There was an arrogant Sanskrit scholar who wanted to cross
the river, had an interesting conversation with the boatman & asked the
boatman, do you know Sahitya. Sahitya is Sanskrit literature to which
the boatman said, “No Sir I’m struggling to fill my stomach so I don’t know Sahitya.” To which this arrogant scholar
said, “Quarter of your life is wasted if you don’t know Sahitya.” The boatman continued rowing his boat & again the
scholar asked the boatman, at least do you know Alankarashashtra which is another aspect of Sanskrit literature. To
which the boatman smiled & says, “I don’t know.” To which the arrogant
scholar said, “Another quarter of your life is wasted, if you’ve not learnt Alankarashashtra.” To which the boatman continued
rowing the boat. Again the arrogant scholar asked the boatman at least do you
know Sanskrit. To which the boatman answered, “No Sir.” To which again the
scholar said, “Another quarter of your life is wasted because such a beautiful
literature like Sanskrit you’re not exposed.” The boatman continued to row
understanding the fact that the scholar doesn’t understand his position. The
boat was right in the middle of the river & then the boatman asked the
scholar, “Oh scholar do you know taranavidya?
Do you know swimming?” Because the boatman realised that there was a hole in
the boat & water was coming inside. To which the scholar said, “No I don’t
know swimming.” The boatman said, “Your full life is wasted” & he jumped
out of the boat & swam his way to the shore & the scholar died.
Friends we may know Sanskrit, you may know Physics, you may
know Botany, but if you don’t know the knowledge which helps you to cross over
sorrow, to cross over stress, all other knowledge which will not really help
you. Lot of us have all other knowledge but not the knowledge which helps you
to cross over stress. In this talk, I’m going to explain to you, how you can
handle stress & be like a bullet proof Yogic individual.
To handle stress there’re 3 important realities, 1 there’s an
external reality, 2nd there’s an internal reality, 3rd
there’s a transcendental reality. These’re 3 important realities in the realm
of Yoga. The external reality is the world of things. The internal reality is
the world of thoughts & the transcendental reality which Yoga talks is
something which is beyond things & beyond thoughts. Most of us are living
life in the world of things. The external reality, the reality that we see,
hear, smell, touch. This is the external reality & we feel in order to be
happy, you’ve to have more things, more objects, means more materialistic
external world. We think our stress will be relieved, our happiness is
increased when we’ve the world of things & therefore we’re busy being
successful. If you look deeply, a person can be successful but he need not be
satisfied. You may have a lot of things but if those things are not seen
wisely, they’ll not give you satisfaction. So the external reality is the world
of things but we fail to realise that the external is seeing internally &
if the external is seeing internally in a negative way that the external cannot
give you joy, cannot relieve you from stress. People can have a beautiful
house, be very, very externally comfortable but internally if their thoughts
are tensed in chaos then you’ll find you may have lot of comforts but you’ll be
comfortably miserable. Yoga tells us the external world that you see is seeing
internally & therefore internally if you don’t calibrate yourself properly.
If you don’t tune yourself wisely then the world of things will not give you
happiness, will not relieve stress in you. Therefore you experience externally,
internally. This internal Yoga says your mind & hence Yoga says, “manaha yevam manushayam karanam bandha
mokshoyoho.” Mind is the cause for bondage. Mind is the cause for freedom.
In handling stress in a Yogic angle, be with the world of things but have this
clear understanding that if your world of thoughts don’t relate to the world of
things wisely, the world of things is not going to give you happiness, is not
going to give you joy. As you’re in the world of things, the external reality,
see the internal reality of your thoughts of your emotions & if you can
tune them wisely then you’ll experience the world very differently.
Sometime back as I was taking the workshop I found 1 lady
right at the back seated in my seminar & see was sleeping. So I called her
from the back & told her to sit in the front. She sat in the front & I
continued my seminar. As I continued my seminar I found her very, very annoyed,
very, very upset. I had to stop my seminar & ask her, it appears you’re
very upset. To which said, “Swamijee
I’m very upset.” I asked her why & she told me, “Because you’ve insulted
me.” I asked her, “How did I insult you?” You called me from the back to the
front & that’s an insult Swamijee.
