To triumph over his mind, it was necessary for him to accept one and all, writes Ravi Valluri
The month was May. The sun scorching hot and the weather, mordant. The airconditioned environs could not palliate the frayed nerves among the batchmates involved in an animated conversation. They had set up a reunion on the exotic and enchanting beaches of Goa.
As the sun sank into the depths of the Arabian Sea, discussions were becoming charged, swung like a pendulum from the cerebral and cognitive to outright mundane. From the profane to the propitious. The friends, over the years had become battle hardened, having witnessed the vicissitudes of life. They all had a point of view each; righteous, ethical, equitable even imprecise or fallacious, now heading into the winter of their lives.
One among them had recovered from the lethal disease of alcoholism through the quotidian practice of yoga, pranayama, meditation and most important of all practising the unique rhythmic breathing technique of Sudarshan Kriya. He remained indebted to Sri Sri Ravi Shankar for transfiguring an obdurate mind, metamorphosing it into a robust one whereby he could maintain sobriety.
His friends acknowledged the pestilence of alcoholism and the arduous recovery process involved. They were mature enough not to force Bacchus on their dear friend. However, what cogitated their minds was the verdict delivered by the National Green Tribunal penalising the Art of Living for allegedly damaging the sand beds of the Yamuna, during the much-vaunted World Culture Festival; an adjudication not accepted by their now sober colleague.
The logical minds of a few batchmates opined that the law of land ought to be consciously followed in letter and spirit by the NGO, the Art of Living, in this case. This was vehemently contested by their friend. The carousing and merry making terminated with a volley of abuses traded, blighting the party.
These rationalist friends (with their own unique brand of rectitude and uprightness) believed in a definite political ideology. This was not acceptable to the reformed seeker who had chartered his own course and unflinchingly believed in the Master. He posited that the tribunal’s judgment was sophistic and delusive in nature, not warranting cognisance by the organisation.
There was virtual bedlam. Discussions reached a queered pitch where charges were levied and shortly thereafter the seeker abandoned the congregation and deserted the opulent resort much to the dismay of his pals.
The seeker boarded the first available flight back home. As the crew demonstrated various safety parameters to be observed during the flight, the seeker, now clad in pristine white instead of his trademark denims (more to score a few brownie points in his recalcitrant mind) exited the WhatsApp group painstakingly created by the much-admired group administrator. She felt distraught as it was no mean task to assemble long separated batchmates, zillions of miles away.
A thorough bred batchmate who had witnessed several highs and lows, peaks and valleys in his roller coaster life was to remark, “Our friend may have conquered alcoholism but is yet to conquer his mind.” The mind remains an enigma, a chameleon which keeps assuming various shades. The rainbow colours, VIBGYOR are emblematic of the innumerable shades of the human mind.
This prescient friend narrated a riveting Zen story about anger and acceptance to the shattered friends. “Once a monk decides to meditate alone, away from his monastery. He takes his boat out to the middle of the lake, moors it there, closes his eyes and begins his meditation. After a few hours of undisturbed silence, he suddenly feels the bump of another boat colliding with his own. With his eyes still closed, he senses his anger rising, and by the time he opens his eyes, he is ready to scream at the boatman who dared disturb his meditation.
But when he opens his eyes, he sees it’s an empty boat that had probably got untethered and floated to the middle of the lake. At that moment, the monk achieves self-realisation, and understands that the anger is within him; it merely needs the bump of an external object to provoke it out of him.
From then on, whenever he comes across someone who irritates him or provokes him to anger, he reminds himself, “The other person is merely an empty boat. The anger is within me.” The sagacious friend continued, “Our friend is yet to accept himself for what he is. Let us give him time.”
As the airplane ascended to 30000 feet and faced turbulence, the seeker undertook Nadi Shodhan Pranayama and another Mudra Pranayamas to assuage his agitated mind. Now, self-congratulatory and smug with newly acquired knowledge, the seeker deplaned at his destination feeling elevated that it was perhaps destined that he snaps all ties with his college mates. That however did not prevent him from scrolling through the WhatsApp group, where he discovered his friends beseeched him to reconsider the decision. A friend posted a story of Buddha about acceptance.
Once lived an emperor who decided to relinquish all the trappings of power and join the Sangha. Buddha asked the monarch to reconsider the decision as the fundamental principle of those who were admitted in the Sangha was accepting one and all. The ruler deliberated the issue and surrendered to the enlightened one, that he was ready to embrace everyone barring two individuals. The serene one sported a beatific smile and pronounced that for the sake of the king, the Sangha would be liberal and accede to his admission provided he accepted just those two, no one else.
‘Accept people and situations as they are’ is an important sutra of the Art of Living.
‘Guruji’ (as he was fondly referred to by his friends) realised his imprudence and ludicrous behaviour. To triumph over his mind, it was necessary for him to accept one and all. In that moment, the infinite wisdom contained in that single sutra dawned upon him.
Promptly he re-joined the WhatsApp group.
