The Potent Mix

Yesterday I attended an online workshop on the benefits of meditation. It explained how nurturing the same kind of thoughts results in the same kind of emotional reactions. During challenging situations our body releases stress hormones. However, if we continue living with the memories of the challenging situation; always thinking of the negative emotional reactions they created, and if we continue to live with those stressful emotions, our body stays in a condition dominated by stress.

Further, if the presence of these stress hormones continues in our bodies for a long period of time, they become a part of our personality and temperament. It starts to work as an addiction, where the body feeds on stress hormones to derive its energy. We see every situation as a challenging situation, and our response to each event becomes a stress response.

The workshop further explained that the only way to break this vicious cycle is through meditation and consciousness.

 

While this approach does explain the benefits of positive thinking and cognitive consciousness; and of converting them into healthy living, it doesn’t explain healthy life in its entirety.

I think human beings are a potent mix of their temperament, thoughts and actions. We do share a give and take relationship with our environment and also with other living beings. Only when a balance is derived in all these factors, do we achieve a complete well-being.

 

An ideal example to explain the above is Ravan, the notorious mythological villain. I agree it is probably an extreme example, especially since most humans around us are not monstrous. Yet to my mind Ravan brings out very clearly how potent this mix of temperament, thoughts, and actions is; and how it builds or disrupts our lives with its consequences.

As per the legend, Ravan was one of most well-read persons of his time. He was extremely intelligent and knowledgeable. He was also an ardent worshiper of lord Shiva, spending great lengths of time in prayers and meditations. A powerful king, blessed with great riches, safely residing in the beautiful city of Lanka, away from prying enemies. On personal front he had a strongly bonded family, a beautiful wife, an ardently obedient son, younger brothers who stood by him, and an army of extended family that adored him. All in all, it seemed like a perfect and well-balanced life.

While we all know how it all ended, there are different theories to explain why it happened. Most commonly believed theory contends that in spite of all his learnings and knowledge, the basic temperament of Ravan was that of a rakshas (monster). This temperament led to venomous thoughts of possessing Sita, a renowned beauty. The ill-meaning thoughts led to wicked actions of abduction and forceful confinement of Sita. The rest as they say is history.

There is an alternative theory that believes him to be a true saint. It claims that Ravan wanted to die at the hands of Ram, whom he knew to be the incarnation of lord Vishnu. Being the learned man that he was, he realised that this was the only way to attain Moksha. Ravan supposedly had Amrit in his naval, and thus it was impossible for anyone, except the Lord himself, to end his life. Ravan knew well, that being the righteous man he was, Ram will never agree to kill Ravan, unless it is for a right and deserving reason. With these thoughts and intent, Ravan orchestrated Sita’s abduction. The rest as they is history.

In a nutshell, different temperaments resulted in different thoughts. If we believe him to be a rakshas, he acted out of arrogance and selfishness. If we believe him to be a gyani, he planned his own pious end. However, in such a case too, he had the option of not sending his friend (Mareech) as a bait, and of going himself as Swarna Hiran, getting killed in the process at Ram's hands. In either circumstance, his choice of approach and consequent actions deserved condemnation. Separating two love-lorn hearts (Ram & Sita), taking away another human’s freedom (Sita), punishing another living being with physical torture (putting fire on Hanuman’s tail) etc etc were indeed deeds that brought Ravan his ill-luck and sufferings.  

Knowingly or unknowingly, he did bring an end to a happy and fulfilled life, not only for himself but for his entire clan. His associates who stood by him and supported him in his actions faced the same consequence. He had to go through the pain of witnessing the betrayal of one brother (Vibheshan) and the death of another (Kumbhkaran). Worse still, he saw his valiant son (Meghnaad) die before him. He was the last one standing, seeing his entire clan come to an end right before his eyes.  

If you think of it, all these are great pains and sufferings to go through for any man. And to go through it all, before reaching his own demise, is indeed a tragic end to an illustrious life. 

 

In conclusion, it brings me to the same point, I started with. Human life is conditioned by the potent mix of temperament, thoughts, and actions. It is the interaction of all these three, in combination with our environment, that determines our well-being. 

We, humans, are blessed with the power to channelize our thoughts and thus our actions, in our desired direction. Further, consistently following this approach develops our temperament, defining who we are. Our character builds our thoughts and thought processes, resulting in our responses and choices for a given situation. 

Thus to live a balanced life, one must cultivate healthy thoughts, arising from a healthy intent and resulting in healthy actions.