What Impacts the Mind

 

 

 

What Impacts the Mind

 

The Bengali siblings were my close companions; their staple diet was fish curry with rice. Our conversations veered around politics, girls, religion (Durga Puja) and sports. The older one idolized Amitabh, Netaji Bose and Imran Khan.

He was an idealist and younger brother, the pragmatic one. The elder sibling was pushed into pursuing sciences much to his disapprobation. Their father died of Alzheimer’s and mother succumbed to abdominal cancer. Though they seemed to have recovered from the twin tragedies and proceeded with their careers and lives, they could not realise their full potential. The mind of the elder one especially, swayed like a pendulum between the past, present and future. There are many of us like him who continue to be regretful of the past and anxious of the future, never living in the present.

Marketing lexicon talks of 4Ps- product, place, promotion and price. I choose to add a few more to the cocktail that impinges human mind. These are our past impressions, partaking of food and the path of time   we traverse on this planet. All the Ps are inextricably interwoven.

Human talent spans from the ordinary to the exceptional. This is the product available. It is genetic and must be accepted. Richards and Sehwag were exceptionally gifted batsmen; something a less accomplished batsman cannot quibble about. Now, the product can be harnessed and developed through tapas. Resolute practice embellishes and burnishes the product. Sadhana and breathing techniques can magnify the mind’s potential so that it can be high yielding and profitable for the self and society.

Let us envisage a house enveloped with positive and negative auras. This is the placewhere the mind resides. The quality of the mind to be in the present moment would appreciably increase when affected by positive thoughts, incantations, meditations, inspirational speeches or soulful singing. The same mind becomes unsettled and distraught by provocative speeches, squabbles and contretemps. Therefore, it is a prerequisite to protect the positive disposition and aura of the house.

How does one promote the mind? The mind loves challenges, however daunting they may be! Maj DP Singh runs with a prosthetic leg. During the Kargil conflict he lost his limb but resolved to acquit himself with every activity that those with normal limbs can undertake. The organization of amputees was suitably christened, “The Challenging Ones” (with a membership of 800 runners). Oscar Pistorius is of course the original blade runner.

Price of the mind is directly proportional to the quantum of sacrifice the body is willing to undertake. Both mind and body are conjoined in this endeavour. Mind may be willing; but the body may not submit to its authority. Or the body is disposed to take up the combat, but the mind declines to undertake the activity. If the mind becomes the parachute to transport the body to scale greater heights it will command a greater price and approbation.

We are all blessed with remarkable discriminatory power. It is for us to break the barrier and exit the comfort zone to become achievers through sacrifice. Stephen Hawking despite suffering from motor neuron disability is a cosmologist, physicist, unravelling the mysteries of the universe.

Past impressions have a profound impact on the mind and its performance. Tulsidas writes, “Our destiny was shaped long before the body came into being.”

Impressions or Karmas are impacted by our thoughts, attitudes, acts, and actions which others undertake under our orchestration and administration. As per Hinduism there are three types of Karmas or impressions namely, Sanchita (accumulated Karma – which we cannot bear all in one lifetime), Prarabdha Karma (fruit bearing Karma) and Kriyamana Karma (this can change our destiny). The first is carried on forward to the next lifetime. Prarabdha Karma can be mitigated through meditation and yogic techniques, while proper action (Kriyamana Karma) can reduce sufferings.

Positive impressions lead to positive intent and a healthy impact on the mind. Negative impressions have an antipathetic and gloomy impression on the mind. Practioners of yoga, pranayama, Sudarshan Kriya develop the wherewithal to annihilate impressions /karmas. This needs to be fostered through knowledge, awareness, service and positive company among others.

Partaking of food has a consequential impact on our thoughts and thereby minds. Thoughts are opinions or conceptions. We can have brooding or glum thoughts, celebratory ones or meditative ones. Augustus Hare writes, “Thought is like the wind, knowledge the sail, and mankind the vessel.”