Then I continued my seminar in an enquiring mode & I told her, “If I called
you from the back to the front, the fact is I’ve called you from the back to
the front. Where’s the insult?” But she says that insult I’m extremely hurt. I
said “Please look into the genesis of hurt. I’ve called from the back to the
front & that’s all.” To which she says, “But that’s an insult.” I told her,
“Back to the front is a fact; insult is your interpretation to the fact. The
fact isn’t upsetting & since you’re interpreting the fact as an insult, you
feel insulted. So it’s your internal reality which is creating insult, which is
creating stress, the externally reality, I only called you from the back to the
front.” I also told her, “Did I raise my voice?” To which she said, “No.” Did I
scold you? She said, “No.” Then she said, “You called me from the back to the
front.” When this dialogue was going on another lady in my same seminar called
‘life programme’, she got up & said Swamijee,
“If you would’ve called me from the back to the front, I would’ve felt very
honoured because Swamijee’s taking so
much of care that he’s called me from the back to the front.” Then I told the whole
workshop the incident is the same. Right? calling up from the back to the
front, this lady feels honoured, the other lady feels insulted. The external
reality is the same but 1 is internally interpreting it as insult. Another is
interpreting as Swamijee is taking
care. Then I told the audience, “See what is creating stress?” External
situation so often is not creating stress, it’s your internal reality of how
you interpret is creating stress. And therefore friends Yoga says, there’s an
external reality, you experience life not externally, you experience life
internally & if you can become aware of this internal dynamics called the
mind, you can handle stress in a much more dextrous way.
I always say in my ‘life seminars’ 75% of the snake bites are
non-poisonous but 75% of the time, people die out of the fear of a snake bite.
Just imagine friends, a non-poisonous snake bites you but this person dies out
of the fear of a snake bite. So therefore who has killed him? It’s not the
non-poisonous snake but it’s the internal reality called thought which
interprets it’s a poisonous snake & since it interprets a person can kill
himself internally. In handling stress we don’t see the world externally, we
see the world internally. So there’s an external reality, there’s an internal
reality.
Next Yoga talks, there’s a transcendental reality. Now even
Psychology will talk about internal reality called your mind but Yoga is
talking of a transcendental reality. What’s transcendental reality? That which
is going beyond your mind. In the field of Psychology, in the field of internal
reality, you’ve to interpret things positively. You’ve to interpret things in a
proactive way but please understand there’s a limitation in the field of
internal reality. You may be positive but understand a positive mind is always
in conflict with a negative mind. That’s why Yoga is just not about positive thinking
it’s something that’s beyond positive thinking. Any positive mind is in
conflict with the negative so when you’re positive there’s a hidden fear of the
negative & this hidden fear of the negative creates a conflict with the
negative. You’re positively happy but the same positive mind is scared of an
unhappy mind so therefore there’s always a conflict of positive & negative
& hence Yoga’s contribution is more than Psychology where it says, you’ve
to learn to even transcend you mind which is positive & negative & that
is called the transcendental reality. In handling stress make your mind
positive. Understand it’s not the external reality which is creating stress.
Look into your mind. Mind is nothing but thoughts. Be it positive or negative
& if you closely see, you’re not the thoughts. You’re not the thoughts. If you’re
the thoughts with every thought going you should go. With every thought coming you should come. But
when thought goes you don’t go. When thought comes you don’t come. Yoga says
who’re you? You’re not the thought. You’re a space in which thought comes &
goes. Thought is only a cloud & you’re the sky. The cloud cannot affect the
sky & if you see yourself as the space & not the thought then you
transcend thoughts & this transcendence of thoughts is called a Samadhi.
