The topic for the English Satsang on Sunday, 30th December, 2012 was ‘Balanced State of Mind.’
Following is the transcript of the speech made by Smt. Hansaji Yogendra on the topic.
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“The definition of yoga is – a balanced state of mind. The entire yoga philosophy, technology, psychology comes handy. It tells you how to come to a balanced state. Maintaining a balanced state is not easy, because life is not easy. Continuous changes keep happening in life. The world is changing so fast and in this we have to keep a balanced mind. So yoga says, first bring in some understanding of what the world is. Someone is there today, not there tomorrow; someone may love you today and hate you tomorrow; business is going well today, but may not tomorrow. The world is changeful. We can only benefit from remaining balanced, not by getting dejected by the world. Happiness leads to sadness and vice-versa and so we need to rise above these feelings of happiness and sadness.
So we need to repeat this wisdom, this philosophy in our minds all the time. Keep your eyes open and watch what is happening in the world. Then think about how you can maintain your balance in all of it. Read, write, think, and contemplate on it.
We have seen that balance is lost when ‘me’ and ‘mine’ comes in the picture. Where there is an ego clash, someone wins and someone loses. There are many different ways and solutions where a problem or clash could be avoided. Yoga always talks of prevention. I always give the example of a girl who was being teased by a man. She got angry and slapped him. Next day the man brought four other men with him and they attacked her, snatched her purse, etc. There is no need to have an ego clash in this way. Prevent it rather than trying to teach others a lesson or trying to improve them. No one wants to hear that they are wrong because they believe that they are always right. So why try to teach them when they are not in a learning state?
The second factor is attachment. When you love somebody, you remain in a dream world and there is no balance. Likes and dislikes start coming into the picture. When you love something too much, you feel sad when it is not there in front of you. Another thing that comes along with it is hate, which also disrupts your balance, because you will have to face it again and again – God teaches his lessons. We have to go beyond love and hate. When ‘I-sense’ comes, we care only about our reputation or our job, not about others. So when this kind of selfishness comes, balance goes.
Yoga Shashtra talks of all these very clearly and calls them our Klesas – Avidya, Asmita, Raga, Dvesa, Abhinivesa. We are supposed to remove these Klesas, otherwise balance will never come. So, in our everyday life, in the small things, we have to take this firm decision that ‘No matter what, I will not lose my control.’ To walk on the spiritual path, the balanced state cannot be lost at any cost. From the stories of Sant Eknath, Buddha, Mahavir, Guru Nanak, Tukaram, Gyaneshwar’s whole family, you will see that they were always balanced. They had lots of tolerance, adjusting capacity, always care, love and compassion within their heart. Their love and behaviour never depended on somebody’s behaviour with them.
You have to have strength within yourself. Fill yourself with caring and love and then you will have a balanced state of mind. Make your life a Yogic one. Understand this subject deeply, keep trying. Tests will keep coming but never give up. Do not make the same mistakes again. And if you lose your balance, make sure you regain it immediately. So let us work on ourselves.”