अभ्यास के लिए तरही मिसरा/शेर --------------------------------- है 'ग़ालिब' की ये बज़्म-ए-नज़्म-गोई यहाँ मो'जिज़-बयानी चल रही है //4 तक़ती'अ- है 'ग़ालिब' की/ ये बज़्म-ए-नज़्/म-गोई यहाँ मो'जिज़/-बयानी चल/ रही है //4 मापनी- 1222-1222-122 अरकान- मुफ़ाईलुन-मुफ़ाईलुन-फ़ऊलुन बह्र- बह्र-ए-हज़ज मुसद्दस महजूफ़ क़ाफ़िया की तुक- 'आनी' रदीफ़- 'चल रही है' ग़ज़लغزل: ९९९ ------------------------ 1222-1222-122 मोहब्बत की कहानी चल रही है वही बस सरगिरानी चल रही है //1 गुज़ारा हो रहा है जैसे तैसे ख़ुदा की मेहरबानी चल रही है //2 अयाँ हिर्स-ओ-हवस होती है हर सू ये कैसी कुन-फ़कानी चल रही है //3 है 'ग़ालिब' की ये बज़्म-ए-नज़्म-गोई यहाँ मो'जिज़-बयानी चल रही है //4 कोई मिसरा' समझ पाया न अब तक ग़ज़ब की शे'र-ख़्वानी चल रही है //5 मोहब्बत से भरोसा उठ गया है वही झूठी कहानी चल रही है //6 लगा ऐ 'राज़' कल शब मेरे पीछे दिलावर की ज़नानी चल रही है //7 محبت کی کہانی چل رہی ہے وحی بس سرگرانی چل رہی ہے //1 گزارا ہو رہا ہے جیسے تیسے خدا کی میہیربانی چل رہی ہے //2 عیاں حرص وہوس ہوتی ہے ہر سو یہ کیسی کنفکانی چل رہی ہے //3 ہے 'غالب' کی یہ بزم نظم گوئی یہاں مو'جز بیانی چل رہی ہے //4 کوئی مصرع' سمجھ پایا نہ اب تک غضب کی شے'ر خوانی چل رہی ہے //5 محبت سے بھروسہ اٹھ گیا ہے وہی جھوٹھی کہانی چل رہی ہے //6 لگا اے 'راز' کل شب میرے پیچھے دلاور کی زنانی چل رہ(ایک انجان شاعر) शब्दार्थ- --------- सरगिरानी- रोष, अप्रसन्नता, खफ़गी अयाँ- (लाक्षणिक) स्पष्ट, खुला हुआ, प्रकट हिर्स-ओ-हवस- लालच और इर्ष्या सू- दिशा، ओर, तरफ़ कुन-फ़कानी- (God says) Be, and it इस बज़्म- महफ़िल, सभा नज़्म-गोई-शायरी, कविता लिखना मो'जिज़-बयानी- बहुत अच्छी तक़रीर या भाषण, अद्भुत वाग्मिता मिसरा'- मिश्रा जो इस का असल इमला है, आधा शेर, पद, बैत या फ़र्द का आधा हिस्सा शे'र-ख़्वानी- शेर पढ़ना, एक जगह बैठकर परस्पर शेर सुनना-सुनाना दिलावर- एक नाम ; वीर, साहसी, दिलेर, हौसले वाला ज़नानी- स्त्री, औरत, पत्नी, बीवी इसी बह्र पर लिखे गये कुछ फ़िल्मी गीत/ ग़ज़ल ***************************** 🎻मुक़द्दर आज़माना चाहता हूँ 🎻मुहब्बत करने वाले कम न होंगे 🎻मेरे हाथों में नौ नौ चूडियाँ हैं 🎻मुहब्बत अब तिजारत बन गयी है 🎻मै तन्हा था मगर इतना नही था 🎻अकेले हैं चले आओ जहाँ हो 🎻हमें तुमसे मुहब्बत हो गयी है 🎻दरीचा बेसदा कोई नहीं है 🎻हवा के साथ उड़ कर भी मिला भी क्या 🍁🍁🍁🍁🍁🍁🍁🍁🍁🍁🍁🍁🍁🍁 ध्यान देने योग्य बातें- ----------------------- 1. सबसे ऊपर बह्र का नाम लिखें 2. उसके नीचे अरकान के नाम लिखें 3. उसके नीचे मापनी लिखें 4. फिर रदीफ़ और क़ाफ़िया लिखें 5. मतला एवं मक़ता समेत कुल 6 अशआर लिखें 6. अपने प्रत्येक शेर का क्रमांक //1, //2, //3... इस फॉर्मेट में लिखें 7. ग़ज़ल के नीचे अपना नाम लिखें 8. और अंत में, कठिन शब्दों के अर्थ लिखें 9. अंत में अपनी ग़ज़ल की तक़ती'अ करें 10. ख़्याल रहे कि विचार आपके अपने हों, किसी और के नहीं😃

गीता : २/७२ एषा ब्राह्मी स्थिति: पार्थ नैनां प्राप्य विमुह्यति । स्थित्वास्यामन्तकालेऽपि ब्रह्मनिर्वाणमृच्छति ॥ हे अर्जुन! यह ब्रह्म को प्राप्त पुरुष की स्थिति है; इसको प्राप्त होकर योगी कभी मोहित नहीं होता और अन्तकाल में भी इस ब्राह्मी स्थिति में स्थित होकर ब्रह्मानन्द को प्राप्त हो जाता है। ब्रह्म में स्थित विमोहमुक्त की चरम उपलब्धि हे पार्थ ! यह है स्थिति ब्रह्म-स्थित साधक की इसे प्राप्त कर मोह न रहता । अन्तकाल में भी इसमें स्थित हो ब्रह्मनिर्वाण प्राप्त वह करता ॥७२/ अध्याय २॥ साधक के लिए स्थितप्रज्ञ होने के लिए मन के अंदर की सभी कामनाओं , स्पृहा , ममता और अहंकार का अभाव आवश्यक है । विषय भोगों से इन्द्रियों को समेट लेना और परमार्थ के काम में ही उनका उचित उपयोग करना यह संयम कठिन है । साधक अपनी साधना कि सभी युक्तियों को काम में लाता है और फिर भी यदि कमी रह जाती है तो उसमें भक्ति को जोड़ देता है और इस प्रकार ‘ आत्मन्येव आत्मना तुष्ट :’ की स्थिति को प्राप्त हो जाता है । इस प्रकार श्री भगवान के कहे हुए उपनिषद में ब्रह्मविद्यान्तर्गत योग-शास्त्र विषयक श्री कृष्ण और अर्जुन के संवाद में सांख्य योग नामक दूसरा अध्याय समाप्त हुआ ।

CHAPTER 10:-Laziness And Melancholy (Alasya/Udasinta) Introduction: The Silent Warrior Now,I will describe one such great warrior who appears completely inactive but is very powerful. In whose hands there are no weapons,but whose blows are deadly.That warrior is Alasya (Laziness) or Pramada (Negligence).The mentality of not doing works is called Pramada and Alasya. In the Gita, it has been given the name Akarmanayata (Inaction). This is also a Natural Instinct of the human mind that work should not have to be done at alland fruits should be obtained even more than expected. That is: no effort should be needed, but excellent results should come. The practice of lazy people is also no less than 'hatha yoga'. Some lazy person does not eat food even when food is lying there and even when hunger has struck,only because who will make the effort of picking up food and putting it in the mouth? Another lazy person does not remove even that dog that is licking his face, because who will make that effort? If a lazy person sits somewhere,then he does not make the effort of getting up. About lazy people,it can be said: Apne alasya ko ham hargij bhula sakte nahin sir kat sakte hain lekin sir hila sakte nahin. English Translation:-We will never miss to be lazy;we will not move the head even if it is cut. And their philosophy and work method can be expressed thus: Aaj kare so kaal kar,kal kare so parson.jaldi jaldi kya karta hai,jeena hai abhi barson. English Translation:-What is to be done today,you do it tomorrow;why to make hurry when you have to live for years. If this negative tendency grips a hero,it will end his heroism,will snatch enterprise from the enterprising, and will snatch wealth from the wealthy. This negative tendency will defeat the entire army of positive emotions (sajatiya vrittis) without fighting in just a momentbecause as soon as it arrives,the entire army will sit with hands on hands,will consider war as effortand will surrenderlaughingly. Laziness will do all this,and you will not even feel that something happened.A work-less and lazy human is like that damn fool who has no concern even for his own harm,only has hatred for doing work.The disease of inaction (akarmanayata)—if even a thief gets it,it will ruin him also.Rahimdasji has said: Karamheen Rahiman lakhyaun,dhanso bade ghar chor.chintat hi bad labh ke,jagat bhaiyo bhor. English Translation:-A lazy thief entered into a millionaires house;being lazy,he started just thinking about the fortune he will make;thought till he slept.When he woke up it was already morning. 2 The Nature of Laziness Under the feeling of laziness, humans become sad from work and begin to waste time uselessly.They forget that the use of time is the true profit.This very tendency of worklessness makes humans Believers of Destiny. In its excess, humans begin to desire all fruits without doing anything. Theft, robbery, fraud, etc., are inspired by this very tendency of laziness. Humans think: why should they earn by making effort themselves? Why not just Grab the earnings made by others? Under this very tendency of easy earnings, humans buy lottery, play gambling, bet on horse racing, solve crossword puzzles, and do theft, robbery, etc. But in all these works also, they have to do something. Prey cannot enter the mouth of a sleeping lion by itself. But the lazy person wants this very thing. Therefore, laziness has no utility, and this negative tendency has been considered. If a person does not work due to being Handicapped, it can be understood. But if someone, despite being capable, does not work merely due to laziness, then even God cannot help them. A lazy person reaches a condition even worse than a handicapped person. A handicapped person is still entitled to mercy, compassion, and charity, but a lazy person is not worthy of any of these things. What utility can laziness have? Physical and mental rest is the only utility of laziness. From doing excessive work, both body and mind become tired. After this, taking rest and taking sleep becomes necessary. It has been said: Yuktahara viharasya,yukta chestasya karmasu.yukta svapnavabodhasya,yogo bhavati duhkha ha. English Translation:-Abstemious food dwelling and work effortabstemious sleep can only help in attaining Yoga. Therefore, taking sleep at the proper time and in the proper measure is necessary. Otherwise, the body will become sick and the brain unpeaceful. Sleep is a symptom of laziness, and in this very form, laziness has utility for living beings also. But rest and sleep more than necessary give birth to laziness. Therefore, it is necessary to avoid this. Doing work is as necessary for the body as taking rest. It is better to remain away from the Mindset of Inaction. Work is worship—always keep this matter in mind. It has been said in the Gita: Ma karmaphala hetu bhurbharte,sangostava karmani. English Translation: Not worried about the fruits doesn;t mean that one stops working. Canakya has said: Alasyopahatah vidya. English Translation:Laziness causes disruption of wisdom." Not only wisdom but wealth, virtue—all qualities are destroyed by laziness; therefore, avoid it. Jawaharlal Nehru used to sleep only five hours at night and worked the rest of the time. Therefore, he said: "Rest is forbidden." The utility of rest is also only as long as it is necessary for physical and mental health. 3 After that, the same rule of nature:Ati sarvatra varjayeta" (Excess is always bad). The mentality of laziness grips only the lazy person. The mindset of laziness harms the lazy person. One who has faith in work cannot be gripped by laziness.Therefore,to avoid laziness, continuously think about work and keep in mind the profit happening from it. Remember: Samay labh sam labh nahin,samay chook samay chook.Chaturan chit Rahiman lagi, samay chook ki hook. English Translation:-Loss of time is the biggest loss; Wise person therefore never lose time." Therefore, Cleverness lies in avoiding laziness as far as possible and making good use of time. The Nature of Melancholy (Udasinta) One important cause of laziness is Melancholy.That one feeling from which humans always want to avoid is Melancholy. To remove melancholy, humans make all efforts. Due to melancholy, humans, keeping aside all their happiness and success, think only about their losses and failures and cannot even think of ways to fight those losses and failures. When humans are gripped by Sorrow, they leave all work for some time and only mourn. But mourning is a special situation and is present for some time, whereas melancholy is not a special situation but a disease. Sorrow has worldly utility, but melancholy is completely unuseful. In melancholy, a person becomes gripped by Inferiority Complex, begins to consider themselves completely incapable and useless, begins to hate themselves. Their mental strength declines, they doubt everything, feel themselves separate. Cannot concentrate attention on anything, feels confused at every matter. Memory becomes weak. Anarchy and Waivering come into their brain, disorders come. Their sleep flies away, and they begin to consider themselves helpless and paralyzed. They have no interest in eating food or in any other thing. The lamp of their hope extinguishes, and they descend into the pit of hopelessness. Their life becomes only pain, and they begin to think of committing suicide. Melancholy now changes into Deep-seated Depression. They have to go to the hospital's shelter and have to take advice from a psychiatrist. The medicine named Prozac, in which there is a salt named Fluoxetine, is helpful in the treatment of this disease. There are also many other such salts that work as medicine for this disease. But here we are discussing Melancholy instead of Depression, for which Self Control has more importance than medicine. If the suffering person wants, they can treat it themselves. Treatment Methods for Melancholy Many self-control methods, instead of treating the disease, increase it. Among these, one method is the method of Isolation, which deepens this disease. The easiest and most prevalent method of getting rid of this disease is Socialization. By meeting people, adopting means of entertainment, melancholy definitely decreases. 4 But this method is not completely effective. A person can forget melancholy for some time from this. But it can also happen that they remain alone even in a crowd, remain sad even amidst laughter and jokes. The worry of melancholy can increase melancholy even amidst crowds and laughter and jokes, can lengthen its duration. Therefore, the treatment of melancholy happens by finding its cause and finding its solution. Those situations have to be changed due to which the state of melancholy came. The Mindset of Melancholy, its Thought Pattern, has to be changed. This Cognitive Therapy is as effective a method of melancholy treatment as Medication Therapy. First, all negative thinking has to be removed and changed into positive thinking. The negative thought chain has to be challenged (Challenging the Negative Thought Pattern), questions have to be raised on its Authenticity, and positive thoughts have to be brought into the mind for its opposition. On the other hand, many methods of entertainment have to be adopted to divert attention. This work is difficult because melancholy is also the Uncontrolled Activity of Amygdala and happens automatically. It is not possible for the brain to understand the cause of its coming, to do Analysis on it, because this Impulse of Amygdala does not go toward the part of the brain that thinks, understands, and controls. Therefore, the tendency of melancholy suddenly grips you. This same melancholy gripped the hero warrior Arjuna in the Mahabharata war when both sides' armies were ready to fight each other and were face to face. Krishna then gave him the teaching of Nishkama Karma Yoga and, declaring his inaction unworthy, told him to perform the necessary Kshatriya Karma (war). This very teaching of Karma Yoga became the essence of the Gita. The Myth of "Good Cry" Many people say that humans should not suppress their negative feelings; therefore, if a person is gripped by melancholy or sorrow/depression, they should cry. They say that crying is nature's way of reducing sorrow. Although crying can give some momentary consolation, crying cannot end the cause of sorrow. From crying, Melting of Emotions happens, but it also becomes firm and can also become long-term. Any Distraction method is more effective than crying. Therefore, the idea that crying is a way to remove melancholy is merely a delusion. The Idea of Good Cry is misleading. Sometimes a person becomes so melancholic in sorrow that to make them forget the cause of sorrow, light electric shocks are given to the brain (Electro Convulsion Therapy). From this, the patient's memory is lost for a short time (Short term memory loss). Now the person does not even remember the cause of their melancholy and sorrow, and they begin to feel better. But this method is worthy of adoption only when melancholy deepens and reaches the High of Depression. To remove ordinary situation melancholy, the method of Distraction is the best means. Effective Distraction Methods Doing some work that entertains the person's mind, such as participating in or watching a favorite sport, watching a favorite comedy film or serial, or listening to songs. Reading a good book or sitting in a friend circle and laughing and joking. Doing light exercise or workout is also a good means of diverting attention. 5 Every person has their own methods of removing the defect of the brain's thinking. Therefore, that method should be adopted which successfully gives relief to your own brain. Because melancholy is a State of Less Vigil of Mind, therefore light exercise or workout, which makes the brain more vigilant, can reduce or remove it. But Physical Relaxation and Mental Relaxation activities (Meditation, Shavaasan, Yoganidra, Antarmoun) that are effective for stress control are not effective in the removal of melancholy. Sex and the foreplay, Company of Women, Consumption of Liquor, etc., are prevalent methods tried by men to remove melancholy. Among these, drinking liquor can actually deepen melancholy because drinking liquor Depresses the Central Nervous System. Other addictions take the person toward Losing Character and can become causes of infamy. In women, obtaining some gift for themselves or shopping—whether it is Window Shopping—or arranging eating and drinking are common methods of removing melancholy. But excessive shopping or eating and drinking is an expensive deal and can ultimately become a cause of physical or financial trouble. Cognitive Reframing: The Real Solution The real treatment of melancholy is bringing change in the perspective of understanding and seeing things and events (Cognitive Reframing). If you have suffered any kind of loss, accept it with Positivity. Compare your loss with the greater loss that could have happened from the same causes or the greater loss that has happened to someone else. Such Downward Comparisons prove surprisingly effective. From these, you get a feeling of satisfaction that at least I was saved from that much greater loss. Helping someone else who needs help is a thing that gives very much Soul Satisfaction. By doing this, not only does Change in the thought of Melancholy come, but your deepening relationship with melancholy also stops, and happiness is obtained. Religious Rituals such as prayer, worship, devotion, sacrifice, story, etc., are also a good method of fighting melancholy. The Brain Science of Melancholy Some people, although victims of melancholy, try to completely hide it. To the extent that despite being gripped by melancholy, they laugh, joke, and appear very happy. They do this because they see greatness and nobility in it. They can do this because they use their spiritual energy (Confidence) and Physical Energy to suppress/control emotions. In the language of physical science, to do this, you have to Activate the Left Frontal part of your brain more. The left part of the human brain is the part of positive emotions (Left Hemisphere is related to Positivity), whereas the right part of their brain is the part of negative emotions (Right Hemisphere is related to Negativity). Whose Left Prefrontal lobe is more vigilant or active will have more force of positive emotions, and they will be able to remain away from melancholy. Therefore, if you can increase the activity and vigilance of your brain's Left Prefrontal lobe through effort, you can save yourself from any kind of negative thinking and melancholy also. 6 You can make this possible by continuously keeping positive thinking and suppressing negative thinking. This is a very effective method/means in which, without the support of any medicine, you treat melancholy. CHAPTER 10: CONCEPT SUMMARY The core of this chapter establishes Alasya (Laziness) and Udasinta (Melancholy) as the silent but deadly warriors among negative emotions, revealing that laziness—called Pramada (Negligence) or Akarmanayata (Inaction) in the Gita—is a Natural Instinct of the human mind desiring no work but maximum fruits ("no effort needed, excellent results should come"), with lazy people's practice being no less than Hatha Yoga as demonstrated by the lazy person who won't eat despite hunger (who will make effort of picking food and putting in mouth?), won't remove the dog licking his face (who will make that Effort?), and won't get up once sitting (no effort of getting up)—expressing their philosophy: "What is to be done today, you do it tomorrow / Why to make hurry when you have to live for years." The chapter establishes that this negative tendency, if gripping a hero, will end heroism, snatch enterprise from the enterprising, snatch wealth from the wealthy, and defeat the entire army of Positive Emotions without fighting in just a moment because the entire army will sit with hands on hands, consider war as effort, and laughing will Surrender—with the lazy person being like that Damn Fool having no concern even for own harm, only hatred for doing work, making even a thief ruined if Inaction disease strikes (as Rahemdas ji's story shows: lazy thief entering millionaire's house just thought about fortune till he slept, waking up to find it already morning). The central thesis reveals that laziness's feeling makes humans Sad from work, wasting time uselessly, forgetting that time's use is true profit, with this worklessness tendency making humans Believers of Destiny desiring all fruits without doing anything—inspiring theft/robbery/fraud through the thinking "why earn by making effort themselves? Why not just Grab others' earnings?"