In South India there’s a beautiful temple called Chidambaram
temple. There’s Chidambaram ‘ambara’
means space, ‘Chit’ means
consciousness. There’s just an empty space which people worship & it’s
called Chidambara rahasya. Which
means if you be empty, if you can be an empty space you’ll see yourself beyond
the very thought, next to the empty space is Nataraja which means that if you’re empty you’ll dance like a Nataraja which stands for ecstasy &
unfortunately ecstasy has been a forgotten language. And therefore friends
there’s an external reality – ‘the things’; internally reality – ‘the thoughts’
& Yoga says there’s a transcendental reality which is beyond thoughts.
Every time you’re upset, every time you’re stressed just look, it’s the thought
which is creating more than the situation. And if thought is creating stress
just see are you the thought, thought comes, thought goes, you’re just the
space in which thought comes & goes. Seeing yourself that is going beyond
thoughts & that’s the best way to handle stress. And you can be a bullet
proof individual irrespective of the external situations if you can have a
spiritual cosmetic. In each part of your body if you can anchor a certain
quality then you’ll be like a bullet proof car, external situation will have
less impact & hence I call this a spiritual cosmetic. Practice this &
anchor this knowledge in each part of your body & then you’ll find you’ll
be able to handle stress very dextrously, very wisely. These different parts I want
you to anchor is this 1 your ears, GOD has given us 2 years & 1 mouth which
means listen more & talk less. And if you can learn to be a good listener
in life then you’ll find you’ll be able to learn better & by learning
better you’ll find you’ll handle stress much more wisely. And if you can be a
good listener life becomes beautiful. I’ve seen in my multiple workshops
throughout the world, many of people’s conflicts which leads to stress is
they’ve not been good listeners. And the Veda says “atmavare shrottvayam” you
should know how to listen wisely.
There’s a beautiful story in the life of Lord Buddha. Lord
Buddha was giving his discourse at the end of his discourse he said, do your
duty before you go to sleep. Now as he was giving discourse a thief was passing
that side, he sat down. A prostitute was passing that side, she sat down &
the monks were seated. All of them heard do your duty, before you go to sleep.
The thief got up with a deep consolation that Lord Buddha has endorsed his
lifestyle. The prostitute went away with a consolation that Buddha has said, do
your duty & what’s my duty, my duty is to get a rich customer & she
went away. Finally the monks who were seated they got up & said, my duty is
meditation, they went away. The statement remaining the same, the thief has
interpreted in his own way. The prostitute has interpreted in their own way. In
life we listen to what we want to listen. Very few people objectively listen
& therefore to be a good listener is a great gift that you owe to yourself.
If you’re very careful you’ll see when people listen they listen to what they
want to listen & in this space there’s misunderstanding. Misunderstanding
creates conflicts with reality & thus it creates stress.
There was a young beautiful looking girl who went for an
interview. Now the managing director of the company interviewed her & asked
her, “How much salary do you expect?” To which she said, “I expect Rupees
2500/-.” To which the managing director said, “Oh with pleasure.” & she said
“then it’s Rupees 4500/-“ Each 1 listens to what they want to listen & when
each 1 listens to what they want to listen you’re not in tuned with reality. You’re
too lost in what you want to listen. To be a good listener is a very, very
important dimension in life. If both your years, if you can touch your ears
& give this suggestion let me be an objective listener, not a subjective
listener & therefore listen objectively, you’ll find lot of your tensions
will come down for many of your tensions is a result of wrong interpretations.
2nd I want you by both your hands, touch both your
hands & give this meaning. Give this anchor let your life be 1 of giving.
The Veda says, “Anna dhane cha sarvada
tato shreya mavaha.” Let your life be always 1 of giving. If you can know
how to give, give. You’ll find the giver has less stress. The takers may earn
better but the givers sleep better in life. Learn always to give because the
more you give, you find you get connected to existence & if you look at existence
is based on the principle of giving & if you also learn to give, you’re in
harmony with existence & existence will mysteriously bless you but if you
see selfish people they’re always interested in taking & not in giving
& if you look at nature it’s based on the principle of giving.
