Ritam - Being in Balance. A Podcast on Wellbeing
Mental wellbeing is an escalating global challenge having serious impact on the quality of life, productivity in workplace etc. Our approach to wellbeing fundamentally depends on our perspective of ourselves. Are we just human beings, not much different from animals or something more? Over thousands of years the Vedic spiritual seekers dived deep within themselves to explore the inner space and they repeatedly verified that we all, without exception, are in essence really spiritual beings having human experiences. Their discoveries form Vedanta philosophy - the 'science of human excellences" - which explain in detail and with much clarity how we have multidimensional physical, mental, emotional and ethical layers of personality covering the fundamental Pure and eternal spiritual being. Along with this, the Vedic seekers developed systematic Yoga techniques to purify our minds and "dis-cover" our true Self.
The Vedantic conception of ourselves and Yogic mind-management techniques offer an alternative approach to address the mental wellbeing challenges. Ramakrishna Vedanta Centre, Auckland has taken up a project to make available these Vedanta-Yoga teachings to empower individuals with the knowledge and skill-sets to better manage their minds, emotions, values etc. to live meaningful, peaceful and productive lives.
Ritam is the Vedic principle responsible for maintaining order, harmony and rhythm both in the macrocosm and the microcosm. Stress, tension, dis-ease etc arise when we lose this balance at different levels of our being and around us. We have limited capacity to influence change outside us but we can definitely integrate our mind to our inner Self to gain greater poise, balance and rhythm in life. Meditation is the art of turning the mind inwards and anchoring it to our eternal, omniscient, blissful and pure Self. The more we are integrated with our inner Self, the greater will be the influence we can cast around us. This is the spiritual way to freedom from the slavery to the eternal world and internal body, senses and mind.
Ritam - Being in Balance is our series of conversations with Swami Tadananda wherein we explore the Vedanta-Yoga teachings and practices to promote our wellbeing.
Ritam - Being in Balance. A Podcast on Wellbeing
22.Wellbeing - Harnessing Willpower for Lifelong Learning
Embark on a transformative exploration with Swami Tadananda as we uncover the profound impact of willpower in shaping our educational journey and life's purpose. This dialogue, steeped in Swami Vivekananda's wisdom, promises to reveal the subtle art of harnessing Ichcha Shakti, that indomitable will, for personal success and societal betterment. We traverse the landscape of lifelong learning, where every experience becomes a lesson, and every moment, an opportunity for growth.
Step into the shoes of a lifelong learner and join our insightful conversation that stretches from the malleable years of childhood to the defining thresholds of adulthood. We navigate through the necessity of cultivating willpower early on, its pivotal role during the tumultuous teenage years, and its ultimate significance in directing our lives towards self-realization and societal contribution. Swami Tadananda illuminates the path to self-discipline, self-education, and the essential pursuit of self-knowledge, inviting you to reassess your approach to education, personal growth, and the quest for a meaningful existence.
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Namaste to the listeners. My name is Sunil. I'm with Swami Tadananda from the Ramakrishna Vedanta Center of Auckland, New Zealand. How are you, Swamiji?
Speaker 2:I'm very good, sunil, how are you?
Speaker 1:I'm good, very good, thank you. In the last episode we talked about education and we left it after just reducing the second definition, which was all about willpower. I think we need to continue from there, because there's some good learning and concepts that will help us. Shall we carry on.
Speaker 2:Yes, and I think this episode would be very useful to educators, parents and individuals, because education is not to be thought about what happens in the classroom in a school to people who are in uniform Okay, or enrolled in some courses. Universities like that Education. We should think in a very broad, holistic, lifelong journey, a process. We are here to learn. We have to grow in knowledge, and so the school, the world is the school, every workplace is a classroom for us, provided we understand that we are students and we are entering the classroom for the purpose of learning.
Speaker 2:So the definition is given by Swami Vivekananda, and try to memorize this because you have to think in that particular, there is a flow in there. He says the training by which the current and expression of will is brought under control and made fruitful is education. So let's look at each. Uh, what is it? The training is a form of training. In training, we do something repeatedly with a purpose that it will help you get expertise or grow in strength. You become better and better and better through training. You know practice makes perfect, so it's not like one time you do something and that's it. So you have to be mindful that it's a process of manifestation of that power. Again and again you go to the gym and you lift the weight and after some time the muscles come. If you don't do it repeatedly, the muscles don't develop type of thing you have to, you know, give that stimulation to you.