—making humans buy lottery, play gambling, bet on horse racing, solve crossword puzzles, do theft/robbery under easy earnings tendency, though all these works require doing something (prey cannot enter sleeping lion's mouth by itself, but lazy person wants this very thing), making laziness have no utility as a negative tendency. The teaching distinguishes between handicapped persons (understandable if not working, entitled to mercy/compassion/charity) and lazy persons (despite being capable not working merely due to laziness, even God cannot help them, reaching condition worse than handicapped, not worthy of mercy/compassion/charity)—with laziness's only utility being physical/mental rest since excessive work tires both body and mind, making rest and sleep necessary, but rest/sleep more than necessary giving birth to laziness (requiring avoidance), with doing work as necessary for body as taking rest, making staying away from Mindset of Inaction better, remembering "Work is worship" and the Gita's teaching "Not worried about fruits doesn't mean one stops working," with Canakya's warning "Laziness causes disruption of wisdom" (destroying not only wisdom but wealth, virtue—all qualities), and Jawaharlal Nehru's example (sleeping only five hours nightly, working rest of time, saying "Rest is forbidden") demonstrating that rest's utility exists only as long as necessary for physical/mental health, after which nature's rule applies: "Ati sarvatra varjayeta" (Excess is always bad). The ultimate teaching on Melancholy (Udasinta) reveals it as laziness's important cause—that one feeling humans always want to avoid, making all efforts to remove, with melancholy causing humans to keep aside all happiness/success, thinking only about losses/failures, unable to think of ways to fight those losses/failures. The chapter distinguishes between Sorrow (special situation present for some time, having worldly utility, making person leave all work temporarily to mourn) and Melancholy (not special situation but disease, completely unuseful), with melancholy gripping person with Inferiority Complex (considering self completely incapable/useless, hating self, declining mental strength, doubting everything, feeling separate, unable to concentrate, feeling confused, weakened Memory, brain Anarchy and Waivering, disorders, flying sleep, considering self helpless/paralyzed, no interest in eating/anything, extinguished hope lamp, descending into hopelessness pit, life becoming only pain, thinking of suicide)—deepening into Deep- 7 seated Depression requiring hospital shelter, psychiatrist advice, Prozac medicine (containing Fluoxetine salt) and other salts, but with Self Control having more importance than medicine for Melancholy (not Depression), making self-treatment possible if suffering person wants. The transformative insight reveals that many self-control methods increase disease instead of treating it, with Isolation method deepening disease, while Socialization (meeting people, adopting entertainment means) being easiest/most prevalent method definitely decreasing melancholy but not completely effective (person can forget melancholy temporarily, but can remain alone even in crowd, sad even amidst laughter/jokes, with melancholy worry increasing melancholy even amidst crowds/laughter/jokes, lengthening duration)—making real treatment require finding cause and solution, changing situations causing melancholy state, changing Mindset of Melancholy and Thought Pattern through Cognitive Therapy (as effective as Medication Therapy), removing all negative thinking and changing into positive thinking, Challenging the Negative Thought Pattern (raising questions on Authenticity, bringing positive thoughts for opposition), adopting many entertainment methods to divert attention (difficult work since melancholy is Amygdala's Uncontrolled Activity happening automatically, with brain unable to understand coming cause or do Analysis since Impulse of Amygdala doesn't go toward brain's thinking/understanding/controlling part, making melancholy tendency suddenly grip you—as happened to Arjuna in Mahabharata war when Krishna gave Nishkama Karma Yoga teaching, declaring inaction unworthy, telling to perform necessary Kshatriya Karma (war), making this Karma Yoga teaching the Gita's essence). The chapter concludes with the profound recognition that "The Idea of Good Cry is misleading" since crying, though giving momentary consolation, cannot end sorrow's cause, with crying causing Melting of Emotions that also becomes firm and long-term, making any Distraction method more effective than crying—with Electro Convulsion Therapy (light electric shocks to brain causing Short term memory loss, making patient not remember melancholy/sorrow cause, beginning to feel better) worthy of adoption only when melancholy reaches High of Depression, while ordinary melancholy removal requiring Distraction as best means (doing work entertaining mind like participating/watching favorite sport, watching favorite comedy film/serial, listening songs, reading good book, sitting in friend circle laughing/joking, doing light exercise/workout diverting attention, with every person having own methods of removing brain thinking defect, adopting method successfully giving own brain relief since melancholy is State of Less Vigil of Mind, making light exercise/workout making brain more vigilant able to reduce/remove it, while Physical Relaxation and Mental Relaxation activities (Meditation, Shavaasan, Yoganidra, Antarmoun) effective for stress control not effective in melancholy removal). The ultimate wisdom: real melancholy treatment is Cognitive Reframing (bringing change in understanding/seeing things/events perspective), accepting any loss with Positivity, comparing loss with greater loss that could have happened from same causes or happened to someone else through Downward Comparisons (surprisingly effective, giving satisfaction feeling "at least I was saved from that much greater loss"), helping someone needing help (giving very much Soul Satisfaction, bringing Change in thought of Melancholy, stopping deepening relationship with melancholy, obtaining happiness), and performing Religious Rituals (prayer, worship, devotion, sacrifice, story—good melancholy-fighting method). The transformation requires understanding brain science: those hiding melancholy despite being gripped (laughing/joking/appearing happy, seeing greatness/nobility in it) use spiritual energy (Confidence) and Physical Energy to suppress/control emotions by Activating brain's Left Frontal part more (since Left Hemisphere is related to Positivity while Right Hemisphere is related to Negativity), with more vigilant/active Left Prefrontal lobe having more positive emotions force and remaining away from melancholy—making effort-based increase of Left Prefrontal lobe activity/vigilance enable saving self from any negative thinking and melancholy through continuously keeping positive thinking and suppressing negative thinking (very effective method/means treating melancholy without any medicine support), remembering that laziness mentality grips only lazy person (The mindset of Laziness harms the Lazy person), with work-faith preventing laziness grip, making laziness avoidance require continuous work thinking and profit-keeping in mind, remembering "Loss of time is the biggest loss / Wise person therefore never lose time," making Cleverness lie in avoiding laziness as far as possible and making good time use. 8 9 CHAPTER 11: WORRY AND DEPRESSION (Chinta/Avasaad) Introduction: The Nature of Worry Now we will discuss the tendencies of Chinta (Worry) and Avasaad (Depression). Worry is, in one sense, an imagination about what could go wrong in the future with you or with someone dear to you, and what should be done to avoid it. The real purpose of worry is to know what the solution to life's bad possibilities and dangers could be, or how one could be saved from them. But when a person becomes excessively gripped by worry, they forget this very purpose of worrying and remain merely worried, becoming surrounded by depression. Their worries can arise from any cause—whether real or imaginary—and become completely uncontrolled. Such worry can happen even without any cause. Such worries can make humans stress-ridden, fear-ridden, and tormented. For example, a person gripped by the useless worry of death starts seeing the fear of death in everything. A person gripped by worry about heart attack starts seeing symptoms of heart attack in their body all the time. A person gripped by worry about germs and bacterial diseases starts doing many unnecessary cleaning tasks, such as bathing several times a day for half an hour each time, washing hands five-five times for five-five minutes by rubbing vigorously, washing the sitting place or the house courtyard five-five times a day by rubbing and cleaning with phenyl, etc. The biochemistry of worry shows that a person gripped by useless worry becomes depressed. Such worry becomes a curse for the entire life, and a person gripped by it can never remain happy. Worries are always expressed in the mind's ears, not in its eyes (Worries are almost always expressed in the minds' ears and not its eyes). That is, they can be expressed in words but have no form (They can be expressed in words but not images). This is the truth on the basis of which worries can be controlled. In the treatment of insomnia patients, Borkovek and colleagues found that worry is expressed in the body in two ways. The first way is worrisome thought, which is merely cognitive, and the second is somatic or physiological, whose symptoms are increased heartbeat, sweating, and muscle tension. But they found that the main problem in insomnia does not come from somatic/physiological symptoms but from worrisome thought or mental/cognitive causes. This worrisome thought does not let them sleep. What helps them bring sleep is removing them from this worrisome thought. They do not stop worrying no matter how sleep-deprived they are, and that is why they cannot sleep. Therefore, humans can be freed from their worries if they merely shift their attention away from their worries. But every person cannot do even this simple task. It seems as if there are many benefits to worrying, due to whose greed-compulsion humans cannot leave their worries. We have seen that the real purpose of worrying is to find ways to avoid future accidents and dangers and to find methods for their prevention. And in this very purpose lie hidden the benefits of worrying. But worrying and thinking are not the same thing. New solutions and methods of solving problems never come from excessive worry but become clear from proper and deep thinking. The worrier only gets lost in the imaginary dangers of problems, and their capacity for clear thinking ends. The worried person starts seeing problems even in those things in which other normal people do not see any danger, fear, or problem (Worried person starts seeing problems even in those things in which a healthy person doesn't see any problem). Worry as Habit and Addiction 10 Worrying becomes the habit and addiction of the worried person. Borkovek found that one more benefit of the addiction to worrying is that when a person is immersed in worries, the somatic symptoms that came with the first thought of worry—such as increased heartbeat, physical trembling, sweating, etc.—decrease, and they feel that their stress is reducing by worrying. Many times, while worrying continuously, a person goes very far from the first cause/thought of worry and, passing through the climaxes of several bouts of worries, becomes completely freed from their initial worry and gets so lost in the subject of some other worry that they laugh at their first worry. Therefore, worrying becomes a medium for ending the stress arising from the first worry. But in reality, this is not a solution to the problem because by then they have become entangled in some other worry. The worried person cannot stop themselves from worrying and cannot remain happy (Worried person can't just stop worrying & be happy). Worrying is a low-grade episode of functioning of the Amygdala; therefore, it happens automatically, and since it is not a controlled expression of the brain, putting a stop to it is not easy. Methods to Free Oneself from Worry The first method of freedom from worry is to make oneself aware or alert to the causes of worry's arising. Therefore, observe your own behavior and find out what causes often give you worry and stress. By trying, a person can identify the causes of their worry and stress. As soon as possible, you should know the causes of your worry so that that cause cannot take you forward in the worry cycle toward further situations (climaxes of bouts of worries). As soon as any cause of worry/stress arises, you should start the exercise/method of freedom from it. Whatever method of stress/worry relief sits properly for you, adopt that very method. Practice this method daily to perfect it. Although the relaxation method alone is not complete treatment, it will definitely help you in treatment. Along with this, you will also have to learn to fight the thought of worry/stress; otherwise, the cycle or bout of worry will trouble your mind again and again. Think about whether the thing or event whose happening you fear is actually possible in reality. If it is, then what is the probability of its being fulfilled? If there is probability, then what are those methods by which this probability can be avoided or ended? Will merely worrying have any effect on the probability of that happening? This thinking will help you a lot because from the repeated bouts of worry and from not being able to stop them or not opposing their coming, the bout of worry can become even deeper. It can become more capable of dragging you inside the stress cycle. In those persons in whom the cause of worry has increased and become the cause of phobia, they should adopt the means of taking medicine for freedom from it, and along with that, they should also adopt means of stress relief like meditation, etc. PART II: DEPRESSION (Avasaad) Now we will talk about the feeling of Avasaad or Vishad (Depression). Depression is created due to worry remaining for a long time and deepening. According to researchers, loneliness is emerging as a very big cause of depression. According to researchers from Finland, the risk of depression for people living alone is 80 percent more than those people who are spending life with family or relatives. This research is important for us because the number of people living alone in India is increasing. The biggest cause of the loneliness of the elderly is children becoming self-reliant or the passing away of life 11 partners. People were more or less aware of the problems of loneliness in the elderly, but this is the first time that symptoms of depression due to loneliness have come forward in working-age people. Researchers found that in the case of working women, besides loneliness, education and lack of income were responsible for depression, while in working men, this happened due to bad work environment and not getting cooperation in personal and public life, and also due to the tendency of alcoholism. Researchers kept watch over approximately 3,500 working women and men for about 7 years. They assessed their lives on psychological, social, and health bases. This included their smoking and alcohol- drinking-related habits. According to researcher Lara Pulky Rabak, "Our study found that people living alone have a very high risk of getting the disease of depression. It was also found that the risk of depression in women and men living alone is equal. Behind this danger, bad married life and the absence of adequate social security remained the main cause." According to researchers, the causes behind the sharp increase in the disease of depression happening throughout the world can become clear from this research. According to them, the deep feeling of loneliness, lack of trust, or new troubles arising from living alone can be big reasons for this. The Symptoms and Nature of Depression The symptom before depression deepens is the arising of the feeling of melancholy in humans. The feeling that people want to run away from is sadness. People make strange-strange efforts to remove their sadness. Not all types of sadness are worth avoiding. Sadness also has its own benefit. Sadness arising due to any loss forces humans to think about the cause of sadness coming. Due to this, humans leave their other thoughts and hobbies and become focused on ending the cause of sadness. All their other activities become secondary for a short time. The energy saved from this they can use properly for their mental adjustment. They become ready to live life afresh and to compensate for that loss through other methods. When a person is grieved, it is not necessary that they are also depressed. Being grieved and melancholic has some utility, but being depressed has no utility. When becoming depressed, many dangerous changes come in the human mindset (Depression has got many dreadful manifestations). Such as: self-hatred, worthlessness, joylessness, gloom/despair, alienation, and anxiety. In this, there is weakening of memory (loss of memory), confusion, anarchic distortions in the brain's thinking, destruction of the brain's capacity for concentration (reduction in ability to concentrate), sleeplessness, creation of a thought process engulfed by toxicity which doesn't allow anything to be enjoyed, blandness, loss of pleasure, fidgety restlessness, tastelessness, vanishing of hope, gray dizzle of horror, and the desire to commit suicide—all these feelings are also included. From this, personal life becomes paralyzed. For the treatment of depression, going to a psychiatrist is very necessary. But whenever any person is surrounded by depression, they must avoid staying alone. They must become as social as possible. They will have to go to assemblies, ceremonies, friend circles, etc., so that a stop can be put to their depressive mindset. If this thought chain does not break, then depression keeps deepening. According to Susan Nolen Hocksma of Stanford University, who has studied the rumination of depressed persons, the depressed person justifies their negative thoughts by saying that they are trying to understand themselves better. Therefore, they have to be stopped from accepting their melancholy; otherwise, they will become even more depressed (A passive immersion in thoughts of depression simply makes the depression worse). 