2. CALM DOWN
Whenever you are in crisis it’s natural for you to lose your mind and experience anxiety/panic attacks. This adds to the problem since such states of panic, anxiety or fear – one often tends to take extreme decisions that often prove counterproductive. It’s, therefore, important to calm down, before taking any drastic measures. The best way to do it is to sit down in a comfortable position or lie down on the bed and, then, focus completely on your breathing. Try to regulate your breath; let your inhalation and exhalation be deep and steady. As you steadily focus on your breathing you’ll eventually see a drastic drop in anxiety and stress levels. Once you have calmed your mind try to relax further with good thoughts or even music. Remind yourself that neither hope nor fear is real. They are both figments of your imagination. But, while fear can bring the worst in you; hope is sure to bring out best. While fear tends to magnify every negative outcome, hope tends to give the possibility of strength. No fear is worthy of harnessing – just like every hope deserves persistent and careful nurture. Try to indulge in some positive distraction. It could be a good book, movie, music or even spending time with your pet. Make sure these distractions aren’t negative in any sense, the book should be inspiring, the movie should be calming – not fear or emotions driven, music should be something that makes you feel better and the pet should be one which loves cuddling and playing. This will give you a breather from your trouble and reset your thought process in the right direction.
3. FIND THE ROOT CAUSE OF YOUR PROBLEM
Once your mind is calm, go back in time and try to find the root of the problem. Remember: There’s no effect (problem) without cause; no cause without effect. Revisit the circumstances, the people as well as the situation that led you to your prevailing problem. Ensure that you look at it objectively. Don’t be critical of anyone – yourself included. Just look at it in a way as you would watch a movie – detached of emotions. Emotions (both positive and negative) are natural – yes – but they are often counterproductive during problem solving. Don’t even hate or curse anyone for any reason, as this will bring out anger and will cloud your thinking. Try to understand why someone did what they did. And enlist the possible reasons for the problem at hand. Once this is done rework on it until you are convinced you have analysed the root cause.
4. TAKE RESPONSIBILITY
For whatever has happened – always remember – you, yourself, are responsible. Don’t deflect responsibility on someone else – your stars, god(s), enemies or anyone else. Even if they played a role – it was you who brought it upon you through your actions. There is nothing to be gained by blaming someone else. The solution to any problem can be possible only when we take responsibility for it. Admit your mistakes, limitations as well as the lack of knowledge. When you do it – you’ll be on the sure path to find solid, wise as well as lasting solutions to your problems.
5. FIGURE OUT SOLUTIONS
You might be surprised to see what your mind can achieve when it is calm and has taken responsibility for the situation. It will, in due course of time, present forth to you a series of solutions for you to choose from. But make sure that when you choose a solution it’s devoid of all negative emotional tendencies. Vedic wisdom suggests that: All effort without the basis of lust, anger, infatuation, greed, ego, and jealousy is sure to give the desired results. Make sure the aforesaid six negative tendencies are seldom followed; for they are problems in themselves. You can seldom solve a problem with another problem. Problems are solved through solutions; they’re aggravated by working with more problem(s).
6. WORK WITH PERSISTENCE
When you start working on the solutions; your persistence is the key. You may or may not believe in luck. But you’ve nothing within your purview in the idea of luck. Therefore, seek persistence. If you believe in something and work towards it – relentlessly – you stand a greater chance of attaining your objective – a happy & prosperous life.
10
THE REAL GURU
Guru is not just any teacher, or a saffron clad individual seeking attention to make some money – directly or indirectly, he’s not the one who yearns for publicity. The idea of Guru is something beyond.
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The Sanskrit word Guru is often mistranslated as a ‘teacher’. Teacher in Sanskrit is called Shikshak. A teacher is someone who informs and educates us, who ensures that we learn to read, write and understand. Yet, a teacher has no obligation for the complete welfare of his student(s); he is focused on his specific subject. A teacher is a professional, who teaches to make his living.
But Guru is way beyond an ordinary Shikshak. Guru is a mentor, who inspires, as well as nurtures. Unlike Shikshak (teacher), Guru is not a professional who does his work in exchange for monetary or any other material gains. He is, honest, shuns the very idea of having something in return. He does what he does, as his duty, borne out of love and stays away from all the results. Guru is a sage, a beacon of inspiration for his disciples, especially when they are struck by crisis.
The Guru is also one from whom we learn wisdom. Vedic rishis (sages) profess that everything we desire – happiness and knowledge, – is deep within us. While Shikshak puts in efforts in order to make us understand what we want or may not want; Guru introduces us to ourselves and instills in us the wisdom to seek, lead and enlighten ourselves.
There are two interesting stories from the Vedic literature that are worthy of recollection in understanding the deeper meaning of the word Guru.
