Peace, Happiness & Contentment is your True Nature

By His Holiness Paramhans Swami Maheshwarananda

Founder of Yoga in Daily Life ®

Questions to Swamiji

“Swamiji, do we have the power to change the state of world affairs?”

Yes, because peace begins from your own heart. If you want peace in the world, you must first have peace within. Each one of our thoughts and actions, manifests in some way in the world. This is the law of karma and we can’t avoid it. You may find it easy to walk into the office in the morning and smile at everyone, but not so easy to kiss and make up with the person with whom you argued last night. But you can’t avoid it, eventually you have to come to terms with the situation and yoga can help you do that.

The regular practice of yoga can help you overcome bad moods, negative thoughts, emotional upsets, anger, depression and fear. According to the teachings of yoga, located within the human body are different energy centres, which hold both positive and negative tendencies. These energy centres are known as chakras, and the chakra near the base of the spine is the storehouse of our subconscious mind, where all life experiences and impressions are held. The symbol of this chakra is a six-petalled lotus, each petal representing a negative quality to be oversome - anger, hatred, jealousy, cruelty, desire and pride.

Anger is a great devil in our body. What you call ‘the devil’ drinks the blood of others, but the devil of anger not only drinks the blood of others, but yourself also! Anger is a great thief, who comes to your door and robs you of everything, whereas depression is a kind of pain, a feeling of loss or loneliness. Depression descends when we become disappointed in one or more aspects of our life - our professional life, family life, friends or the environment. We try hard to overcome our disappointments, but often get knocked down.

All these impressions of life subside into our subconscious and come out in dreams, restless behaviour, anxiety, stress or nerves. When depressed, angry, fearful or jealous, it is important to remember that these feelings are not the totality of our personality, and therefore refrain from identifying with that particular emotional state. What to do?

Yoga and meditation. Learn to meditate, become steady in it, and you will move beyond the pain and suffering in life to experience calmness, compassion, serenity and gratitude. How will this help in daily life, in dealing with others? It helps us see another person’s perspective and why they may be behaving in a certain way. It helps us to see our own qualities and to observe our thoughts. We then consider if those thoughts are positively influencing ourselves and others, or negatively.

Meditating on the chakra of the heart centre awakens compassion and humility, allowing us to curb the impulses of anger, fear or depression that arise when challenged. Yoga exercises also release the impressions of stored emotions from the energy centres in our body, and regular practice of these cannot only harmlessly release them, but also give us immense energy, greater flexibility, improved circulation and respiratory function, and enhanced immunity.

How we live each and every day affects, not only our own personal being, but the future of our world and even our planet. For us to have a positive outcome of world affairs, it is necessary to adopt a sound way of life that will keep us going in the right direction. The philosophy and practice of Yoga in Daily Life will definitely help you.