12 Depression's thought deepens more quickly in women than in men, and the probability of women becoming depressed is also double compared to men. Cognitive Therapy and Treatment Methods Cognitive therapy, in which the ideological thinking of the depression patient is changed, has been found quite useful in the treatment of depression. Besides this, meditational therapy is also very useful. Ending or changing whatever thought is the main cause of the depressive mindset, raising questions on its validity, and establishing other positive thoughts in place of that thought is inherent in the core of these treatment methods. Along with this, arranging means of happiness to divert attention at the proper time is also an essential part of this treatment. The depressed person themselves cannot even find proper means of distraction for themselves. Because this is an inherent tendency of depression that it wants to maintain itself (Depression has a tendency to perpetuate itself). Therefore, if the depressed person is asked to choose means of distracting their attention themselves, they find some other means of becoming sad. According to psychologist Richard Wenzlaff of Texas University, a person gripped by the depressive mindset has to make special efforts to find a good upbeat means of distraction, and care has to be taken that whatever means they find should not make them sad again. Ironically, a person gripped by depressive mindset, in the effort to remove their mind from one subject of depression, finds another subject of depression that increases their negative thinking. The Myth of "Good Cry" One treatment theory believes that by crying, the depressed mind becomes light. But this idea is misleading; rather, crying often deepens depression (The idea of a 'good cry' is misleading; crying only reinforces rumination of depression and prolongs the misery). Electroconvulsive therapy succeeds in the treatment of cases of deep depression because it results in short-term memory loss, which breaks the chain of worrisome thought of depression. Due to this, the patient forgets what cause they were worried/depressed about. In reality, this treatment gives results similar to distraction treatment. Attention-diverting events such as watching some comedy film or TV serial, watching some cricket/football match, reading a good book, going for a walk, etc., are good means of breaking this depressive thought. Doing light aerobic exercises is also a good means of diverting attention. Doing exercise changes the physiological structure of the brain. If depression is a low arousal state, then by doing exercise, it changes into a high arousal state. Conversely, treatments that reduce the brain's arousal, such as yoga, sleep, etc., and even meditation, are not effective in the treatment of depression. These activities are effective in removing stress (The relaxation techniques like yog nidra meditation etc. which put the body into low arousal state work well for anxiety & stress, a high arousal stage, but not so well for depression). Similarly, obtaining sensory pleasures and alcohol consumption, which people generally consider effective in the treatment of depression, are also actually not effective; rather, this becomes harmful in reverse (Cheering oneself up with treats and sensual pleasures and consuming alcohol for lifting the mood which are generally thought to be antidotes of depressive blues are actually not effective remedies for depression, rather some times they prove to be counter productive). Alcohol actually depresses the central nervous system. 13 Cognitive Reframing: The Ultimate Solution A very successful treatment method for depression is cognitive reframing. Under this, the perspective or viewpoint of seeing things and events has to be changed. If any loss has happened, then it has to be seen with a positive view. For this, you should compare yourself with people who have suffered bigger losses than you and take contentment by thinking that at least you were saved from such a big loss. Such downward comparisons are surprisingly happiness-giving to you, and the loss that was depressing your mind suddenly starts seeming small to you and does not seem as bad as it was seeming before. Another treatment method by which you can avoid becoming depressed is helping those people who need help with the feeling of empathy or sympathy (Another effective depression lifter is helping others in need). Because depression is generated from melancholic thought and its rumination, keeping yourself busy in helping other needy people gives you a special contentment, and you recover from your depression (Throwing oneself into volunteer work is one of the most powerful mood changes). Finally, many people also find the treatment of depression in philosophy, and they dedicate all actions—good or bad—and their results to God and do not become depressed by them themselves. Blaming fate when bad happens and blessing God when good happens—this is the essence of the Gita's Nishkama Karma Yoga, which teaches you never to remain attached to fruits and only to do action. CHAPTER 11: CONCEPT SUMMARY The core of this chapter establishes Chinta (Worry) and Avasaad (Depression) as interconnected psychological states that progress from imagination about future misfortunes to chronic mental paralysis. The author reveals worry as a cognitive phenomenon expressed in the mind's ears rather than eyes—manifesting as worrisome thoughts rather than concrete images—making it controllable through attention diversion rather than physical relaxation techniques. The central thesis distinguishes between productive worry (identifying solutions to life's dangers) and destructive worry (habitual rumination that becomes addiction), demonstrating through Borkovek's research that insomnia stems primarily from cognitive worry rather than somatic symptoms, and that worry paradoxically reduces initial stress by shifting focus to other concerns—creating a self-perpetuating cycle where the worried person passes through climaxes of several bouts of worries, becoming freed from the first worry only by becoming entangled in another. The ultimate teaching on depression reveals it as distinct from temporary sadness—a state characterized by self-hatred, worthlessness, joylessness, despair, alienation, memory loss, confusion, sleeplessness, and suicidal ideation that requires psychiatric intervention. The chapter draws extensively from Susan Nolen Hocksma's Stanford research on rumination, demonstrating that passive immersion in depressive thoughts worsens depression, with women experiencing double the risk compared to men due to faster thought- deepening patterns. The treatment approaches emphasize: (1) Cognitive Therapy—challenging negative thought patterns and replacing them with positive ones through cognitive reframing, (2) Distraction—engaging in upbeat activities like comedy films, sports, reading, walking, and aerobic exercises that shift the brain from low arousal (depression) to high arousal states, (3) Downward Comparisons—comparing one's losses with bigger losses others have suffered to gain surprising contentment, (4) Helping Others—volunteer work providing powerful mood changes through empathy and sympathy, and (5) Philosophical Acceptance—dedicating all outcomes to God following the Gita's Nishkama Karma Yoga principle of action without attachment to fruits. 14 The chapter concludes with critical warnings: the "good cry" myth is misleading as crying reinforces rumination and prolongs misery; relaxation techniques (yoga, meditation, sleep) that reduce arousal work for anxiety/stress but not depression; sensory pleasures and alcohol consumption prove counterproductive as alcohol depresses the central nervous system. The neuroscientific revelation that depression has an inherent tendency to perpetuate itself—making depressed persons unable to find proper distraction means and instead choosing further sadness-inducing activities—establishes cognitive reframing and active intervention as essential, with electroconvulsive therapy succeeding through short-term memory loss that breaks the worrisome thought chain. The transformation from worry and depression requires recognizing that worry is a low-grade Amygdala episode happening automatically, making attention-shifting and cognitive restructuring more effective than passive acceptance or physical relaxation—ultimately positioning volunteer work, downward comparisons, and philosophical surrender as the most powerful mood-changing interventions for achieving liberation from the twin afflictions of chronic worry and clinical depression. 15 CHAPTER 12: STRESS (Tanaav) Introduction: Understanding Stress The biggest mental illness of modern humans, of humans in the machine age, is Tanaav (Stress). This is a worldwide problem. This is not the problem of any particular person but a general problem. But until now, no universal definition of stress has been created. Several practical definitions are definitely in circulation. Humans have many expectations from daily life, they have many needs daily, and they have to find solutions to many problems daily. Whereas the various resources available to them are not capable of fulfilling these expectations, needs, and solving problems. Due to the excess of these expectations, needs, and problems and the shortage of resources, stress is generated. So we can define stress thus: "When humans cannot fulfill the expectations, needs, and problems of daily life with the resources and means available to them, the pressure that comes on their mind is called stress." (The expectations, needs and problems of daily life, when can not be met with from the resources available with a person, then the pressure which comes on his/her mind is called as stress.) This definition also does not clarify many causes of stress, such as stress generated from fear or stress generated from illness. Therefore, this is not a universal definition, but still it is a very good definition and practically an excellent definition. Stress has also been defined in medical science, and this definition is: "Stress is the specific reaction of the mind to all the non-specific parts of the human body whether that part is of body, mind or real and unreal." (Stress is the specific reaction of the mind to all the non specific parts of the human body whether that part is of body, mind or real and unreal.) One more similar definition states: "Stress is only an Energy, but its Energy in excess of the quantity which can be easily dissipated by a person." (Stress is only an Energy, but its Energy in excess of the quantity which can be carily dissipated by a person.) These definitions are universally accepted definitions and clarify all causes of stress—physical/mental as well as real/imaginary. Science also says that the creation of stress happens from the secretion of Adrenaline Hormones. These hormones are of two types: one is Epinephrine and the other is Norepinephrine. This scientific clarification has received universal acceptance. When humans experience stress, A.S.H. (Adrenaline Stimulating Hormone) is secreted in their body, which inspires the Adrenal Glands to secrete Adrenaline Hormones. The excess of these Adrenaline Hormones is the main cause of stress. In some people, the secretion of these Adrenaline Hormones is more, while in some it is less. In those in whom, due to Hereditary and Acquired causes, its secretion is more, their arteries shrink and the quantity of blood going toward their heart decreases; therefore, their blood pressure increases and the speed of their pulse also increases. Such people have a higher probability of Heart Attack. 16 Any kind of sensation is created in the brain by structures named Thalamus and Amygdala. The nerve impulse arising from seeing first goes from the retina to the Thalamus, where its translation happens into language that can be understood by the brain. Then that message goes to the Visual Cortex of the brain, where Analysis happens on it, its meanings are understood, and the reaction to be given to it is determined. If this reaction is Emotional, then an impulse is sent to the Amygdala, which controls the emotion centers. But apart from this thought-out reaction, a part of the nerve impulse of sensory sensation from the Thalamus goes directly to the Amygdala, and due to this, the Amygdala immediately activates the emotion centers to express reaction, and they become active. A visual signal first goes from the Retina to the Thalamus, where it is translated into the language of the Brain. Most of the message then goes to the Visual Cortex, where it is analyzed and assessed for meaning and appropriate response; if that response is emotional, a signal goes to the Amygdala to activate the Emotional Centers. But a smaller portion of the original signal goes straight from the Thalamus to the Amygdala in a quicker transmission, allowing a faster (though less precise) response. Thus the Amygdala can trigger an emotional response before the cortical centers have fully understood what is happening. Due to this reason, one reaction of the body is thought-out while the other is immediate and unthought-out. The Adrenal Gland is a nerve center that secretes two hormones: Epinephrine and Norepinephrine. These hormones prepare the body to show emergency reaction. These hormones stimulate the Vagus Nerve, which carries messages from the brain to the heart, to the arteries. This same Vagus Nerve carries the memory of emotional reaction back to the Amygdala, and the Amygdala Preserves it for the future. These same Preserved Responses create the immediate reactions to be expressed by the body toward similar experiences happening in the future. Upon stress being generated again, under the impulse coming directly from Thalamus to Amygdala, the Amygdala immediately inspires the emotion centers to express unthought-out reaction. Whereas the thought-out reaction can be expressed only later. In the human body, the name of the hormone connected to stress is Cortisol. As soon as stress is generated, the level of this hormone increases in our body. The higher level of this hormone becomes the cause of high stress and excessive stress, which is quite harmful. Cortisol is a type of Adrenaline hormone that is secreted by the Pituitary Gland. Hatred or Rejection can also create stress when it is others' feeling toward you, which hurts our Ego. Friendship/love reduces stress. Helping someone in difficult work and taking help from someone—both reduce stress. Living with family members reduces stress because in times of trouble they provide support and help. If Adrenaline Hormones can be eliminated, then stress can be reduced. One hormone, Endorphin, reduces stress and strengthens the feeling of security. Stress can be reduced from its secretion. The second is the hormone of happiness, whose name is Oxytocin, and the secretion of this hormone also reduces stress. The increase of these hormones can happen by keeping the Mindset of Pleasure. Therefore, the treatment of stress is possible only by keeping the mindset of happiness. Causes of Stress The various causes of stress can be divided into two categories: 1. External Stressors (Bāhya Tanaav Kāraka) 17 These are such factors or events that are present in the environment around us. If we know better ways of dealing with them, we can avoid the stress happening from them. These factors or events cannot be completely avoided because they are beyond our control. These factors can be generated from society and family, from business, from financial situation, from environment, from government and politics, from body or brain, from Derogation of Moral Values, and from anywhere around. We have already seen the various stress-generating areas of life regarding this subject. Stress generated from external factors has to be recognized at the first step, then they have to be accepted in the mind. After that, efforts have to be made to improve those situations from which these factors are being generated. Among external factors, there can also be some such factors from which avoidance is necessary as far as possible because improving them is not possible. With steps of improvement and avoidance, the quantity of stress generated by External Reasons can be greatly reduced. Many external factors of stress are such that they can be dealt with merely by Avoiding them. But still, there are many such factors that can neither be avoided, nor accepted, nor avoided. They have to be Fought because there is no other option to deal with them. By adopting all these steps, external factors of stress can be successfully resolved. A little more information about these steps is necessary, which is as follows: Recognition - Recognizing External Stressors is the first step in dealing with them. If a person understands in their mind that in Indian society, almost all work happens with delay, then they will have less stress from the delay happening in work. If they understand nature's cycle and time's cycle, then they can avoid stresses happening from season and age state. If they understand well the Behavioural Shortcomings of people present around them, then they can avoid the stress generated from their behavior. Therefore, merely the recognition of external factors of stress proves very helpful in their Solution. Avoidance - Many external factors of stress are not related to the basic needs of life. They have no important role in personal life. Such as the defeat or victory of a local or national team in sports, political corruption, etc. Therefore, these should be ignored as far as possible. Unnecessary Awareness and Interference in these matters should not be attempted—this is the best path to avoid stress. Prevention - From many external factors of stress, one should avoid by making efforts. Such as an Arrogant Neighbour or colleague. They cannot be improved; therefore, avoiding them is better. The less contact kept with them, the better. If a bank is not able to give you the desired level of services, then closing your accounts there and opening accounts in another good bank is preferable. Acceptance - Getting rid of many external factors of stress is not possible through your personal efforts. Such as Corruption in the System, society's way of looking, Selfish Interests, etc. These cannot be changed. One has to live with them; therefore, accepting them is beneficial. Through this acceptance, you can avoid the stress happening from them to a great extent. Remedy - Many external factors of stress are such that they can be easily improved. Such as stress happening from reaching the office late. Getting up late or sleeping late—if this delay is the cause, then by changing your habits, you can easily avoid this stress. Your child's health remains bad, and the cause of this is their wrong habit, then by improving their habit, your stress can be removed. Resistance - There are also some such situations that can neither be Ignored, nor avoided, nor improved. These situations are also not worthy of acceptance. Such as someone borrows money from you and refuses to return it. Then for the recovery of that debt, you will have to fight a legal battle. 