A small story:
In a certain kingdom, it came to the king's notice that everybody was depressed, because they found themselves burdened with more than their fair share of worries, while no one else seemed to have any major worries at all. So the king announced a mega 'Worry Exchange Offer', where people could trade their big worries for others' minor ones. A vast space was made ready, in the center of which stood a giant Worry Pot. Here each person could happily dump his own worries and pick up the worries of anyone else they chose. The entire kingdom gathered for the event. Strangers met and starting talking to each other. In due course, the event was declared open. Not surprisingly, not a single person came forward – for who wants to drop his small, familiar worries, and take on the unknown worries of another instead?
The mind is the master of Worry! Before we can move towards easing worry, we need to figure out just what happens inside us when we worry. Just watch your mind when you are worrying about something. What is taking place? You'll find that a continuous stream of thoughts is pouring through you mind - mostly negative, totally disconnected. In fact, we all indulge in two kinds of speech – 'speaking out' and 'speaking in'. Speaking to others is what we normally call
speech. But what about the soundless inner conversations that we constantly carry on with ourselves? This continuous, uncontrolled inner chatter, that takes possession of your being without your control, is the gift of the Mind - the source of all worry. This inner chatter is your true master.
With inner chatter, there is no cessation of speech, never a moment's respite. It is a kind of madness. Often, speaking to others is just a way of escaping from one's own being, from one's inner chatter. That's why so much talking is going on in the world!
It's not easy to understand what is meant by inner chatter, is it? Try this experiment: Sit down with your eyes closed. Don't focus on any issue. In just a few moments, you'll find that there is a continuous stream of thoughts flowing through your mind. Write down, honestly, whatever thought come into your mind. Do this for five minutes.
Now, sit down and read what's written on that paper.
Shocked by what you read? This is the record of your inner chatter. How disconnected your thoughts are! Irrelevant, contradictory and defying explanation. Now do you see what a full-fledged lunatic asylum you are running inside your head? This is your true nature of your mind – this completely uncontrolled flow of thoughts, this expression of insanity. This is the mind you have entrusted your life to! This is the mind that has invented all your worries. It is this mind that is living your life for you. Simply understand this much, and you have already taken a quantum leap towards freedom from worry.
A small story:
Nitti Mudaliar once purchased a new car and went off on his first ride. On and on he went, mile after mile through the city. People watched in admiration, but Nitti was in a frenzy of fear. Soon after he launched out, he realized that he knew everything about how to run the car – except how to stop it!
Luckily for everybody, the car finally came to a stop after colliding with a tree.
A stunned passerby enquired of Nitti, "What's wrong with you? Don't you know how to drive?"
"Of course I do", cried Nitti indignantly, "I only don't know how to stop!"
In fact, Nitti was actually not driving the car – he was being driven by it. The car was in control, not he. To drive is to have the ability to make the car move and stop in accordance with your will, not vice-versa.
In much the same way, you are 'driving' a vehicle which you don't know how to stop - your Mind. Just try to stop, even for a moment, your inner chatter. Can you? When you try, the gushing of thoughts becomes even more uncontrollable. It's as if you are fastened with a seatbelt and the vehicle is free to move in any direction it pleases. At least, in a physical accident, you stand to lose only one body, one life – but when we become slaves to our inner chatter, we could spend life after life being taken for a ride. And be driven through life like a madman – with no purpose, no awareness, not even an understanding of what the result is going to be.
When does worry be- Depression is nothing but the clinical name for chronic worry.
What is chronic worrying?
The mind is an excellent recording system. It stores your negative thought patterns, your complexes, your worries. Whatever you teach the mind, it learns and repeats faithfully. So watch what you tell your mind! For instance, suppose you experience a failure in business. To make it worse, your marriage breaks up around the same period. Chances are that you'll begin to believe that something is wrong with you, that whatever you touch is bound to be a failure. By continuously repeating this negative idea to yourself, you help it get even more deeply rooted in you memory. And as time passes, the mind begins to automatically play back whatever you have taught it, even in other situations, disturbing you without your knowledge or permission. This becomes a habit for your mind, resulting in a serious inferiority complex. Just as poor eating habits ultimately cause fat deposits to accumulate in your body, or cholesterol to accumulate in your arteries, constant worrying can actually cause worries to solidify in your being. And just as cholesterol creates blockages in your arteries, depression creates energy blockages in your being. Depression is felt as a total low, a state past all hope. It is a state where we have handed over our controls to a monster we have created ourselves.
On the physical level, worry quickly manifests itself as ailments of the stomach (just check how often you need to visit the bathroom on the day of an exam or a job interview!). This is significant, because worry is closely connected to the Manipuraka Chakra, located in the navel region. The energy of this chakra, which controls the functions of digestion and elimination, gets locked by constant worrying.
How to conquer Worry? To even understand Worry, we need to possess a deep insight into the nature of our own minds. The way into Worry is through the mind, and only through the mind can we find a way out. Instead, we insist on searching for answers in all the wrong places - in external circumstances. We tell ourselves, If only I had enough money there would be nothing to worry about, If only I was more good-looking, If only, If only... this is a truly futile exercise.
A small story:
One evening Nitti Mudaliar was found searching earnestly for something. in the courtyard before his house. When his wife asked him about it he replied that he had dropped a coin. His wife joined in the search. Soon others gathered and practically the whole neighbourhood was searching for the lost coin, to no avail.
Suddenly one young man asked Nitti, 'Which is the precise point where you dropped the coin? Even half an hour's search has yielded no results!"
"Oh," said Nitti, "I lost the coin inside the house".
"Then why are we searching here?", cried an amazed neighbour. "The problem is", said Nitti, "I have no lights inside my house.
Out here at least there's the streetlamp. We can search by its light."
Amused? It won't amuse you to know that we go about our search for freedom from worry in much the same manner without a clue as to its true causes and nature.
Once you understand how the mind works, this becomes simple. Just as a key can be used both to lock and to unlock a door, you can use the words playing in your mind to sink into depression or rise into ecstasy.
The mantra to combat worry is simple: continuous positive thinking.
Be alert. Whenever you become aware of a negative thought surfacing, begin to feed your mind positive thoughts instead. It is not an easy task, of course. In the beginning, when you utter positive words, your mind which has been trained to respond negatively is not going to learn these words easily. A small corner of your mind will continue to protest, "Do you think I'm a fool to be taken in by a few positive words?"
But by and by, you can alter the quality of the mind. It is perfectly possible to change your mental programming – after all, you have programmed it! You know how to do it. Now just do it. ```
The moment you see how easily worry can be created and destroyed by mere words, you will realize how unreal it is. To go beyond inner chatter for even a few moments is to become aware, to become alive. The very understanding of how unnecessary worry is, naturally unlocks the treasures of manipuraka chakra. Suffering dissolves of its own accord. And in its place arises that state which neither pleasure or pain can disturb - the state of Ānanda, bliss.
With jñāna and dhyāna, awareness and practice, suffering itself can be the door that leads you to THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM, eternal bliss.
My blessings are always with you.