Why Handling Politics Is Good For You
By Sanjib Mukherjee
Wherever we find ourselves in a situation where two or more people come together (whether it be a family, business, organisational or recreational setting), be sure of one thing, at some point or another, politics will arise!
By politics, I am referring to the different attitudes, opinions and agendas of those around us, and in particular, the effects their words and actions can have on our emotional being. Virtually everyone has at least one difficult person to deal with in this life (think of your boss, mother in law, wife, husband, neighbour etc to find who that person is for you) They may, indeed, regularly upset us despite all our attempts to get along with them. The question then becomes how do we deal with such people and yet retain our inner happiness and well-being.
Once again, yoga has a beautiful explanation for dealing with such a personal and intricate matter, but first we need to understand the nature of our own minds before learning to deal with others. Let’s say somebody who has read my blog approaches me and says “Oh wow Sanjib, you write so well! You are amazing, you are so wonderful!” How do you think I would feel?
Well it’s obvious, I would be extremely happy and grateful! Something inside my conscious would expand, and generally speaking, I would become rather content with myself. Now let’s say ten minutes later I meet someone else and he says “Oh Sanjib, you write such rubbish! You’re terrible, give up and save us from your words!” Now how do you think I would feel? Hurt, upset, annoyed, angry and extremely self-conscious?
Let’s delve a little further into these two situations to see what is really going on. In both cases, my writings were the same: I have been the same person, the environment has been the same, the timings have virtually been the same. So why in one moment was I so happy, and in another so sad? The simple answer would be to say it was another person’s words or actions that influenced my emotions and feelings, but if we really follow the teachings of yoga we need to go deeper. It’s not other people’s words that affect our well being, it’s the way we internally react to them which creates our emotional state.
If we can truly understand the above point, we are more than 90% towards reaching enlightenment. Let’s read the above line again; it’s not other people’s words which affect our well being, it’s the way we internally react to them which creates our emotional state.
In practical yogic terms, this means if we receive insults or have bad behaviour hurled towards our direction, they themselves they cannot have any effect on us at all. If our minds react in an unbalanced manner and cause us to become over emotional, only then can we lose our centredness, it is our mind which gives us the misery, not the other person’s actions.
Not everyone will understand the above paragraph, as it takes a tremendous amount of self enquiry and courage to go deep within one’s psyche and unravel all the deficiencies and conditioning of our own minds. Many people are happy to justify their sadness and remain in a victim consciousness by blaming others and not taking any responsibility for themselves.
Have you noticed how such people seem to always feel as if life is against them and never really seem to be grateful for anything? When Vivekananda says, “We deserve every blow we receive in life.” He is not saying if someone attacks us we deserve to receive such an act, but rather, if we become upset after the attack, we only have ourselves to blame for feeling low.
Learning to accept the above is one of the biggest hurdles in the realms of spirituality, but once this awareness is achieved, we can move on to the next step of learning how to control our wayward mind so it behaves the way we want it to and not the other way round. The quickest way to become aware of how our minds behave is to immerse ourselves in politics.
The next time you feel unfairly spoken about, unjustly hurt, re-read this article and try to pin point exactly how you are feeling and why you feel this way. Do not analyse what the other person has said or done, keep the focus on yourself and how you are feeling. Once you understand how you are feeling and how you got into this present state, you will realise there are certain psychological habits which have been formed within you which need to be broken. No one can pinpoint these habits to you, they must be uncovered from within, that’s when real spiritual growth will occur.
Taking full responsibility for how you feel at all times has immeasurable benefits. It will teach you dispassion, inner resolve, the workings of your own mind, awareness of people and situations whilst expanding your own mind by giving you differing viewpoints on the same situation. The only downside is that it may cause you some emotional upheaval during the process, but then for a diamond to become smooth, all the rough edges need to be harshly cut.
Never shy away from difficult situations; Jesus, Krishna, Buddha all had to deal with an unbelievable amount of politics during their time on earth, yet by taking full responsibility of their own minds, nothing ever bothered them. If this yogic strategy of taking responsibility of our own minds worked for such illustrious masters, then surely it must be good enough for us mortal souls.
Have faith in what yoga teaches and very soon you will be able to handle any person, in any situation, at any time. A true yogi remains steadfast, strong and centred no matter what is going on around them. It’s only through politics that you get the opportunity to practice everything written in this post, and hence why I say, politics is actually very good for you.