18 There is no other option left to resolve such external factors. But definitely keep this much in mind: as long as another option is available, don't adopt this fighting option. Among external factors of stress, there are many such factors whose expectation cannot be made beforehand. Their imagination also cannot be done. There is also no previous experience of facing these situations. The Sudden Change in the Circumstances of this newness and suddenness of situations can create very much stress. Circumstances must be assessed with patience, and they should be analyzed, and after that, the path of their resolution should be selected from the above-described means. Internal Stressors But stress is not generated only from External Reasons. According to Richard E. Collins, the actual generation of stress happens due to internal situations. Jennifer Abel, who is a Psychologist, says that some people do not experience stress despite the presence of many external factors of stress because they see external factors of stress with a Different Attitude, and their reaction toward them is also Controlled. Richard Collins, who was director at the Heart Institute Omaha, Nebraska, says that every person does not show the same physical and mental reaction toward stress situations. According to Collins, some people are like glass, and when the hammer of stress strikes them, they are broken forever. (Some persons are brittle like Glass and when the Hammer Stress falls upon them they are broken) Some people are like wood, and when the hammer of stress strikes, a deep mark falls on them but they don't break. (Some persons are like wood and when they are hammered Stress, they are dented but are not broken) And some people are like cotton pillows, who swell when the hammer of stress strikes and become ready to bear the next blow. (Some persons are like cotton pillows & when they are hammered by stress they resist it by swelling and get prepared to face it) Stress cannot spoil anything of theirs. According to Collins, the good thing is that people's attitude toward stress is not Hereditary or Behavioural but is Acquired; therefore, this attitude can be changed. It can be learned through effort and can also be forgotten through efforts. Dr. Jennifer Abel says that you cannot become completely free from stress, but you can definitely reduce the time of remaining stress-gripped. Those who have many external factors of stress generation—if they always think about them, stress will increase. Instead of this, if they Suspend and Limit that thinking, then the physical reaction arising from stress will also become suspended and limited, and stress-generated hormones will be able to cause less harm to the body. If the solution of external factors of stress comes into understanding, then fine; otherwise, why worry? Among internal factors of stress, the most important is the person's Mind Set. This is also known by the name Internal Conditioning. The Formation of Mindset 19 The Mindset of any person is formed from many types of influences. The person's mother, father, their entire family, their school's environment and education, their friends and relatives, their caste and society, their economic situation and standard of living, their religion, their spirituality, Acquired Experiences while living in the world, etc., influence their mentality. By the person's mentality is meant their Liking, Disliking, their Moral & Social Values, their Instincts, their Priorities, their Ambitions, their Ego, their Behavioural Ability, their Nature and Attitude or Ideas, their Work Style and Excellence, their Attachment and Prejudices, etc. The person's sorrows and happiness are determined by their mental state. Actually, a newborn baby also has their own instincts, but still it is believed that they don't have any mentality of their own at that time because they have no sensation until that time. Then gradually, with time, their mentality is formed. On the basis of that same mentality, they form their thinking toward all events and determine behavior, express their thoughts. Due to this same thing, they have stress. If they can change the mentality that creates stress, then they can avoid stress. (If one can change the mindset of Stress creation then he can save him from Stress) The question is: can this mentality be changed? The answer to this question is: Yes! Through continuous efforts, mentality can be changed. The Principle of Anekant In Jain philosophy, a word comes: Anekant (Multiple Ends), whose meaning is "the principle of more than one idea" (Principle of more than one Ideas). This principle says that every person has complete Right to Act in his own way to think and behave. Its implication is that about any subject and object, every person can have a different thinking, different thoughts. These thoughts arise from that person's mentality, and therefore these thoughts and thinkings cannot be said to be absolutely right or wrong (They are not Absolutely wrong or Right). Every thought is right according to itself. The difference has come due to the mental state of these people. If you will follow the principle of Anekant, you can change your internal state very easily. You will be capable of understanding others even more clearly and will be capable of doing Analysis of their ways of thinking well. You will also be worthy of accepting others' thoughts. If you won't accept, then at least you will be capable of understanding them. From this, definitely less stress will be generated. Anekant is a great principle in stress management. If two people with different thoughts want to live together, want to work together, then there will be difference in their thoughts and thinking. Two people cannot think the same. This difference of thinkings takes both people toward the understanding of Give & Take Agreement. Both have to leave some of their needs, have to leave some thoughts so that the other's thoughts or needs can be fulfilled. This is the rule of a healthy society. Sacrifice is necessary. If both are Fixed on their thoughts, then the group will break soon. If there are disputes daily in relationships and both are fixed on their thoughts, then this relationship will create very much stress or will break. It is true that all members of society or group should understand this principle. Control of Emotions 20 For the management of internal causes of stress, a person has to learn to Control of Emotions. They have to prevent all their negative emotions that generate stress—such as Greed, Attachment, Lust, Anger, Pride/Ego, Jealousy, Worry, Depression, Laziness, Apathy, Hatred, Violence, etc.—from awakening and increasing. If these awaken and increase, then stress increasing is natural. These emotions should be stopped at their first Impulse itself. Otherwise, when their Intensity increases, they can go beyond control and cause harm. A person also has to control their positive emotions. They have to avoid the Excess of Positivities. Positive Emotions such as Piety/Consideration, Empathy/Sympathy, Regard/Devotion, Nonviolence, Wisdom/Detachment, Equability/Firmness are anyway considered good for humans. But stress can be generated from their excess. Therefore, through prudence, these positive emotions have to be controlled at their rise and development itself, and their use also has to be done only According to Need. Besides this, other people who are in your life and in behavior—both types of their emotions, Positive and Negative, also have to be watched and understood. Otherwise, they can become an external cause of generating stress for the person. In this way, through good understanding of all emotions—yours and others'—you can avoid stress almost completely. Through good understanding of your body and symptoms of diseases, you can also avoid stresses happening from physical pains, diseases, etc., to a great extent. Therefore, in this book, a detailed description of all emotions has been done, which will be quite helpful for the reader in living life including stress. CHAPTER 12: CONCEPT SUMMARY The core of this chapter establishes Tanaav (Stress) as the biggest mental illness of modern humans in the machine age—a worldwide general problem lacking universal definition but practically defined as "the pressure on mind when humans cannot fulfill daily life's expectations, needs, and problems with available resources and means," revealing the physiological mechanism where A.S.H. (Adrenaline Stimulating Hormone) secretion inspires Adrenal Glands to secrete Adrenaline Hormones (Epinephrine and Norepinephrine), with Cortisol as the primary stress hormone whose higher level causes high/excessive stress (quite harmful), making those with more secretion (due to Hereditary and Acquired causes) experience arterial shrinkage, decreased heart-directed blood quantity, increased blood pressure and pulse speed, and higher Heart Attack probability. The central thesis reveals the dual-pathway neurological mechanism: the Thalamus receives sensory impulses from retina, translating them into brain-understandable language, sending most messages to Visual Cortex for Analysis (understanding meanings, determining reactions), with Emotional reactions signaling Amygdala to activate emotion centers—but simultaneously, a smaller impulse portion goes directly from Thalamus to Amygdala, causing immediate emotion center activation before cortical centers fully understand what's happening, making one body reaction thought-out while the other is immediate and unthought-out. The Vagus Nerve (stimulated by Epinephrine/Norepinephrine hormones preparing body for emergency reaction) carries emotional reaction memory back to Amygdala, which Preserves these Preserved Responses for creating immediate reactions toward similar future experiences—with stress reduction possible through eliminating Adrenaline Hormones, increasing Endorphin (reduces stress, strengthens security feeling) and Oxytocin (happiness hormone) through keeping Mindset of Pleasure, making stress treatment possible only by keeping happiness mindset. The ultimate teaching distinguishes between External Stressors (Bāhya Tanaav Kāraka—factors/events in surrounding environment beyond our control, generated from society/family, business, financial situation, environment, government/politics, body/brain, Derogation of Moral Values) requiring six-step management: (1) Recognition (understanding Indian society's work delays, nature's/time's cycles, people's Behavioural Shortcomings proves helpful in Solution), (2) Avoidance (ignoring factors unrelated to 21 basic life needs like sports team victories/defeats, political corruption through avoiding Unnecessary Awareness and Interference), (3) Prevention (avoiding Arrogant Neighbour/colleague through minimal contact, changing banks not providing desired service levels), (4) Acceptance (accepting unchangeable factors like Corruption in the System, society's perspectives, Selfish Interests since living with them is necessary), (5) Remedy (improving easily-changeable factors like late office arrival by changing sleep habits, child's bad health by correcting wrong habits), and (6) Resistance (fighting unavoidable/unacceptable situations like debt recovery through legal battle when no other option exists, but avoiding this option when alternatives available)—with Sudden Change in Circumstances requiring patient assessment and analysis before selecting resolution paths. The transformative insight from Richard E. Collins (Heart Institute Omaha, Nebraska director) and Jennifer Abel (Psychologist) reveals that actual stress generation happens due to Internal Stressors, with some people not experiencing stress despite many external factors because they see them with Different Attitude and show Controlled Reaction—establishing Collins's Three Resilience Types: (1) Glass Type (broken forever when stress hammer strikes), (2) Wood Type (deeply marked but not broken when stress hammer strikes), and (3) Cotton Pillow Type (swell when stress hammer strikes, becoming ready for next blow, with stress unable to spoil anything)—with the good news that people's stress attitude is not Hereditary or Behavioural but Acquired (changeable, learnable through effort, forgettable through efforts), making stress-gripped time reducible by Suspending and Limiting thinking about external stress factors (making physical stress reactions also suspended/limited, allowing stress-generated hormones to cause less body harm). The chapter concludes with the profound recognition that Mindset (also called Internal Conditioning)—formed from mother/father/family, school environment/education, friends/relatives, caste/society, economic situation/living standard, religion, spirituality, Acquired Experiences while living in world—encompasses Liking/Disliking, Moral & Social Values, Instincts, Priorities, Ambitions, Ego, Behavioural Ability, Nature/Attitude/Ideas, Work Style/Excellence, Attachment/Prejudices, determining person's sorrows and happiness. The ultimate wisdom: through continuous efforts, mentality creating stress can be changed using the Jain Anekant principle (Multiple Ends—"principle of more than one idea"), giving every person complete Right to Act in his own way to think/behave, recognizing every person can have different thinking/thoughts about any subject/object (arising from their mentality, making them not absolutely right/wrong since every thought is right according to itself), enabling easier internal state change, clearer understanding of others, better Analysis of their thinking ways, worthiness of accepting others' thoughts (or at least understanding them), definitely generating less stress. The transformation requires Control of Emotions—preventing all negative emotions (Greed, Attachment, Lust, Anger, Pride/Ego, Jealousy, Worry, Depression, Laziness, Apathy, Hatred, Violence) from awakening/increasing at first Impulse (otherwise their Intensity increase goes beyond control causing harm), while also controlling positive emotions (Piety/Consideration, Empathy/Sympathy, Regard/Devotion, Nonviolence, Wisdom/Detachment, Equability/Firmness) to avoid Excess of Positivities through prudence-based control at rise/development and According to Need usage—with watching/understanding both Positive and Negative emotions of others in your life/behavior preventing them from becoming external stress-generating causes, making good understanding of all emotions (yours and others') enable almost complete stress avoidance, with good understanding of body and disease symptoms enabling great avoidance of stresses from physical pains/diseases, making this book's detailed emotion descriptions quite helpful for readers in living life including stress, with the Give & Take Agreement understanding requiring both people to leave some needs/thoughts for fulfilling other's thoughts/needs (healthy society's rule, sacrifice being necessary), since both being Fixed on thoughts breaks groups soon, with daily relationship disputes and thought-fixedness creating very much stress or breaking relationships—making Anekant principle understanding necessary for all society/group members. 22 CHAPTER 13: HAPPINESS, LOVE, AND ATTACHMENT (Muditā/Prema/Anurāga) Introduction: The Positive Warriors Until now, we have seen the strength and capability, utility and non-utility of the great warriors of one side of the Mahabharata war—that is, the Vijātīya Vṛttis (Negative Emotions). Now we will discuss the other side—that is, the Sajātīya Vṛttis (Positive Emotions). These great warriors are: Dṛḍhatā and Sthiratā (Firmness and Steadiness), Śraddhā and Bhakti (Faith and Devotion), Karuṇā and Dayā (Compassion and Mercy), Lajjā and Glāni (Shame and Bashfulness), Satya and Śīla (Truth and Character), Viveka and Vairāgya (Wisdom and Detachment), Kṣamatā and Sāhasa (Capability and Courage), etc. Now we will describe one by one their nature and form, creation, utility and non-utility, and understand their importance. We will also discuss how Positive Emotions can achieve victory over Negative Emotions. First of all, it would be appropriate to describe the feeling of Muditā (Happiness) and Prema (Love). Muditā is the name of the feeling opposite to melancholy. To the extent that the feeling of Muditā prevents the mind from becoming depressed. If you think that "the future looks bright," then this thought will not come to your mind at all that "the future looks dismal." Therefore, people gripped by Nirāśā (Despair) and Avasāda (Depression) are advised to remain happy and do everything to remain happy. They should never, even by mistake, go into situations that cause sorrow. Some people say that to reduce sorrow, a person should cry their heart out. But scientists' thinking is completely opposite. They believe that crying only reinforces the experience of sorrow and makes sorrow prolonged. Some people also believe that by drowning in physical and material pleasures, one can recover from depression, but this is also not true. Although all these things do distract the heart for a short time. Some people talk about sorrows being washed away by drinking alcohol, but this has completely opposite results because alcohol depresses the Central Nervous System. In reality, the antidote to depression is only Cognitive Reframing—in which a person starts seeing objects and events from the perspective of happiness. When even in loss, some gain starts appearing, understand that the thinking has changed. The Nature of Love (Prema) The affection or attachment of one being toward another being is known by the name of Prema (Love). Opposite to this, any person's attachment toward an object is known by the name of Lobha (Greed). Actually, at the root, both Lobha and Prema are the same feelings. Seeing a beautiful woman and becoming infatuated with her is love itself, and in those circumstances, it is said that that woman has captivated that person's mind. In English, the word for love is "Love," and in Latin it is called "Lubet," whose connection with the Sanskrit word Lobha (Greed) and its root Lubh is clear. A lover's mental tendency is to impress the beloved, which increases along with the growth of love. The lover's feeling and anxiety is that the beloved should receive information about their love and the beloved should also start loving them. In reality, one-sided love is unsuccessful love, and about successful love, it is said that it is equal on both sides. Successful love is compared to the desire of a flame and a moth, because the moth goes to the flame without caring about burning, and the flame burns and melts for a lifetime. At the root of this tendency of lovers is the restlessness of the lover. Ek adnā sā kariśmā hai ye uske iśq kā. Mar gayā hūṁ aur marne kā gumāṁ hotā nahīṁ. 23 English Translation: "This is a small wonder of love with her that I have died, but I am not feeling as if I have died." The lover's faith and integrity both get trapped, and that poor soul starts considering love as God's punishment. On this very mentality of the lover, Jigar Muradabadi Saheb wrote: Pahle butõ ke iśq meṁ īmān par banī. Phir aisī ā banī ki merī jān par banī. English Translation: "In love with beauties, first the integrity goes, and then slowly life also becomes miserable." And some poet has also said: Butõ ke iśq se baṛhkar ajab kyā hogā. Kisī pe aur Khudā kā itāb kyā hogā. English Translation: "What can be a worse difficulty than love with beauties? Can there be any worse curse of God other than it?" About this same matter, Jigar Muradabadi Saheb said: Nālā hotā hai, āh hotī hai. Kyā burī chīz chāh hotī hai. English Translation: "Complaints are there, sadnesses are there. Love is really a very bad happening anyway." And Janab Raunak Saheb said: Dard-o-ġam, ranj-o-alam, hasrat-e-yās-o-mihī. Aur ulfat meṁ dharā kyā hai, musībat ke sivā. English Translation: "Pain and sorrow, grief and suffering, despair and hopelessness—what else is there in love except misery?" The Fate of Unrequited Love Opposite to this, even in mutual love, the fate of those who love is mostly such that the world makes their love unsuccessful, and they become sorrowful. Therefore, some poet said: Inse bhī pahle muhabbat kā yahī anjām thā. Qais bhī nākām thā, Farhād bhī nākām thā. English Translation: "Love always had only one result. Majnu remained sad, and Farhad also didn't succeed." And this has also been said: Muhabbat karne wālõ ko jo dekhā to burā dekhā. Kisī kī āṅkh meṁ āṁsū, kisī ko ġamzadā dekhā. English Translation: "Those who loved always remained troubled. Some wept throughout, and others remained in sorrow." But when success is not obtained in mutual love, the conditions of the lover and beloved become such that one has to say: Āg bhar dī hai muhabbat ne merī rag rag meṁ. Merā to khūn bhī dozakh kā śarārā niklā. English Translation: "Love began to put all my veins on fire. My blood ultimately turned out to be fire of Hell." Muhabbat meṁ nahīṁ farq jīne aur marne kā. Usī ko dekhkar jīte haiṁ, jis kāfir pe dam nikle. 