There were 2 people who were seated on the boat, Mr. Sharma
& Mr. Verma. Both of them didn’t
know swimming. Suddenly Mr. Sharma fell down from the boat. So Mr. Verma told Sharma, “Give me your hand,
give me your hand I’ll save you.” & Sharma wasn’t giving his hand. Then Verma realised he’s been such a miser,
he has never given in his life. Giving means for him losing & therefore in
his vocabulary there’s no giving so Verma
changed his vocabulary & told Sharma at least take my hand Sharma &
Sharma gives out his hand. Lot of people are like this. Giving means they think
it’s losing & if you can learn to anchor yourself in this principle of
giving, giving, GOD or existence in his mysterious way will help you &
therefore as a spiritual cosmetic if you can anchor both your hands let it be
based on the principle of giving, your life will be very beautiful because help
will come from an unseen invisible hand. So anchor this let your life be 1 of
giving.
In the Veda there’s an expression called “Chakshumuti Vidya” means let your eyes
have a wisdom of seeing out of innocence. If you can train your eyes to see out
of innocence & not out of arrogance then you’ll see, what is as is, what is
not as is not. This is a very important dimension in handling stress. Ask this
question friends are you really free to see what is. Are you free to see what
is? People say Swamijee I’m free. I
said “I doubt it very much.” Very few of us have the freedom of see, what is
without opinion, without dogma, without judgement, without conclusion. And if
you can see without all this then you’ve this great skill called “Chakhsumati Vidya” For example if I tell
this audience please see this watch. Some of you as you’re looking at this
watch you’ll start telling Swamijee
who is a Gurujee is wearing an
expensive watch. Why should a monk wear an expensive watch? That means he’s
earning lot of money. If he’s earning lot of money then he’s not practicing
being a monk because a monk is supposed to be simple. So monks don’t practice what
they preach. They don’t want walk their talk, they don’t talk their walk. And
therefore these people are hypocrites. They don’t follow blah, blah, blah all
this goes on. I’ve just told them, “Just look at this watch, see this watch”
& some people can’t see the watch. When I say, “look at the flower, see the
flower.” Some people look at the flower & then say, “Kashmir flower is
better than Madras flower.” Their mind starts going, what’s the problem in
Kashmir? Pakistan is helping the terrorists in Kashmir. Then you think of
Pakistan & then you’ll say America is supporting Pakistan & your mind
goes on & on & you get depressed just looking at the flower. So really
do you see what is? Very few of us are free to see what is. If you can see without
conclusion, without dogma, without opinion, then the purity of seeing what is
makes you experience the ecstasy of what is.
Please loot at the people’s life, people’s eyes are polluted
with conclusions. There’s a beautiful cartoon I read & the cartoon goes
like this. A Chinese goes to an American party. There was an American who
looked at this Chinese & assumed that he doesn’t know English so he asked
the Chinese guy as he was eating food. He said, “Do you like the rice-ee?”
because Chinese tend to drag when they speak. The Chinese just shook his head.
Then afterwards fish came then this American guy asked, “Do you like the
fish-ee?” The Chinese shook his head. Then the soup came. The American guy
asked, “Do you like soup-ee?” Again he shook his head. Then at the end of the
whole dinner the chief guest for that evening was this Chinese & this
Chinese individual came to the dais & he spoke on Shakespeare. He spoke
such beautiful English with beautiful diction with beautiful accent. Then the
American felt My GOD I was too fast in forming a conclusion that this Chinese
doesn’t know English. And after this beautiful speech, the Chinese comes down
& goes to the American, looks at him & says, “Do you like my
speech-ee?” We conclude & when we conclude we only see our conclusion. It’s
like a suspicious person will always find an object of suspicion. Therefore we
look through these polluted eyes & if we can practice the spiritual
cosmetic, touch both your eyes & tell your eyes, can I see innocently what
is, not with conclusions, not with dogma. Then intelligence will flow through
your eyes. Many of our stresses are because with polluted eyes we start looking
at things. And therefore if you can practice this “Chakshumati Vidya” seeing out of innocence life becomes very
powerful. Your stress will drastically reduce.
