SAI   COMMANDMENTS   OF   EQUANIMITY

In the Gita, the Lord taught that joy and sorrow, cold and heat, profit and loss, criticism and praise, must all be faced with an equal mind. This ‘equanimity’ of mind is one of the most important attributes of a true devotee. According to the Vedas, the foundation for equanimity or real peace lies in the unity of thought, word and deeds; that is to say we shall speak, think and act together, without friction or faction, in an atmosphere of love and understanding. Genuine peace is therefore won by control of senses and pure love can emanate only from a heart immersed in peace. So how can we help ourselves to learn this?

1.     Develop Compassion

Compassion is born out of loving kindness. To have a compassionate heart is the attribute of human nature. It is giving and forgiving. It is not at all keen on getting anything. We can purify the heart by being good and kind to all and not attempting to find fault with them. We must try to forget all the harm done to us by others, and the good that we have done for others.  A compassionate heart looks upon all with love and respect, and recognises the divinity in everyone.

2.     Remove Ego

Egoism causes a lack of inner peace so we must take care not to develop egoism. It can be removed only by the twin detergents of Viveka (discrimination) and Vairaagya (renunciation). People may praise us today if we have achieved something, are rich and have power but as soon as things go wrong or we lose the position and money, the same people will forget our achievements and start criticising us. As no one individual is perfect, we should not crave for such false recognition and lose our peace of mind.  We must believe in ourselves and do our duties ethically and sincerely, and leave the rest to God.

3.     Curb Jealousy

Jealousy is a vicious disease which must not be permitted to gain a foothold as it will cause the mind to become agitated and frustrated and ultimately destroy us. Even if we are in a lesser position than we think we deserve, we should enjoy the happiness of others. Baba always recommends that we offer all our negative thoughts at His Lotus feet and fill ourselves with unwavering love and forbearance.

4.     Do not Judge

Christ told us to "Judge not, that you be not judged." Most of us create our own problems by interfering in others' affairs. We do so because somehow we have convinced ourselves that our way is the best way, our logic is the perfect logic, and those who do not conform to our thinking must be criticised and steered to the right direction, our direction. We need to understand that God has created each one of us in a unique way and that no two human beings can think or act in exactly the same way. So the quicker we learn to mind our own business the sooner we will have our peace!

5.     Learn to discriminate

We should always weigh every action of ours and ask if it is good or bad, which gives permanent joy and which is transient. Think, would Baba approve of it or not? When duality exists, discrimination is very essential. We need to be careful to discriminate, not with our mind or intellect, but with our inner conscience!

6.     Develop Humility

Genuine humility is all about truthfulness; we acknowledge both our talents and our failings. If our faults or weaknesses are pointed out by others, we should try not to retaliate, get angry or justify our actions. Simply thank the person, reflect and pray to Baba to help us overcome our weaknesses. As we learn to live in humility and gratitude, loving and serving all, accepting all as His will, we will eventually reap the harvest of love, peace and bliss!

7.     Practise Forgiveness

As spiritual aspirants, it is essential that we learn how to ‘forgive and forget’ and ‘let go’ of our anger, guilt, recrimination, blame and other attachments in order to be at peace.  Although we know that they poison our body, mind and spirit, we are unable to do so because we are too attached to our emotions and ego.  Baba therefore emphasises that it is essential to cultivate the supreme quality of ‘Forgiveness’ (Kshama) in order to develop equanimity.

8.     Do not try to be a super hero!

We often tend to take more responsibilities than we are able to carry out, sometimes because we do not like to say ‘no’, and often to satisfy our ego. We cannot gain peace of mind by expanding our external activities. If we have extra time, we should spend it in an inward life of prayer, introspection and meditation. This will reduce those thoughts in our minds, which make us feel restless. As Baba says, ‘fewer the thoughts, greater is the peace of mind!’

9.     Cultivate detachment

True detachment means realising the temporary nature of objects and not allowing our mind to get attached to these transient things. Although we may not be able to give up everything in this we can certainly try to give up our sense of possessiveness. Practise Silence, Meditate, do Namasmarana, Bhajan, Japam, of single-minded remembrance of the Lord will help us to deal with difficult times. Lastly, we need to have complete faith and trust in our beloved Swami and learn to ‘Let go, Let God’!      

Madhvi Lamba