It is said that Adi Shankaracharya of Kaaladi, a pioneer in the field of Advaita once came across a Chandaala (low caste person who works in a crematorium) while on his way to Hari Ghat in Varanasi for his bath. Shankaracharya, aghast at being in the presence of an untouchable, told the latter to keep away. To Adi Shankaracharya’s utter dismay, the Chandaala raised some pertinent questions from the same Advaita philosophy that Shankaracharya practised. The chandaala asked “Whom are you telling to keep away? This body or the Atman (consciousness) which resides in this body? Your body and mine are made of the same substance, as pots of varying sizes and colors are made of the same clay. How can such body ask another to stay away? Are they not part of the same?” Legend says that Chandaala’s words stunned Adi Shankaracharya. He realized that any differentiation between one person and another comes from difference in the size and shape of the body and the state of mind that perceives the difference. The Atman, however, is beyond all these things. Shankaracharya not just hailed the Chandaala for showing him this practical side of Advaita philosophy, that he himself had been preaching for long, but also offered his salutations and addressed the chandaala as his Guru. Shankaracharya was so moved that he composed a poem entitled Manisha Panchaka. At the end of this poem Shankaracharya declares “One who looks at the creation from a non-dualistic viewpoint is my true teacher, be he a Brahmin or a Chandaala.” Here the great proponent of Advaita Vedanta (non-duality) declares that the Guru can be of any cast, creed, age, gender or even species. If anyone helps us in our endeavor to realize our true self and full potential that being is our Guru.
Yet another story worthy of recollection in this perspective is that of Avadhoota Dattatreya.
It is said that once King Yadu saw Avadhoota Dattatreya in a forest and asked “Sir, you are revered to be quite capable, energetic and wise. Such as you are, why do you live in the forest, free from all desires? Even though you have neither kith and kin nor even a family, how could you be so blissful and self-contended?”
The Avadhoota (word meaning: one who has given up all worldly desires) replied, “My contentment is because of my realization of the self. I have gained the necessary wisdom from the whole creation, through 24 gurus. Let me elaborate the same for you:
EARTH: People plow, dig and tread the earth without any respect; they light a fire on it. Yet, the mother earth does not deviate from its path of sustaining life. On the other hand, it shelters the very creatures which cause it harm and trample it under their feet. This
attribute of the earth has made me realize that to be wise one must never deviate from one’s dharma or vow of patience, love and righteousness under any circumstances and one should dedicate his life for the welfare of living. I, therefore, consider the earth as my first guru.
AIR: I observed that air is pure and odourless. And it blows on both sweet and foul-smelling things without any discrimination or preferences. Though it momentarily seems to take on the smell of its surroundings, in a short while, it reveals its pristine quality. From this I learned that a spiritual aspirant should live in the world, unaffected by the dualities of life like joy and sorrow and by the objects of the senses. One should keep his feelings and speech unpolluted by vain objects. As I have learned all this by observing it, air is my second guru.
SKY: The soul is also like the sky, which is omnipresent. I have noticed that sometimes the sky (or space) gets thickly overcast or filled with dust or smoke. At sunrise and during night, it apparently takes on different colours. But in fact, it retains its colourless self, and is never touched or stained by anything. From this, I learned that a true sage should remain ever pure like the sky, or space, untouched or unaffected by anything in the phenomenal universe in time, including his own physical processes. His inner being is totally free from an emotional reaction to things and events even like space. Thus, I accepted the sky or space as my third guru.
FIRE: My fourth teacher is the element of fire. Sometimes, it manifests itself as blazing flames; sometimes as soldering embers, covered by ash. But it is for everyone, irrespective of their moral worth and it burns down their sins; while it remains the ever pure divinity. So too, a sage of perfect realization should accept everyone, burn their sins and bless the giver. Though the fire has no specific form of its own, when it is associated with fuel that burns, it assumes such apparent forms. So too, the true self, though formless, appears in the form of deities, human beings, animals, and trees when it is associated with the respective physical structures. The source of all forms in the universe, as also their end, remains ever mysterious. All the things are manifest only in the time and space between their origin and their end. Their source and end are the true self, which is eternal, unchanging, un-manifest and omnipresent. The nature of the element of fire is such. The manifest fire transforms the various things it consumes into the same ash. Similarly, the wisdom of self-realization rejects the manifest forms and properties of things as illusion and realizes their one original essence as itself. Thus, the element of fire is my fourth guru.
SUN: My fifth guru is the sun. Though the sun we see in our daily life is one, it appears as many when reflected by water in different vessels. Similarly, the one self manifests itself as many selves of living creatures when reflected by their physical structures. As Sun illuminates the many forms in nature to our visions, the sage too, illuminates the true nature of all things to his devotees.
PIGEON: I have gained wisdom from a pigeon too. Once a pair of pigeons lived together on a tree. They bred their young and were bringing them up with deep affection and love. One day, a hunter caught the young fledglings in a snare. The old hen (female pigeon), which returned from the forest with food for its young ones, saw their plight and, unable to leave them, she leaped in the snare to share their fate. Shortly after, the male pigeon turned up and, unable to bear the separation from its sweetheart, it too jumped in the snare and met its end. Reflecting on this, I realized how, even after being born as an intelligent human being, man is caught in the coils of possessiveness and brings about his own spiritual destruction. The self, which is originally free, when associated with the body sense, get identified with it, and thus get caught in the endless cycle of birth, death, and misery. Thus, the pigeons are my sixth guru.