Speaker 2:So the training, what type of, by which something happens, there's a means to an end. It's not a training in itself. The training has got some end. What's end by which? The current and expression of will. So the concept of will comes what is will. So you cut up in the morning and say I will, comes what is will.
Speaker 2:So you get up in the morning and say I will get up, okay, I will take a shower, I'll have breakfast, I'll dress up, I will, you know, get ready for work, Work to do something, yeah, so behind every tiniest affection there's a will. I will do that. In your mind that idea, a will comes. It's called Ichcha Shakti. I will do that in your mind, that idea or will comes. It's called icha shakti. Say the body is a conduit, the, the individual, not only the body, the mind and the body is a conduit through which some energy flows. Look at an individual, ourselves, as a instrument or through which a medium, through some energy is flowing. That energy is from that pure level of consciousness. So at the highest level of consciousness level, it's the perfect pure. Its first manifestation is the highest, is called para shakti. So itchashakti is the first glimmer you get in your mind deep inside. I will do this. Okay, in all of us, this is nothing starts from the thought.
Speaker 2:Yes, it materializes. A thought, you know, because a thought is when you become aware of it. Where is it coming from? We are not very aware of it, okay, but in your mind a thought comes and says I will get up. And that makes you get up. You might say I will not get up and sleep some more. Keep on sleeping on. But look at the smallest thing. You know, there's a little will in that also. Yes, and it could be a big thing also, like a whole day. Today I'm going to take a drive to Ellington. Yes, okay, that's a will that will dictate your journey for seven, eight hours. Or you might say I will study and become a doctor. Now, that will is going to dictate the flow for five, six years. Yeah, all right. You might say I will aim for self-realization. Now, that will is going to whole life, lifetime and maybe another lifetime. Okay, but you see it has to be a it's all about will start.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it could be a tiny little will for a small thing, or it could be a massive will that will hold the direction of the flow of your activities, life and everything. So so we understand this will, little wills, big will, but it's coming from within. Okay, it's a flow of energy. Many things we will, but not all reach fruition. Okay, some reach, you know, but many things you haven't done, that just it came, it disappeared, you know, type of thing. We don't make a big deal about it. Maybe many times we try and it doesn't happen. We drop it too hard, too difficult. So let's go back to this definition, because this is about education. Education is not about book learning thing. It's about training ourselves to be the instrument through which that power can flow. Okay, so the training by which the current and expression of will.
Speaker 2:So the new next word comes current. So what is a current? Water current, electric current. So electric current is when many electrons are flowing in the same direction, one after the other, and if many more are flowing, the current is high. If fewer, then current is low. Water current means water molecules are flowing in the same direction. If are flowing in all directions. That is not a current, okay. So it has to have a direction. It's a vector which way is it going? Air current, water current in a? So energy flows, it has a particular direction. So the current that means current of will would be that one will one moment, what I'm doing now and what I'm doing next minute or next section, second or next hour, next day, they should be all aligned in the same direction. If I am saying I want to become a doctor in six years time, it's not like in the first year I was thinking I would become a doctor. Next year I'm thinking I'm becoming an engineer. No, they all have to be aligned in the same direction. If we are not able to hold that alignment, then you lose interest, you deviate, you abandon and all that effort of two years, three years maybe, gets wasted. You see. So it's about efficiently managing the energy system inside us, okay.
Speaker 2:So, second part we say it's a current of will. And so if we look at ourselves, life is a journey through which some force, some power is within all of us. It's trying to manifest In some people. They have got a very singular, determined will, purpose of life. They set the goal and they always navigate through life using that direction. You know the anchor. This is what I want to be in life. They want to be very rich, very powerful, famous or all those things. That is what is guiding them. And those who don't have any particular target and goal, just meander, wander around in this way, that way type of thing, purposelessly, aimlessly. We are cruising around no destination type of thing, or following some other guy thinking he knows type of thing. Majority are like that. You know, sheep going to the slaughterhouse, not knowing so.
Speaker 2:Current an expression. So when this current flows, willpower, flow within us, through our mind and then through our body, behavior, actions, it will have a result, an expression, shine. Okay. So when electric electrons flow through a wire, it manifests as heat or light. Okay, sound flows in a particular direction. When it hits your eardrum, it manifests as some particular word or some music or something. It will have some, some effect okay. Okay. So the training by which the current and expression of will is brought under control Okay. So now comes a new idea of controlling it. Okay.
Speaker 1:So like if the current is flowing.
