39) Seeing Through Delusion

The mind is volatile. Thoughts come and go, moving here and there, going this way and that. We follow those thoughts and are tormented by the emotions they produce. So life is like a roller coaster. We are either elated, happy, or down and sad. Constant peace, joy and contentment seem impossible.

Misinterpretation of the world, of the messages received from the senses produces fiction in our minds, which in turn produces pain. We do not see the world as it is, and as a consequence we live lives of delusion.

If we watch our thoughts, if we witness the Play unfold in our minds, we can learn how to see through the film of delusion which normally obscures our vision, stops us from seeing reality as it really is. We can learn how to identify the source of the thought, the mind processes and the consequent emotions.

Once we start to see which emotions are valid and which are not, we can be relieved of pain. Once no longer deluded we live in freedom and joy.

For example, you see your friend in the street and wave at him. He looks right at you, then looks the other way, and carries on without acknowledging you at all. There are many ways to interpret this, most of which would be your mind playing tricks on you, and stimulating extremes of emotions as a result:

1. He is cross with me and is ignoring me
2. He has heard nasty rumours about me and doesn’t want to be my friend anymore
3.  He is really ill, and has total amnesia
4. He is worried about something else and simply has not seen me

Typical responses to the thoughts above might be:

1.  He has ignored me so I’m going to ignore him
2. If he believes all those rumours I don’t want him as a friend
3.  OMG… he is really ill. I must call him an ambulance now!
4. He seems very worried. I hope he is ok. I’ll call him to make sure he is ok when I get home. Maybe I can help him.

To be at the mercy of volatile thoughts makes for a turbulent life of pain. To see reality as it is, means acceptance without a sense of defeat, peace and a life of happiness.

38) Life Is A Mirror

Karma tells us that "As you sow, so shall you reap."

Simply put this means that what we project into the world is always mirrored back to us. If we feel happy, we smile, and people smile back.

If we frown and project anger or any negative energy into the world, that is exactly what the world gives back

So bearing all that in mind, isn't it better to nurture a positive outlook? Even if you don't feel terribly positive, you can still be kind to people. Being kind will make you smile. The simple act of smiling will do two things. Your lovely bright smile will make you feel instantly brighter. And your smile will make others feel happier and brighter. Suddenly your world is a more cheerful place.

So let us never forget, that life is a mirror. What we put in, is what we get back. What we project into the world is what the world gives back. This is the essence of Karma and is the eternal truth of the universe.

37) Faith, Love, Patience

These three virtues are worth developing. It is worth taking the time to encourage your own faith, selfless love and patience, and the same virtues in others.

These three virtues create a happy environment within your mind. When your life goes on against the backdrop of faith, love and patience, your interaction with the world becomes one of happiness and joy and forgiveness.

One way you can do this, is simply by repeating a Mantra, a few well chosen words that will gradually penetrate deep within you, to effect your thoughts and the way your feel, the way you live your life.

Some people choose some words that they feel resonate for them, such as ...

"Peace, patience, selfless love"

Or you may prefer to choose one of the Mantras that have been used for thousands of years, and are thought to bestow virtues from God as the divine life-giver.

Millions the world over recite Mantras as part of their daily routine, and they feel profound benefits as a result.

Seek and you will find.

36) Actions Speak Louder

It’s great to read and study and learn about spirituality, and to have ideals of how we want to live.

But we must actually transform the words and thoughts and prayers into action. We need to actually BE loving and caring and compassionate and supportive.

Without the action, the ideas and the thoughts and the plans are but nought.

35) Expectation & Reward

In the Bhagavad Gita, Lord Krishna explains the law of karma. He says, "Your duty alone is to perform your action with an awareness that you are surrendering each and every fruit of your action unto me, O Arjuna."

Expectations cause us grief. When we perform an action or an obligation and we have expectations, we are normally focusing at least half our attention on what we will get out of it. Therefore we are only focusing 50% of our attention on actually performing the action.

With that comes frustration because we are not fully in the moment, and instead half our thoughts are elsewhere. How can we enjoy what we do unless we can concentrate on it fully?

