Waves and floods

Feelings are of two types -- waves and floods. 

All reactive feelings are like waves. Anger comes in a wave. Desire comes in a wave. We feel a wave of envy. A wave of sorrow washes over us. If we are aware that they are reactions and just waves, they subside again safely and do not spill over the brim of our internal emotional world and become a reactive action in the external physical world. 

Sometimes when wave after wave comes, the feeling settles down to a high steady level, like a flooded land. Desire purifying into love is such a feeling. Anger burning permanently as hatred is such a feeling. Sorrow solidifying into grief is also such a feeling. Actions arise continually out of this flood almost without control and become part of our nature. 

The wise one treats the wave as a wave. He does not allow them to become part of his nature. Except for Love (which is the sea itself), he guards against any other basis of spontaneous action.

Is honesty enough?

Honesty is not a substitute for right action. It is but the basis of ensuring that right action can be executed without a tremor. 

Right action is essential. Without honesty of feelings, right action needs to follow an external code. With honesty of feelings and motives, right action arises spontaneously from the heart. Being honest about one's own faults is just a step. A thief honestly saying he is a thief and continuing thieving will win no favour with the judge. 

Right action, following an external code or one's own heart as the case may be, is the constituent of character.

Love and attachment

Love and attachment are opposite in nature. 

In love, we surrender to the loved one, saying:"Tell me what you want. I'm with you." In attachment we say:"I want you in this way." In love we say:"I cannot hurt you." In attachment we say:"Please do not hurt me like this." Love is outward - a donation. Attachment is inward - an expectation. 

Can love be there for a single person at the cost of others? That is attachment. Love is Non-violence. That cannot be practiced for a single person. When non-violence against one means violence against another, then love is Dharma - the action of basic rightness. 

Practised in full disclosure and honesty, love is Truth.

Weight loss

There are times when we are so full of trouble with all sorts of baggage gathered in our mind that we feel heavy and sluggish. Wish we could shed some weight. 

There are two ways of losing weight. We can cut off some flesh. This is what we try to do when we feel like running away from a relationship not working out the way we want. But it would be painful and leave deep wounds, and we will perhaps keep blaming the surgeon for the damage. 

Or we can lose some weight through intelligent dieting and exercise. We have to think whether the way we are leading our lives is good for us. Our associations, the thoughts we are exposed to, the sensual temptations that are there in our environment - are they adding to our mental unrest? If so, it is time for a little diet-control. Also for exercising those unused muscles of will. 

In yoga we exercise a lot of those muscles that are usually neglected. "Willpower" and "Saying No" come into these categories (Saying "Yes" may also be an unused muscle for some!). Let us sometimes exercise those muscles - just for the sake of it. This is the practice of tapas. As the minds comes to know itself more and more, rajasic energetic muscles build up and tamasic lazy fat reduces.

Be a good photographer

The novice photographer can take good pictures only in good conditions -- bright sunlit beaches and mountains. The expert photographer can take a good picture even in poor conditions. He knows how to adjust the camera settings and even if outside light is not okay, the picture will come out well.

Neither does a good photographer look for only beautiful faces to photograph. Award-winning photos are those of unusual nature, where the photographer's insight and skill has brought beauty out of a mundane setting.

The mind is infinitely more complex than a camera, but it is only a mechanical device, like a camera. Let us learn how it works, inside out, so that we are able to adjust it as needed and to see the world brightly in all conditions and at all times.

And when the lighting gets too bad, let's use a flash and brighten up the world ourselves.

Fly a kite

Sustaining a relationship is like flying a kite. Strong jerks can break the thread. Stresses and difficulties abound, but should be evenly spread and quickly released. 

At the same time, these temporay grievances are the mechanisms through which the relationship rises to another level. Too much slack will make it hit the ground. 

A relationship can grow only if it keeps hitting boundaries, keeps recognising the needs of the other person. When the need does not register, there is no caring response, and the relationship simply floats apart. 

 In its infancy, it needs a lot of skill and care to avoid the ground obstacles -- buildings, trees and lamp-posts. Only after it reaches some height can it fly freely, leaving other entanglements behind. 

 An enlightened relationship, like a high-flying kite, embodies freedom and unlimited vision of the mind.

Dharma vs Karma

Kriya as per dharma gathers no karma. Activity as per norms of rightful conduct leaves no residue in the mind. 

There is no residue when the mind knows that it has acted as it should have, checked out against some reference list. Before choosing an activity, before making a response, let us stop and think. Will it leave a residue in the mind? If it seems so, let us not do that action. Delve deep and see what is being violated from that reference list. Is it a basic value? Will it cause harm to somebody? Or is it just some mental position being opposed? If it is just a position, we can try to free ourselves from that position. If we cannot then let us not do that activity. No activity is worth the residue. 

There will be times when we are able to do neither -- not stop the activity, nor let go of the position. Let us just be aware of the clash and concentrate on sadhana. As the mind clarifies, one of the two will slowly dissolve.