By Sanjib Mukherjee,
Sanjib: Thank you for such a beautiful and sincere question. Keeping the mind centred and serene, is one of the primary goals of any spiritual discipline and can be attained with a little understanding of the mechanics of the mind.
Imagine knowledge as being a vast and limitless ocean with our emotions represented by the tidal waves. No matter how high each wave will rise, ultimately it will always fall and submerge back into the ocean. The same principles apply to our emotions, as they come and go at will, but eventually flow back into the depths of knowledge.
Problems arise when we loose awareness of our infinite nature and start identifying ourselves with our fleeting emotions. ” I am happy, I am sad, I am content etc” are all examples of how easily we define ourselves with the most prevalent emotion at any given time. It’s this very identity which becomes the root cause of so many miseries and why we eventually lose complete track of our centredness.
No emotion can every exist forever….you can never be happy all the time, nor can you be depressed all the time. These feelings continuously rise and fall within us, and quite often we have no control over these emotions when they do present themselves. A common misconception amongst many spiritual seekers is the notion that an enlightened soul never gets angry or never gets upset. Nothing could be further from the truth. Anger, frustration and sadness are all naturally occurring feelings which arise within us and are a part of our psychological make-up. However, the difference between a saint and most common individuals is that the saint will always acknowledge these emotions and simply move beyond them. They never identify themselves with these feelings and continuously remind themselves of their connection to theirinfinite knowledge through regular inner contemplation (meditation) and study of the scriptures.
There is a beautiful story concerning Sri Ramakrishna and his most beloved devotee Swami Vivekananda. Ramakrishna used to hold regular satsang sessions in his ashram and invite all his followers to attend and hear him speak. Though he loved everyone dearly, Vivekananda always held a special place in his heart. One afternoon, Ramakrishna purposely decided to ignore Vivekananda during a particular talk. He never looked at his star disciple once and indeed proceeded to continue blanking Vivekananda for an entire month. During the last few days of this unusual behaviour, Ramakrishna even went as far as to scold Vivekananda, telling him he no longer wanted to be his guru, and actually asked him to leave.
Throughout the whole process, Vivekananda would sit quietly, absorb everything Ramakrishna would have to say and carry on returning to hear his master speak. Finally after a few weeks, Ramakrishna confronted his pupil and asked,”why do you keep coming here when I no longer want to see you?”. Vivekananda in his usual composed manner replied “you may not want to see me, but I want to see you…if you get angry at me being here, its your problem, but I love you and will never leave”.
The story is a beautiful illustration of how Vivekananda in his heightened wisdom, never once associated himself with any feelings of hurt or sadness he may have felt towards his master’s treatment to him, but instead he remained rooted in his connection to his own infinite knowledge. Realising that all emotions rise and fall into the ocean, Vivekananda was able to keep his balance and inner happiness.
The process of not getting entangled with our emotions is not an easy one to overcome, but by simply being aware of this phenomenon we are more than half way through to becoming as solid and strong as Swami Vivekananda. Too often we get entangled with small minded matters, and too often we forget that everything in life will come and go, but only our infinite nature will stay forever. Realisation of this one simple statement is the key to spiritual growth and unbreakable inner peace.
Begin to observe your emotions closely. Whenever you feel yourself moving away from your centredness, rather than saying “I am angry”…say “anger has risen within, and in no time will fall back to where it came from”. This shift in mindset will automatically bring you back to your natural self. Try it and see for yourself.
Awesome!!! Thank You Sanjib
Reading your post really helped as I have learnt something new.
beautifully described…..thank you so much 4 sharing this.
hi sanjib its what i was holding n yr article came n enlighted me .thanks i m feeling on top of the world
Awesome, very true need not to be a saint but keep your mind garden clean from this unwanted dirt (anger,hatred,revenge, vengeance, disappointed) which is a climatic situation of life they will come and in next climate they do go..but when a mind is nurtured by meditation , no matter climate of storm.. it will be seasoned to handle and stay calm.
your writings are more legible and easy to understand, very nice work.
very nice…..touched by vivekananda’s wisdom…..thanks sanjibji.
Beautiful Article. Thanks for sharing.