The human vessel consumes three kinds of food products, namely Sattvik, Rajasik and Tamasic. Sattvik food is easily digestible, generally consisting of fruits, nuts and vegetarian fare. It keeps us alert and aware. Disciplined practitioners of Yoga consume this food.

Rajasik foods are neither overtly beneficial nor harmful. It includes oily, starchy, aerated drinks, caffeine products, overtly salty and sugary items. Such individuals are excitable or irritable and generally not at peace with themselves.

Tamasic food consists of meat, alcohol, tobacco, onions, garlic, fermented and canned food items. These take a long time to digest and make individuals sluggish and torpid.

Therefore, generally speaking those consuming Sattvik food attain a contemplative or a meditative state of mind in comparison to those partaking Tamasic or Rajasik food.

The trajectory path of time traversed has an expansive influence on the mind. Various times of the day, months and years impact our self. Incidents, events occurring shape the thought processes, alertness and decision making capabilities of our minds. Further during this span of time, we are likely to encounter many people, friends and associates who also influence our thinking pattern.

Human mind through discipline, practice of yoga and pranayama and various breathing techniques can acquire a superior intelligence and develop an investigative mind, which can surmount challenges confronted and live in the present moment. As that is the only state of bliss.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

How to overcome challenging situations

Humans should inculcate the efficacious habit of accepting failures as easily as we embrace momentous and successful moments

Once an accomplished and legendary Sufi master was invited by an estimable management institute in the United States of America to explicate and delineate the nuances of Sufism and its relevance to contemporary society. Erudite scholars and their postulants were packed inside the auditorium like sardines. At the appointed hour that the discourse was to begin, a disciple of the Sufi Master walked onto the stage and announced that the Venerable Master had woken up and would be in their midst shortly.

A few hours went by; the Sun now blazing in the sky. “Kindly do not get perturbed. The Master after his meditation session would soon be here,” announced yet another disciple at noon, the collective mood of the audience now beginning to get worked up.

As noon turned to late afternoon, scholars, professors and neophytes alike began trooping out of the auditorium in sheer disgust. The clock struck three; and another attendant of the Sufi Master appeared onstage and declared to the thinly populated audience that the venerable Master would shortly commence the lecture, soon after he finished his conversation with a prepossessing woman that he had met at the gates of the institute. This proved to be the last straw and in a state of pique majority of the audience staged a walkout, cursing the Sufi Master.

It was by now evening time and shadows were lengthening across the institute.  The Sufi suzerain appeared in an inebriated state and addressed the miniscule numbers in the audience. “My dear friends, with all humility at my command let me congratulate you! For you have already passed the first test on the path towards a deeper understanding of the tenets of Sufism,” said the Master, now ceasing to act drunk. “It is cardinal and mandatory for those desirous of traversing this path, that they overcome early mortification and dismay in life.”

Patience, the key

The audience comprising of mature management mandarins and aspiring tutees had fallen prey to what they perceived as irrational behaviour of the Sufi Master. The consequence was mental stress. The Sufi Master was primarily testing their patience to delineate various schools of Sufism and the underlying concepts. Patience, he believed is the bedrock for the progress.

Worry and stress: An unhealthy equilibrium

Quite often we are cannonaded by a constant haze of nagging thoughts. ‘Did I act correctly?’ ‘Was there something more I could have done?’ ‘Was it the correct choice?’ These woebegone thoughts are such a constant presence in our system, that we are quite unaware of their presence. But their very presence and existence induce stress, whether we are aware or not of its presence.

Stress as a reality of modern life seems to be a given. Perhaps the best way to deal with this situation is to understand its underlying causes and the reactions that it generates in our body. Stress is a more often than not the cause of a lot of our worries, real or imaginary. Management of stressors can alleviate our mood swings and humans can live natural lives with smiling faces bereft of scowls and ill-health.

Kinds of stressors

Stressors could be environmental, social or psychological; varying in intensity, duration and complexity. The amount of strain it generates in an individual also depends on various facets of the individual’s coping mechanism.