PYTHON: The python is a sluggard, unwilling to move out briskly for its prey. It lies in its lurch and devours whatever creature it comes across, be it sufficient to appease its hunger. From this, I learned that the man in search of wisdom should refrain from running after pleasures, and accept whatever he gets spontaneously with contentment. Like the python, he should shake off sleep and wakefulness and abide in a state of incessant meditation on the self. Thus, the python was my seventh teacher of wisdom.
SEA: Contemplating the marvellous nature of the ocean, I have gained much wisdom. Any number of overflowing rivers may join it, yet the sea maintains its level. Nor does its level fall even by a hair’s breadth in summer, when all the rivers dry up. So too, the joys of life do not elate the sage of wisdom, nor do his sorrow depress him. Just as the sea never crosses its threshold on the beach, the wise one never transgresses the highest standards of morality under the pull of passions. Like the sea, he is unconquerable and cannot be troubled by anything. Like the unfathomable ocean, his true nature and the depths of his wisdom cannot be easily comprehended by anyone. The ocean, which has taught me this, is my eighth guru.
MOTH: I often see that the moth (or, more precisely, grasshopper) is tempted by fire to jump in it and get burnt down. So too, the unthinking man is enticed by the illusionary pleasures of the senses and thus gets caught in the ceaseless cycles of birth and death. On the other hand, the wise one, when he catches even a glimpse of the fire of wisdom, leaves everything aside, leaps in it and burns down the illusion of being a limited self. Thus, the moth was my ninth guru.
ELEPHANT: The elephant was my tenth guru. The human beings raise a stuffed cow-elephant in the forest. The wild tusker mistakes it for a mate, approaches it and then is skilfully bound in fetters by the cunning human beings. So too, the unregenerate man is tempted by the opposite sex and gets bound by the fetters of infatuation. The seekers after liberation should learn to be free from lust. The elephant was thus one of my teachers.
ANT: The ant stores up lots of food materials which it neither eats nor gives away in charity to any other creature. In consequence, other more powerful creatures are tempted to plunder the ants. So too, the man who just stores treasures of merely material things becomes a victim of robbery and murder. But the ant has something positive to teach us too. It is a tireless worker and is never discouraged by any number of obstacles and setbacks in its efforts to gather its treasure. So too, a seeker after wisdom should be tireless in his efforts for self-realisation. This noble truth was taught by the little ant, I regard it as my eleventh guru.
FISH: The fish greedily swallows the bait and is at once caught by the angle-hook. From this, I realized how many meet their destruction by craving for delicious food. When the palate is conquered, all else is conquered. Besides, there is a positive feature in the fish. It never leaves its home, i.e. water. So too, one should never lose sight of his true self, but should always be aware of the being within. Thus, the fish became my twelfth guru.
PINGALA: The thirteenth guru that has awakened my spirit is a prostitute named Pingala. One day, she eagerly awaited a client in the hope that he would pay her amply. She waited and waited till late in the night. When he did not turn up, she was at last disillusioned and reflected thus: “Alas! How stupid I am! Neglecting the divine spirit within, who is of the nature of bliss eternal, I foolishly waited a debauchee (sensualist) who inspires my lust and greed. Henceforth, I shall expend myself on the Self, unite with it and win eternal joy. Through such repentance, she was blessed. Besides, reflecting on its obvious purport, I also realized that any aspirant should likewise reject immediate smaller pleasures for the greater one. I learned that the temptation of false security is the root of misery; that renunciation of these is the sole means of realizing infinite joy.
ARROW-MAKER: Once I observed an arrow maker who was totally absorbed in moulding a sharp arrow. He grew so oblivious of all else that he did not even notice a royal pageant that passed by. This sight awakened me to the truth that such single-minded, all absorbing contemplation of the Self spontaneously eliminates all temptation for the trivial interests of the world. It is the sole secret of success in spiritual discipline. Thus, the arrow-maker is my fourteenth guru.
PLAYFUL BOY
: Little boys and girls know neither honour nor dishonour. They do not nurse a grudge or a prejudice against anyone. They do not know what is their own, or what belongs to others. Their happiness springs from their own selves, their innate creativity and they do not need any external objects or conditions to be happy. I realized that the sage of perfect enlightenment is also such. A playful boy thus happened to be my fifteenth guru.
MOON: Of all things in nature, the moon is unique. It appears to wax and wane during the bright and dark fortnights. In fact, the lunar globe remains the same. In this, it is like the self of the man. While a man appears to pass through the stages of infancy, boyhood, youth, maturity and old age, his real self remains unchanged. All changes pertain only to body and not to the self. Again, the moon only reflects the light of the sun, but has no such of its own. So too, the soul or mind of a man is only a reflection of the light of awareness of the real self. Having taught this truth, the moon became my sixteenth guru.
HONEYBEE: Honeybee wanders from flower to flower and, without hurting them in the least, draws honey. So too, a spiritual seeker should study all the holy scriptures but retain in his heart, only that which is essential for his spiritual practice. Such is the teaching I imbibed from my seventeenth guru.
Essentials of Vedic Wisdom for Blissful Living Page 6