Guiding Light: Control – the spiritual way

Guiding Light: Control – the spiritual way

Swami Brahmavidananda SaraswatiUpdated: Thursday, November 17, 2022, 10:51 PM IST
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In the last article, we had seen that ‘All control in the world is an illusion’. Today we can explore the question: If indeed all control is an illusion, then is there anything we have some control over? All the control that we have is on our thoughts, our emotions and the way we respond to situations. This is the greatest of human freedom — that however bad a given situation is, however much out of control a situation is, there is a choice of how to think, how to feel, how to act and respond to the situations I face in the world. We may have lost our money or our relationships are strained but there is nothing to prevent me from gearing up and starting afresh in accepting the laws for what they are. Just because I lost once, does not mean that I cannot find success and happiness again.I can gear up to act differently, perhaps pick up new skills ready for today’s world and do what it takes.

If we live like this, we find that even if the situation is bad, one can still have a good life because life is not really made by the situation we face, but more by our response to situations. My response is dependent on my thoughts, feelings and the freedom of choice using my knowledge, my culture, my background, my imagination, my value structure, my will. All of this can create the life I want in an out-of-control world. If one learns to live like this, one is employing the relative freedom that a human being enjoys and living life to the fullest.

One lives like this for some time until it becomes spontaneous. One is ready to see that one is free from the limitations of the human being. In the vision of Vedanta, one is already free from limitations. This freedom seems to be blocked from our vision because of self-ignorance. Hence self- knowledge in the form of fulfilment becomes most important in life for which one has to seek a teacher.

The writer is the founder of Aarsha Vidya Foundation. You can write to him at aarshavidyaf@gmail.com

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