This, in turn, would depend on the resources available to the individual; in terms of finances, family and societal support, access to medical and/or professional help. Over and above these factors the personal coping skills and style of an individual plays a pivotal and deciding role.

Overcoming Stressors

To stop worrying and remove stress out of the equation, we have to learn to make a clean break from our past actions. What is done is done! Sure, there would be consequences, but accepting them and trying best to live with them is the seamless way out. Possessing an abundance of patience provides the paradigm shift in dealing with unwelcome situations. Accept that you did as what you best could do.

Another very effective way to deal with stress is to actively take charge and responsibility of one’s life. Realise that no one but you are responsible for what happens in your life. The good, the bad and the ugly can all be laid at your doorstep alone. Humans should inculcate the efficacious habit of accepting failures as easily as we embrace momentous and successful moments.

One thing at a time and the art of letting go

‘When walking, walk. While eating, eat!’ This popular Zen aphorism can be bewildering in its simplicity. As one ponders upon it and reads between the lines, one realises all that it leaves unsaid.

 Multitasking, the bane of our lives never permits us to indulge in the most basic activities without a heavy dose of guilt accompanying it. If we are eating, we feel obliged to catch up with the news, if we are walking we feel obliged to chat up with a friend on the phone or on WhatsApp, toying with other gizmos and so it goes on.

“Over thinking, I guess is the unwanted gift of our urban lifestyle to a great extent. We believe all answers can come through analysis and we have to solve everything… Perhaps letting go of that belief, just a bit is the answer,” says Sadia Sayeed Rawal, chief psychologist of Inner Space India.

 

 

Aggression, violence and onset of peace

Aeons ago lived an overbearing, self-opinionated and hubristic monarch. He scuttled all dissent and those opposed to his modus operandi were either exiled or obliterated. The only modus vivendi available to the denizens of his kingdom was to meekly accept the autarkical ways.

In order to escape his wrath, several of the denizens and vassal states decided to seek refuge in the sublime grace of Sakhya Muni, Lord Buddha. This act of defiance incensed the zealot. In a maximal fit of rage, he marched with his army to wage war against the apostle of peace and non-violence.

The suzerain, in an act, that he clearly intended to intimidate and pique the Buddha, spat at him thrice. The benevolent and solicitous soul smiled and merely remarked, “I do not accept this.” This deceptively simple remark incensed, indeed rattled the querulous monarch. Lord Buddha maintained absolute composure despite the odious and deplorable act.

In the face of such dignity and equanimity, the monarch was forced to ask where the Buddha found the deep reserves of piety and composure.  In reply, Lord Buddha invited him to eschew antipathetic thoughts and join the sangha. Such was the peace radiated by the Enlightened One, that the monarch dramatically announced that he would indeed join the sangha.

Serenity prevailed upon aggression and violence.

Anger and brutality: Gordian knots in human evolution

Corrupted and reproachable acts of aggression and violence are major gremlins in our society. They act as impediments in the growth and evolution an individual and society as a whole. In their entirety, the spectrum encompasses libertine and reprobate acts such as immodesty towards women, libidinous behaviour towards women, rape (can one forget the reprehensible Nirbhaya case, which shook the spine and the soul of an entire nation), child abuse, young gun-toting teenagers in the west going on a murderous rampage, the ragging witnessed in our educational institutions, intolerance towards the faith and beliefs of  people, imposition of  sectarian values and views, rioting and treacherous acts of  Naxalism, nihilism and terrorism, among destructive others.

Aggression Vs violence

Pre-eminent psychologists distinguish aggression from violence. They postulate forceful destructive behaviour towards another individual or society as violence. Aggression, on the other hand, is based on the paradigm of an antipathetic intent. Psychologists deploy the word aggression to refer to the behaviour by an individual or a group that is intended to intentionally cause harm to other individuals or groups of persons. It is a wanton act and is usually demonstrated through the usage of guttural and cacophonous words, criticism, extreme acts of hostility and obstructive emotions and feelings towards people.