24 English Translation: "There is no difference in living and dying when one is in love. The lover lives only by seeing the one on whom he swears for his life." Ibtidā vo thī ki, jīne ke liye martā thā maiṁ. Intihā ye hai ki marne kī bhī hasrat na rahī. English Translation: "Love began when I died for living, but it ended when I don't long even for death." Love and Sympathy There cannot be a greater subject of Karuṇā (Sympathy) than dying. To the extent that even when an enemy dies, people say: "Poor fellow, he was very good." So if a lover talks about being near death to obtain the beloved's sympathy, it is justified. If the lover is convinced that news of his being near death will obtain the beloved's sympathy, then he will definitely do so. For the lover, such a situation actually arises when, rejecting him, the beloved becomes attached to someone else, and her detachment from the lover becomes proven. Then the lover becomes despondent and says: Ab ye jānā kise kahte haiṁ ānā dil kā. Ham hansī khel samajhe the lagānā dil kā. English Translation: "Now have I realized what is love. I used to think that making love is a joke." And according to Mir Taqi Mir Saheb: Tadbīr mere iśq kī kyā fāydā tabīb. Ab jān hī ke sāth ye, āzār jāegā. English Translation: "There is no point in treating me now, doctor. My disease will go only with my death." If still any lover is a true lover, then he does not leave his love and orients himself toward ruin. He says: Dil hai to usī kā, jigar hai to usī kā. Apne ko rāh-e-iśq meṁ barbād jo kar de. English Translation: "He has the heart, he has the courage who destroys himself completely for love." The Nature of True Love Anyway, if we consider the nature of love, there is no provision for self-satisfaction in it. When Krishna left Mathura, the possibility of Radha and the Gopis obtaining any kind of satisfaction from Krishna ended completely, but still their love for Krishna remained intact. The Biochemistry of Love The hormone named Oxytocin and the hormone named Endorphine are the root causes of the feeling of love. The brain's Limbic System is the center of secretion of these hormones. Another hormone that develops the feeling of love is Prolactin. This hormone deeply generates love in mothers toward their children. The obstetrics specialist (Gynaecologist) of France, Michael Odent, clarified in his book Scientification of Love that due to this same hormone, milk is created in the mother's breasts for the child, and she can breastfeed. Because this motivates the Milk Injection Reflex. This love of the mother toward her child is called Maternal Love or affection. The more Oxytocin is in the blood of a mother during pregnancy, the more she loves her child, takes care of him, loves him. Both Oxytocin and Endorphine hormones are also secreted by the Apocrine Gland. Both 25 these hormones generate vigor in every limb, happiness in the brain, and peace. In the love between male and female, the experience of desire is also included. According to psychopharmacologist Michael Libowitz, the imagination/presence or touch of an opposite- sex partner secretes a chemical called Phenyl-Ethylamine (PEA). This hormone gives the brain a feeling of pleasure. Therefore, in male-female love, all three hormones are secreted, and these hormones are also the causes of their arising and growing. Besides this, the hormones connected with intercourse or the tendency of desire, such as Androgen, Testosterone, Oestrogen, and Progesterone—we have already seen the study of their effects while discussing the tendency of desire. Other hormones that play a role in regulating this tendency of love/desire are Norepinephrine, Epinephrine, and Dopamine, which are secreted by the brain's Limbic System. These three hormones together control the stimulation of desire in the human brain and subsequent behaviors. These hormones also develop and spread the feelings of happiness and love. In old age, when transmission in nerve plexuses decreases, they cannot flow, and many problems of the nervous system arise. Then, of course, one has to take the help of medicine. Scientific Research on Love and Commitment Scientists from Bar-Ilan University, Israel, found in research that couples whose blood contains higher amounts of Oxytocin remain together for more days. Those couples whose blood contained lower amounts of Oxytocin showed a higher tendency toward divorce. This same Oxytocin hormone is the cause of our initial love relationships, and the level of this same hormone is also helpful in continuing that love relationship ahead. Therefore, this hormone maintains a direct relationship between its amount and the measure of love's commitment (Bondage of Love). CHAPTER 13: CONCEPT SUMMARY The core of this chapter establishes Muditā (Happiness), Prema (Love), and Anurāga (Attachment) as the first positive warriors (Sajātīya Vṛttis) opposing the negative emotions explored in previous chapters, revealing happiness as the antidote to depression through Cognitive Reframing—the transformative practice of viewing objects and events from a perspective where even losses reveal gains. The author dismantles the "good cry" myth and alcohol consumption as depression remedies, establishing that crying only reinforces sorrow's experience and prolongs it, while alcohol depresses the Central Nervous System rather than elevating mood. The central thesis distinguishes between Lobha (greed/attachment to objects) and Prema (love/affection between beings) while acknowledging their etymological connection through the Sanskrit root Lubh, demonstrating that love's nature involves the lover's anxiety to impress the beloved and obtain reciprocal affection—with one-sided love being unsuccessful love and successful love requiring mutual equality, compared to the flame and moth relationship where the moth approaches without fear of burning while the flame burns and melts eternally. The ultimate teaching on love's nature reveals it as fundamentally devoid of self-satisfaction provisions—illustrated through Radha and the Gopis whose love for Krishna remained intact despite his departure from Mathura eliminating all possibility of fulfillment. The chapter draws extensively from Urdu poetry (Jigar Muradabadi, Raunak, Mir Taqi Mir) to demonstrate love's paradoxical suffering: lovers lose integrity first, then life becomes miserable; complaints, sadnesses, pain, sorrow, grief, suffering, despair, and hopelessness constitute love's essence; historical lovers like Majnu and Farhad remained sad and 26 unsuccessful; yet true lovers orient themselves toward ruin, destroying themselves completely for love without abandoning their devotion. The biochemical foundation reveals love's hormonal architecture: Oxytocin and Endorphine (secreted by Limbic System and Apocrine Gland) generate vigor, happiness, and peace; Prolactin creates Maternal Love by motivating the Milk Injection Reflex for breastfeeding; Phenyl-Ethylamine (PEA) produces pleasure from opposite-sex partner imagination/presence/touch; Androgen, Testosterone, Oestrogen, and Progesterone regulate sexual desire; Norepinephrine, Epinephrine, and Dopamine (secreted by Limbic System) control desire stimulation and subsequent behaviors. The groundbreaking Bar-Ilan University (Israel) research establishes that couples with higher blood Oxytocin levels remain together longer while those with lower levels show higher divorce rates—proving Oxytocin directly correlates with love's commitment strength (Bondage of Love). The chapter concludes with the profound recognition that love's trajectory follows a paradoxical arc: beginning when "I died for living" but ending when "I don't long even for death"—establishing that true love transcends both life and death, with no difference between living and dying when one loves, as the lover lives only by seeing the one on whom he swears his life. The transformation from melancholy to happiness requires not crying (which reinforces rumination), not alcohol (which depresses the nervous system), not physical pleasures (which provide only temporary distraction), but Cognitive Reframing—the revolutionary practice of changing perspective so thoroughly that losses reveal gains, despair transforms into hope, and the future shifts from looking dismal to looking bright. The ultimate wisdom: love, though causing pain, sorrow, grief, suffering, and hopelessness (as Urdu poets testify), remains humanity's most powerful positive emotion because it generates the biochemical cascade (Oxytocin, Endorphine, Prolactin, PEA) that creates vigor, happiness, peace, and the unbreakable commitment bonds that keep couples together—making love simultaneously the source of greatest suffering and greatest fulfillment, with true lovers willingly destroying themselves completely for love while never abandoning their devotion, embodying the flame-and-moth relationship where both burn eternally in mutual consumption 27 CHAPTER 14: REGARD AND DEVOTION (Śraddhā/Bhakti) Introduction: The Nature of Regard (Śraddhā) After love, now we will discuss the feelings of Śraddhā (Regard) and Bhakti (Devotion). Śraddhā is that tendency of the human mind which awakens upon seeing some special capability or quality in a worthy person. If we perceive that a particular person possesses some special quality such as courage, gentleness, compassion, generosity, benevolence, prosperity, power, knowledge, virtue, etc., then the feeling of respect that arises in our mind toward that special capability is called Śraddhā. People maintain respect toward the object of their Śraddhā and always praise them. They cannot tolerate their insult or criticism. This feeling of Śraddhā can awaken not only toward a person but also toward an object, institution, other living beings, deities, etc. Śraddhā toward deities is often seen in the form of one's chosen deity, and Śraddhā toward religion is seen in the form of one's path. Many times, a clear visible difference between Śraddhā and love, Śraddhā and compassion, Śraddhā and mercy, etc., cannot be seen. But all these feelings are different from one another. Śraddhā differs from compassion in this sense that Śraddhā is toward capability, whereas compassion is toward incapacity. The feeling of respect that comes to mind toward scholars, learned persons, and religious people is called Śraddhā, whereas the desire to help the blind, lame, and crippled is called compassion. Śraddhā is also different from love. Love is unicentered while Śraddhā is multicentered. Love is based on individuals, whereas Śraddhā is based on qualities. In Śraddhā, character is predominant, whereas in love, dearness is predominant. In love, there is also selfishness, and one wants rights over the beloved, whereas in Śraddhā there is no selfishness and no rights over the object of regard. The feeling of Śraddhā has infinite expansion, whereas love is narrow. Those whose hearts are narrow- minded, who are selfish, cannot awaken Śraddhā toward anyone in their minds. Śraddhā is also not obligation. The feeling arising toward compassion is obligation, whereas Śraddhā cannot awaken from anyone's compassion. Śraddhā is salutation to wonder. The Importance and Utility of Śraddhā After seeing the nature and form of Śraddhā, we come to its importance and utility. Chanakya, while explaining the importance of Śraddhā, wrote: Na devo vidyate kāṣṭhe, na pāṣāṇe na mṛnmaye. Bhāve hi vidyate devastasmād bhāvo hi kāraṇam. English Translation: "God is neither in wood nor in stone. God resides in the emotion of belief. Belief alone makes a statue awakened or dormant." "Neither the God is in the Wood nor Stone. God lives in the emotion of belief only. Only the belief makes a statue enlightened." In the Gita, Shri Krishna also said: Yo yo yāṁ yāṁ tanuṁ bhaktaḥ śraddhayārcitumicchati. Tasya tasyācalāṁ śraddhāṁ tāmeva vidadhāmyaham. English Translation: "Whatever object a person's Śraddhā settles upon, God strengthens it in that very object." "Wherever the man's belief settles the God reaffirms it in that very object." 28 And also: Satyā śraddhayā yuktastasyārādhanaṁ īhate. Labhate ca tataḥ kāmānmayaiva vihitānhitān. English Translation: "God is obtained by a person in the form of the object of their Śraddhā or the subject for which they worship." "Man gets the God in the shape of the object of his worship or in the subject for which he is worshipping the God." This same matter has been said in the Ramcharitmanas thus: Jākī rahī bhāvanā jaisī, Prabhu mūrat rākhi tiya taisī. English Translation: "As is one's feeling, so does God appear to them in that very form." In the Gita, it is further said: Antavattuphalāṁ teṣāṁ tadavatyalpamedhasām. Devāndevayajo yānti madbhaktā yānti māmapi. English Translation: "The gods of such belief and the fruits obtained through them are perishable and temporary, and after receiving these fruits, such belief and their gods perish with time." "But the Gods of such belief and the fruits obtained through them are perishable and temporary and hence after receipt these fruits, such beliefs & the Gods all perish with time." Therefore, true Śraddhā is only that Śraddhā directed toward the imperishable, indestructible God, which grants liberation to the being. The Three Manifestations of Śraddhā This very important tendency of Śraddhā manifests through three mediums: mind, speech, and action. In the mind, Śraddhā manifests in the form of respect and honor; in speech, Śraddhā manifests in the form of praise; and in action, Śraddhā generally manifests in the form of service. A person influenced by the character, talent, and prosperity of the object of regard experiences the feeling of Śraddhā very extensively. This sometimes becomes so extensive that even if the object of regard misuses that Śraddhā, it still remains. This is actually a weakness of Śraddhā that the one who has Śraddhā does not pay attention to the mistakes of their object of regard and sometimes even praises them. This excessive Śraddhā is also called blind devotion and is harmful. This very blind devotion contains the misuse of Śraddhā. Therefore, the followers of my great villain Satan remain eager to obtain Śraddhā through facade and deceit. Someone pretends to be a saint, someone pretends to be God. Such cheats take advantage of this sacred feeling of Śraddhā for their selfish purposes and satisfaction of desires. With the support of Śraddhā, Satan's works also become easy. Nowadays, Śraddhā is even bought with the support of prosperity. Among cheats, there remains a competition to obtain Śraddhā toward themselves, and the desire for Śraddhā becomes prevalent in them like a vice. Their own unworthy beliefs about themselves are formed. They then begin to consider themselves as God. This is the ultimate misuse of the sacred feeling of Śraddhā. Always avoid this. The Scientific Basis of Religious Belief 29 Humans naturally have a tendency to believe. Researchers have found that with development, belief in God arose and strengthened in the human brain because this belief protected their hearts from fear and increased their courage, helping them to live. In the course of evolution, those humans who had belief in one religion/God began to live and work together. This unity provided them better security, and their chances of surviving and remaining alive became better. Before this, Richard Hawkins, who wrote the book The God Delusion, had propounded that religious belief arises due to ignorance and childhood indoctrination. But Bruce Hood, who is a professor of Developmental Psychology at Bristol University, believes that this matter is somewhat complex. He says that children have their own method of analysis and logic, which determines their religious belief and conception of God. Gradually, they become capable of explaining this belief and conception in even more logical ways. But the illogical beliefs of religion also remain. Many wrong conceptions and superstitions take such deep roots that humans cannot separate from them. Religious beliefs and conceptions in the human brain are created/generated by electrical/magnetic flows flowing in a special part. Andrew Newberg, who is a professor at Pennsylvania University, has seen through brain imaging technique that religious and divine beliefs/conceptions are determined by a network of nerves, which he has named the Belief Network. Earlier it was believed that there is a God Spot in the brain that becomes activated by praying or meditating. The temporal lobes of the brain and some other places interact with each other to provide all religious, divine, and spiritual experiences. Scientist Michael Persinger of Laurentian University, Ontario, has generated these experiences artificially through powerful electromagnetic pulses in the brains of volunteers. Some experts believe that humans have an innate tendency toward supernatural experiences. Therefore, many humans who have remained distant from religious experiences from birth also develop belief in God and religion in youth. Having faith is not a wrong thing; therefore, whether God actually exists or not, we must definitely maintain faith in God. Because faith alone gives us the power to live and move forward. If we maintain complete faith/belief in any object, person, or imagination, then this faith becomes our support. We feel that this support will rid us of our sorrows. Researchers affiliated with Harvard University's McLean Hospital have also found that people who believe in divine power and worship them have less anxiety in their minds about life's uncertainties. They also have more power to bear the sorrows coming in life. The chief researcher and author of this research, David H. Rosmarine, said while explaining the importance of this research in the field of medicine that this will redefine the role of faith and spirituality in medicine. Physicians will understand the effect of patients' spiritual and religious beliefs on their health and will be able to use them in their treatment (Faith Healing). This research has proven that some spiritual beliefs have a very positive effect on the human mind. They can bring change even in our perspective because these faiths and beliefs have a very deep effect on human psychological health. From Śraddhā to Bhakti After Śraddhā, now we come to Bhakti. When Śraddhā begins to deepen, then the feeling of love toward the object of regard sprouts in the seeker. They begin to continuously desire the vision, hearing, singing, meditation, etc., of the object of regard. This union of Śraddhā and love is called Bhakti. 