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very well said sanjib, u know mostly all my friends says, how u always remain so cool n happy ,nothing hurts u so much. today u have answered it, seif assesment done deeply according to the situation really helps u out to tackle such situations. above all the best way is the sudarshan kriya to grow spiritually . i don;tknow upto what extent i ‘m correct, but very true with me.unbalanced mind only bring hurdles, either u r happy, sad or angry.so to overcome this just keep on doing sudarshankriya. thanx, sanjib for guiding us in such a positive way.
what a thought sir…. I was really needing this as I was facing some problems but after reading this I got to know that if I dont take their words on me nothing can shake my happyness.
thanks a lot man it really helps a lot
u write it so well… straight to the mind thru heart……
Fantastic article..
hey sanjib if a group of people are concerned about only our activities, actions then how do we really overcome with the sitaution?
pls. explain …….. wonderful article written,,,
answer one simple question pls. who has control on our breath?JGD………..
tough task for you,,,,,
loved it …
Thank you everyone for your kind words…
Aruna, if people are only concerned about our actions and words….there is nothing we can do…let people do and think whatever they want….every moment is life is precious, we should nurture our minds to only work towards positive outcomes….those who think badly of us, we can do our bit to appease them, but if nothing works…don’t worry….have faith you are always being looked after… may sound simple, but trust me…this works…its how us spiritual soldiers get our strength, faith is the corner stone of everthing we do:)
Your question about the breath is beautiful…I shall write a post for you on the topic…
Heya Sanjib,
My sweetest sister shared this Link with me. I grew as i read through each word. You have drafted the entire crux of life in a fashion that each word of the article remains connected. Having control of brain is a most complex and simple way indeed who practices sudarshan Kriya.
In your reply to aruna, ” Nothing much can we do” I think analyzing people and their intention behind their actions makes our mind to go through more chemical imbalances in our mind. For this we must practice harder to have control of our mind(emotional imbalance). This can only we achieved by doing Yoga more rigoroulsy. As couter chemicals in brain have to be generated in larger amounts to deal with such situations in life.
Breath is utmost important thing to control. To control mind we learn to control breath in Sudarshan kriya. In case anyone who have such situations in life adding to bullet point to your article.
when one is in such a situation, he loses control over breathe.My advice take longer breathe then counter chemicals generated in brain would help one to ease with such situations.
if you do not agree with me, pls comment.
GOD BLESS ALL!!!
Hi Attiee
Thank you so much for your beautiful reply…yes the breath is extremelly important in controling the mind, infact it is the foundation for meditation and yoga..
Please do keep sharing your views, you write very well!
Thanks
Sanjib
hi -yes your quite true-one needs to lk within and understand that the outside world and comments and remarks should not effect us-we ourselves should be clear of what is right or wrong, good or bad.
Meena, you are spot on!!:)
thanx-am lucky to know sumone like u-who knows a lot–
very well said Sanjib..
Thanks Sanjib. Very helpful to me very very helpful…:)
Warm Regards.
Wow! Thanks Sanjib- this message is God sent. A true paradigm shift and great perspective. Honesty, it really is about taking responsibility and really gettting to know yourself and your own state of mind. Indeed! The Blaming Culture has to… stop – we all are where we are meant to be and we are there because of our own thoughts, emotions and karmas.
As Vivekananda says, “All the powers in the universe are already ours. It is we who have put our hands before our eyes and cry that it is dark
Just Wonderful and thanks for posting this article today, when I needed it… the most !!!
Now… from this very moment I take full responsibility of my mind so …whatever may happen around me …nothing can dare to shake me anymore !!!
You are awesome!!! Thanks for sharing such amazing knowledge and life skills
:):)
thank you for sending this article.sanjeeb you have incredible knowledge.
Excellent !!
Jai Gurudev Sanjib. Your thought process are deep and well said.
It is the power of non reaction.
Regards
Sundaram Iyer
I came across these lines in Secrets of Relationships just y’day
-”They insulted you because they were hurt,they had garbage in them and they wanted to throw it out.When they threw it out,you passionately grabbed it and kept it in your pocket”
.yet another pearl of wisdom by Guruji, these words were soothing enough to make me stay balanced for a lifetime .And now today, I’m surprised to this article and must say it does help me further disconnect emotionally from the implications of compliments or scorns..You are doing a great job…God bless!
JGD,You are always being taken care of…..so simple yet so true…we always get to read or listen to what we really need to bring us back to our centre….thanx Snajib
well said Sanjib…all very true, yet very tough to follow…
but believe me…when one does start following it, one feels at peace..infact the people who ridicule or the bad behaviour makes us feel pity for them….
reading the article has regained balance, & has strengthened belief…..
