Life is a series of events that happen to an individual. The aforementioned epistle clearly puts forth the fact that life is nothing but a series of occurrences. These occurrences are often dealt with a poetic twist that makes us feel that life is indeed an eventful journey. As man walks through the journey of life, he experiences every event within himself. Every event creates an imprint of itself within that individual. Based on relativity and the individual’s orientation, he thus starts to derive happiness or sadness from the said event. The moods of life, in reality are just that. They are simply the reactions that our mind gives to the events that occur. They are entirely based on our orientation and our attitude towards life.
As man moves through the journey of life, he always loves to just meander aimlessly. Emotionally man loves to cradle his moods and to objectify his grief. This gives him a sense of belonging and a sense of achievement. Man in every sense of the word starts to love his grief. Not that he welcomes it, but still on his own accord, he never misses to derive it at every single chance that he gets. Eventually it so happens that instead of experiencing the joy in living every moment of his life, man starts to find ways to derive grief from every occurrence.
For any true spiritualist, it is imperative that he finds a way to overcome the moods of life. In a way he must find ways to negate the reactions that spur from the mind; find a way to rise above the occurrences of life. Only when man learns to successfully rise above the relativity of life, will he truly learn to live life in the way it was meant to be lived. That is what true spirituality essentially accomplishes.
However in our day to day scenario, we often see that man loves his mood swings. He loves to be angry; he loves to be sad; he loves to be happy and he loves to be mad. Why? Many people would say that these moods are what truly define life; that our emotions truly define us as humans. Well I would say that all our moods end up with accomplishing is that they diminish our potential. They deter our evolution and they embroil us in the redundant and recursive way of life that the human existence epitomizes.
In reality, our moods and our emotions act as the connection between our soul and our karma. That is the reason why every single occurrence that happens to us comes with a reaction from within. That is the reason as to why every single emotion has its trigger set in an occurrence. Our emotions and our sentiments bind us to our karma; and thus if we are to truly be free of it, we must accept our karma with zero reaction. We must accept every occurrence of life with graciousness and peace in our heart. When the torrent of our emotions and our moods subsides, what shall remain is peace. And in the end; that sense of inner peace and that sense of inner satisfaction would take us beyond all the illusions of life. That state of being would then end the series of events that happen to us and then we would finally proceed towards complete and utter emancipation of the soul from the journey of life…
As you well know that our spiritual quotient is ultimately drawn from our physical quotient and our emotional quotient. In the last chapter, we discussed in brief about the physical quotient and the ways in which we can enhance the quality of our lives to ensure that we remain pro-active as long as we live. In this chapter, we are essentially going to elaborate on our emotional quotient. What does emotional quotient mean? How is it so instrumental in determining our rate of success on the spiritual path? How can we improve our emotional quotient? The answers lie herein.
It is often observed that many people value their emotions first and foremost in their lives. Many people literally feel that their emotions truly make them human; and that the journey of life is made more endearing and more enjoyable through emotions. While the fact remains that our emotions essentially connect us to our human side, they are at the same time the source of all our weaknesses. When we inherently make any decision based on our emotions, we often see that it leads us to ultimate misery and regret. The reason as to why this happens is based in the fact that our emotions always cloud our discerning intellect. When we are emotionally charged we cannot make dispassionate judgments of different situations. Often we go into any situation with a pre-conceived notion that is drawn from our emotions. Thus when the situation demands a specific solution from us, we are unable to provide a good one.
Emotions always result in multiple entanglements. Our emotions that essentially spur from our mind are always entrenched in duality. We can never get a consistent response from an emotional person. He is always bound to be meandering aimlessly as his emotion dictate. Thus, the person who is inherently emotional in nature can hardly survive the journey of life.
So at this point one may ask as to how one can truly live his life. Is he supposed to ignore all his emotions and live life like a machine? Is he supposed to become heartless and unresponsive to other people’s emotions? Well the answer is divided on that account. When it comes to your own case, always keep in mind, that your emotions must never dictate your actions. It is easier said than done. One has to always be aware of his feelings and his underlying thoughts to discern whether his emotions are truly directing the course of his actions. One needs to be perpetually aware and self-introspective in nature. But in doing so, the seeker has to ensure that he cannot turn into a ruthless and emotionally depraved individual. Often it so happens that when our own emotions are not regarded, we tend to hurt other people’s feelings. This must never be the case, or you would always be at the receiving end of other’s hatred.
What the seeker has to indeed accomplish is to strike a perfect balance between sensitivity and sensibility. He must be considerate enough to understand the emotional turbulences that take place in those around him and yet he must be stoic enough to be able to take his decision based on the dispassionate analysis of the situation. Upon doing so, he ultimately realize that his decisions pay out great dividends in the future.
Emotions are but momentary impulses of our troubled minds. To ignore them would indeed be dangerous; and to comply with them would indeed be foolish. What we have to accomplish is a wholesome approach to life, where our emotional receptivity towards others is high and yet we ourselves remain dispassionate enough to make the right choice and seamlessly progress in the path that leads towards our ultimate salvation.
In the season finale of the Satsang series, Rutugandha recounts the day when the master spoke of emotional quotient and the effects that it has on a seeker’s spiritual growth. Man is always bound by his emotions; riding the waves of his impulses. When we take any decision solely based on our emotions, we end up making a grave mistake. How can we ensure that we can remain practical and object-oriented in life? At the same time, how can we make sure that we don’t turn into heartless machine? For the answers to all these questions and many more, listen to the following audio snippet.
A Spiritual Revolution added to Articles. Embracing Reality added to Articles. Rebellion added to Articles. The State of Liberation added to Articles. Hypocrisy in Spirituality added to Articles. Pointless Spirituality added to Articles. Two Bytes of Life added to Articles. Change, Consistency & Success added to Articles.
| admin | 
April 21, 2010 9:31 am | 
Comments (2) 
