Stress Management by Swami Sukhabodhananda (Transcribed Tape)

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, 2^nd there’s an internal reality, 3^rd 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.

2^nd 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, 2^nd 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. 2^nd 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 2^nd external stress because their thoughts their beliefs will slightly slyly interject in you. So the 2^nd factor of external stress is toxic people. The 3^rd 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. 3^rd 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 2^nd 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.

Reference:

Stress Management mp3 file length 49 minutes 03 seconds, size 64 megabytes. Sukhabodhananda, Swami. www.pravachanam.com. February 19, 2012. http://www.pravachanam.com/browse/english/selfdev_talks/swami_sukhabodhananda (accessed August 1, 2015).