30 With the addition of love, the feeling of total surrender toward the object of regard comes to mind in Śraddhā. Then the rising-sitting, walking-moving, laughing-speaking, etc., of the object of regard—all things seem pleasing. The feeling that the seeker becomes ready to dedicate their everything to the object of regard is called Bhakti. This feeling of surrender can often be seen directly in devotees of God. They sacrifice their everything only with this feeling: Tvadīyaṁ vastu Govinda, tubhyameva samarpaye. English Translation: "All objects, O God, are Yours; therefore, I surrender them back to You." "All the objects and things Oh God! Are Your's hence I am surrendering them back to you." And God also maintains unparalleled love toward their devotees. It is said in the Gita: Patraṁ puṣpaṁ phalaṁ toyaṁ yo me bhaktyā prayacchati. Tadahaṁ bhaktyupahṛtamaśnāmi priyātmanaḥ. English Translation: "Whoever offers me leaf, flower, fruit, water, etc., with love, I, appearing in manifest form, eat that leaf-flower etc. offered with love by that pure-minded, desireless, loving devotee with affection." "Who ever offers me whatever, with love and belief, I accept them by appearing in a visible form and also eat them with equal love and affection for offerer." Under this very feeling, God in the form of Rama ate Shabari's half-eaten berries and in the form of Krishna ate the vegetable leaves given by Draupadi with pleasure. Hearing Gajendra's distressed call, He came instantly from Vaikuntha, and to save Prahlad, He appeared in the form of Narasimha by breaking a pillar. It is said that Bhakti is done from the heart; therefore, it has conflict with intellect. Intellect is the mother of logic, whereas Bhakti rests on belief. When intellect begins to reason in the devotee's mind, then belief wavers. Satan also corrupts this very intellect of humans and separates them from the path of Bhakti. But in reality, there is no contradiction between Bhakti and intellect or knowledge. Hanumanji is also called Bhakta Shiromani (crown jewel of devotees) and also Jñāna Guṇa Sāgara (ocean of knowledge and qualities). Hanumanji was actually a vast storehouse of both knowledge and Bhakti. Once Lord Rama asked Hanumanji, "Hanuman, from what perspective do you see me?" Hanumanji said, "O Rama! When I have the awareness of 'I,' I see that You are complete and I am a part. You are the Lord and I am the servant. And O Rama! When philosophical knowledge comes to me, I see that You and I are both one." So in reality, Bhakti alone grants humans the attainment of true knowledge. If knowledge is male, then Bhakti is female, and both are complementary to each other. Knowledge shows you the path to obtaining God, but Bhakti will take you and stand you before God. Only those whose Bhakti is not deep have intellect that reasons. Only they can be led astray by Satan. But those whose Bhakti is deep, their knowledge also becomes complete and their belief also becomes firm. No one can lead them astray. Regarding this matter, I quote an incident of Jesus Christ from the Bible: Jesus Christ fasted for forty days and forty nights; then he became hungry. Satan then went to him and said for testing, "If you are the Son of God, then say that these stones become bread." But Jesus said, "Man does not live by bread alone; he lives by every word that comes from God's mouth." Then Satan took him to the holy city and stood him on the pinnacle of the temple and said, "If you are the Son of God, then jump down, because it is written: 'He will give his angels command concerning you, and 31 they will bear you up in their hands lest your foot strike against a stone.'" Then Jesus said to Satan, "It is also said: 'Do not test your Lord God.'" Then Satan took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory and said, "If you bow down and worship me, I will give you all this." Jesus answered, "Get away, Satan! It is written: 'Worship your Lord God and serve only Him.'" Then Satan, unsuccessful in his attempt, departed. If there is solidarity and penetration like Jesus Christ in Bhakti, then Satan cannot spoil anything. God Himself also tests the firmness of His devotees. To test Abraham, God told him to sacrifice his son Isaac. Abraham firmly placed his son on the sacrificial altar and began to kill him. Then God was pleased with Abraham and, speaking from the sky, stopped him from sacrificing. If Śraddhā and Bhakti are so firm or steady, then there is no doubt in obtaining God. Only Bhakti has the power inherent in it to compel Narayana Himself to take incarnation. It has been said: Mando vadati Viṣṇāya, dhīro vadati Viṣṇave. Ubhayośca phalaṁ tulyaṁ, bhāvagrāhī Janārdanaḥ. English Translation: "With what emotions things are being done by whom is very well known to God. If anybody runs toward God with certain affection, God also runs toward him with equal affection." "With what emotions the things are being done by whome is very well known to the God. If any body runs towards the God with certain affection, the God also runs towards him with equal affection." Bhakti and Karma (Action) There is also no contradiction between Bhakti and Karma. Renouncing Karma is not necessary for Bhakti. Rather, doing Karma with selflessness is not possible without Bhakti. Service or Karma done with the feeling of God-devotion is equal to worship. It is said in the Gita: Yataḥ pravṛttirbhūtānāṁ yena sarvamidam tatam. Svakarmaṇā tamabhyarcya siddhiṁ vindatimānavaḥ. English Translation: "One who considers all living beings to be like God and serves them properly, he only serves God, and in return he gets emancipation." "One who considers all the living beings to be like God and serves them properly he only serves God and in return he gets emancipation." The Three Types of Bhakti Three forms of Bhakti are generally seen in society: Sāttvika (Ethical), Rājasī (Worldly), and Tāmasika (Lowly). In Sāttvika Bhakti, there is no ostentation. There is no gathering of decorations and means. Its purpose is only the attainment of liberation. The one with Rājasī Bhakti will apply sandalwood tilak, will make a garland by mixing gold rudraksha and wear it. They will wear excellent clothes and then worship with pomp. They will worship for the attainment of various worldly pleasures. Tāmasika Bhakti is done through tantra, mantra, and totems for obtaining supernatural powers. These three types of Bhakti can be divided into two categories. Rājasī and Tāmasika Bhakti can be given the designation of worship with purpose, and Sāttvika Bhakti can be given the designation of worship without purpose. 32 It is the wonder of my great villain Satan that he has filled even the sacred feeling of Bhakti with Rājasī and Tāmasika qualities. By this, he has made the attainment of pure Bhakti very difficult. Although there should be no possibility of deceit, facade, etc., in a feeling like Bhakti, Satan has not failed to establish his dominance even here. He has inspired his followers from time to time to please God through Tāmasika and Rājasī Bhakti and ask for boons from Him so that his empire may be nourished. Stories of many such demons are included in our literature from the beginning. Bhasmasura, Mahishasura, Hiranyakashipu, Ravana, Meghanath, etc.—many such demons pleased God through Bhakti and obtained such boons that to break the power of those boons and destroy those demons, God Himself had to incarnate. My great villain often encashes this very weakness of Bhakti. He corrupts the intellect of the devotee with unstable intellect and makes them a demon and engages them in attaining his purposes. Now not every devotee can become Jesus Christ, Prahlad, or Hanuman. Such firmness toward purposes is not possible in everyone. But without steadiness and firmness, both Śraddhā and Bhakti can collapse like a wall of sand and mud. Therefore, along with Bhakti, firmness, belief, and steadiness are also necessary. In the Bhagavad Gita and Ramayana, the description of doing Bhakti in nine ways comes: Śravaṇaṁ kīrtanaṁ Viṣṇoḥ smaraṇaṁ pādasevanam. Arcanaṁ vandanaṁ dāsyaṁ sākhyam ātmanivedanam. English Translation: "Devotion has nine elements: listening, remembering, worshipping, praying, reciting, slaving, friendshipping, loving, and surrendering self to God." "Devotion has got nine elements i.e. Listening, Remembering, Worshipping, Praying, Reciting, Slaving, Friendshipping, Loving and Surrendering self to the God." Bhakti with all these elements has been given the name Navadhā Bhakti (Nine-fold Devotion). It is said in the Gita: Na māṁ duṣkṛtino mūḍhāḥ prapadyante narādhamāḥ. Māyayāpahṛtajñānā āsuraṁ bhāvamāśritāḥ. English Translation: "Four kinds of people—fools, sinners, confused, and non-believers—never worship God." "Four kinds of people i.e. Fools, Sinners, Confused & Non-Believers never worship God." And it is also said: Caturvidhā bhajante māṁ janāḥ sukṛtino'rjuna. Ārto jijñāsurarthārthī jñānī bharatarṣabha. English Translation: "Four kinds of people—devotees, inquisitives, needy, and knowledgeable—only worship God." "Four kinds of people i.e. Devotees, Inquisitives, Needy and Knowledgeable only worship the God." Whoever has adopted this Bhakti, the Lord, affectionate toward devotees, immediately takes them into His shelter. They, becoming accepted with God, attain liberation. In the same way, devotees like Meera, Surdas, Kabir, Nanak, Raidas, Rahim, Raskhan, etc., attained liberation. It is said in the Gita: Antakāle ca māmeva smaranmuktvā kalevaram. Yaḥ prayāti sa madbhāvaṁ yāti nāstyatra saṁśayaḥ. English Translation: "At the time of death, if anybody remembers God, he attains God's grace." "At the time of death if anybody remembers the God, he attain the Gods Grace." 33 Always keep this matter in mind and continuously remember God, because who knows when the final moment will come. CHAPTER 14: CONCEPT SUMMARY The core of this chapter establishes Śraddhā (Regard) and Bhakti (Devotion) as the culminating positive emotions (Sajātīya Vṛttis) that complete the emotional spectrum explored throughout the manuscript, revealing Śraddhā as awakening upon recognizing special capabilities (courage, gentleness, compassion, generosity, knowledge, virtue) in worthy persons—manifesting through mind (respect/honor), speech (praise), and action (service)—while fundamentally differing from related emotions: Śraddhā focuses on capability while compassion focuses on incapacity; Śraddhā is multicentered (based on qualities) while love is unicentered (based on individuals); Śraddhā has infinite expansion while love is narrow; Śraddhā contains no selfishness or ownership claims while love does. The central thesis integrates Vedic philosophy with modern neuroscience, demonstrating through Chanakya's teaching that "God resides in the emotion of belief" and the Gita's revelation that "wherever man's belief settles, God reaffirms it in that very object"—establishing that true Śraddhā directed toward the imperishable God grants liberation, while Śraddhā toward perishable gods yields temporary fruits that perish with time. The chapter draws extensively from Ramcharitmanas ("As is one's feeling, so does God appear"), establishing that God manifests according to the devotee's conception—with Rama eating Shabari's half-eaten berries and Krishna consuming Draupadi's vegetable leaves, Narayana instantly responding to Gajendra's distressed call, and appearing as Narasimha to save Prahlad. The ultimate teaching on Bhakti reveals it as the union of Śraddhā and Prema (love), creating total surrender where the devotee dedicates everything to God with the understanding "All objects are Yours; therefore I surrender them back to You"—with God reciprocating through the Gita's promise to accept and eat whatever is offered with love and belief by appearing in visible form. The chapter dismantles the false dichotomy between Bhakti and intellect through Hanumanji's example as both Bhakta Shiromani (crown jewel of devotees) and Jñāna Guṇa Sāgara (ocean of knowledge), demonstrating that when awareness of "I" exists, the devotee sees God as complete and self as part, but when philosophical knowledge arises, both are recognized as one—establishing that Bhakti grants true knowledge rather than opposing it. The scientific validation from Harvard University's McLean Hospital research (David H. Rosmarine) proves that people believing in divine power experience less anxiety about life's uncertainties and greater capacity to bear sorrows, with spiritual beliefs having profoundly positive effects on psychological health. Bruce Hood's developmental psychology research at Bristol University reveals that children possess innate analysis and logic methods determining religious beliefs, with Andrew Newberg's brain imaging at Pennsylvania University identifying the Belief Network (temporal lobes and interconnected regions) generating religious/divine/spiritual experiences, while Michael Persinger's electromagnetic pulse experiments at Laurentian University artificially generate supernatural experiences—proving humans have innate tendencies toward religious belief that strengthen with evolution because faith protects from fear and increases courage for survival. The three types of Bhakti—Sāttvika (ethical, without ostentation, purpose being liberation only), Rājasī (worldly, with decorations and pomp, seeking worldly pleasures), and Tāmasika (lowly, through tantra/mantra/totems for supernatural powers)—reveal Satan's corruption of sacred Bhakti through Rājasī and Tāmasika qualities, with demons like Bhasmasura, Mahishasura, Hiranyakashipu, Ravana, and Meghanath obtaining boons through corrupted Bhakti that required God's incarnation to destroy. The warning against blind devotion (Andha-Śraddhā) emphasizes that excessive Śraddhā ignoring the object of regard's mistakes becomes harmful, with cheats using facade and deceit to obtain Śraddhā for selfish purposes—making steadiness and firmness essential alongside Bhakti. 34 The chapter concludes with Navadhā Bhakti (Nine-fold Devotion): Śravaṇam (listening), Kīrtanam (singing), Smaraṇam (remembering), Pādasevanam (serving feet), Arcanam (worshipping), Vandanam (praying), Dāsyam (slaving), Sākhyam (friendshipping), and Ātmanivedanam (self-surrender)—with the Gita's classification that four types never worship God (fools, sinners, confused, non-believers) while four types do (devotees, inquisitives, needy, knowledgeable). The transformative power of Bhakti demonstrates through Jesus Christ's resistance to Satan's three temptations (turning stones to bread, jumping from temple pinnacle, accepting worldly kingdoms for worship)—proving that solidarity and penetration in Bhakti make one immune to Satan's corruption. The ultimate wisdom: Bhakti and Karma are not contradictory but complementary, with service done through God-devotion equaling worship, and the Gita's teaching that "one who considers all living beings as God and serves them properly serves God and obtains emancipation"—establishing that at death, whoever remembers God attains God's grace, making continuous remembrance essential since the final moment's arrival remains unknown. The chapter positions Śraddhā and Bhakti as humanity's highest positive emotions, capable of compelling Narayana to incarnate, with the reciprocal principle that "if anybody runs toward God with affection, God also runs toward him with equal affection"—making devotees like Meera, Surdas, Kabir, Nanak, Raidas, Rahim, and Raskhan exemplars of liberation through pure Bhakti directed toward the imperishable God 35 CHAPTER 15: EQUABILITY, FIRMNESS, AND RESTRAINT (Sthiratā/Dṛḍhatā/Saṁyama) Pages 89-93 Introduction: The Nature of Mental Firmness Among the Sajātīya Vṛttis (Positive Emotions), now we will become acquainted with Sthiratā (Equability), Dṛḍhatā (Firmness), and Saṁyama (Restraint). Sthiratā or Dṛḍhatā can be of two types: physical and mental. Physical firmness has less importance because the Mahabharata of the inner self is not any wrestling match. In this war, only mental firmness or equability has importance. Mental firmness and equability are the names of the intellect's capacity to control the mind. For this, the term Sthira-Buddhi (Equable Wisdom) or Sthira-Matiḥ has been used in the Gita. First comes the determination of duty, after that Ekāgratā (Concentration), then Tanmayatā (Penetration), and finally equanimity of consciousness. This very Samatā (Equanimity) of consciousness and mind is the symbol of the intellect's firmness. Not even the slightest Ḍagamagāhaṭ (Wavering), Hichakichāhaṭ (Hesitation), Ghabarāhaṭ (Botheration), and indecision in consciousness—these are the characteristics of Sthira-Matiḥ. This very equability's other meaning is Saralatā (Simplicity), Vimalatā or Viralatā (Purity). Simple and pure intellect never trembles. The mind is, in one way, a part of the intellect itself. The colors of the mind's imaginations are painted on the intellect. Due to this reason, one intellect becomes many intellects. When the color of compassion is painted, it becomes compassion-intellect; when the color of hatred is painted, it becomes hatred-intellect. In this way, many intellects pull humans from all sides, crush them, agitate them, and wear them out. Even thousands of such intellects cannot provide correct guidance to humans. Only Sthira and Śuddha- Buddhi—that is, Prajñā (Pure Intellect)—gives correct decisions because it has no color. It has been said: Kāma kalā mana vichalā, yukti na lāgata eka. Kṣaṇa sukha citta caṁcala kare, bace je vimala viveka. English Translation: "The mind inspired by desires becomes agitated in subjects. Its agitation increases so much that shame, control, rules, knowledge, detachment, etc.—not even one method works. Such an agitated consciousness can be saved only by pure wisdom." "The mind under spell of desires get indulged into subjects. This indulgence increases so much that control, obstruction, rules, prudence dettachment nothing helps. Such indulged and waivering mind can be saved only by prudence moved with supreme intellect." The Intoxication of Desires Desires also have an intoxication in which the mind becomes Matta (Intoxicated). Such an intoxicated mind also breaks the sprout of worship and contemplation. The mind is a storehouse of desires, in which there is continuous Sṛjana (Genesis) and destruction of Saṅkalpas and Vikalpas (Decisions and Options). The intellect makes decisions of appropriate-inappropriate on these decisions/options. It can also exercise Saṁyama (Control) over them through Saṁyama (Perseverance). But for this, the intellect's being firm and pure and the mind's being favorable to the intellect are necessary. 36 On the other hand, the mind also possesses immense capacity to Vicalita (Agitate) the intellect. If there were no mind, then restraint would be restraint itself. If there were no mind, then all problems would end. Or if both mind and intellect became favorable, there would be no tug-of-war between them. This can happen only when the mind moves according to what the intellect says. The intellect makes decisions, and the mind acts upon them. That is, the intellect has complete control over the mind, and the mind moves according to the intellect. This is the real Mano-nāśa (Mental Control). The mind has great Sṛjana Śakti (Creation Power). Mental control does not mean destroying this creation power of the mind. Destroying this creation power of the mind is neither necessary nor beneficial; rather, it is harmful. Instead, keeping this creation power alive and controlling it is the real mental control. This work of control is done by the intellect. Therefore, control the mind through the intellect and make it Sanmārgī (Right-Pathed). Whoever has controlled the mind's desires through the intellect in this way is called a person of Sthira-Matiḥ and Sthita-Prajña (Equanimous Intellect), and all negative emotions cannot spoil anything of theirs. Understanding the Nature of Mind After understanding the meaning of equability and firmness, now we will study its form and also see what the path of its attainment is. The mind is very restless like horses. Just as racing horses pull the chariot away, and blowing winds pull the boat away, in the same way this restless mind pulls the intellect away. It is said in the Gita: Manaḥ śīghrataram vāyoḥ English Translation: "The mind is faster than air." "The thoughts travel faster than the Air." Great souls, seeing the mind involved in desires, engaged in animal behavior, and knowing it to be greatly excited and difficult to control, have given it the designation of an uncontrolled elephant. This intoxicated and involved in worldly pleasure mind puts humans in the terrible crisis of birth cycles. Tulsidas Ji wrote in Ramcharitmanas: Mana kari viṣaya anala bana jaraī. Hoī sukhī jau ehi sara paraī. English Translation: "The mind-like elephant continuously burns in the fire of subjects and causes suffering. Only that person is happy who has controlled this mind." "Mind always dwells into the fire of desires and pains the soul. He only is happy therefore, who has controlled the mind." Rahimdas Ji also said: Mana mataṅga mānai nahīṁ, jaba lagi khatā na khāya. Jaise vidhavā nāri koū, garbha rahe pachitāya. English Translation: "The mind does not listen until it receives a blow, just as a widow realizes her mistake only when she becomes pregnant." "Like a widow realises her mistake only when she gets pregnant the mind also realise its mistake only when it is punished." 