POSITIVE LIVING - Sw Medhasanandaji

POSITIVE LIVING

(original in Bengali) Swami Medhasananda, Japan

The following article is an attempt to translate a Bengali talk given by Revd. Swami Medhasanandaji of Japan at the reunion meet of the alumni’s of Vidyamandir.

The topic was positive living. A few examples of this topic are as follows.

(a)    In a school there was a teacher who along with daily lessons would always include an inspirational topic. One day he wrote “I cannot” and asked his students if this was right. The students understood what he was getting at and all claimed simultaneously that the word “not” must be removed. The teacher explained: “My children, always remember this ‘I can’ in future.” This ‘I Can’ topic is dealt with in a book titled: ‘You can if you think you can’ by Norman Peale.

(b)    In a farmhouse, an American lady was playing cards with her children at a table. In a dealt hand of cards, one gets a combination of cards which maybe good and or bad relevant to the particular game. In such a case, one of the boys got dealt a hand he considered pretty bad and he griped and lamented on his poor sorry fate. The mother asked everybody to put their cards face down on the table. Then she stated: “Remember, throughout your life, sometimes you get good cards and sometimes you get bad cards. Never mind. Play the best you can.” The little boy, subsequently the President of United States of America, Dwight D. Eisenhower remembered and practiced this lesson of his mother for the rest of his life.

(c)     Swami Vivekananda was on a pilgrimage to the Himalayas. An elderly pilgrim was accompanying him also. Both had walked along ways but now the gentleman got very exhausted and could not move any further. He sat down dejected unable to continue this last part of the journey. Then Swamiji said:” Sir, look back on what you have already covered. You started far away from the valley of plains; covered so many ups and downs, climbed so far and just a little bit more is left. You can definitely make this; just try a little bit more.” On these inspiring words of Swamiji, the elderly rummaged up his lost enthusiasm and continued on.

(d)    Another incident from Swamiji’s life. Once Swamiji was passing through the vicinity of Durga Mandir in Kashi which is always infested by monkeys. Suddenly a group of monkeys gave him a wild chase and Swamiji started running out of fear for his life. Suddenly he heard one sadhu yelling in a loud voice: “Don’t run away, face the brutes”. Immediately Swamiji stopped running, turned around and charged at the monkeys. Immediately all the monkeys fled. Swamiji remembered this sadhu all his life and spread this valuable lesson everywhere he went.

Thus, Positive Living is - Tranquility, Eternal Peace, Harmony, Knowledge (Wisdom), etc.

Negative Lining is – Difference, Sorrow, Worries, Fear, Laziness etc.

Our MIND is the cause of positive or negative living.

Positive Mind	Negative Mind
-          Fearless, -          Worry-free, -          Peaceful	-          Fearful, -          Worried, -          Restless
-          Happy, -          Joyful, -          Doesn’t get upset easily, -          Forgets the cause of anger easily.	-          Depressed, -          Sorrowful, -          Easily Angered, -          Holds on to the anger
-          Faces the problem and tried to find a solution instead of becoming nervous.	-          Becomes nervous when faced with any problem
-          Doesn’t have strong likes and dislikes and hence gets along well with others	-          Strong likes and dislikes and hence cannot adjust with others
-          Always speaks and does after deliberated thinking.	-          Very emotional, -          touchy/sentimental, -          impulsive, -          speaks or does whatever comes to mind without thinking -          analyses after the deed is done
-          Open minded -          Unselfish -          Gives more asks/wants less	-          Closed-minded -          Selfish -          Doesn’t care about/love others -          Gives less but asks/wants a lot
-          Always hopeful	-          Pessimistic
-          Deep -          Introspective	-          Superficial, -          No introspection
-          Does not worry about Past or Future though plans for Future. -          Focus is always on the Present	-          Always focused on Past or Future; never in the Present
-          Deliberates on the result of satisfying the wants of the senses before actually executing it. -          Patient mind.	-          Lives in the world of immediate sense gratification without considering the pros and cons of the action. -          Has little patience
-          Enjoys Sattwik Sukha Bitter at the beginning but nectar like at the end- Bhagavad Gita	-          Enjoys Rajasic Sukha (Joy/Happiness) Nectar like at the beginning, poison at the end – Bhagavad Gita
-          Depends on oneself only; -          happy in one’s own company -          Totally independent of others and outside material for its cause of happiness	-          Depends on others and outside stimulus; people or outside material. If that is absent, gets filled with gloom.

Now, let us consider Retired Life and Positive and Negative type of living a Retired Life.