Well said Sanjib. Keep writing the good stuff.
To experience this from moment to moment by being aware of your thoughts, feelings … is very beautiful. Through yoga, meditation etc. a lot can be done. Mostly, we are so caught up by our daily activities that we need to be reminded often, untill we meet that enlightened Person, Guru. It is only through the Grace of a Sat Guru that we can change completely, that the mind can be transformed, that we ‘can’ experience silence … Jai Gurudev.
Hi sanjib,
Absolutely gr8 article…even if we do get upset with a negative comment for others, I think we should not hold on to it…just let it go and come back using your inner strength…it immensely helps…
Sudarshan kriya/meditation is amazing how it helps you to achieve this…our breath is in our control…let us make use of it effectively..jai gurudev!!!
BEAUTIFUL!!
A simple Open & Shut case of blaming someone else for our emotional turbulence or upheaval turns into an exercise of opening a can of worms with this yogic self analyzing approach…….. which, normally, we avoid.
But as we age and keep avoiding opening of this can of worms, it only gets more & more infested.
Most of the problems would resolve by themselves if all involved practise the yogic path.
Till then… Let us all move forward together and spread the Spirituality & Yogic teachings.
Jai Gurudev!
hi sanjib absolutely wonderful mail just when i needed it the most,politics is a mind game control ur mind n ur r on the top though its not easy with soo many politicians around us who try to pull us down,but thanks a lot ur mail is like a blessing,handling risr n fall u seem to know all
hi sanjib absolutely wonderful mail just when i needed it the most,politics is a mind game control ur mind n ur r on the top though its not easy with soo many politicians around us who try to pull us down,but thanks a lot ur mail is like a blessing,handling risr n fall u seem to know all
Hi Sanjib,
you said it all in such simple words……..internal reactions of mind, that is what we all need to work on!!
I have been reading selfhelp books for the last 35 years and always try to see where I am wrong in my interaction with others. I figured lot of times I am affected by other’s strong emotions and get caught unaware and boom the reaction happens. I do realize later that I was under the affect of the other persons emotions……..please I am not trying to put blame, coz a lot of times I even catch their exact thaughts and I am strugling to figure how to stay equanimous in such situations……..please advise!!
awesome it is…. thanks 4 that…
Absolutely love your articles!! You write so well…everyone feels their pertinence just for them! Every paragraph packs such a punch!!!!!
Such profound knowledge…there’s so much in just one article that if we can just learn & implement what one article speaks about, the dynamics of life change! We want more of your articles:)
Simple, deep and life saving words have been read by me…HERE !
WOW ,thanks Sanjib for sharing your Article after long time especially these days when in India so much of going on in Political world as well, i have read this earlier but any of your writings I love to read again and again and everytime it comes up with some more meaningful and some more new perspective towards life and attitude and Everytime something more to learn from our own and other friends;s views shared here and when you give ur views and make us understand beautifully and in very simple words !!surely read it again n give comments ..Needed this thought !!! Hope all is well and soon wil hear from you reg FORUM .!! Have a great day …n All the Best !!!:):)
thanks sanjib….i really needed this today!!
How I’ve missed your articles!! You write so well…everyone feels their pertinence just for them! Every paragraph packs such a punch!!!!!
Such profound knowledge…there’s so much in just one article that if we can just learn & implement what one article speaks about, the dynamics of life change!
We want more of your articles…keep them coming!:):)
So true and well written- others can only hurt us or get to us if WE let them. Thanks for sharing Sanj
Thanks Sanjib
Infact Dr.Manmohan singh needs to read your article!
Thanks for sharing beautiful article as most of our life time is gone in thinking about the politics and dealing with tough people .especially for emotional and sensitive people who are so sensitive to each word and activity around them so just so vulnerable and hurt so easily !! but this makes life too dificult each time thinking on this why one said this or why one is insulting us !!
Great article and interesting reading
it’s beautiful thanx sanjib for boosting ur moral.we will try ur best to study ur minds.
love Amita.
Very well explained………the best part is about taking full responsibility for how you feel at all times has immeasurable benefits, it will teach you dispassion, inner resolve, the workings of your own mind, awareness of people and situations, and also expand your own mind by giving you differing viewpoints on the same situation. The only downside, is that it may cause you some emotional upheaval during the process, but then for a diamond to become smooth, all the rough edges need to be harshly cut………thanks for sharing such pearl of wisdom……love it!!
Excellent article , thank you for sharing
oh my god…this is amazing….any kinda politics is welcome now…am all set and prepared !