When we are freed from compulsive thinking, the way we interact with others changes drastically. Whether they give us news that is joyful or disturbing, we remain calm and serene. We do not react to people or situations with extreme oscillations of thought and emotion as we did earlier. Before we recognised the calmness of the mind as equipoise and allowed it deepen into meditation, we had given a space in our mind to everybody and everything. We had given them the free authority to access our minds and control it with their thoughts, feelings, words and actions. We had handed each one of them a remote to control our minds. When they pressed different buttons on the remote through their words, feelings or actions, we would respond immediately by emoting with anger, envy, frustration, impatience, worry, enthusiasm or pleasure. When we establish ourselves in the state of natural equipoise, nobody has a remote to control the state of our mind. Nobody has the power to dilute or pollute the state of our inner peace and serenity anymore. On the other hand, the vibrations of profound, unshakeable peace that we generate empower us to trigger peace and tranquillity in them.
As we reach this state, we should use this opportunity to detach ourselves from all the people we have imprisoned in our minds. Yes, we have imprisoned many people in our minds and given them a sentence of rigorous life imprisonment. We have shrunk our mind which was as vast as the cosmos into a cramped prison. We have imprisoned all the people we know there — our family members, friends, business associates, colleagues, neighbours, acquaintances, rivals and enemies. We have imposed many conditions of imprisonment upon them. All these conditions have emerged from the expectations we have about them. Whenever we impose our expectations upon others, they become our prisoners. When they fulfill our expectations most of the time, we imprison them as friends with the feeling that they should go on fulfilling our expectations and meeting our conditions constantly. When people go against our expectations repeatedly, we imprison them as enemies and keep bombarding them with the energy of our ill-will and hostility without realising that this becomes a toxin to poison our own peace and happiness.
My friend, now finally the time has come for you to release all your prisoners. You do not need them anymore in your mind because they were creating stress and strain in you. Each time you imprison others in your mind, you have to be reborn just to release them.
When you shackle yourself to someone through your expectations, you are creating a strong karmic bond which will compel you to be reborn to fulfil your obligations towards them. Now that you have transcended all expectations to attain natural equipoise, release all these prisoners in your mind. When you do this, you will automatically be released from within their minds as well. Mentally detach yourself from everybody and everything and fly like a bird in the sky of peace and bliss. Peace does not come from outside.
Peace does not come from possessions. Peace does not come from relationships. Peace does not come from expectations. Peace comes only when you let all your expectations go. Then peace comes and enthrones itself in your heart forever.
This state of peace and calmness that we experience constantly and naturally in our waking state is Sahaja Samadhi or natural equipoise. When we meditate using meditative aids like a mystical symbol, a divine form or a chant, we attain a state of deep inner peace.
This article is taken from the book “Between You and Me — Meditation Made Simple” by His Holiness Shri Shri Nimishananda Guruji