Aggressive behaviour is based on the premise to torment or indulge in defilement of a person or property. Violence is the perpetration of such an act. It is quite possible that a suffering individual, mortified and bedevilled by the society perpetrates violence. He may not have been an aggressive prototype, but simmers with violent tendencies. Some take to the barrel of the gun by following a particular ideology.

 Understanding the cause

The maniacal desire to achieve a certain goal, desire or objective leads to aggressive behaviour and could result in a wanton violent act. Do we recall the famous or rather infamous Bodyline Series (1932-33)? The term was coined the celebrated Australian cricketer and writer Jack Worral.

Douglas Jardine, the English captain deployed his fastest bowlers- Harold Larwood and Bill Voce – to intimidate the batting machinery of Don Bradman, Bill Woodfull, Bill Ponsford and Alan Kippax. High pitched deliveries were bowled on the leg stump incessantly. The English cricket team bruised several Australian batsmen but triumphed 4-1 to lift the Ashes that year.

Hostile aggression

It is riveting that hostile aggression and violent acts find root when an individual indulges in criminality in order to be charge sheeted and aspires to ‘glory’ via notoriety. Human mind often operates in repulsive and intriguing ways. A criminal could be born, from the seemingly ‘non-criminal’ act of roughing up a junior or a hapless person. Such an act provides the newborn criminal an aberrant or freakish high.

Distinguished psychologists have identified certain underlying reasons for harbouring aggressive feelings and the concomitant violence. This could be certain inborn tendency, essentially in the DNA of the individual. The springboard, as in the animal kingdom, may be an act of self-defence. But over a period of time it develops into unabated aggression and violent behaviour.

Aggression and violence could be triggered by certain physiological imbalances. Certain parts of the brain play a pivotal role in an unpleasant emotional experience which results in aggressive and violent behaviour. Arousal of such tendencies in an individual may happen under the burden of enormous negative emotional feelings; such individuals may resort to crime out of sheer helplessness, agony and frustration.

Peace and the Art of Living way

There have been apostles of peace in both the occidental and oriental world who have even given up their lives to maintain peace and harmony. The paths chosen by Jesus Christ, Martin Luther King and Mahatma Gandhi resonate our minds.

In recent times, Holiness Sri Sri Ravi Shankar has transformed the lives of several Maoists, Naxals and extremists, who have eschewed violence, given up arms and joined the mainstream once again. Their minds have been transfigured and transmuted by practising the unique breathing technique of Sudarshan Kriya. Simultaneously their energies have been channelised to do sadhana, Seva and Satsang by practising yoga, pranayama and meditation.

“Non-violence is an active force of the highest order. It is the soul-force or the power of the Godhead within us. Imperfect man cannot grasp the whole of that essence- he would not be able to bear its full blaze, but even an infinitesimal fraction of it, when it becomes active within us, can work wonders,” wrote Gandhiji.

 

 

Why it is paramount to understand the law of acceptance

Do humans live in utopian conditions where people, events and situations are exemplary and indefectible; such that no acts of omission or commission occur? Humanly impossible! As the saying goes, “to err is human but to forgive is divine.”  The moot point is whether individuals are mentally prepared to accept faults in others’ personalities without being judgmental or prejudiced. This is the litmus test. Our peace of mind is inviolably dependent on how we react to such situations.

Do humans react or do they respond to an unpleasant situation? Response is a measured act, wherein we do not lose our balance; reaction on the other hand is fraught with perils. Invariably the individual loses his sanity in the bargain.

The Triple Test  

The period was ancient Greece where the celebrated scholar and high priest of occidental philosophy, Socrates, was held in high esteem. It so happened that once an acquaintance of the estimable polymath philosopher mentioned, “Sire, are you aware of the innuendoes and bavardage a close friend is spreading about you?”

“Hold your breath and pause for a moment!” was the reply of the philosopher.  “I insist that prior to revealing anything that my friend may have said, you cross the Rubicon. It is a plain- sailing examination called the Triple Filter Test.”

