The Year ahead… & the year gone by

Our Pujya Gurudev, Swami Chinmayanandaji, had once said, “Everybody exists; It is only the few who LIVE! To live one should have an Ideal” Such Inspiring words! However, the reality is that there are very few who are able to live based on their Ideals. What is their secret?

Many think it is our will-power! Most of us don’t seem to have the will power to back up our own thoughts. Nowadays, we are so scared that we dare not make such promises… how sad! It begs to question, who is the master of our mind, then?


Big Resolutions but little transformation!
Every year, we make New Year’s resolutions based on our ideals we want to live by, for example, “I’ll quit smoking” for longevity of life, or “I’ll start exercising every day” for health, or “I’ll wake up every morning and meditate” for spiritual growth, etc. and then we find it hard to follow it up for longer than one or two days. Why is this so? It’s not like we do not want the result of the resolution, or that we do not understand the benefit of doing the action. Then why do we fail?
Whenever we put a noble thought in our mind for execution it fails, because we do not have enough noble stamina to convert that thought into action. It seems like each time a noble thought takes off, it gets sabotaged by the other two, either a change of plan (Rajas - distraction) or sheer laziness takes over - (Tamas - indolence)… Hence, there is no chance for the noble thought (resolution) to get to the finish line. This is the common fate of our noble ideals.

How do we then fulfill our resolutions?
Well, the solution is build mental strength in order to carry out our noble thoughts. This is done by strengthening our noble mind. I remember this simple secret that our beloved Swami Swaroopanandaji’s shared with us during Swamiji’s first talk in 2009 at Chinmaya Nikunj.

Keep encouraging the good and discouraging the bad thoughts;
The secret is… “When it comes to good work or a good thought - in line with our main goal, make sure you are never behind, in other words, never say no to it, fulfill it in the very first opportunity that you get… and conversely, when it comes to self-centered thought or a thought that is distracting us from our main goal, which I know to be wrong DO NOT be eager to do it, postpone it! So in a nut-shell, never postpone a good thought and try and discourage a negative thought. When we thus make ourselves more favorable to the good thought within rather than the negative ones, we automatically start developing an unseen strength, which makes us more capable to execute our noble thinking.

Keep the right company
Also, another very important factor in the initial stage is to choose the right company which will strengthen the value I want to build. This will certainly lead to a greater rate of growth within, of those sets of values. However, the true test of growth is always within our own mind.

Seek & follow good counsel as soon as we are weakened in spirit.
Lastly, whenever we feel like we have hit a wall in our growth or conviction, always seek the counsel of those who have similar values and outlook in life as your own and are on the same path as you but advanced in their pursuit. That serves as a great tonic which re-invigorates our spirit.

Slowly, we will have more time to do what is right and do it… and consequently, less time to do what is against my own better judgment.

Remember, the year(s) gone by is a testament of how time has moulded us, and the year(s) ahead shall reveal how we are going to mould time! Our tools are our past or our conscious choices - our resolutions! Here’s wishing each and every one of us all the best.

On behalf of Chinmaya Mission New Zealand, I would like to wish everyone a very Happy and Fulfilling New Year 2013.

Bramhachari Adarsh Chaitanya conducts weekly spiritual classes for children, youth and adults. For more information please follow this link: www.chinmaya.org.nz or contact him at 2756954