Kindle Notes & Highlights
Life moves at a hectic pace and, although we are somehow kept busy throughout the day, we may have little to show by way of accomplishment, and this is a source of daily dissatisfaction.
Our state of mind is often completely at the mercy of circumstances, at the way other people behave or fail to behave. Even an innocuous or stray remark can expose the fragility of our sense of well-being.
We all have different reasons to feel depressed, and what may seem trivial to one person can be very serious to another. The mind has its own mechanics, and it does not obey the cold logic of reason. Small, unconnected but disconcerting events may cause our anger or depression to accumulate quietly, and suddenly, we may take it all out on someone vulnerable, our reaction being totally out of proportion with the apparent cause.
It is probably more correct to state that, more often than not, we are neither happy nor sad. However, that intermediate state is frequently marked by listlessness, boredom or unease.
The drudgery of doing something mundane is often decidedly preferable to not doing anything at all. But even while engaging in physical activity, our minds are rarely focused on the job at hand. The mind is like a monkey, always distracted and disturbed.
Wise men in the past have suggested that this discontentment is nature’s way of saying to the intelligent human being, “something’s wrong with you” and, thereby, enabling one to awaken to a higher level of consciousness. But very rarely do we view life with this spirit of learning.
The underlying deep-seated fear in one relates to the very essence of one’s being. One is afraid of being reduced to a nobody. One craves unconsciously for a sense of importance, an acknowledgment of one’s worth by others.
The word ‘guru’ in Sanskrit literally means dispeller of darkness, and refers to an awakened person who is empowered to spread the light of wisdom, based on a direct first-hand realization of spiritual truth.
Today’s education may give us a livelihood, but not necessarily character.
The reality is that doing nothing is impossible for most people, and the mind expresses its restlessness through boredom or craving for sensation.
‘You are not the ego-self that you think you are, and this misidentification is the root cause of all your problems. Awaken from the deep-rooted ignorance related to your identity and find liberation.’
What is the stuff that one’s ego-self is made up of? One’s physical appearance, personality, possessions, achievements, affiliations – these are the things that commonly define one’s ego-self. In every society, there is a sense of power associated with these attributes, the value of that power depending on the value-system practiced by that society.
The great insight that follows an awakened awareness is that the root of all mental suffering is within oneself.
the word ahankaram in Sanskrit, which is commonly understood to mean arrogance, literally means ‘doership by me’. Not many of us are aware of this etymological link between the notion of doership and arrogance.
The fact is that one could die any moment – and this could be an hour, a day, a month, a year, or several years from now – and one is totally unprepared to face such an eventuality. But should one choose to awaken, perhaps death may no longer be as fearful as it appears.
