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Mrs.
Neerja Birla
Vice Chairperson, Education Projects of
the Aditya Birla Group
Sunday Times of India
Mind over matter
15 November 2009
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Everyone
constantly faces challenges — at home
with our spouse, children or other family
members; at work with our peers and
bosses. Sometimes life itself seems a challenge
because it throws up so many relationship-based
and situational challenges.
But the biggest challenge of them all is one’s
mind. Often, it is possible to control everything
else but one’s mind. Being master of
the mind is no less than mastery of the world.
Chapter 6 of the Bhagavad Gita says “our
mind is our best friend and our worst enemy.
If we know how to manage our mind, we can
manage our time, our relationships, our life,
everything.
”This is where spirituality comes in.
Swami Chinmayanand said, “spirituality
is not a way to look at certain things, it
is a certain way to look at all things.”
It is the path to a mentally decluttered value-based
life. It is also about managing relationships
in different sorts of challenging situations.
Spirituality teaches us control of our thoughts,
emotions and desires. It is actually the science
of managing one’s mind.
The result: A sense of well being, tranquillity
and inner peace. It also creates the feeling
that one is on top of the situation and in
control of it, rather than the other way round.
Spirituality is not bound by the confines
of religion because it’s not about chanting
prayers, undertaking pilgrimages or charitable
work. It’s about much more than that.
Contrary to what we all believe, spirituality
is not just for mystics or old people.It is
meant for everyone.
Life is beautiful but only if you really want
it to be that way. This needs you to make
a conscious decision to achieve your full
potential and give your life greater meaning.
Many of us are not aware of our potential.
One must never let life slide by. Inspiration,
curiosity, love, knowledge and enthusiasm
give life its true meaning.We are said to
be “living” life only when we experience
happiness,
love and fearlessness, not stress, anxiety,
boredom and a sense of aimlessness.
It is possible to illustrate this from personal
experience. Nearly 10 years ago, our family
started to perform satsang. I was increasingly
drawn
to it after my interest was kindled by self-help
books. The knowledge we acquire from scripture
helps us grow as individuals. The beauty of
scripture is that it imparts universal knowledge,which
is relevant to each of us and possible to
apply
to our daily lives.
The truth is we need sincerely to try to enjoy
every step of this journey called life. One
is always waiting for something to happen
to be happy. Alternatively,
we wait to complete the job at hand and then
enjoy the fruits of it. But that means we
are always postponing happiness. Happiness
is in the journey, not the destination.
It is important to do things we value because
only then can we give 100 per cent of ourselves
to it. Chapter Three of the Bhagavad Gita
explains that this is about the concept of
swadharma, or finding one’s true calling
and following it sincerely. Once we value
what we do, we start feeling good about ourselves.
The self-esteem goes up. It also gives a sense
of purpose and meaning to our lives.
Once we start to have some control over our
actions and become more positive in our outlook,
we may also find the law of attraction coming
into play. Inexplicable events occur and we
find things falling into place for us. They
seem to be coincidence but that’s the
law of attraction working for you. You attract
what you think.We can align our inner world
with the strong belief that whatever we wish
for will happen. When you think positive,
you get positive results. Let
the power of positive affirmation take over.
It was well said that what you visualise is
that you realise.
That brings me to another interesting thought.
The capacity to sacrifice is something we
must all reckon with.
It is sacrifice that enables one to appreciate
the real worth of what one does because it
takes a great deal of effort, introspection
and prioritisation to give away something.
Sacrifice always brings joy and growth. An
important aspect of sacrifice is that it requires
you to go beyond your comfort zone, which
creates a physical, emotional and intellectual
blanket around us and prevents us thinking
new thoughts.
We become prisoners of our selfcreated comfort
zones.We don’t open up to new people
and become averse to criticism. We cling to
the emotional crutches we have created.
At the intellectual level also, we become
stubborn. “It’s either my way or
no way” is the constantly nagging feeling.
On the other hand, when we sacrifice something,
seek something else and transcend our comfort
zone, we are no longer scared of change and
grow as individuals.
In real terms, most of us are averse to change
and resist it.We fail to realise that everything
is changing anyway, whatever comes has to
go and it is pointless to cling to it. That’s
when one can start to come to terms with life’s
ultimate truth, that is, that change is the
only constant.
The Bhagavad Gita says “when we live
in this world, we experience the pairs of
opposites — hot and cold, joy and sorrow,
success and failure. They come and they go.
And even while they are here, they are temporary.”
Most of the times, it is resistance to a changing
situation, rather than the situation itself
that creates conflict. Instead, one should
face a situation as it is and refrain from
colouring it with biases. Lapsing into “why
me” or “why did it have to happen”
makes for mental turmoil.
Through acceptance of a situation as it is,
one automatically starts focusing on finding
a solution rather than on the problem itself.
And sure enough, one does come up with a sensible
solution.
As Harivansh Rai Bachchan said, “Apne
man ka ho to achha. Na ho to aur bhi achha.
(If we get what we want, it’s good. If
we don’t get it, it’s even better).”
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