Next both your legs, if legs if you can touch both your legs
& give this suggestion give this spiritual cosmetic, walk on the path of
truth. Walk on the path of goodness. Buddham
sharanam gacchayami. Sangam sharanam gacchayami. Dhammam sharanam gacchayami.
Is a Buddhist prayer, gacchayami
means I walk on the path of goodness, path of truth. If you can tell your feet
let me walk on the path of truth, however difficult the path of truth maybe if
you can walk on the path of truth, you may experience difficulty but please
understand whenever existence gives you difficulty, it’s not to tumble you but
it’s to humble you. When bad things happen to good people, they become better
& not bitter. And therefore if you’re on the path of goodness an invisible
strength will dawn on you & that invisible strength will give you divine
support, which Carl Gustav Jung calls it as meaningful coincidences. Ask any
spiritual person who’s walking on the path of goodness. He may experience difficulty
but mysteriously & an invisible hand will come & help them. I’ve
constructed recently a beautiful centre in Bengaluru
a meditation centre. We didn’t have money to even buy the land but we came from
the commitment we’ve to construct & we found invisibly mysteriously a
person which I hardly know comes & offers me Rupees 3,000,000/- some other
person came & offered me Rupees 1,500,000/- & therefore I find
invisibly mysteriously help comes when you’re in the path of goodness. You’ll
find this invisible factor called grace which will dawn on you & therefore
both your legs, anchor this understanding. This auto suggestion let me walk on
the path of goodness & when you walk on the path of goodness life becomes
very, very different.
The next spiritual cosmetic which I want to put on yourself
to be a bulletproof Yogi as it were. Where you can hands stress wisely is your
lips. In your lips there if you can always smile instead of just putting
lipstick. If you can learn to smile & you can smile if you’re happy. Learn
to be happy, learn to smile & the more you learn to be happy & smile
you’ll develop the invisible skill of how to handle situations wisely. To be
happy is a great gift you owe to yourself. There was a time when Psychologists were
saying if you’re happy you smile. Nowadays Psychologists say the more you smile
the chances are you’ll be happy. The portion of your body which is really
visible is your face & if you can give this suggestion to your lips, let me
constantly smile. Spread goodness, spread happiness then you’ll find life
becomes beautiful. You can handle stress better if you’re smiling. Lot of
youngsters in a town was becoming disciples to a monk. They were leaving home
& becoming disciples to a monk & the local politicians of that area was
very, very upset, why these youngsters are going to this ashram & becoming
disciples. So 1 of the youngsters he asked, “What do you see in your Guru that
you’re leaving everything & becoming his disciple.” To which this youngster
said, “When I look at my Guru I know GOD exists. His face is so alive, GOD
exists. When I look at my Guru I know GOD exists.” Then this politician asked,
“If you look at me, what do you see?” To which this youngster answers, “Even
GOD can make mistakes.” If you look at certain people, smiling is giving income
tax to the Government. That type of attitude they’ve. If you can learn to smile
when you’re in difficulty, you’ll get a tremendous energy for you to handle
stresses in life there & therefore learn to smile.
The next is the nose. In the Gita it’s said that, ‘nasikagram’
concentrate at the tip of the nose. And a lot of people this statement of the Gita wrongly. Nasikagram, concentrate on the tip of the nose for meditation &
they focus their eyes on the nose & then they develop migraines because
they’re concentrating on the nose. What the Lord says is on the tip of the nose
means the truth is right in front of you. Like the tip of the nose is right in
front of you, truth is also right in front of you. Like your nose is in front
of you in any combination, truth GOD is right in front of you but the only
thing is you should be open enough to see the truth in front of you. When you
look at your nose, remind yourself truth is in front of you. So you’ve to be
only open. You’ve to be only receptive. You’ve to be only available to see the
truth is right in front of you. When you’ve that faith, a different energy
opens up in handling stress.