37 The Hierarchy of Control: Senses, Mind, and Intellect Actually, the Indriyāṇi (Sense Organs), mind, and intellect—all three are the Nivāsa Sthāna (Places of Desires). First, the senses Mahasūsa (Perceive) desires, then those desires enter the mind through the medium of the senses, and thereafter they also bring the intellect under control. It is said in the Gita: Indriyāṇi mano buddhir asyādhiṣṭhānam ucyate. Etair vimohayaty eṣa jñānam āvṛtya dehinam. English Translation: "The senses, mind, and intellect are respectively the abodes of desires. Through these, desires cover the knowledge of the living spirit and seduce it." "The sensory organs, the mind and the wisdom are abodes of desires. Through them the desire over comes the prudence of the living beings and reduces it." And it is also said: Tasmād jñānam indriyāṇy ādau niyamya bharatarṣabha. Pāpmānaṁ prajahi hy enaṁ jñāna vināśanam. English Translation: "Therefore, from the beginning, control the senses and suppress these desires, and obstruct them from knowledge and self-realization." "One should control the desires from begining by controlling his senses and by obstructing them one should try to reach self realisation." Therefore, Lord Krishna also acknowledged in the Gita that stopping the mind's restlessness is a very difficult task: Asaṁśayaṁ mahābāho mano durnigrahaṁ calam. English Translation: "It's really very difficult to stop mind from indulgence." But along with this, He also said that through Abhyāsa (Practice), it can also be brought under control: Abhyāsena tu kaunteya vairāgyeṇa ca gṛhyate. English Translation: "But it can be stopped from indulgence by practice." The Five States of Mind According to Yoga Sutras According to the Yoga Sutras, the mind has five states, which are as follows: 1. Mūḍha Mana (Foolish Mind) The state of predominance of tamasic qualities like laziness, sleep, carelessness, anger, etc. 2. Kṣipta Mana (Desirous Mind) The state where rajas quality is predominant, in which there is interest in worldly works and involvement in running around to earn wealth, property, comforts, etc. 3. Vikṣipta Mana (Split Mind) The state where both rajas and sattva qualities are predominant. The mind swings on both sides. Sometimes worldly work, sometimes worship and study seem interesting. 4. Ekāgra Mana (Concentrated Mind) 38 The state where sattva quality is predominant. Worship and study are interesting. Interest in dharma's works. 5. Aruddha Mana (Emancipated Mind) When all decisions and options of the mind become peaceful. Converting Mūḍha Mana (Foolish Mind) into Aruddha Mana (Emancipated Mind) is the human's purpose. To achieve this state, two weapons named Saṁyama (Control) and Abhyāsa (Practice) are used just as an ankusha is used to control an elephant. In the Gita, it is said about the senses, mind, and intellect: Indriyāṇi parāṇy āhur indriyebhyaḥ paraṁ manaḥ. Manasas tu parā buddhir yo buddheḥ paratas tu saḥ. English Translation: "The work organs are better than dead matter. Sensory organs are better than work organs, and mind is better than sense organs. Wisdom is still better than the mind, and the prudence or conscious is the best." "The work organs are better than dead matter. Sensory organs are better than work organs and mind is better than sense organs. Wisdom is still better than the mind and the prudence or concious is the best." Therefore, the senses can be controlled by the mind, and the mind can be controlled by the intellect, and both can be controlled by the intellect. The Metaphor of the Chariot In the Kathopanishad, it is mentioned that when the reins are in the rider's hands and the horses are under the control of the reins, only then can the rider reach the destination without deviation. Conversely, if the horses are in control of the reins and the reins are in control of the rider, then reaching the destination becomes impossible. The boat moves forward only as long as it has control over the winds. If the boat comes under the control of the winds, then it becomes not a Tāraka (Savior) but a Māraka (Killer). It is said in the Gita that the senses are like horses, the mind is the chariot, the intellect is the reins, and the soul is the rider. When the senses begin to wander unobstructed, the mind automatically goes after them. When the mind joins with the senses, both their sides become powerful and the intellect's side becomes weak. Then the intellect also begins to follow the senses, and the soul-like rider falls. But if the mind comes under the control of the intellect and does not follow the senses, then the intellect's side becomes powerful. In this situation, the senses have to move according to what the intellect says, and when the mind becomes favorable to the intellect and the senses become favorable to the mind, then the entire conduct of life becomes favorable to the soul. Such a soul-like rider reaches the destination. Therefore, it is said in the Gita: Indriyāṇāṁ hi caratāṁ yan mano 'nuvidhīyate. Tad asya harati prajñāṁ vāyur nāvam ivāmbhasi. English Translation: "The sensory organs should not be allowed to dwell into their subjects by conscious efforts, otherwise sense organs demolishes wisdom in the manner as a boat is destroyed by airs." "The sensory organs should not be allowed to dwell into their subjects by concious efforts, otherwise sense organs demolishes wisdom in the manner as a boat is destroyed by airs." 39 If there were some method by which even if the mind comes under the control of the senses, the intellect would not be affected, then we would not worry about subjects. But there is no such method. When the mind comes under the control of the senses, the intellect also begins to make wrong reasoning, and the entire business of life begins to become contrary to the soul. Those who think that their intellect does not get trapped in the enjoyment of subjects are mistaken. Satan of negativity mounts the intellect of such persons and corrupts it with the support of wrong logics, making their souls his slaves—just as he did with Adam and Eve, and just as he tried to do with Jesus Christ. But Jesus Christ's character firmness and faith in God saved him, and due to the lack of these very qualities, Adam and Eve got trapped in his net. The only means of achieving this firmness is restraint. Saṁyama (Control/Restraint) is that rein of the intellect that can control the horse-like senses. And Abhyāsa (Practice) is that technique through which restraint can be achieved. It is said in the Gita: Yato yato niścarati manaś cañcalam asthiram. Tatas tato niyamyaitad ātmany eva vaśaṁ nayet. English Translation: "In whatever subject the sensory organs indulge into and mind enjoys, one should stop consciously the mind and organs from this indulgence and pray the god in its place." "In whatever, subject the sensory organs indulge into and mind enjoys one should stop consciously the mind & organs from this indulgence & pray the god in its place." And: Indriyāṇāṁ vicaratāṁ viṣayeṣv apahāriṣu. Saṁyame yatnam ātiṣṭhed vidvān yatnaiva vājinām. English Translation: "The senses should be stopped from wandering in subjects. The wise control the senses through restraint just as horses are controlled through reins with effort." "Like the horses of a chariot are controlled by reins/bridle, a man of wisdom controls his sensory organs by the technique of restrain." And also: Sarvāṇīndriya karmāṇi prāṇa karmāṇi cāpare. Ātma-saṁyama-yogāgnau juhvati jñāna-dīpite. English Translation: "Those who control mind and senses through intellect and restrain them definitely attain self-realization." "Those who controls mind and sensory organs by wisdom, definitely attains self realisation." Two Methods of Controlling the Senses Now let us see how the senses can be conquered. Two methods are described for conquering them: Indriya Nigraha (Obstructing Senses) and Indriya Saṁyama (Controlling Senses/Restraint). Indriya Nigraha happens for some time, while Indriya Saṁyama is a life method. Suppose my mind wants to eat sweets, but this is harmful for health, so I completely stop eating sweets for some time. Its purpose is to discipline myself. To practice living without eating sweets. To separate or free the senses from the taste of any subject, we have to obstruct that subject's form, taste, smell, touch, etc. Therefore, to reduce or end the desire for eating sweets, I practiced obstruction and stopped eating sweets. 40 But this obstruction does not necessarily end my desire; on the contrary, it can also flare up. When the mind is totally obstructed, it sometimes becomes very forceful. When this happens, stopping it becomes almost impossible. Therefore, the method of Nigraha (Obstruction) is not completely successful. Conversely, the path of Indriya Saṁyama (Restraint) is more appropriate and successful. Adopting this, now the sweet-lover I again start eating sweets but carefully and measuredly. Gradually I reduce it further, and when the mind gets disciplined, then my desire to eat sweets stops, and my craving ends. This is the path of Indriya Saṁyama. Similarly, a vow of silence for some time is Indriya Nigraha, and observed silence is Indriya Saṁyama. Fasting for some time is Indriya Nigraha, and the eating method of moderate and proper diet is Indriya Saṁyama. That is, Indriya Nigraha is logical, but Indriya Saṁyama is permanent. Like fasting is logical and moderate diet is permanent. But this is not any real difference. When obstruction also becomes natural, it assumes the form of restraint. Therefore, the technique of both restraint and obstruction is the same, and that is practice. In both, one more thing is the same, and that is the ankusha or check on the senses. Indriya Saṁyama is not difficult; it is only a matter of developing habit through practice. If practice is done from the beginning, the senses naturally become detached from subjects. In the Gita, sense control has been explained by giving the example of a tortoise: Yadā saṁharate cāyaṁ kūrmo 'ṅgānīva sarvaśaḥ. Indriyāṇīndriyārthebhyas tasya prajñā pratiṣṭhitā. English Translation: "Like a tortoise sensing danger constricts its all organs into the shell, one should shut his sensory organs whenever they try to dwell into their subject." "Like a Tortoise sensing danger constricts its' all organs into the shell, one should shut his sensory organs whenever they try to dwell into their subject." Therefore, let the senses function, but where the danger of indulgence comes, the intellect should immediately stop them, and this becoming natural is Indriya Saṁyama or Indriya Niyamana. This is mental control. This is called the mind becoming obstructed. This very restraint is where firmness and equability rest, and the restrained person is Sthira-Matiḥ (Controlled Thought) and Sthita-Prajña (Controlled Intellect). Restraint receives considerable help from faith and devotion. Faith, devotion, and firmness together destroy all desires. Prāṇāyāma (Meditation) and Dhyāna are useful means for achieving restraint. The Utility of Equability and Firmness Now let us see what the utility and non-utility of equability and firmness are. Equability and firmness are the commanders of positive emotions. The firm mind is Dhṛṣṭadyumna, who is the flag-bearer of the Pandava- like positive tendencies. The utility of equability also lies in its purity. A person with a simple mind is called a saint. A person of firm intellect is a Mahātmā (Great Soul). CHAPTER 15: CONCEPT SUMMARY 41 The core of this chapter establishes Sthiratā (Equability), Dṛḍhatā (Firmness), and Saṁyama (Restraint) as the commanding positive emotions (Sajātīya Vṛttis) that serve as the ultimate weapons against negative tendencies, revealing that mental firmness—not physical firmness—holds supreme importance since the Mahabharata of the inner self is not a wrestling match but a battle of consciousness. The author positions Sthira-Buddhi (Equable Wisdom) and Sthira-Matiḥ as the intellect's capacity to control the mind through the hierarchical progression: determination of duty → Ekāgratā (Concentration) → Tanmayatā (Penetration) → Samatā (Equanimity of consciousness)—with the absence of wavering, hesitation, botheration, and indecision marking true equability, whose other meanings include Saralatā (Simplicity) and Vimalatā (Purity). The central thesis reveals the mind as a part of intellect whose imaginations paint colors on intellect, creating multiple intellects (compassion-intellect, hatred-intellect) that pull humans from all sides, crush, agitate, and wear them out—with only Śuddha-Buddhi (Pure Intellect/Prajñā) providing correct guidance because it has no color. The chapter demonstrates through vivid metaphors that desires have an intoxication making the mind Matta, with continuous genesis and destruction of Saṅkalpas and Vikalpas (Decisions and Options) requiring intellect's control through Saṁyama (Perseverance)—establishing that real Mano-nāśa (Mental Control) means not destroying the mind's Sṛjana Śakti (Creation Power) but controlling it while keeping it alive, with the intellect making decisions and the mind acting upon them. The ultimate teaching integrates the Yoga Sutras' five mind states: (1) Mūḍha Mana (Foolish Mind—tamasic laziness, sleep, carelessness, anger), (2) Kṣipta Mana (Desirous Mind—rajasic worldly involvement), (3) Vikṣipta Mana (Split Mind—swinging between worldly work and worship), (4) Ekāgra Mana (Concentrated Mind—sattvic dharma interest), and (5) Aruddha Mana (Emancipated Mind—all decisions/options peaceful)—with human purpose being the transformation from Mūḍha to Aruddha through the two weapons of Saṁyama (Control) and Abhyāsa (Practice), used like an ankusha controlling an elephant. The Kathopanishad chariot metaphor brilliantly establishes the hierarchy: senses are horses, mind is chariot, intellect is reins, soul is rider—with the Gita's teaching that Indriyāṇi (Sense Organs), mind, and intellect are respectively the abodes of desires that cover the living spirit's knowledge and seduce it. The chapter demonstrates that when senses wander unobstructed, the mind follows automatically, making both sides powerful while weakening intellect's side, causing intellect to follow senses and the soul-rider to fall—but when mind comes under intellect's control and doesn't follow senses, intellect's side becomes powerful, forcing senses to move according to intellect's commands, making the entire life conduct favorable to the soul-rider who reaches the destination. The transformative distinction between Indriya Nigraha (Obstructing Senses—temporary, like fasting or silence vows, logical but potentially causing flare-ups when total obstruction makes mind forceful) and Indriya Saṁyama (Controlling Senses/Restraint—permanent life method, like moderate diet or observed silence, developing natural detachment through practice) reveals that while obstruction is logical, restraint is permanent—with both sharing the same technique (practice) and the same tool (ankusha/check on senses), but restraint proving more appropriate and successful because when obstruction becomes natural, it assumes restraint's form. The chapter concludes with the tortoise metaphor from the Gita: just as a tortoise sensing danger constricts all organs into its shell, one should shut sensory organs whenever they try to dwell into their subjects—establishing that senses should function normally, but where indulgence danger comes, intellect should immediately stop them, with this becoming natural constituting Indriya Saṁyama or Indriya Niyamana (Mental Control). The ultimate wisdom positions restraint as receiving considerable help from Śraddhā (Faith) and Bhakti (Devotion), with faith, devotion, and firmness together destroying all desires, while Prāṇāyāma (Meditation) and Dhyāna serve as useful means for achieving restraint. The transformation requires recognizing that the mind is faster than air (Manaḥ śīghrataram vāyoḥ), 42 continuously burning in desires' fire like an intoxicated elephant, not listening until it receives a blow (like a widow realizing her mistake only when pregnant)—making the restrained person Sthira-Matiḥ (Controlled Thought) and Sthita-Prajña (Controlled Intellect) immune to all negative emotions' corruption. The chapter establishes equability and firmness as the commanders of positive emotions, with the firm mind being Dhṛṣṭadyumna (flag-bearer of Pandava-like positive tendencies), and the simple-minded person being a saint while the firm-intellect person being a Mahātmā (Great Soul)—positioning mental control not as mind destruction but as intellect-guided restraint where the mind's creation power remains alive but controlled, making the soul-rider reach the destination through the hierarchical control: intellect controls mind, mind controls senses, and both are controlled by intellect, with practice from the beginning making senses naturally detached from subjects through the technique that is the same for both obstruction and restraint—Abhyāsa (Practice). 43 CHAPTER 16: MERCY AND COMPASSION (Dayā/Karuṇā) Introduction: The Foundation of Virtue After Sthiratā (Equability) and Dṛḍhatā (Firmness), among the Sajātīya Vṛttis (Positive Emotions), Dayā (Compassion) and Karuṇā (Mercy) have been considered most important. Karuṇā has been compared to Dharma itself. "Da da da iti dayam" means: "Da" signifies control of senses, donation of wealth, and mercy toward living beings. It has also been said: Dayā dharma ka mool hai, paap mool abhimaan. English Translation: "Mercy is the root of Dharma; Pride is the root of sin." This means that Dayā and Karuṇā are the foundation of positive emotions, just as ego is the foundation of all negative emotions. However, in this Mahabharata of the inner self, the battle of Dayā is not with ego but with Krodha (Anger) and Hiṃsā (Violence). Karuṇā and Dayā suppress Anger and Violence. Under the tendency of Anger and Violence, a being attempts to harm other beings, animals, persons, and objects, whereas under Dayā and Karuṇā, one attempts to protect them or serve their welfare. Generally, humans become sad themselves upon seeing the suffering of other humans and beings. Although wicked humans can be exceptions to this. Dayā and Karuṇā are such simple emotions that they arise naturally even toward animals and inanimate objects. When Ṛṣi Vālmīki saw one bird of a Krauncha couple pierced by an arrow, he became overwhelmed with compassion and cursed the hunter: Mā niṣāda pratiṣṭhāṃ tvamagamaḥ śāśvatīḥ samāḥ. Yat krauñca mithunād ekam avadhīḥ kāma mohitam. English Translation: "O hunter of the uniting couple of swan-birds, I curse you that you will become ill- famed forever to come." This shloka that suddenly emerged from his mouth became the cause of his fame. He realized his capability and created the great epic Ramayana. The point is that the feeling of Karuṇā transformed a Duṣṭa Durdamya (Dreaded Dacoit) Vālmīki into a great Ṛṣi and immortal creator. The feeling of being affected by others' troubles and sorrows and attempting their resolution is called Karuṇā. Human character and positivity are measured based on compassion. A person's civility in society is also expressed through their behavior with other beings. Those actions of humans that make other beings happy are called Satkarma (Good Works), and those actions that make other beings sad are called Duṣkarma (Bad Works). Therefore, it is said that the one who saves has more right than the one who kills. Siddhārtha was the son of King Śuddhodhana of the Vaiśālī kingdom. From childhood, he was imbued with compassion. His brother Devadatta had a violent tendency. A swan wounded by Devadatta while hunting fell near Siddhārtha. Siddhārtha compassionately treated it. Devadatta claimed ownership over it, and Gautama claimed his. The matter went to King Śuddhodhana, and he decided in favor of Siddhārtha. He said that the swan belongs to the one to whose side it goes after being released. And upon release, the swan flew straight to Siddhārtha. This very victory of compassion became the cause of Siddhārtha's elevation, and he became famous as Gautama Buddha and became the founder of non-violent Buddhism. 