Working with Passion, not Expectations

It is often said that we are the architect of our own future. Why then are we unable to create a happy and prosperous future for ourselves? The answer lies in how we do what we do.

Every creation starts at the thought level. Thought translates into speech – whether mental or vocal. Persistent speech propels us into actions. When we create a thought of doing something, we often simultaneously plant the expectation of success with it. This spontaneously gives rise to the question, “What if I am not successful?” Thus, a thought of failure is also created. Now, this thought of possible failure will colour our mental and vocal speech. When we get down to doing what is required to be done, subconsciously, we will start working towards the possible failure as well. Also, the very act of such doing will be tiring and demotivating. There is not a great chance of successful outcome from such an act either.

On the other hand, one may check how passionate one is with the thought of doing anything first. A selfish thought can hardly accommodate passion, whereas an unselfish thought expands in passion with the extent of unselfishness. Passion finds fulfilment in doing something to the best of one’s ability. Passion does not look for any result thereafter. A passionate painter finds complete fulfilment in the act of painting itself, irrespective of whether the painting will turn out to be a classic or not. Such a passionate thought will not allow any room for expectation and hence the possibility of failure. A passion-filled thought will generate passionate speech and thereby drive a passionate act. One would enjoy doing such a passionate act and would find complete fulfilment in the act itself. The chances of successful outcome from such an act are beyond any doubt, although there is no expectation for it at all.

The key, therefore, is to entertain only those thoughts that would benefit the greater humanity, and then let the unbound passion do the rest.

Living in Freedom

I am like an image on a screen looking at other images on the same screen. I have a choice - either to identify with my constantly changing image or with the unchanging screen lending existence and life to the image.

When I identify with my image, it becomes alive and so do all other images on the screen.

Now, I am subjected to all sorts of experiences born out of my interactions with other images. I get angry with one image, happy with another, jealous of yet another, depressed with criticism, swelled with praise, and so on.

However, when I identify with the screen, then I am instantly free of all such experiences. I can now see the same screen behind every image - whether of beings or things. Any interaction with any image is essentially now interacting with my own Self in form of the screen. 

I can now choose to play a variety of roles through my image on the screen, doing what is ought to be done by that image in any situation. The moment I sense a danger of getting trapped by any reaction from other images in the drama called "Life", I safely retreat in my identity of the screen - never forgetting that I, as the screen, support all other images.

How can I now get affected by my own Self in any way? This, I believe, is 'living in freedom'.

You have a choice - Suffer or Enjoy

According to Advaita (non- dual) philosophy, everything appears in your consciousness and nothing exists apart from your consciousness. Can you experience anything, including yourself, without the consciousness? Therefore, you must necessarily be the consciousness as you can't deny or doubt your own existence.

The matrix of Time, Space, Causation and everything bound by this matrix, including your Body, Mind and Intellect, are nothing but your own projection in your own Self. You do this every night while dreaming. In the dream, don't you project a universe of things and beings, including yourself, moving around in the matrix of Time, Space and Causation? What happens to this universe when you wake-up? Doesn't it fold back into your own mind? Don't you dismiss it as illusory upon waking? Your suffering starts when you identify with your projected individual Body, Mind and Intellect as the only existence. You thus lend reality to such illusive identification. Instantly, everyone else and everything around you also become separate and real for you.

You have a choice to remain that way and suffer or realise your original nature of pure consciousness (having infinite potential to project anything) and see everything appearing in you as your own reflections. How can you now suffer from your own reflections? How can you harm, hate or get annoyed with any reflection? You will only get amused by what you perceive as a play of your own consciousness, just as a child enjoys viewing various colourful patterns changing continuously in the Kaleidoscope.

Beyond Experiencing Experiences

Life is a continuous stream of experiences. We experience a variety of things in and through whatever we do in life. Indeed, we are driven to the world for experiences. What is the significance of this experiencing? Is there something beyond this experiencing experiences? Let us investigate.

Every act of experience is based on three essential conditions: the experiencer and the experienced object both must exist; the experiencer must be conscious of both oneself and the object; and the experience must produce either a happy or a sad emotion in the experiencer. If we dive deeper, we will find that existence of the experiencer, consciousness of the experiencer and an acute awareness of one's own emotions are prerequisites for any experience. Without these prerequisites, there is no possibility of an experience even if the object of experience is available. These prerequisite attributes of the experiencer do not change from one experience to the other. Variety of experiences are, however, produced by the interaction of these constant experiencer’s attributes with the changing variety of experienced objects. In other words, the experiencer does not change, while the objects of experiences change.

These constant attributes of the experiencer act like a blank screen on which variety of objects produce variety of images. Just as changing images have no effect on the screen, these experiences also have no power to affect the experiencer. However, our current life experience does not agree with this finding. This is due to our involvement in the experiences. It is as if the screen develops liking for an image being projected. Now the screen will experience happiness so long as the image lasts and then will cry for it when it disappears. It may also start fearing those images that it does not want to be projected. It starts defining itself through these images. The screen has now forgotten its original nature possessing those changeless attributes.

While experiencing happiness or sadness, we too have forgotten our original nature of beingness, consciousness, and unbroken emotional awareness. We are now involved in each of our experiences. We define our identity through these experiences and suffer. We feel helpless and accept this way of living as our destiny.

Fortunately, there is a way out of this trap. We may start using each experience to remind ourselves of our essential nature and its attributes. I am experiencing this experience because I exist, I am conscious, and I am constantly aware of all my emotions. This practice with time will shift the focus from objects of experience to the experiencer. The shift may be gradual depending upon the sincerity and consistency of this practice. The quality of life will also improve accordingly. Success and rewards would become unintended side-effects of this process. And, we will start going beyond experiencing experiences.

