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When one door of happiness closes, another opens; but often we look so long at the closed door that we do not see the one which has been opened for us.
‘Elevate yourself through the power of your mind, and not degrade yourself, for the mind can be the greatest assistant of the self, and also its vilest enemy.’
The mind is a place of its own, and in itself can make heaven out of hell and hell out of heaven.
The phenomenon of ‘remembered wellness’ commonly occurs when patients visit their family physician. The doctor says, ‘Show me your symptoms,’ and patients find that their symptoms have disappeared. The mere fact that they are meeting the doctor tells their subconscious mind that they will now get well. Consequently, ‘remembered wellness’ takes place and healing occurs. The reverse of this is ‘remembered illness’, a common example of which is white collar hypertension. Patients may have perfect blood pressure at home, but when they visit the doctor, they find it has increased. What is the
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Circumstances come in our life for a purpose, and they remain until the purpose is served.
The more we win our inner battles, the more we will find external success knocking at our door. It’s quite simple―thought by thought, we forge our destiny.
It is the field of psychology that aims to understand our higher-level mental processes, such as attention, creativity, language, memory, perception, problem-solving, thinking, and their impact on behaviour.
anger comes not on its own, but from the obstruction of desire.
the cause for anger is the obstruction of desire.
the fulfilment of desire is the cause of greed.
The uncommonly known secret of this world is that desire can never be eliminated by satiating it.
The Ramayan states: jimi pratilābha lobha adhikāī ‘If you satisfy desire, it results in greed.’ The Shreemad Bhagavatam states: yat pṛithivyāṁ vrīhi-yavaṁ hiraṇyaṁ paśhavaḥ striyaḥ na duhyanti manaḥ-prītiṁ puṁsaḥ kāma-hatasya te (9.19.13) ‘If one person was to get all the wealth, luxuries, and sensual objects in the world, that person’s desire would still not be satiated. Hence, knowing it to be the cause of misery, an intelligent person should renounce desire.’
Lord Krishna states: krodhād bhavati sammohaḥ sammohāt smṛiti-vibhramaḥ smṛiti-bhranśhād buddhi-nāśho buddhi-nāśhāt praṇaśhyati (Bhagavad Gita 2.63) ‘Anger leads to veiling of judgement, which results in bewilderment of memory. When the memory is bewildered, the intellect gets destroyed; and when the intellect is destroyed, one is ruined.’
The cause of desire is attachment. The mind is a frequent visitor to the things and people it is most devoted to. In other words, if one is attached to alcohol, the desire for alcohol comes frequently to the mind.
It is our attachment to an object, not its intrinsic properties, which create desire for it.
the cause of desire is determined—it is attachment. The full link is now clear. If we harbour attachment, it will lead to desire; from desire will arise anger and greed. From anger will arise subsequent afflictions like illusion. Conversely, if we can eliminate attachment, there will be no scope for desire, and all subsequent afflictions will automatically cease.
Bhagavad Gita: dhyāyato viṣhayān puṁsaḥ saṅgas teṣhūpajāyate saṅgāt sañjāyate kāmaḥ kāmāt krodho ’bhijāyate (2.62) ‘By repeated contemplation of happiness in the objects of the senses, one develops attachment to them. Attachment creates desire, and from desire arises anger.’
Anger does not come by itself. It is caused when we harbour a desire and its fulfilment is obstructed.
The brain is so smart that it does not need an external reward for reinforcement. It generates the feel-good chemicals—serotonin, endorphin, and dopamine—and sends them to the part of the brain that was engaged in the activity. These chemicals create the ‘feel-good’ sensation which is the reward.
drudgery
Good habits are hard to come by and easy to live with. Conversely, bad habits develop easily and are hard to live with.
The reason bad habits get a grip on us is that the first few times we repeat a harmful behaviour, it does not seem to do much damage. The first few puffs of a cigarette do not forebode that cigarettes are addictive. The initial pegs of alcohol do not warn us of the obsessive compulsion that lies ahead.
Sow a thought, reap an action; sow an action, reap a habit; sow a habit, reap a character; sow a character, reap a destiny.
The ability of the intellect to control the mind is called vivek (power of discernment). We all possess it and use it to varying degrees. But since we have not harnessed its full potential, we erroneously conclude that the mind is not under our control.
The intellect is like the chariot driver, the mind the reins, and the senses are akin to horses. The intellect needs to be enriched with proper knowledge.
When we believe that happiness can only be experienced in the future, on reaching the goal, we miss out on enjoying the journey towards it, which is in the present.
It is estimated that practically all the cells in the body change every seven years. And yet, despite the continual change of the body, we perceive that we are the same person. That is because we are not the material body, but the spiritual soul seated within.
Since the physical body is constantly changing, the soul passes through many bodies in one lifetime itself. Similarly, at the time of death, it passes into another body. Actually, what we term as ‘death’ in worldly parlance is merely the soul discarding its old dysfunctional body, and what we call ‘birth’ is the soul taking on a new body elsewhere.
The passage of the soul upon death from one body to another is called the principle of reincarnation. Most Oriental philosophies accept this concept of reincarnation. It is an integral part of Hinduism, Jainism, and Sikhism. In Buddhism, the Buddha referred to His past lives repeatedly.
In recent times, Dr Brian Weiss has done tremendous work in popularising the concept of reincarnation in the Western world. His book, Many Lives Many Masters, was a bestseller for many years and his workshops on past-life regression are attended by millions of people.
‘To know the Absolute Truth, approach a guru who knows the scriptures and is practically situated on the platform of God-realisation.’
www.mydailysadhana.org.
