‘Renunciation is the power of battling against the forces and holding the mind in check,’ says Swami Vivekananda. Thoughts come, but do not create ripples. How? By detachment.
If somebody unknown dies, you are not disturbed; if somebody
close to you dies, then immediately your mind becomes agitated because of the lack
of detachment. Be detached, then you can be concerned, without being disturbed,
you can act positively: ‘How can I help? What is to be done?’
This renunciation is what I want.
I am passing through a street, and a man comes and takes
away my watch. That is my own experience. I see it myself, and it immediately
throws my chitta, the mind stuff, into a wave, taking the form of anger. Do not
allow that anger to come. Raja yoga does not tell me to keep quiet and let the
man take everything away from me. By not being disturbed, thrown into anger, I
can use my intelligence properly, I can be more constructive and practical.
The following experience of a monk shows how one can be
effective without being disturbed: A monk is travelling in a crowded train from
Bombay to Pune. There are seats for forty in the car and eighty are already there.
A strong man stands at the door and prevents more from entering. Then at one
station an elderly lady tries to get in; this man prevents her. The train starts
moving and she is holding to the outside of the car. The monk gets up slowly,
comes to the door, bodily lifts the man and puts him aside, opens the door,
brings the lady inside, closes the door, and sits down again, without saying
one word. The train travels sixty miles further, people are coming and going,
nobody says anything; there is absolute silence. Everything goes on well. That
is effective work. There is no anger, no argument. The monk is absolutely
detached; he does what is necessary and goes back to his corner. You can be
more effective if you are cool and calm. Anger disturbs you; you lose your mind
for nothing. A show of anger has its place, but be not angry.
Swami Vivekananda says: Anger throws one off balance. Allow
not that to come. If you cannot prevent that, you are nothing; if you can, you
have vairagya, renunciation. Sensate feelings come, how does one stop them? By
dispassion, by detachment. Many times, we stop them out of helplessness, out of
social necessity. But they all can be silenced easily when you yourself
analyze them: ‘No, that is not good.’ To deny them, and not allow the mind to
come to a wave form with regard to them, is renunciation. ‘Not coming to a wave
form’ means to not allow the
mind to be disturbed by anything that happens. This is an art which you have to
practice regularly.
Once you lose your mind, you are gone, you cannot think. This sequence of
events is described in
the Bhagavad Gita: When anger comes, what happens? Anger throws you into
confusion. When there is confusion in your mind, you cannot remember things
properly. When you cannot remember things properly, the wisdom that you have gained
you will lose. When you lose your wisdom,
you are lost.
Anger finally leads you to losing your ground. It is a very
mysterious psychological process,
which can happen to you by just contemplating one thought. Examine yourself and
find out what
throws you off.