When people come to my workshops called “life” & they ask
me, “Swamijee will I get benefitted
by your workshop?” I always tell them, “If you’re open, you’ll get benefited
& I tell them have this belief that the benefit of the program will happen
in his own way & not your way. You’ll be benefited in his own way & not
your way & when you’ve that belief that openness will help you very
differently.” I tell them, “I give you what you need, more than what you want.”
Like parents give their children what they need, more than what they want. So
have the belief, the truth is right in front of me. I’ve to be open &
therefore when you touch your nose, give this auto suggestion & then you do
this if you touch these different parts of your body & every time give this
suggestion very prayerfully then you’ll find mysteriously, you’ll have a
tremendous strength. You’ll be like a bulletproof individual facing the
stresses of life & when you do this there’s a factor called grace which
will dawn on you.
Science talks of the law of gravitation. Religion talks about
the law of grace. Newton sat down & apple fell down & he asked this
question, “Why did the apple fall down, why did it not go up?” And thus he
discovered the law of gravitation. When the Yogis were meditating, they found
their consciousness going up & therefore they found & discovered the
law of grace & therefore if you’re practicing the spiritual cosmetic you’ll
find prayerfully, if you’re practicing this the law of grace will dawn &
that grace will give you the mysterious strength of how to handle the stresses
in life.
Another dimension in handling stress, please just don’t
listen to this tape as a piece of information. Be like a Columbus in the field
of consciousness & when you’ll listen from that dimension as an
experimenter experimenting into the possibility of making life juicy in this
type of listening it’s a participative type of listening. But if you’re just
listening as a mute witness then you’re only judging me, evaluating me,
branding me, you’re not participating. How do you learn swimming? You learnt
swimming just not by observing somebody swimming. You learnt swimming by
swimming. As you’re listening to me, participate in my speaking then you’re
like a Columbus in the field of consciousness & suddenly insights will
start opening up in your life.
So another important dimension in handling stress which Yoga
talks of, by which you can be like a bulletproof individual. External situation
will have less impact if you really practice it very deeply is understand this
powerful concept. Now stress happens from 2 angles. 1 there’s an external
stress, 2nd there’s an internal stress. What do I mean by this?
External stress means if you’re living in a very polluted area, where there’s
no fresh air, where there’s no much of ventilation then you find that external
pollution will create a negative stress in your body. The external stress
factors are polluted air that will affect your body. 2nd if you’re
with toxic people with negative people, always thinking negatively each 1 of us
are generating a certain energy field. We’re like a broadcasting station. We
can give our thoughts as an infection; we can give our thoughts as an
affection. If you’re thinking negatively you create a negative vibration. If
you think positively you create a positive vibration. It’s said when Lord
Buddha walked, his energy field was so powerful flowers out of season bloomed.
Each 1 of us are generating an energy field. That’s why in Indian when you go
& meet a monk, when you go & meet an ascetic, you say for darshan ke likye I’m going. I’m going to
be in his presence. We don’t say we’re going to acquire knowledge. Satsanga being in the presence of the
master because our masters generates an energy field. So please understand
every 1 of us are generating a certain energy field, either positive or
negative. If you’re constantly with toxic people who’re always negative,
generating a negative vibration it’s just like in a room if people are smoking
& even you don’t smoke that smoke will affect you. So therefore as far as
possible try to avoid negative people. So toxic people are the 2nd
external stress because their thoughts their beliefs will slightly slyly
interject in you. So the 2nd factor of external stress is toxic
people. The 3rd factor of external stress is wrong eating habits.