Speaker 2:Randomly this way or that way. Uncontrolled that means a person is how do we see? You don't see them much under control, because the behavior that we see externally, or the speech, what they say, is only an expression of what is happening inside. So you find somebody is very calm and focused and determined, going in a very serious way. Another person is all over the place. Even they talk.
Speaker 2:Such a person, one who's very clear in the mind, you'll see they hold on to the theme, the subject matter, they keep on illuminating that idea. And another person in one moment they talk about this, next moment they talk about that, it's all over the place, like that. See within them that control is not there, it's just wavering. This way, that way, you'll find people in so many ways. Today they start this project and the next moment you ask they're doing something else, and the next year they're doing something else. No control, they're not able to maintain that direction. So why is it that? Because they were not properly trained to, the capacity was not developed. Because the education system was focused on putting in information and knowledge in there, they were not focused on developing the capacity by which that mind will be managed. And if you ask which education system really does that.
Speaker 1:No one, no one.
Speaker 2:Almost, because it's all about book knowledge. You know this is a syllabus, this is the marketing will teach you this. You pay this much money. By the end of the year you'll graduate and you'll be plugged into the society as a professional and off you go. No one is talking. They're interested in making human beings as products to be consumed by societies, organizations, companies. It's a very harsh. It's a harsh truth If you think about it Inputs process and then outputs.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so you take young people, program them in such a way, plug them into the societies. A doctor, nurse and we need doctors to program. The education system is designed to produce such products and you go in there every day for 40 years, do that and then your expiry, retirement time, comes in. Bye-bye, thank you, go and sit in a retirement home and you go. The society is interested in itself, it's not interested in you, my friend, it's nothing, has nothing to do with. Why did Sunil come into this world? What's his purpose life? Did he grow in knowledge and wisdom and all those type of things before he left? No one is asking that question. So it's a very, very harsh truth out there and sooner or later we all realize it, especially later in life, when we are abundant and we feel we've been used and disposed type of thing. This is how the consumer-based society is there. Just like cars we use, we use human beings in a very cold way also, and that's where I think the world has lost that human touch. We've become very, very commercialized, profit-oriented People are not so important. Profits are important. Organization is more important. Everything is dispensable, and that's where a lot of problems come. Let's go back to the individual. Yes, okay, so education is, and this is how the parent should understand it. So the mother says this child, this child has got a will, is a living force inside there. The body maybe is not fully developed, so he's not able to express all those things. But give him a little bit more time, 20 years, that person has become a young man. Body has matured, mind is matured and all those powers and forces and ideas that were there at the time he was born are now manifesting itself. And you'll see that that manifestation keeps on increasing. So when they're very young they're all little angels, whatever you say they do. But at some point teen, you know, the adolescence comes they begin to show a little bit of their personality and ask a few questions why come teenage? Body has matured a little bit more mind, and then you see those samskaras and these conditionings are beginning to express themselves and say hey, where did I? We never taught this child this, where did it come from? No, he brought it from his previous lifetime. It was there, the seeds were there, but now they are expressing themselves.
Speaker 2:That is a turbulent time. That's why teenagers are very difficult to manage, because that controller, the buddhi by which it will be controlled. That hasn't matured yet, and so this is the turbulent waters Boats can sink in that time and that's why parental guidance and safe environment and all those things are very, very important. Environment and all those things are very, very important. But come around 19, 20, 21, you can see they are beginning to become, uh, have a greater control of their own thought process, the decisions, and becoming more stable and more stable. You might say less supervision. You say they're more responsible, mature and now they're standing on their own feet and parents step back and say they're grown up, they can take care of themselves. So there's a process. But all that was there in the beginning, it was beginning to manifest slowly.
Speaker 2:Education over this period should be designed to help that individual how they can navigate through this process safely and bring out the best end result. So, right from the child to the youth, we have this idea of the flow of energy, ideas, vision, ambition. You know those type of things are there in the mind of the child. I want to be this. It's basically the will is there, I will be this type of thing. To be this, it's basically the will is there, I will be this type of thing.
Speaker 2:How do we empower the person to be successful positively in that, so that by the time he comes out into the society, what we want is a person with a strong mind, tremendous willpower. He's sitting in the driving seat of his mind with the hands on the steering wheel. He can accelerate, he can brake. Also, he can drive his car. The body and the personality is the vehicle in which he is traveling through in this journey of life. But he is a good driver. He won't have accidents, he will not hit somebody else and harm others also, and he will reach his destination.
