We carry out so many activities almost every day. We read books, go to offices, drive cars, interact with people, do our work, make food in the kitchen, interact with kids and family members, and so on. Every activity we do has an impact on us. In fact, we are the sum total of the activities we have carried out so far. I feel that there are three different parts of our being: Mind, body, and soul, and each activity carried out by us has an impact on all these three beings.
Certain activities look fun for the mind, but they are not good for the body. For example, junk food tastes good and that is the reason that our minds like more and more junk food. It stimulates our taste buds and that is the reason why we feel we want to have more and more junk food. However, it has a bad impact on the body, especially the internal organs. Similarly, many people get used to alcohol and drugs. The mind wants more and more of the same, however, these substances are quite harmful to the body. Similarly, many things are good for both the mind and the body, yet they are not good for the soul. The soul wants to remain connected to the consciousness because that is the natural abode of the soul. However, whenever we seek pleasure or excitement in external things such as entertainment parks, the stimulation of taste buds, powers, exploiting others, social validation, loud music, DJs, and partying, we get disconnected from the soul. That disconnection from the soul creates a sense of discomfort and since we are not aware of what is happening inside, we feel that by having more and more fun and pleasure in the external world, we will be able to get over that inner discomfort.
In fact, over time, we become completely unaware of the inner being and keep living our lives in a false hope of happiness that never comes. I was discussing with one of my friends this morning about the widespread depression and anxiety in the Western world. It appears that the Western world is quite disconnected from that inner reality and that is the reason why they keep looking for pleasure in external things once they get exhausted from running continuously, or when they do not get the objects of their desire, they become stressed and depressed.
However, I often wonder what makes a person observe that inner reality while the majority remain fixated on the body and the mind. Probably, Vipasssana, a technique of meditation taught by Buddha to the world, provides an answer to this question. Buddha taught us that body and mind are quite interrelated. Every pleasing emotion results in a pleasant sensation in the body and every negative emotion results in an unpleasant sensation in the body. We have two different options while responding to these emotions and body sensations. Generally, we keep reacting. Society conditions our mind and we form certain ideas of good and bad in our minds. For example, society tells us that promotion is good and demotion is bad, pay hike is good and pay reduction is bad, appreciation is good and criticism is bad. Every time we get a promotion, pay hike, or appreciation, we become happy and want more and more of such sensations. Every time we get a demotion, pay reduction, or criticism, we feel threatened and want to avoid such emotions and underlying sensations. We keep reacting and every time we react, our likes and dislikes become stronger. Next time we will react more forcefully because our fixation on the emotion has increased and our tolerance level has reduced.
The other way of responding to the emotion may be to observe the same with equanimity. Such an observation is not possible until and unless we set ourselves free of likes and dislikes. Since we have been reacting quite forcefully, and in fact, the entire society is reacting so forcefully, it is not possible to observe or be a witness to the emotions and body sensations. However, there always exists a possibility of being a witness. That possibility exists in a latent form and does not generally manifest in daily life because we have made our lives so miserable that we have packed almost every minute of the day with social media, YouTube, socialization, gossip, TV, IPL, reading, studying, office work, functions, shopping, movies, money management and so many other things that we do not spend even a single minute during the day with ourselves. Since there is one after the other thing, we keep reacting the whole day long and keep strengthening our likes and dislikes and that is how we grow in life and become more and more anxious and stressed with each passing day with an illusion of being happy till the time situations are in our favor.
If we take a break from this race and sit silently to observe nature or our breath, the first thing we realize is that we have a continuous flow of thoughts. Whenever we try to concentrate on the breath, the thoughts take over and we start flowing with the thoughts. We again recall the task after some time and become attentive to the breath, and it takes just a few seconds for the thoughts to take over again. When we practice for some time, we start observing the sensations in different parts of our bodies. However, we keep reacting to these sensations. We want the pain, stiffness, and every other unpleasant sensation to disappear and want to enjoy the pleasant sensations. That is what we have been practicing our entire life. To wish away or to work to reduce the unpleasant sensations and to have more pleasant sensations.
Witnessing is a choice that is difficult to exercise since we have formed very strong habit patterns to react. The motto of human life, as taught by society, is to have more pleasant sensations and reduce painful sensations. That is why our entire attention is busy working on the sensations. We have lost awareness that all these emotions and sensations are just temporary manifestations of consciousness which is our real nature and the moment we connect to our real nature, we can just witness these emotions and sensations without any need to react to them. It is because when we get connected to the consciousness, it makes us complete and joyful and we do not seek that joy in the form of pleasure in the external world. The act of witnessing breaks the cycle of seeking more and more pleasure and avoiding pain.
A person who is rationally convinced that the purpose of human life is to maximize pleasure by seeking material objects and social validation does not make efforts to sit silently and look inside. He makes his life a living hell by filling each moment of life with activities aimed at seeking one or the other thing. Some people are rationally convinced that life has a greater meaning than seeking pleasure. However, when it comes to practice, their emotions overpower their reason and finally they end up seeking pleasure either explicitly or in a disguised form. A few are convinced emotionally as well that the purpose of life is larger than seeking pleasure however, the desire for pleasures is so deeply rooted in the unconscious mind that consciously they keep seeking silence while unconsciously they too keep seeking pleasure in different implicit forms.
Only when the rational mind, emotional mind, and unconscious mind come on the same page, and a person truly develops Vairagya, the desire for pleasure no longer attracts such a person, and then he sits down quietly and looks inwards to be a witness to the emotions, thoughts, and body sensations. Till the time that Vairagya develops, it is impossible for a person to observe reality. Once a person starts observing the inner reality with awareness in a witness state, the rational, emotional, and unconscious mind, all of them, start coming out of the grip of fixations with the limited and connected to inner reality. We observe reality without reactions driven by past memories and such awareness makes us free to choose possibilities.
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