Developing Equanimity: Part 2
Part 1 of this article described the importance of adopting the right values to guide us towards developing equanimity. The practice of Karm Yog as outlined below will help us in this regard.
Practicing equanimity in all situations:
To help keep our poise regardless of the circumstance, we can adopt the internal value of always delivering our best effort in every aspect of life while simultaneously accepting every situation. This can be done as a service to Shree Krishna for His happiness. In so doing, our attachment to situational outcomes decreases, and the tendency to become apathetic goes away.
Additionally, it is important to have complete faith that God gives us positive and negative situations for our own spiritual benefit and that He can do no wrong.
Swami Mukundananda explains in his commentary of Chapter 7 of the Bhagavad Gita, verse 27-28, that our preference for one situation over another arises from material consciousness. Spiritual wisdom enables us to see pain as an opportunity to develop selflessness and grow spiritually.
In the beginning we will need to persevere through difficult situations, but as we go further along, the grace of God creates an unshakable inner tranquility and equitable disposition.
Practicing equanimity towards all people:
Shree Maharajji explains that on account of the Divine presence in all living beings, it is a great sin to hurt anyone. We can adopt this as a value and try to feel the presence of our beloved Shree Krishna in everyone. However, we cannot always show a gentle attitude towards people who may harm us physically or misbehave on their accord. A mother sometimes needs to scold her children for their own good.
In a series of casual conversations compiled in Sadhak Savdhani, Shree Maharajji mentions that learning to behave in the world is an art. In difficult situations we should develop the attitude of being externally firm while internally keeping our minds attached to God. Along the way, we should develop and maintain the qualities of tolerance, humility, and softness. For example, Arjun killed many people during the Kurukshetra War, but Shree Krishna did not count it as bad karma. This is because Arjun considered Shree Krishna to be his Guru, and so Arjun’s participation in the war became seva at the instruction of his Guru. His mind was attached to serving Shree Krishna and did not bear animosity towards the people he killed while performing that service.
God and God-realized saints are naturally capable of maintaining appropriate behavior in the world as the situation demands while remaining internally undisturbed. Those of us who are unrealized need to work at this, since our natural tendency is to feel perturbed internally and act calm on the outside. It often happens in the world that when we encounter an unpleasant person, we externally put on a pleasant demeanor while internally wishing for that person to leave! Since we are already good at training our mind to act, we just need to reverse this when the situation demands. Shree Maharajji says that we can develop this response over time by applying all of our spiritual power and will power.
Here is a quote (translated) from the Sadhak Savdhani in this regard:
“It is difficult to hear insults from close family members. To counter the anger that we feel, we just need to acknowledge that we are guilty of all faults pointed out to us by them. Secondly, when people get upset with us it is usually because we failed to satisfy their selfish needs in some way – they won’t always be upset. Keeping this in mind we must not respond with anger.”
Remember: Practice makes perfect! While practicing our responses to people and situations daily, based on the above values, we will slowly develop equanimity by the grace of God and Guru.