Speaker 2:What is the purpose of this life? Put it in that sense, it's like about driving the car. So basically, a jiva comes, he gets into this car, car grows in this particular case, and the parents say I would train the child to be a good driver, learn how to use this vehicle and be a source of blessing to others, bring in peace, rather than going around and hitting others, harming others, and you see all that happening there. They don't have that control over them. So in this age and time when you see people children behaving violence, hitting, harming others in themselves, we think they are bad. They should be locked up or punished or something. No, no, no. We haven't trained, supported the child to have that control, and now you've got a reckless driver on the road having accidents everywhere. Who is to be blamed? Do you blame that?
Speaker 2:No the training that was supposed to be provided by parents and by teachers and school system. We didn't do that because we were just too much worried about stuffing so much information in the head. So let's go back to this definition again. It's very, very important and I would like business parents to really reflect, not only for others, for themselves, because every day is an opportunity to train that will, our own will. So the training, by which that means it's to be done repeatedly, repeatedly, repeatedly, by which the current and expression of will. So you have to acknowledge there's a will force inside of us that's trying to find seek expression. That will has to be brought under control. That means it should be able to maintain a particular direction. It should not be instinctive, it should be somebody firmly in control. You have to have the hand on the rudder, otherwise the boat is the body, the engine is the mind, but you don't have the hand on the rudder and the boat is going everywhere. Okay, and that's how most people are, they all just got a slight touch, but in general they don't have much control. If you ask them, do you think you will achieve that by the end of the year? And they say I might, I might not, I'm not very sure, I don't have that much confidence. And another would say, of course I will do that, I have done that in the. I know how, what self-discipline is, I know how to, you know, channelize that energy in a very focused way and I'd be able to receive that goal and that confidence that comes is tremendous. You know, they are aware of the inner strength and that control. So the training by which the current and expression of will is brought under control.
Speaker 2:Now let's go to the next one and made fruitful this education. So we have to say what is the fruit, the end result that we want? Everyone will have some short-term things. At the end of the day, you might say, okay, we are playing a football game. The end result is we want to win. Okay, if you do a another project, maybe taking six months time, we are constructing a building, the end result a building would be constructed so and so and so forth. You know, but I think one should have a goal of life. What do you want to achieve in this life? You see, if you, if we don't have that, if we, If we don't have North Star, then we don't have a North Star to focus.
Speaker 2:And so today it goes this way and that way. This is very nice, that's very nice. And then we meander through life and waste so much energy, we don't make much progress, we're going around in loops and circles. So I think now and then, if you zoom out, as we have discussed, and look at the life, our own life, let's not worry about others in the society. Where is it going? That's not very relevant Personally. Let's subjectively look. Where do I want to end up when I leave this world? Visualize yourself at the age of 80. The show is over, life has gone, the car is broken, old, can't do much more. Where do I find myself? I'm at near the starting point, or I have covered some good distance where you wanted. But if you did not have any goal, we'll just travel and use all the petrol and not make any progress.
Speaker 2:But if we had that clarity that this is a purpose of life, I have come in this world and of course there will be so many experiences and nice ones and unpleasant ones. But we said, okay, they're all teachers and they're the teachers. Then the purpose of life is to grow in knowledge, in experience, in wisdom. But ultimately we talked about. But ultimately we talked about it's about the highest purpose is to know who I am, and those who went in this pursuit and explored that inner space came with this wonderful discovery, said we are all divine beings, spiritual beings, we are perfect of the nature of infinite existence. Knowledge, bliss. And if that idea somehow captivates you, if that is my wonderful nature, what am I doing, trapped in this body? Okay, if I have come in this world, the purpose of life would be to know myself. Self-knowledge is the best thing, because that's when we really empower ourselves with the highest, with the best of who we are at the spiritual dimension. And so if that becomes the purpose of life, then all experiences good, bad, pleasant, unpleasant, successes and failures, everything become great teachers, that's right, great teachers. And but your willpower is now directed towards that goal of self-knowledge that by the time when I leave this world I will be I would have at least covered some major milestones in the journey. If that is not there, then we'll be seeking for some happiness that will come. Along with that, misery will also come. Then we'll be knocked around in this way and that way and before we know we are, the show is over.
Speaker 2:So I think that bigger picture of life should also be part of education. You know, put it in whichever way, how can you have a system of education where we say the purpose of life is just enjoyment, be happy, be famous, be rich with all these things, and and that's it, and end up with a big zero at the end of the day? You know, then we are shorting, selling ourselves pretty short. I think that higher goal, if it's put there, give a sense of direction and then a proper education to set them in that direction. That's what parenting is all about, that's what the education system should do.
