Though I practise spirituality in a disciplined manner, I am still affected by other people’s materialistic thoughts. Why is tranquillity through spiritual practices difficult to maintain?
— Kumkum Dutta, 26 years
■ The mind has always been ensnared by material pursuits. This inclination has been with us from our previous lifetimes. We constantly work towards pleasing our mind; we do what it tells us to do and stop when it wants us to. Our mind is in total control of our lives, whether we like it or not. We surrender abjectly to the mind and its desires.
It may seem difficult to tear the mind away from the bling culture, but it is not impossible. At your age, spiritual practice gives positive results rather quickly; all you need to do is to concentrate better.
If you practise meditation twice a day — in the morning and at night before going to bed — you will experience peace that will keep you going through the day and slowly, it will perpetuate.
Often, our mind is scattered and it gets engrossed in worldly pursuits. The more aware we become, the more detached we become from temptations that surround us.
When our capacity for dhyana increases, our affinity towards worldly pursuits decreases. This relationship between dhyana and worldly pursuits is directly proportional to the level of stillness we are able to achieve.
Externality cannot affect our response to circumstances. It’s our own fragile mind that enslaves us to other people’s thought projections and then we blame them for our unhappiness. ■
Send your questions to t.editorial@timesgroup.com with subject line: Ask Surakshit and state your age
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