The first lesson I learnt from my master was: if somebody holds you by the neck or attacks you, first try to relax because the maximum that will happen is you will die. When you are going to die anyway, you will die better by relaxing. As your opponent catches hold of you and pushes you here and there, first be relaxed. Once you are relaxed, you are centred—which is tried and tested in martial arts. Once you are centred, the next step is to break the other’s centre—their centre of gravity. You poke their eyes, hit their throat and smash their jaws in that flow. Therefore, the principle is this—for personal excellence, create harmony in conflict.
With a relaxed atmosphere, look at the mind. Your personal excellence will not grow when you are in tension. A lot of those who attend my workshop have issues closing their eyes. When they sit down for meditation and I say, “close your eyes”, they invariably open one eye because closing eyes is difficult for them. As their minds go on chattering, they are not able to close both their eyes. I get confused and think perhaps they don’t understand my accent. Then I say, “Eyes are two holes above the nose. Please close them.”
Invariably quite a few people say, “Swamiji, when I close my eyes, I am so much in tension.” What is happening? “Thoughts which I never thought about are coming now. I am tense because I paid to attend your workshop and all is wasted now because I am thinking of rubbish.” This is a conflict for them because they think the amount they paid goes to waste. I tell them, “Wherever your mind wanders, let it with a deep sense of wonder. With a sense of wonderment, look at the mind.”
If you want to bring personal excellence in your life, you have to get wonderful energy from among the navarasas called Adbhuta Rasa. You automatically start creating harmony in a conflicting situation. A deep sense of wonder will descend and you will start living your life. Your words and eyes will have lustre. There will be intelligence radiating from every part of your being.
I have seen some people for whom smiling means giving income tax to the government. There is no sense of wonder—looking at a buffalo and looking at the Miss World are both same for them. When a poet like Rabindranath Tagore saw a dew drop on a lotus leaf, his poetry emerged. This is the direct method and for that, you have to raise your awareness. Even if you don’t raise your knowledge, raise your awareness;
it lets you become inwardly silent and calm. With this, there is a certain synergy that happens and brings about transformation. Then there is harmony in conflict.
Swami Sukhabodhananda is an international management spiritual & corporate guru