“Triple filter?” “Appropriately termed the Triple Filter Test,” Socrates continued. “Prior to mentioning anything, it might be a propitious idea to ruminate and filter what you are planning to narrate. This is the first step.”

“The first filter is authenticity and you need to be absolutely sure that whatever is revealed to me is nothing but the truth.” “Not exactly sire. It was perhaps part hearsay too.” “Never mind,” uttered the legendary philosopher. “Therefore it is proven fact that you cannot vouchsafe for the veracity of the news.”

“So I embark upon the second quintessential filter, the filter of equity and righteousness.”

Socrates enquired from the contact as to whether the source of his information was upright, a trustworthy human being or an irascible individual?” “With utmost trepidation I shudder to add that the gentleman is …,” confessed the young man. “Therefore, I surmise you intend to disclose something execrable and egregious which in reality may not be true!”

The sagacious scholar assuaged the acquaintance that he had an outside chance to qualify, as there was the last filter left. This, Socrates termed as the filter of usefulness.

Socrates added that whatever may be the postulation of the confrere about him, the kernel of the subject matter lay primarily on the efficacy and utility of the inference. In reality would disseminating the information be of any use?

“No, not really!” proffered the acquaintance. Thus it was safely concluded by Socrates, that on merit of analysis there was little of usefulness in what the acquaintance sought to convey and swiftly debunked all the claims.

Socrates was of the firm belief that the acquaintance was washed up in his dissection of the friend and he failed to accept the lineament of the person.  Acceptance of a person, place, events and situations, characteristics, personality and psychology require rigorous anatomization and scrutiny.

What is acceptance?

 Acceptance implies embracing what is, rather than concluding or desiring what does not exist and could be a mere chimera. Humans mentally configure images about a person or events and attempt to conjure images. It is cardinal for humans accept foibles in any individual.

Three Es for a peaceful life

Humans are at peace and able to experience life to hilt when they accept life with enormous equanimity, equipoise and equanimity. Even so, such acceptance must be guided by discernment – learning the trait to analyse the difference between what one can alter and what is well nigh impossible to transform. The human mind needs to metamorphose and transfigure to accept everything in totality, rather than bits and parts.

Acceptance of our own foibles helps to view the faults in others without being judgmental; it enables individuals to evolve into better human beings and become patient and to skirt mordacious kinds of criticism.

Further by accepting deficiencies in a person we reengineer the human mind to become brawny and robust. Paradoxically, acceptance often leads to growth because it creates a safe space for deeper insight and understanding. It creates far reaching harmony among individuals and increases the span of comfort zone.

Story of Velan

There once lived a virtuoso carpenter called Velan; extremely proficient, he soon became very prosperous. With the unexpected splurge of prosperity, Velan became extremely haughty and self-opinionated. Kuppuswamy, the family patriarch was an ace carpenter too. Velan was quite inconsiderate towards his father and could never accept him. He never lost an opportunity to pass disparaging comments, much to the chagrin of Muthuswamy, his son.

One day, Muthu poignantly observed with moist eyes his father berating the elderly one on account of all the food spilt from his plate. The enfeebled Kuppuswamy did not have the requisite beef and muscle to handle the food gracefully. The grandson carved out a fresh plate which was sturdy and large enough to accommodate all the helpings of food dumped rather inconsiderately on his plate.

Velan remonstrated his son for this act, but was taken aback when his son retorted, “Father, in time this plate will be one day be passed on to you. It will hold you in good stead.”

The remark hit Velan like a thunderbolt. He realized that he had not accepted his father and treated him with only contempt. The quintessence truth of acceptance dawned on him.

“Acceptance does not mean you agree with, condone, appreciate, or even like what has happened. Acceptance means that you know regardless of what happened that there is something higher than you at work. It also means that you know that you are OK. And that you will continue to be Ok,” writes Iyanla Yanzant, an American inspirational speaker and lawyer.