The householder life! This is what I am

talking about, but even for the sadhu, there must be times when life

requires great changes and the usual schedule of devotions is upended

....I saw part of an otherwise not-so-great movie a couple nights ago

.... in it a guy was telling how his boot camp sergeant would push the

cadets long and hard so they would "learn to think effectively when

exhausted." This was so they could survive in the jungle.Is there

anything to this in anyone's experience, consciously working to

developing the presence of mind to stay focused and calm, even when

the environment and body are showing signs of going "kaput"?steve

c. Messenger - Fale com seus amigos online. Instale agora!

[Guest guest]

Thank you, Kalachandra, and everyone for their thoughtful responses

to my post. Some of you wrote such nice e-mail.

 

Over the days, the stress of the move with our daughter wore on ...

perhaps I adjusted to it, accepting it for what it was. Feeling,

Durga brings all this, good and bad, and also takes it away, does

help. I certainly recognize I do not have unlimited capacity for

pressure and change.

 

What a good lesson. Because, what about death? Doesn't one need to

keep one's composure perfectly at such a time that might be very

uncomfortable? This is what I think about during stress.

 

I also found, even if I could not do sadhana, that presence of God

stays. Even if it is not bliss at that time.

 

All of this is God's doing, that is the orientation. Pain comes and

goes. Sometimes we cannot get rid of it. So we stick to the path as

best we can, not making matters worse, and maybe building up some

virtue in the process. Jai Maa! Thank you for all this opportunity!

That is a good attitude to have.

 

Pranams,

 

Steve

 

, Kala Chandra

<kalachandra2003> wrote:

> Dear Steve,

> Namaste!

> Pleasure and pain are temporary and impermanent like seasons of

the year. Please see Bhagavad Gita 2:14 and don't worry, remember:

our Mother is bearing in Her hands the discus of revolving time.

> I use this in my life.

> With love

> Kalachandra

>

>

> Steve Connor <sconnor@a...> wrote:

> Has anyone been doing specific work on managing peace of mind

during

> periods of stressful change, upheaval, chaotic surroundings, etc?

>

> I know some people by nature have less problem than others, or the

> chaos works with their desires so they establish a rhythm and feel

> they are progressing in life.

>

> The householder life! This is what I am talking about, but even

for

> the sadhu, there must be times when life requires great changes

and

> the usual schedule of devotions is upended ...

>

> I saw part of an otherwise not-so-great movie a couple nights

> ago ... in it a guy was telling how his boot camp sergeant would

> push the cadets long and hard so they would "learn to think

> effectively when exhausted." This was so they could survive in the

> jungle.

>

> Is there anything to this in anyone's experience, consciously

> working to developing the presence of mind to stay focused and

calm,

> even when the environment and body are showing signs of

going "kaput"

>

> ?

>

> steve c.

>

>

>

>

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