 

खुद की खोज

बाहर की भटकन खूब हुई

आओ अब खुद की खोज करें 

पैदा होना जीना मरना

सुख दुःख की लहरों पे बहना

क्या और भी है कुछ जीने में

आओ अब इसकी खोज करें

 

तन से बढकर है मन का सुख

मन से बढकर है बुद्धि का

क्या इससे भी बढकर सुख है

आओ अब उसकी खोज करें

 

धन दौलत और पृतिष्ठा की

है चाह नहिं किसको जग मे

पा कर इनको है कौन सुखी

आओ अब उसकी खोज करें

 

जब दुख के बादल घिरते हैं

मन ब्याकुल होने लगता है

है कौन जिसे यह होता है

आओ अब उसकी खोज करें

 

जो दिखता है वो सच है क्या

या फिर कोई छलावा है

क्या बात है ये क्या भेद है ये

आओ अब इसकी खोज करें

 

मैं कौन हूँ क्या है काम मेरा

जग से है क्या नाता मेरा

क्या सत्य है जो परदे मे है

आओ अब खुद की खोज करें

Relax at the point of contact

“The time to relax is when you don't have time for it” says Sydney Harris. ‘Ju’ in Japanese Judo means gentle. A Judo practitioner is advised to completely relax his body and mind at the point of contact with the opponent and use opponent’s force to topple him. Resistance causes energy loss. You are less efficient in facing your opponent with depleted energy. Resistance also causes stress. You are more likely to lose the fight. However, learning to relax in such a situation is not easy. But once you have mastered the art of relaxing, you start enjoying the fight and least likely to lose. In other competitive sports too, the first thing a player learns is the technique of falling safely. Again, the essence is to offer no resistance while falling.

In life also, we are constantly faced with problems and issues appearing as opponents / enemies. Our normal reaction is to deny what has appeared by asking ‘why me’ or ‘why now’? We start resisting the problem. We don’t realise that such questioning or resisting will not make that problem disappear. In fact, by asking such questions, we provide more power to the problem. This denial causes stress, anxiety, depression, anger, or fear. We become more vulnerable. We are not at our best in such a situation.

We can use the technique of relaxation to face any challenge in life most effectively. Everything in the nature happens easily and gently. Flowers bloom gently, seasons change slowly, and a child grows in no hurry. ‘To be at ease’ is our original nature. When we deviate from this ‘ease’, we become ‘diseased’. We are at our best when we are at ease. When mind is at ease and body is relaxed, we can see many more options to deal with the challenge at hand. We develop clarity to choose the best response required in that situation. Indeed, only the best response spontaneously comes out of this state of being.

Any stress is first registered in the mind. If it is allowed to stay even for a short while, it will start impacting the body making it weaker. We can use the first sign of any mental stress or anxiety or even a slight irritation as the leading indicator of oncoming challenge. We need to be alert at all times to notice this. This alertness will also help in reminding us to immediately accept what has appeared before us without unnecessary questioning.

As soon as we notice any irritation, we need to stop doing whatever we are doing at that moment, including any form of thinking. This pause will keep us in the present moment and stop from reacting impulsively. This pause will also open door for seeing available options for proper response. During this pause, we should switch to deep breathing with full attention on the breath. This will further calm the mind and provide clarity to select the best option for responding to the challenge at hand.

Many minor issues would simply drop in such a state of alert relaxation, while proper response would effortlessly emerge for the other major issues.  So many things that regularly cause frequent irritations to us would start disappearing from our life. With constant practice over time, we will start enjoying every challenge coming our way, just as a sportsman enjoys every move made by his opponent. Life will become a game where every challenge provides opportunity to grow and enjoy.

Regaining Mind’s Control

Imagine that you own a house in another city where you do not live. This house is kept vacant under the care of some part-time person hired by you. A very good friend of yours want to visit that city. You offer him your house to stay and write a note to the caretaker to allow him there. He goes there and presses the doorbell. A hefty fellow comes out and stares at him. Your good friend gives him your note. But he tears the note into pieces and barks at him to get lost as that house belongs to him and he does not know who you are. It turns out that your house has been taken over by a local hooligan in your absence and you have no control over him.

This is the situation of our mind. We have left our mind unattended for a very long time. During this time, thoughts prompted by nasty desires have accumulated and taken control of our mind. Now when we want to entertain a spiritual thought in our mind, it is not allowed to enter, and we don’t seem to have any control over our mind. Even worse, we don’t have control over our senses which are continuously tempted by a variety of things and beings in the world. No amount of collecting spiritual thoughts and attending Satsang seem to help.

To cope with such a situation, we need to start with strengthening our Intellect, which will work like a tiny hook (ankush) used to control a huge elephant. Intellect can be strengthened by reading/listening works of higher values, including spiritual texts, and reflecting on them through sincere inquiries. As the conviction on higher values in the life deepens, intellect gains power. With this subtle power of intellect, we need to train the mind slowly by instilling new habits. We may use WOOP (make a Wish, visualize the Outcome, identify Obstacles and Plan ways to remove the obstacles when they appear) technique, among others, to achieve this. Simultaneously, we need to gradually withdraw our senses from their objects of temptations. This practice must be carried out consistently according to one’s capacity. With time we will gain control over our mind and senses. We can, then, direct them towards our intended goals in life.

Watch WOOP explanation