Living Wisely Living Well | With Asha Nayaswami

Be modest—be even self-effacing. But don’t belittle yourself. Self-deprecation, too, brings a focus on the ego. There should be neither superiority nor inferiority complex. Concentrate on the what of things, not on the who.

Be always, as my Guru put it, “even-minded and cheerful.” Watch a cork bobbing ceaselessly about on the surface of a lake: up and down, up and down, never straying in any particular direction, always keeping to one place. Don’t be like that cork, bouncing with the ripples of emotion. You’ll never get anywhere if you constantly react to what happens around you. Don’t imitate: initiate! Move serenely through life, like a great ocean liner, centered in the Self within.

Speak from a center of inner silence. Mere chatter is anesthetizing. A man in Calcutta once asked a younger man, “My boy, are you married?” “What do you mean, Am I married? I’m married to your own daughter!” “Oh, I know, I know. I just wanted to talk, and couldn’t think of anything else to say.” Wouldn’t the older man have done better to remain silent? When you speak from the heart of silence, everything you say will have meaning.

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Be thoughtful when communicating with others. Absent-mindedness induces vagueness, which produces chronic failure. Mean what you say, and say it with focused attention. Thus, you will develop the power to succeed at everything you attempt.

Devote less time than heretofore to being entertained—by watching television, for instance, or by listening to recorded music. Commit yourself to doing things yourself. Don’t work from ego, but offer yourself as a clear channel for the Divine Creator. Passivity is to creativity what floating on water is to swimming. And channeling God’s grace is to egoic creativity what swimming with the current is to struggling against it.

Look at, or imagine, a river flowing constantly. Then visualize your thoughts flowing similarly—not rippling restlessly; not drifting sluggishly; not frozen in fixed opinions like an ice sheet in wintertime. Adapt yourself to circumstances. The more centered you are in your Self, the easier you will find it to change as the needs arise. Affirm silently: “I adapt like flowing water to new situations and ideas.”

Think of the setbacks, failures, and disappointments you’ve had in life. Toss them mentally into the air like flower petals, and watch them float away on the wind, diminishing in size until they disappear altogether. Affirm then, joyously, “In my heart, I am forever free!”

Whatever you seek to accomplish, approach it with enthusiasm. Once you’ve finished it, however, release it into the infinite. If you keep dwelling on past accomplishments, you won’t be able to concentrate freely on new ones. I myself find it difficult, sometimes, to remember the names of songs I have written, though I love them all. They’re done now, and belong in the past. I have new, fresh images to carve, paint, or otherwise convey.

Give credit to others for anything you and they have accomplished together. Indeed, give more credit to them than you claim for yourself. I remember my father commenting wryly on the foreword written to a book by the writer’s subordinate: “I recommend this book, which was written at my direction and under my constant supervision.” What had that old fogey gained, except a few chuckles of derision? If a team helps you, presumably it is because you’ve needed their help. And if you did need it, thank them by giving them even more credit, perhaps, than they deserve.

No calamity will shake you if you can stand calmly and firmly at your own center. “Be able,” as my Guru said, “to stand unshaken amid the crash of breaking worlds!” If you offer your heart’s feelings up in devotion to God, fear will pass overhead like a cloud, and you will be enveloped in bliss.

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