I doubt that an enlightened being suffers emotions such as anger, frustration and sadness. At the age of ten I might become frustrated by losing a game of monopoly but at a mature age you simply enjoy the game. If a child misbehaves a MATURE parent may reprimand to correct the child but can not be angry or upset with the child if the parent is fully aware that the child is trying to grow and has only done wrong through ignorance. The relationship of a truly enlightened being with the world is unconditional. When the love is unconditional such emotions do not have a chance to rise. Anger etc is only shown superficially to correct the behaviour of the ignorant.
Thanks for giving food for thought Sanjib.
Super and Awesome too, Sanjib !! Be the Witness to Emotions is what you are suggesting..Gotcha and thanx a million !!!
hi sanjeeb thank u so much for such a beautiful article i just loved it………
hi sanjeeb happy to see ur info,now i really want to know about yoga and meditation from you.
Great article, thank you! Great timing too… needed that reminder and I like how you let us know that Saints and highly evolved people still feel emotions. Very good!!
Very well said.Inspired by Vivekananda’s words.Will try to follow that.
Hi there,
Thanks for understanding the essence of what was conveyed to you.It is very apt …and I appreciate your sincere reply and effort.Indeed very nice of you Sanjib….!!!!……It gives me lot strength.
Though , it is at the back of your mind, it is nice to know that this is the way it is……and you have conveyed it superbly, no doubt…
Lately, I have been noticing that , this is how I handle my anger. Not hold on to it and just let it go…your words have further strengthened the process indeed…
Like the example you have chosen of Vivekananda..it conveys the point to the tee….wish I could adopt this methodology soon or say right away………
Be close to the infinite nature and not hold to small things absolutely makes sense and befitting ,Sanjib…will take some time to achieve that and will work towards that…Thanks.
I once again thank you from the bottom of my heart . Though we have known each other for a short span of time, feels like I know you for ages.Thanks for reposing that confidence too…
Lots of good wishes ,
Jaishree
Very well explained!!! Thanks Sanjib…
Nice read. Thank you!
The true essence of life very clearly explained thanks
nicely described, now on whenever i will be disturbed iwill surely remember that emotions r like tides ,very easy way to take in. sanjib sometime please write on, how superstitions try to capture our thinking, how to overcome these. i know may be the answer be very similar to today’s but still.u tell in such a way that it goes right in the brain.thanx….jgd.
The message behind Swami Vivekananda story is that he never in any single frame allowed those feelings of distrust or anger or any other vice to enter in the self. To add to it, he was able to do so because of the embodiment of being true self was always in his innate. The problem with us is our “ I ” and “ My ”. When we are able to subdue it, only than we can be in the embodiment of true self or so to say a balance self.
Nice article Sanjib…once again!…as u quite rightly pointed out…being the dispassionate observer of events is the way to inner peace…it is a sound theory, but in practice it is a very difficult state to achieve & sustain…only very rarely does it happen spontaneously by sheer conviction (jnana yoga)…
it is so difficult to break the years of conditioning which entraps the mind in the bottomless pit of maya which chiefly operates thro enslaving one to the habit of identifying with the body consciousness…to see thro this veil, most of us have to work hard and regularly…meditation!…it’s analogous to what regular and sustained work outs do to the body….it’s achievable by all … but needs application….
Patanjali and others have gifted us with formulae & techniques…So… the methodology is meditation! meditation! Meditation!
This article will give us the knowledge and power to cooperate with our inner self
the article is nice.
if we seggregate ourselves in to physical body which is temporary and has a date of birth and a date of return to god (which again not known to us) and the soul or spirit which has no death ,we can resolve these problems of wagering mind.
spirit is a symbol of lord or god and knows only love and affection.
we need to give a small amount of time to medidate and concentrate and leave the wordly thoughts during that time as the wordly things like wealth,money ,relationships are temporary.
only devotion to lord and complete surrender of soul to him can give the ultimate bliss
‘ peace with my self in totality ‘
“Seven Deadly Sins are all emotions, as are The Seven Virtues. ” …http://changingminds.org/
Very Good !
I have been absent for a while, but now I remember why I used to love this website. Thanks , I will try and check back more frequently. How frequently you update your web site?