Practice equanimity for peace

Is there any answer to peace? Peace is the answer.
Image used for representational purpose only.
Image used for representational purpose only.

Is there any answer to peace? Peace is the answer. The disciple listening to the verses of Moha Mudgara—hammer stroke on the delusions of mind, also called Bhaja Govindam—might have expressed some irritation on listening to the words of the Master.

All is one. Everything in this universe is covered by one truth. You and your troublesome neighbour are indeed one and the same divinity. Love your neighbour as you love thyself. These words of wisdom can be jarring to the one who is suffering in the world of duality. I hate someone for what they do or tell me and here you, O Master, try to say that you and he are one?
The compassionate Master melts with his words of kindness in educating the student about the reality of creation. He says, in you and in me exists the same supreme truth. You indeed get angry with me in vain. The person with whom you are angry, on the outside is none other than the expression of your own self, my dear!

Ok, unable to understand this truth of oneness? What should you do now? If the impatient student asks the guru, all he says is one word of advice—Bhava Samachittha Twam—You be a person with equanimity of mind.Why should you do something that is very difficult? If the student smarts under the pressure of the advice and the impending difficulty of such a practice, the teacher says even more kindly, “You do this only if you wish to attain that state of experience of the oneness that is present equally in all beings, animate and inanimate, conscious and inert.”

What is the logic behind this? Just recall a person whom you hate for something. The moment the thought of that person comes to your mind, a chemical reaction takes place in your body. Your attention with full force energises that thought and the soft irritating thought occupies your whole attention in all its fullness. This thought becomes a proverbial elephant in your room. You cannot ignore the person and his memory looms so large that whoever you meet and wherever you go, he or she begins to haunt you.

What is the way out? The Master says that if you want peace of mind or the state of mind that God enjoys, you have to practice Samachittha. It is very easily said. It means whether I love or hate something, it does not matter. I have to transcend it and focus my attention on that one truth that sustains all life. The equation is very simple. If you want peace, practice equanimity.

brni.sharanyachaitanya@gmail.com

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