Take Care of Your Mind First.
The greatest gift meditation has ever taught me is that a much larger percentage than I thought of the world around me is self created. All the stories I make up about what’s going on around is exactly that, stories. So sit still Clara and really see what’s going on around you.
A great excerpt that nails it:
“Sri Ramakrishna Parahamsa told this fine story: A few people were walking along the road early in the morning, and they saw a man lying on the side of the road. The first one said, ‘He must have spent the whole night gambling and couldn’t reach home, so he fell asleep here. Gamblers are like that. The don’t reach home safely.’ Then he walked away.
The next one spoke, ‘Poor man, he must be very ill. We shouldn’t disturb a sick man. Let him rest there.’ Then he walked away.
The third one came and said to the man on the roadside, ‘You’re a bum. You don’t know how to drink. Don’t you know one or two is enough? Probably they gave you free drinks, and now you’re down.’ He treated him as a drunkard.
The first fellow thought the man had been gambling and was sleeping. The second thought he was sick, and the third thought he was drunk. Then the fourth man spoke: ‘A saint doesn’t care where he is. Probably he’s in higher consciousness, samadhi. A saint can be anywhere…This man is probably above physical consciousness. Let’s not disturb him.’ Then he bowed and walked away.
We don’t know who was right. All four may have been wrong. They all saw the same person differently because they projected themselves. A drinker thinks the other is a drunk. A saint sees a saint. The world as you perceive it is nothing but your own projection. If there is hell in your mind, you won’t see heaven anywhere. If there is heaven in your mind, you can’t see hell anywhere. That’s why it’s said, ‘Correct your vision, and you will see the truth.’ Self -reformation will bring the right view…The teaching given here is: Take care of your own mind first.”
—Sri Swami Satchindanada, The Living Gita
PS.
Practice yoga online with me or catch me at my next yoga event