The expectation, or the desire for the fruits of our labours, mean we are at the mercy of frustrations. If we don’t manage to quite fulfil our expectations, will we be happy and content? No. Instead we get angry with ourselves. Or we blame others and get angry with them.

Alternatively, performing our actions and obligations from pure love, simple trust and with no expectations will never create any anger. It will not create anger because we weren’t expecting anything. Performing our actions because they are right, because they help, support and nurture others will not create any sorrow because we weren’t looking for anything.

If we do not look for a reward, if we have no expectations, we will never be disappointed. We will never feel hurt, angry or frustrated.

Actions performed in a pleasant, beneficial and measured way, for others, for love, for God, will bring contentment, fulfilment and happiness, because the motive is pure.

34) Chaos

We all have a soul, which is a kind of internal universe.

In the same way as the external world needs discipline to function properly and effectively, the internal world also needs discipline.

If the external world is not disciplined, then chaos is the result. We know that if humans do not respect each other, discipline has to be imposed, or the basic moral principles are easily forgotten.

For example, imagine that the traffic lights are suddenly removed from a major traffic junction. The result would be chaos. There would be a series of accidents, and people would be hurt. Take this one step further and imagine that the entire police force has been removed. Complete chaos would erupt, and society would go into melt-down.

Discipline is needed to ensure that society functions properly. When people invoke discipline internally, external discipline is not needed. The world within, when disciplined, remains calm, happy and at peace, no matter what happens without.

Establishing law and order internally, we find it is easy to adhere to the external social rules of order.

The Bhagavad Gita teaches us time honoured methods to re-establish balance, law and order internally. Once we bring these teachings into our life, and create discipline within ourselves, we can become truly happy and beautiful human beings.

33) Emptiness

So what is emptiness?

Emptiness is not nothingness. It simply means that everything and everyone… our entire world and universe is a result of conditioned arising. The ultimate truth and ultimate nature of everything is the same.

Our problems arise because we forget this crucial truth. Therefore we live deluded lives, and we cause ourselves suffering.

Once we really understand what emptiness means, the way we perceive the world suddenly changes dramatically. We realise it is pointless being negative.

It helps to meditate, and contemplate emptiness frequently, so that the truth becomes reality and second nature to us. Our thought patterns then change and we suffer no more.

When we misinterpret our world because we do not understand emptiness fully, we grasp at objects as if they exist by themselves, independently of everything.

When we see ourselves as the “I”, and the “me”, we see a completely independently existing person. The same when we see other people, and objects, anything, as completely independently existing.

When we relate to people and things in this way we suffer. We call it self-grasping. For example, if someone teases us and our “self-grasping” is strong, we may feel a mental pain. At a different time, when our levels of “self-grasping” are weak, we simply laugh instead.

This “self-grasping” causes our suffering. Once it is destroyed, all our suffering and problems disappear into the ether. 

32) Give Quietly

The Bhagavad Gita describes us all as having the lower self and the higher self. It is the lower self which is selfish, that give us our limited perspective, making us feel separate and disconnected from everyone else. Identifying ourselves as separate and disconnected produces huge problems. We feel insecure, unstable, vulnerable, dissatisfied, which can lead to anger, depression, and cravings to fill the void.

Wherever there is a feeling of separateness and disconnectedness, there will always be a tendency to manipulate others, to take advantage of them for our own gain.  

Some people don’t feel the separation so keenly. They can function quite happily without the need to lean on others. Where the feeling of separateness is much greater, it can cause loneliness, jealousy, depression, anger, resentment, regret, greed etc.

All these can then feed on each other, causing a boiling cauldron ready to explode at any minute.

The upper self is the selfless side, the part of us that loves unconditionally, that wants to give and serve others, that wants to nurture and look after others for nothing in return, the side that appreciates beauty. This is the side that seeks to evolve and grow, to fulfil our potential.

Lets nurture, develop, encourage our selflessness. It is so much more fulfilling to live that way. We feel happier and more fulfilled, and those around us do too. True selflessness is where we do things for others without any expectation of reward, and best of all, if we don’t shout about what we’ve done.

