Sage of the Steady Mind

Remember sitting your GCSE exams? The anxiety and worry was probably quite uncomfortable. Of course, if you look back now, you realize it wasn’t as life-determining as you probably thought. I remember losing in a county badminton final when I was 13 – I couldn’t bear to show my face for weeks. Worries and anxieties arise because we take things out of perspective. As we grow up, our understanding of life and the world expands. As our understanding expands, we are able to react to everyday occurrences in a much more appropriate manner – being able to see them in perspective of wider reality.

However, it’s not just about growing up in terms of years, but also about growing up spiritually. The Bhagavad-gita talks of a concept known as sastra-caksus – ‘seeing the world through the eyes of scripture.’ As we refer to the ancient wisdom and insights of the scriptures, we find that our understanding of reality expands even further, beyond the limitations of space and time as we know it. One becomes aware of the greater reality beyond this world. When the spiritualist is thus aware of the ‘bigger picture’ there is an amazing immunity to all types of worry and anxiety.

Krishna explains this in the Bhagavad-gita: “One who is not disturbed in mind even amidst all miseries or elated when there is happiness, and who is free from attachment, fear and anger is called a sage of the steady mind.” Interestingly, when it comes to other people’s worries, troubles and anxieties, it’s not that a spiritualist sees them as trivial and unimportant. Rather, he tries to equip those people to see life in a broader way, helping them to put things in perspective for themselves.