There is lot of talk about empathy and sympathy, about feeling this and feeling that. From my understanding, we are subject to a bombardment of influences from all sides the whole day.
Let us forget sensitivity, emotion, pain, pleasure and suffering, forget all that for a minute. Just think of this bombardment of influences on the human nature from all sides – environmentally.
All the signals of WhatsApp and mobiles are entering your brain. There is bombardment of opinions and talks of other people which influence you and disturb your peace and harmony of mind; pressures of the family, of society and profession are there. Your mind and brain is continuously being bombarded. If you are an emotional person, your emotions will be highlighted due to this bombardment. If you are an intellectual person, your intelligence will be bombarded. If you are a psychic person, your psyche will be bombarded, and if you are a dynamic person, your pranas will be bombarded. It is the inability to manage the external bombardment which makes you say, “I can’t deal with the pain, I can’t deal with this situation, I can’t deal with this loss of stamina, strength, motivation, energy.”
It is, therefore, not a question of how you can deal with emotions but how you can manage this bombardment better. This is possible through meditation. Clear the mind, clear the influences, clear the pressures and tensions. Just connect with your own true, inner nature which is totally free from the bombardment of outer influences. When your body is dirty, you go for a shower and clean your body. When the mind is dirty you also have to shower the mind. Applying soap, removing the grime and dust happens through meditation. By cultivating self-observation, the witness or drashta, you clear anxiety, tension, stress and influences and you come to a state of peace and harmony. Maintain that state and discover what your nature is.
An emotional person, intellectual person, psychic person have different traits of psychology and one aspect is always more predominant in your life. However, you should see yourself as a whole unit which has to be cleared of tensions. Not just one aspect of the self – emotions – has to be cleared; look at the whole being, clean the whole being. Just as you clean your annamaya kosha, clean your pranamaya and manomaya koshas and you will be fine.
The cleaning of pranamaya and manomaya koshas happens through meditation for there are two important components in life. One is vasana and the other is prana. Vasana means desire and prana means motivation, energy. We all have, desire, vasana; we all have prana which becomes the medium through which we fulfil our desires. That prana is physical, mental, it is complete prana, and desire is also complete, physical, psychological, spiritual. Therefore, both have to maintain their purity – purity of desire and purity of prana – then overload will not happen. When we are not in this state, there is always confusion and conflict. If the purity is maintained, then we are continuously, constantly in a state of peace and harmony.
21 April 2019, (Hatha Yoga Yatra 1&2)