Retired Life- Negative Living:

• -          Just passing the day
• -          Goal-less Living
• -          Long tea time,
• -          Reading Newspaper,
• -          watching TV,
• -          Adda (timepass with same age group friends),
• -          Everything was golden in the past and currently everything is bad
• -          Criticizing everything at home, outside etc.
• -          Maybe doing a little japa, reading a little from kathamrita (no serious study) and asking God to Relieve of this life without any pain and suffering
• -          No exercise
• -          Unmindful of ones’ health
• -          Totally dependent on medicines

Retired Life - Positive Living:

• -          Charter a course for Life after retirement
• -          Following that course
• -          Invest time in Serious study
• -          Deep thinking
• -          Listening to lectures and conversations on serious, deep concepts.
• -          Shutting off past ponderances
• -          Focus on present life’s positive moments
• -          Travelling to nice, good place away from home
• -          Participating in seva/service type of work for others
• -          Preparing for Life after Death

Everyone wants to live a good, happy, successful life. Who wants suffering, clashes, conflicts, tension, worry? Yet we fail to attain according to scriptures, because of - Avidya Maya (ignorance). In depth study of scriptures reveal that Creation is made up of 5 elements: Kshiti (earth), Ap (water), Tej (fire), Marut (wind) and Vyom (space). Each of these 5 elements have 3 Gunas (qualities) viz., Sattwa, Rajas and Tamas. The Sattwa Guna is all positive. The Rajo Guna is Karma (work), Ucchakangsha (ambition), Pratiyogita (competition), Himsa (jealousy), Dwesh (malice).  The Tamo Guna manifests as laziness, attachment, enamor, delusion, kill etc. Usually, our minds have excess of Rajas and Tamas. How to counteract it and make our mind Sattwa?

Here are Ten Commandments for the Sattwik Retired Life:

1.       Continuous Motivation:

a.       Rabindranath Tagore had commented that we start but never finish. For example, we might start exercise or take up musical lessons but do not continue on it. Continuing over a good period of time, any constructive habit, is indeed a challenge. Thus, motivation is required. From motivation springs the desire to form a habit.  To keep this motivation alive, few inspirational quotes to spur us on can be kept on the table as a daily reminder.

                                                                           i.      You can if you think you can

                                                                         ii.      All power is within you, manifest it

                                                                       iii.      Strength is Life, weakness is death

                                                                       iv.      The remedy of weakness is not brooding over weakness but thinking of strength

                                                                         v.      Unselfishness is God

Any one of these above quotes can change our lives but continuous remembrance, and putting it in practice is required.

2.       Introspection:

a.       Great litterateur Bankimchandra had asked: “What shall I do with this life?” – deeply thinking about on this. Who am I? What is the purpose of my life? Why am I alive? IS family life all? Getting educated the first 25-30 years of life, then establishment, success, marriage and raising children – is that all? So many myriad things we run after hoping to attain peace, but alas... peace is a fleeting word! For this eternal peace – Realization of the self is required for which introspection is absolutely necessary.  

3.       Hope:

a.       Hope is the source of all strength, hope is Life, hope till your last breadth – Swami Virajananda Maharaj (past president of RKM). One never knows when that blessed moment arrives; so, hold on to hope. Light must come.

4.       To live this moment well:

a.       A monkey creates an abscess from a little scratch by constantly scratching it. Our mind similarly by constant brooding and worry creates a mountain out of a molehill. Again, we need some obstacles in life otherwise our inner strength does not have an opportunity to shine. Thus, living in the present is advised. Past is gone and future is unknown, the self is most important at this moment.

5.       Practice of Unselfishness:

a.       Swami Vivekananda has said: “More you can forget yourself, more peaceful you will become.” We are identified only with our family.  Increase the boundary of mine. Let us pray for peace and happiness of everybody.

6.       All power is within you:

a.       Our Atman is Sat, Chit and Ananda; which is the source of all power. We have to connect to this power by Japa (repeating mantra), Dhyana (Meditation), and Prarthana (prayer).

7.       Preparation for the next stage of life:

a.       How to spent the retirement time fruitfully and prepare for death and life beyond. Death is not the end; just the end of a chapter in the infinite book of Life. In Bagavad Gita it is stated: whatever one thinks at the last moment, that last thought governs the course of our next life.

8.       God is our eternal friend and refuge:

a.       Many problems of life can be easily faced if one gets established in this thought. To acquire this faith, one needs regular spiritual study, japa, and meditation.

9.       Desire management:

a.       We have myriads of desires plaguing our mind. Even though some are fulfilled, others are not which becomes a cause of restlessness. Thus, one must have a perspective based on discrimination as to What we want, why we want and how much we want. If this discrimination is not there then result is definitely restlessness.

10.   Balanced and routine life:

a.       Whole day must be within a routine. Along with this regulated life which includes food, sleep, relaxation etc.; regular time should be allocated to pursuit of spiritual studies and contemplation. Then only our pain and sorrows will fade.

Each one of us wants peace. However, to gain something we must do something. We take bath daily to keep our body clean now we need to do the same for our mind. Our mind can be cleansed only through daily regular naam-japa. Everybody wants happiness but doesn’t acquire because for our happiness we are dependent on the outside world, other people or things. But these are non-eternal and hence incapable of bestowing lasting happiness. Only eternal can bestow lasting happiness. That eternal entity is God. Thus, the goal of Positive Living is to dedicate the life in the quest for the eternal -God. Then only total fulfillment, eternal Peace and happiness can be achieved.

Hari OM.

Translated by: Nandini Mitra Banerjee

Note: Many thanks to Dr. Ila Basu, UK for forwarding this article many years ago and to Tirthankar Banerjee for carefully saving it.