That also creates an external stress. Therefore in Yoga we talk of ‘sharir suddhi’ sharir is body, suddhi
means purification. And how do you purify your body, by doing Yoga, by doing Pranayama & by eating right type of ahara, ahara means food. There’s a Sanskrit sutra which says, “visham tyaje’ means avoid poisonous
food. Now what’s the poisonous food? What we eat to the body. Yoga says, eat
more which gives you life & not take away life. Study has shown if you eat
more raw vegetables it’s good to your body. This body is made up of 70 to 80%
of water so your food should’ve 70% of water containing food which includes
vegetables, which includes fruits. If you’re diabetic you can’t eat fruits but
vegetables you can eat & especially raw vegetables as lot of water
containing food. So therefore Yoga tells us, eat very healthy food which is
life nourishing & not life perishing. So “visham tyaje” avoid poisonous food, the food we eat to the body.
Also this sutra says poisonous food to your mind also you should avoid.
Negative thoughts, negative beliefs are also poisonous food to our mind. Even
that also you negate. “visham tyaje”
avoid poisonous food to your mind which is negative thoughts. 3rd
poisonous food is to your soul itself. If you’re always seeking attention then
you’re nourishing the ego & ego is the greatest poison to your life. ‘Ahankara vimud atma’ The Lord says in the Bhagvad Gita, an egoistic person is not a fool but a great fool he
says. The poisonous food for your soul is if you’re always seeking attention
you’re massaging the ego. The meaning of the word ego, EGO is edging GOD out.
If you’re always catering to ego, you’re edging GOD out & therefore seeking
always attention makes you live a life of deficiency & not a life of
sufficiency. An egoistic person is always demanding respect. But a non-egoistic
person commands respect. A flower commands respect not demands respect &
therefore avoid poisonous food “visham tyaje”
So therefore in handling stress in the angle of Yoga is
there’s an external stress, what food you eat, toxic people also give you
stress, polluted areas gives you stress & therefore, you’ve to handle these
factors. I find lot of people think handling stress is only handling their mind.
Only handling your mind isn’t enough. You can keep your mind very positive,
very calm, very serene, but if you’re staying in a room where everybody is
smoking, eating wrong food. Then you’ll find you’ll have a stomach ache, you’ll
have a headache & body affects the mind & mind affects the body. This
is a very important teaching in Yoga. How body affects the mind? If you eat
unhealthy food, your mind also gets affected, for example if you drink alcohol
you’re doing something to the body, but then your mind gets affected. If you
start worrying, you’re doing something to your mind but a worrying mind affects
the body. It’s not only mental stress, there’s also a physical stress. Another
external stress is wrong exercising habits. The way you sit down the way you do
exercise. Wrong exercising can also give you an external stress. So if you’re
aware of these external stresses be very alert & then you’ll find the
external component you can negate. If you can’t avoid a polluted area but you
can always create pockets where you can go to a little more cleaner area. Have
some plants, sit under a tree in the day time. Then you draw in better air
there. Avoid as far as possible negative people. Learn to be aware of not only
what you eat but how you eat. These external stresses learn to avoid. Now
there’s also an internal stress which I’ve already dwelt in this tape is your
thoughts create internal stress. Your beliefs create internal stress. Your
values create internal stress. Your conditioning creates internal stress. Internal
stress is what thoughts you entertain. If you’re in a house & every window
is closed a poisonous snake enters into the house & what you do? You’ve to
be extremely alert, you’ve to first open the windows, put the light, remove the
furniture & very tactfully take the snake & throw it out. Entertaining
a negative thought is like to have a poisonous snake. Anytime it will bite you.
Understand a negative thought is a poisonous thought. Treat every thought as an
investment. You don’t invest in a sick industry. If negative thought is going
to increase the industry of sorrow, positive thought is going your increase the
industry of joy. If you treat every thought like an investment, are you
investing it in happiness, are you investing it in sorrow & with that alertness
if you start living & handling your thoughts you’ll find the thought can
make you, thought can break you. So the internal stress is what I refer to as
the internal reality which constantly affects our life so internal stress is
negative thinking.
