Swami Sivananda, founder of the Divine Life Society in Rishikesh, India, was a physician in Malaya – as the combined Malaysia and Singapore was then known – and was deeply moved by human suffering. He treated poor patients for free and integrated service with spiritual inquiry.
He returned to India in 1923 and took the vows of monkhood. He had great spiritual power and initiated many disciples who later became famous and developed large followings of their own. One of them was Swami Chinmayananda who had a profound influence on me and started me on the journey I am now on.
One of Swami Sivananda’s teachings that I remember vividly is “It is better to be cut by a sharp knife than to let a wrong thought into your mind.”
It did not make sense to me then. A cut with a sharp knife leaves a wound that may take a long time to heal. It may leave a scar. How could this be ‘better’ than a thought which passes and does not leave a laceration or damage?
Earlier today I was reading one of the inspirational books I keep at hand and came across a passage I had highlighted. It may be helpful for you to consider the fact that to permit stupid thoughts to dwell and slip through your mind is as dangerous as to let sharp delicate tools slip through your fingers.
Thoughts do leave wounds. They are internal wounds and some of them are so deep that they take a long, long time to heal. The truth is that we are all shaped by our mental chatter and we are all part of the walking wounded.
When I was in corporate America a friend and colleague received a double promotion and a massive bonus.
I was instantly struck with envy and self-doubt. How come he got it and I did not? Was I ‘good enough?’ Did I belong in the company and in the role I had? I felt that I was a failure. I was a fraud and an imposter, and ‘they’ would soon find it out and fire me.
It was a morass of self-loathing and dejection I created, and I lived in it for quite a while. It took me years to climb out of that hole.
We are assailed with inputs every day and we process them as thoughts. There is news about tragedies. About political dysfunction. About war. About man’s inhumanity to man. About career setbacks.
Many of these thoughts have sharp talons and can shred our emotional wellbeing in seconds. And then they continue to live rent-free in our heads ruining our experience of life.
What can you do? What should you do?
The secret is instant attack.
Always, continuously, be aware of your mental chatter. Be the observer of this chatter. Do not become the chatter.
Never, ever engage with this chatter. When you do, you give it energy and invite it to live in your head. Observe it and bid it ‘goodbye’.
It is not easy, but you have to persist. You must persist.
If you don’t master this technique, you will inevitably suffer as noxious weeds entrench themselves between your ears and strangle the joy in your life.
I have written about this in an earlier blog.
Peace!
