The
mind is the agent that is interacting with the world through the senses day in
and day out. Whatever interacts with the world through the senses subjects
itself to the pulls of opposites, raga and dwesha – attraction and repulsion.
It is the mismanagement of attraction and repulsion which creates problems in
life. If we are attracted to something, it is we who are attracted, but we then
expect the other person or thing to reciprocate, and when that doesn’t happen,
attraction leads to frustration. Repulsion is the opposite reaction, whereby we
try to repel things that continue to come to us no matter how much we try to
avoid them, creating another cause of tension, anxiety. Through this mental
disturbance, our balance is lost. – Swami Niranjanananda
Saraswati
Some people are more into Yoga, some Zen, some “New Thought,”
and others into whatever it is that helps them to feel good. We are all looking for some way to manage the
“ups and downs” of life. We are seeking
inner peace.
I think that the spiritual path begins when we realize that
we can’t really win at the game of life the way it has been set up. Somehow we have been lead to believe that if
we just had enough money everything would be perfect. Or maybe it’s the right love partner, career,
physical condition, maybe just a life free from problems. If things were different we could be happy
and fulfilled. Thus we strive for some
possible state of perfection.
There is a wonderful verse in the Tao Te Ching that goes, “Do
you think you can take over the universe and improve it? I do not believe it
can be done.” Think about it. We are inseparable aspects of a fractal hologram
unfolding in the theatre of time and space.
Everything is interrelated. Do we
really think that we can take charge of it all?
It’s pretty clear that our attempts on this lonely planet have brought
us close to self-destruction.
True peace of mind comes through the Yogic practice of
Ishvara Pranidhana, which means surrender to the will of God, Tao, higher
power, super-implicate order, or whatever we want to call it. This cosmic order is not something apart from
who we are. It is our own essential
nature. It is the unfolding of
consciousness.
The key to facing the ups and downs of life; the inevitable pains,
losses and changes, is to welcome them with love and acceptance. Understand that whatever happens is not
personal to you but the working out of a greater process which we call
evolution. But don’t get hung up on
evolution as some kind of future agenda.
Instead embrace this moment of being alive and savor it for all its
worth. There is nothing better than
this.