The 2nd component is negative beliefs. We fail to
realise that actions are a correlate of thoughts. Thoughts are a correlate of
your value system. Value system is because of what your belief systems are for
example if you’re drinking alcohol, if you’re going towards a park that action
is because you’ve a thought of alcohol. The thought of alcohol is because
you’ve a value towards alcohol. Somewhere you’ve a belief that alcohol is going
to give you joy, going to give you happiness, is going to relieve stress. So
therefore if you want to change your action you’ve to change your thoughts
& that’s not enough. You’ve to change your value system & to change
your value system you’ve to change your beliefs & therefore beliefs play a
very, very important role in your life. If you’ve a negative belief, I can
never be happy in life Swamijee
because my horoscope says I can never come up. People’s horoscopes have
unfortunately become horror scopes. It’s creating horror in their life. It’s
not your horoscope to have this type of belief. So from a negative belief make it a positive
belief then you’ll find life will be powerful internally so therefore internal
stress isn’t created.
Listen to this example an old lady heard prayers move
mountains. She felt very happy because there was a mountain which was covering
the flow of a river. She went to a backyard & prayed for 15 minutes, “Oh
Lord let the mountain move, let the mountain move so that I can see the river.”
After 15 minutes she opens her eyes & finds the mountains just intact &
then she smiles & says, “I was cocksure this mountain will not move.” Now
this lady has prayed from the belief that prayers don’t work. When you pray
from the belief that prayers don’t work, now superficially you’ve a positive
belief but deeply, you’ve a negative belief. Lot of people are like this. Deep
within they don’t believe on the impossible.
Look at scientists as a noble prize winner said beautifully,
we need specialists specialising on impossible. And therefore like a scientist
has a deep belief of creating & if you look at the miracles of sciences,
what was considered impossible at 1 time has become possible, because the
scientist came from a deep belief it’s possible & that belief has done the
great magic. Exactly in the same way we should’ve a deep belief, irrespective
of the situations I can still be blissful, irrespective of the situation I can
still be happy & from that belief if you can start coming then you’ll find
internal stress won’t be there. And therefore what creates internal stress
& what creates external stress you’ve to become aware. And when you avoid
the external & internal stress you’ll have healthy stress, not unhealthy
stress. Stress cannot be avoided in life. I’m talking to you now, there’s a
stress on my vocal cord but this is healthy stress. A healthy stress will slip
into unhealthy stress when you’re not wise, when you’re not intelligent &
therefore in handling stress external & internal & Yoga does that. By
doing Yoga, you’re working on your body by eating the right food, you’re
working on your food. Meditating under a tree, you’re avoiding pollution. You
do pranayama (deep breathing) by deep
breathing it helps your body there & therefore that is external. Internal
it helps you to handle your mind, your value, your belief systems & when
both these’re handled if at all you’ve stress, you’ll have healthy & not
unhealthy stress. By practicing what I’ve just now said you’ll have a
mysterious intelligence which will make you be like a dolphin wherein a dolphin
swims with the sharks & still stays alive. If we can be like a dolphin,
swimming with the sharks & still staying alive because in the world you’ll
find people are like sharks. They’ll try to attack you, but if you’ve this
Yogic intelligence then you’ll be like a dolphin you’ll swim with the sharks.
The sharks maybe your boss your subordinate your trade union leader, it can be
your wife, your husband. You can still be like a dolphin which can swim with
the sharks. I invite you to be like a dolphin. A dolphin is very happy in the
ocean, very helpful but still has the wisdom to swim with the sharks & still
stays alive. By practicing this sincerely I invite you to handle stress which I
call it as a bulletproof Yogic approach. May GOD bless you & please listen
to this tape on & on by listening something will open up in you. May GOD
bless you all.
N.B.: - Words in Italic are in Sanskrit.
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