We need to get out there in the world, and set a good example. Be quiet and selfless and giving and loving.

31) The Truth

We are confused about who we are. 

We fight for what we want on an individual level. We feel separate and disconnected from our fellow men. We do not live in harmony, because we do not know who we are. If we don’t really know who we are, then how can we really know what we need or what we want? This is a recipe for constant striving and disappointment.

Somewhere deep down, we accept that we are connected with everything and everyone around us. We love beauty, we know right and wrong, we have our ideals. This is shared with all humanity. This is a connection of the spirit. It is not logic or intelligence. Appreciation of these things are much more than logic or intelligence.

The Bhagavad Gita tells us that the wise do not grieve for the living or the dead. Because the spirit is immortal, we were never born and will never die. This might not be obvious at first glance but as soon as we look below the surface, we see the truth. There was never a time that we did not exist and there will never be a time when we will not exist.

We ignore the eternal spirit, and we ignore the needs of the spirit. Instead, we mistakenly search for things that will never ultimately satisfy us, the short lived cravings of the senses.

As we continue to strive, we even trample on those that get in our way. Not knowing what we really need, leads to constant disappointment, which leads to frustration, which leads to anger, which on a global scale leads to war.

If we are to meet our needs, find ultimate satisfaction in life, we need to understand who we are. We need to go down to the very root of the problem if we are to have any chance of living in peace and real, fulfilling, enduring happiness.

This is where the teachings and ancient scriptures can help us. By studying and learning we can make sense of where we have come from, who we are and where we are going. It is up to each one of us to explore the truth for ourselves, as no one will do it, or can do it, for us.

30) Teachings On Happiness From The East

Our monkey minds misinterpret the world and give us the wrong advice. People around us misinterpret their world too, and give us the wrong advice. Our lives are one painful skirmish after another, based upon misinterpretation, wrong advice and wrong reactions.

We pretend the problem of unnecessary conflict doesn’t exist. Many of us don’t even realise there is a problem. We just think this is normal.

We have been brought up to bury our heads. We have been taught to ignore the conflict inside.

The result is a life of conflict and indecision. We feel, and we see conflict inside our heads, inside our homes, inside our schools, inside our work place, inside our town, inside our country, in our world on a global scale.

We quarrel with those we love, and wonder how it happened. We suffer angry outbursts, are riddled with turbulent thoughts. We are doubtful, confused. 

We are fighting ourselves and as well as others. And the conflict weakens us …. It makes us unhappy.

If we can see how misinterpretation is affecting our lives, we can change it, and learn to be constantly, blissfully happy. The Bhagavad Gita and the Patanjalis Yoga Sutras are wonderful ancient scriptures from the East. They teach us how to stop mental turmoil, misinterpretation and therefore how to find true happiness.

29) The Beauty Of The Bhagavad Gita

The Bhagavad Gita tells us in the second chapter:

"When we overcome the confusions of the physical world, we experience a kind of unity with all life, and then peace and clarity follow."

The confusions are the ripplings of the mind.

If we learn to control these ripplings, these disturbances, we can see the beauty of now.

Then we can learn to live in the present moment, without constantly thinking about yesterday or tomorrow.

If we can also learn to interpret the world around us correctly, as simply a result of cause and effect, then we realise that no one is to blame.

All we need to do, is live ethically, love without expectation, give our time generously with no thought of reward, be kind, be compassionate.

If we can do this, we will live a life full of equanimity, joy and happiness.

28) Be Kind To Yourself

One of the first observances we follow when we bring the yoga sutras into our life, is non-violence.

This means avoiding violence to others AND oneself. 

It means non-violence in thought, word and deed.

Non-violence also means being kind, generous and compassionate.

We try to focus on being kind, generous and compassionate to every person we come into contact with, on a daily basis.

We often forget that the most important person we need to show kindness, generosity and compassion to, is ourselves.

How can we genuinely treat others in this loving, positive way, if we cannot treat ourselves in this way first?  

So treat yourself with kindness and compassion. And be happy!