Speaker 2:But if they don't, we can't blame others.
Speaker 2:We have to take the responsibility on our own shoulders and I'm going to do what others have not done, you know.
Speaker 2:Just no point blaming others, and that's where self-education, self-culture, self-discipline, self-training is necessary, and that's how we learn from others who have walked in the path in front of us, have given us some roadmaps to share with us and taught us some techniques by which we can also make progress in that direction. But we have to bring that into our practice. So how does it become? What does it become? Time to reflect, now and then, about this journey of life on a regular basis At least, taking some time out to do that, just to zoom out, and you'll find it's a very, very powerful process where all these little things that have sudden become so much amplified in life and become so big really are all trivial trash fade away yeah, they fade away and the bigger picture comes out and say, hey, that's unnecessarily, I was just wasting my time worrying about something consuming my energy which was such a waste, when the most important thing attractive thing, beautiful thing is there.
Speaker 2:I should aim for that, you know. So it's zooming out and then coming back to the essentials, putting the priorities right. I think it's a very, very important process, especially for grown-up people, because we get so much consumed by things, work and this and that that we don't, we're not able to detach ourselves from things, work, people and passions, whatever you want to say. So I think that's very, very important. That's where this type of uh, if we can't do it individually, doing in a group, you know, going meeting people, like-minded people, where that culture is there, so supporting each other. But there's a greater purpose of life. I think everyone should have some clarity. What is the purpose? What is that's going to give you ultimate meaning? If that doesn't, it's not very clear in front of our mind and you're not keeping it there all the time, referring, referencing it, then it's very easy to get lost in this jungle.
Speaker 2:Because the forces of nature or the society are tremendous. Because the forces of nature or the society are tremendous and they will drag you. I should have a car, I should have a job, I should have a family, I should have children, I should have name, I should have fame, I should have this wonderful position, I should make an impact in this world. For that I should occupy that position. I need to be a minister, prime minister or CEO and all those things. At the end of the day, so many have walked that down the line and what's the result? The society hasn't changed very much. Each one went and tried their own way. So unless we ourselves have something to give, we will not be of much use to the society. That power has to be awakened first, and education is the training where some will do better. And so they are the leaders in the society, the leaders in organizations. They are the people who have ideas, innovators, manufacturers, whatever you want to say and others are the sheep that just follow, happy that I have been employed in a company, getting my regular salary and I will retire gracefully, with a house and this and that, and for them that is a tick mark.
Speaker 2:Life has been very nice, successful. They're happy with that, but I think we will sell ourselves short when we refer it from the ultimate goal. Many are there like that. We should not. Men can do much better. A human being has got a tremendous. The glory for human being is that he or she can discover that highest truth there, and if that's the goal, then life is an adventure, life is challenge, life is an opportunity, life is a. Like Swami Vivekananda said, this world is a gymnasium where we come to do exercises to become strong, spiritually strong, and that's another perspective of life. I like this subject of perspectives and I think maybe we should discuss that.
Speaker 1:Yes, why don't we pick that up in our next episode?
Speaker 2:Okay. Thank you, sunil. I hope the discussions today about this particular definition of education is a training by which the current and expression of will is brought under control and made fruitful. We'll give some food for thought for our educators, parents and individuals about the real type of education that we are delivering, because when we see the problems with the youth and children all around, they are the products of how we are bringing them up and training them up. At the end of the day, we have to say, if the end result is not coming out that we have well-balanced, strong young people coming into the society, then we should sincerely reflect that maybe we are not doing our job properly, not be complacent and blame those children and other people there, especially educators, and that means curriculum designers, ministry of Education, people in charge of how education is delivered, and parents, because education starts right from home. These two people have to be held accountable.
Speaker 1:Yes, and even if we're not able to change the system, as parents we should be able to deliver a lot of what you said today to our kids anyway at home.
Speaker 2:At home and a teacher might say I understand, understand this, but I don't have any say about the curriculum, what is? But definitely you have freedom to do a lot more things in that classroom with those kids. Everyone has got a space. And use that freedom and more opportunities will come. But better. Rather than blaming others, you know finding faults with us and say we are helpless.
Speaker 1:No, all of us, let's do something Start.
Speaker 2:Let's be the change.
Speaker 1:Excellent Swami. That was very good. Thank you, and we'll pick up on perspectives in our next episode. Thank you, thank you.
