Radio Talk : The Matter of the Mind
The date was 8th January, a Sunday.
The mind was febrile as I walked into the studios of the All India Radio for my first radio talk on the Rainbow FM channel. I was to be interviewed about my maiden effort at writing, ‘The Matter of the Mind’, published by The Write Place and distributed through Crossword book stores. The book was unveiled by H. H. Sri Sri Ravi Shankar on Vijaya Dashami last year at the Bangalore Ashram of the Art of Living. Infact, Guruji had prophesised a year prior to that, that I would take up writing and shortly a book would get published. By the Divine grace, it did happen.
Having dabbled in theatre and debating, apart from being an Art of Living Teacher, I was not particularly nervous or petrified, but an element of nervous energy had enveloped me.
I was warmly received by Mr Rama Rao, the producer and a sprightly Radio Jockey, Ms Anuradha Pandey. Interestingly the RJ works for the DRDO and spends her Sundays in the studios of AIR, certainly a sign of a robust mind.
‘Jai Gurudev!’ was my introductory remark – victory to the big mind- and had impacted the RJ. That broke the ice and the interview flowed smoothly, punctuated by questions from listeners and with a few Hindi movie numbers interspersed.
While brain is the organ, the human mind is the consciousness, is what I communicated. The mind is greatly influenced by seemingly commonplace factors – food that we eat, our breath, the company we keep and our intent or Sankalpa.
The human mind is cannonaded by around 50 to 60k thoughts a day, mostly antipathetic in nature. Further the mind seldom resides in the present moment. It oscillates between the past where it is fretful or in the future where it is enveloped by a sense of foreboding. The book also deals with various fears, phobias, tensions, addictions and suggests techniques to combat and overcome them.
Through the regular practice of yoga, pranayama, meditation and the unique rhythmic breathing technique of Sudarshan Kriya humans can assuage the distraught mind and attempt to parry woebegone thoughts and remain in the present moment.
From the knowledge acquired from H. H. Sri Sri Ravi Shankar and my other readings, I have concluded that the Wi-Fi to God or nature is remaining in the present moment and handling our breath properly.
We seldom realise that our lungs use only thirty percent of their capacity, whereas the breath has the power to expatriate ninety percent of toxins generated in the body.
I narrated my dalliance with alcohol and cigarettes and how through the powerful techniques of meditation and Sudarshan Kriya, I could achieve sobriety. It is pertinent to mention that an individual might be addicted to drugs, power, sex, food or shopping, to name a few; but can extricate himself through a spiritual awakening, triggered by nature, the Divine power or the grace of a Guru.
Sadhana or practice is essential to take the baby steps to recover from any addiction. Instead of framing long term goals, it would be sagacious to live life one day at a time and practice the technique unflinchingly for a period of 41 days continuously. That is when results start accruing.
Moving on, I mentioned that the volume of our stomach roughly equals the size our palms cupped together. Of this, one-third must be reserved for air, one-third for liquids and merely one-third for food. That is what needs to be consumed! Humans should partake Sattvik food in comparison to Rajasik or Tamasic food, both of which take significantly longer (up to 36-72 hours respectively) to digest. This plays havoc with our body and mind.
Few practice sitting in Vajrasana after eating a meal. This asana can be performed even while eating as it facilitates digestion immensely. Traditionally people of South East Asia partook food sitting in Vajrasana. Devout Muslims also say the Azan five times a day sitting in Vajrasana and those following the Christian faith invariably kneel while offering prayers. These are postures which nature has conjured. Infants till the age of five perform practically all the asanas involuntarily. But once the innocence is lost, we become stiff in body and mind.
It would be efficacious to begin the day with warm water laced with honey and lime to detoxify the body.
People chisel their frames by pumping iron in the gym; through the power of yogic exercises, pranayama and meditation, the internal organs are nurtured and massaged and the mind attains tranquillity.
The youth and gen-next today are blessed with enormous talent, energy, knowledge and information, with the latest gizmos and technology, but are highly stressed out. It would perspicacious for them to practice techniques mentioned earlier.
Generally, women’s problems or psychiatric ailments are brushed under the carpet. It is anathema to meet a psychiatrist as people are fearful as to what ‘society’ would say.
Apart from medication and treatment such individuals should practice our ancient techniques of yoga etc.
Writers, musicians and artistes too perform yogic postures and the development of the chakras happens without them realising it. For instance, a vocalist harnesses the Vishuddhi chakra (throat chakra), a sitarist sits in Ardha Matysendra Asana, so that the liver and pancreas get energised. Interestingly a writer operates from the mind – it is the Saharara chakra which is developed over a period.
In the ultimate analysis, humans need to be grateful and focus on abundance, not on lack-. The Bible says that whatever is given would be taken away, if we are negative in thinking, always complaining and fretful.
I am a firm believer in the Laws of Gratefulness and Attraction for the abundance to flow.
Lastly, if we do not follow any of these techniques, the minimum we can do is to smile. RJ Bubbly rightly said it would relax our facial muscles, exercise them and add to our face value.
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