44 The Nature and Origin of Compassion From these examples, the nature and form of Karuṇā and Dayā can be understood, as well as their creation and importance. Karuṇā is a Natural Instinct of the human mind whose birth happens in sympathy arising from suffering. This feeling of belongingness toward someone's trouble or sorrow gives humans sensitivity toward that person's or being's troubles or sorrows and inspires them to attempt their resolution. God is known by names like Dayālu (Merciful), Kṛpālu (Compassionate), Dayānidhi (Treasure of Mercy), Kṛpānidhi (Treasure of Compassion) because He is an ocean of mercy and compassion for living beings. Therefore, the person who is imbued with compassion for living beings is called a Sant (Saint) and is considered like God. There is not much special difference between Karuṇā and Dayā, but this much can be said: Karuṇā is a natural feeling existing toward trouble or sorrow, whereas Dayā can be shown even toward the wicked and criminals. God also showed Dayā to Satan when He gave him respite until Judgment Day. Under Dayā, humans forgive the wicked and criminals and do not punish them, but under Karuṇā, they contemplate and attempt the welfare of all beings. Still, generally, Dayā is a synonym of Karuṇā. Karuṇā makes the mind anxious but ultimately also satisfies it. Upon seeing someone's trouble, one first becomes troubled oneself, but if by helping in their trouble it is removed, then self-satisfaction, contentment, and happiness occur. Kṛpā (Favor) and Anugraha (Patronage/Support) are also feelings similar to Karuṇā. But in Kṛpā and Anugraha, first, the ego feeling ("I") remains hidden, and second, they arise in reciprocal form. Kṛpā is obtained by doing service, and Anugraha by devotion. But to obtain Karuṇā, no reciprocation is necessary. For example, God is generally compassionate toward living beings, but His special favor and patronage remain upon His devotees and servants. Upon seeing the poverty of His friend Sudāmā, Śrī Kṛṣṇa became so passionate that He began to cry. Upon hearing the distressed call of devotees, He manifested Himself and resolved their troubles. Karuṇā is a pleasing feeling toward the suffering and troubles of living beings and inspires serving their welfare. Therefore, it has been considered the greatest Dharma, and violence the greatest Adharma: Parahit saris dharma nahin bhai. Par pida sam nahin adhamai. English Translation: "There is no better faith/duty than piety. There is no better dereliction of faith/duty than cruelty." The Difference Between Karuṇā and Ahiṃsā The difference between Karuṇā and Ahiṃsā (Non-Violence) is that non-violence is compassion in practice. That is, the person who keeps compassion in the heart becomes a worshipper of non-violence. Under the feeling of compassion toward all beings, not committing any kind of violence "in thought, word, or deed" is called Ahiṃsā. In Jain, Buddhist, Hindu, and several other religions, great emphasis has been placed on non-violence. The monks of these religions always remain effort-oriented so that no being or even object receives suffering from any of their conduct, thoughts, or behavior. According to these religions, non-violence is the principal dharma: Ahiṃsā paramo dharmaḥ (Non-Violence is the Highest Duty). 45 One form of Karuṇā also manifests in Prema (Love) and Vātsalya (Maternal Love). Under love for living beings, humans protect them, nurture them. The sorrow that happens from separation of the beloved also contains some portion of Karuṇā hidden within it. The definite knowledge that exists about the beloved person when they are present transforms into doubt when they are distant, and for this very reason, when distant from the beloved person, human emotions toward them become fluid. Under the feeling of Vātsalya, humans nourish their children, instill good values in them. Even upon the slightest doubt of their harm, one becomes sad, and actually upon their harm, one becomes full of compassion. If all behaviors of the animate and inanimate world begin to happen with this same love and maternal affection, this earth will become heaven. When thinking about the beloved, only the beloved is thought of. Not even the slightest wrong can be wished for them. And if this same feeling of maternal affection comes toward all beings, then humans become true saints. Dayā can also be called Parānubhūti (Empathy) or Sahānubhūti (Sympathy). At the root of the feeling of empathy or sympathy lies deep understanding of one's own emotions. If we can understand our own emotions well, then we can also properly understand any other person's circumstantial emotion. Those who remain in doubt about their own emotions, who cannot understand them properly, how will they understand others' emotions? Such people are emotionally deaf, dumb, and blind. When other people tell them about their emotions, they are astonished. But still, they fail to understand them. Not being able to understand one's own and others' emotions is a major deficiency of personality. This deficiency makes humans intolerant and inhumane, and such a person automatically becomes insocial. They can definitely become a good criminal. Understanding others' emotions helps humans become social and gives them access and success in many work areas. Such a person will be a good father/mother or relative, a good friend or colleague, a good lover or husband/wife, and they will definitely be an able manager. The Neuroscience of Empathy People mostly do not express their emotions in words. They are not openly expressed otherwise either because expressing emotions in any way is considered human weakness in society. The demand of mental firmness is that one should not reveal one's emotions to everyone and everywhere. Women generally cannot stop themselves from expressing emotions; therefore, they are considered mentally weaker than men. If a man cannot stop himself from expressing emotions, then he is compared to a woman. Not expressing emotions is considered a sign of masculinity. Although all these notions are confusing thoughts and baseless, they are very prevalent in our society. Some people are so expert in hiding emotions that they neither laugh/smile nor cry/weep. Such stone- hearted people are also praised in society. But these people are actually not mentally comfortable; rather, as we saw above, they are mentally sick. Due to the above notions, even mentally normal people neither speak their emotions nor reveal them otherwise. So if someone wants to understand them, how will they understand? Emotions are generally expressed through Nonverbal Channels. Changing the tone of speech, changing facial expressions, changing body gestures, etc., are methods adopted. Now it will depend on whether the emotions expressed through these mediums can make you understand their emotions or not, on how expert you are in understanding emotions in this way. This very capacity of yours to understand emotions is called Parānubhūti (Empathy) or Sahānubhūti (Sympathy). 46 Women are more capable than men in this capacity of empathy. This is natural and innate. Regular training is given to understand emotions through nonverbal mediums. The person who can understand the expression of emotions through nonverbal mediums becomes more successful in many areas of life. Such people are also more emotionally stable themselves. The capacity of empathy has nothing to do with a person's intellectual/wisdom level. Just as the brain's expression method is oral, the expression method of emotions is non-oral. If the method of knowing the truth of thoughts is oral description, the method of knowing the truth of emotions is non-oral. The feelings of empathy awaken in humans from a very young age. The very first expression of empathy manifests in a newborn baby becoming sad upon seeing another baby crying. This process is the primary expression of empathy. Children consider others' sorrow as their own sorrow. Upon seeing another child crying, they themselves also start crying. Initially, the child does Motor Mimicry of emotions. They don't know what the cause of someone else's emotions being hurt is and how to resolve it. Like upon seeing their mother crying, the child also starts crying. This motor mimicry is the first expression of empathy. The original Greek word for Empathy is Empathia, which means "feeling into"—that is, perceiving someone's subjective experience. Titchener's Theory is that the generation of empathy happens due to the physical proximity of two sad people. This feeling is different from the feeling of sympathy, whose realization happens upon seeing others' generally bad condition. In this, the experience of another's sorrow does not awaken in the person themselves. Motor mimicry ends in children at the age of two to five years. Then they realize that their sorrow/pain is separate from others' sorrow/pain. The more work done to remove others' sorrow/pain, the more the feeling of empathy will grow. Mental Attunement is that process through which two people become familiar with each other's emotions. Such intimate moments and the exchange of emotions in them increase this attunement gradually. Like a mother's love establishes complete attunement with the child, and the mother understands their emotions without speaking. Similarly, in youth, the closest form of this attunement appears in making/having love. While making love, humans see the emotions of the other person (lover/beloved), see their mental state, understand their needs and desires, and attempt to mold their own desires, needs, and emotions according to them. Gradually, both begin to understand each other completely, and then both's attunement transforms into love at both physical and mental levels. Making love in its ultimate form is the supreme example of empathy. The Neuroscience of Empathy and Mirror Neurons Actually, the construction of any person's emotions happens as a result of various kinds of proximities they experience throughout life. If in childhood someone did not receive love or sympathy from parents or relatives and friends, then that child will remain deprived of the emotions of happiness, love, sorrow, empathy, and sympathy, and later will not succeed in understanding them. In this matter, the human brain works like a mirror. If it has had to bear emotional alienation or torture, then becoming emotionless, it can also become a criminal. Besides this, if a child has had to go through emotional excesses like repeated beating/hitting, scolding, etc., then upon growing up, their emotions cannot remain normal, influenced by those excesses, and they can also commit emotional excesses themselves. 47 That child becomes sensitive to small matters, and their emotions flare up. According to Lesley Brothers, California Institute of Technology, the Amygdala and the Visual Cortex area connected to it transmit and realize the feeling of empathy. Some neurons of the Visual Cortex pulsate only when they see some distorted condition of the face generated from fear, danger, etc. Other neurons see and sense only the normal condition of the face. Those neurons of the Visual Cortex that are related to emotions and their understanding and expression have the deepest and maximum contact with the Amygdala. Through experiments, it has been seen that those husbands/wives whose Emotional Physiology is similar to each other develop deep empathy toward each other and understand each other better. Therefore, for good marriage relationships, Emotional Matching is necessary. During excesses of negative emotions like anger or jealousy, empathy in humans completely ends; therefore, at such times, remaining in front of each other is not appropriate. When anger or jealousy becomes calm, then again the feeling of empathy can arise and spread. The tendency of empathy is not intense but calm, and therefore no physical or mental harm can happen with it. The tendency of empathy inspires humans to become ideal. They want to become the best example of humanity. Due to empathy (Karuṇā) toward a sad person, they will attempt to end the cause of sorrow. They will become angry at the person causing sorrow (Empathetic Anger). What makes others or the general public sad will also make us sad and will also inspire us to give them justice. The empathetic/sympathetic person becomes a Guardian of Justice just as Śrī Kṛṣṇa became in the Mahabharata war. So the more you develop empathy, the more you will be inspired by ideals and will do publicly useful or socially useful work. The person who always remains inspired by ideals is called an Altruist because their feeling of empathy/sympathy is at its extreme. The Utility and Importance of Karuṇā After understanding the form and generation of Karuṇā and Dayā, we will mention its utility and importance. Compassion and Mercy are very useful emotions. On one hand, they are the cause of the welfare of living beings and protect their interests, and on the other hand, they are also creditable to the one showing mercy and compassion and earn them respect. In social life, the spread of compassion is necessary because under this feeling, sympathy is created between one another, and people become complementary to each other. In these relationships of people lies the foundation of society. Upon seeing someone angry, either fear will arise in beings or anger and hatred toward the angry person. But upon seeing the merciful and compassionate, only the feeling of respect and faith toward them arises. Therefore, where there is mercy and compassion, there is faith and devotion. Only Rāma can be the object of the general public's faith and devotion, never Rāvaṇa. In this sense, our faith and devotion toward God also depend on His compassion shown toward living beings. The second utility of Karuṇā is that it is a supreme weapon for victory over violence and anger. The power of non-violence works where violence has become excessive. Upon its arrival, even a dreaded dacoit like Vālmīki becomes a Ṛṣi, and even a person with violent mentality like Aṅgulimāla undergoes a change of heart. After killing his ninety-nine brothers to obtain power, Aśoka sacrifices lakhs of soldiers to conquer the Kaliṅga kingdom. 48 But at this extreme of violence, when he enters the Kaliṅga kingdom, he obtains only the rule of hatred there. Feeling the void in his heart, he goes to the shelter of Ācārya Upagupta. Upagupta makes him understand that kingdoms can be conquered through violence, wealth can be obtained, but hearts cannot be won. After understanding this, Aśoka became a worshipper of non-violence. A flood of compassion overflowed in him, and he became so busy in public welfare that later he was known as "Aśoka the Great" and was considered the ruler of hearts. So in victory over anger and violence, only compassion and mercy succeed, no other positive emotion. When Karuṇā Becomes Unuseful Now the question arises: Can compassion also be unuseful? The answer is: even a good thing can have non-utility. First, the excess of this same compassion is the generator of discord like attachment. Actually, wicked people have been using the rule of creation "excesses are always bad" for serving their interests since infinite past. In almost all religions prevalent in India, emphasis has been placed on the feeling of tolerance and non- violence. And due to this very non-violence, the feeling of hopelessness has settled in Indians. Although non-violence can be the greatest dharma, the blind followers of non-violence are often bound in the chains of slavery. Perhaps due to this very non-violence, India often had to bear the stigma of defeat and slavery to barbarian invaders. Second, compassion also has contradictions with many worldly work methods for society. Due to these, no saint can become worldly and succeed, and no successful worldly person can become a saint. The feeling of compassion teaches forgiveness even to the wicked and criminals. But if the wicked and criminals are forgiven, then neither will they receive punishment for their crimes, nor will society obtain freedom from them. Therefore, Dayā and Karuṇā, such fundamental sattvic emotions, oppose the best social principle of justice. The benevolent emotions like compassion and mercy oppose a socially justified principle of justice. Therefore, every criminal, instead of repenting for their crime, cries, begs, asks for forgiveness, and wants mercy. Humans also occasionally show compassion to the wicked and criminals and forgive them, but this causes people to stop having faith in law. God also forgives the wicked. He showed mercy even to Satan and gave him respite until Judgment Day. But due to this very thing, Satan could establish his empire on earth. If God had instantly done his justice, humans would not have had to suffer unnecessarily. It is said that on Judgment Day, God will do everyone's justice, but until then, the rule of tortures will remain on earth. The pot of sin does burst one day when filled, but until it fills and bursts, these sins harm society. Compassion also has contradiction with courage and bravery. If you show compassion to the enemy and show compassion toward the tiger when falling before it, then perhaps you will not survive. In fighting the enemy, only valor, courage, and bravery work. The compassion shown toward them is called cowardice and is inexcusable. Special necessity also stands opposed to compassion. In the army, a handicapped person cannot be recruited merely due to compassion. A human bound by rules, laws, and duties also cannot show compassion. If the executioner shows compassion to criminals, who will hang them? And if the police show compassion and release criminals, who will catch them? 49 When King Hariścandra was appointed as a Cāṇḍāla at Daśāśvamedha Ghāṭ, for bearing his fixed duty, he had his queen Śaivyā tear a piece of shroud from his own dead son. If he had shown compassion, how would duty have been fulfilled? Even in business, keeping compassion is not possible because business is done for profit, and compassion opposes the profit motive because it teaches thinking of others' profit. Under master-devotion, even the violence of dogs is justified, and due to this very quality, they have some respect in society. Even between the eater and the eatable, compassion is not possible. Perhaps therefore it has been said: if the horse befriends the grass, what will it eat? When compassion becomes the cause of negative emotions like attachment, then also it is unuseful. That is, even the best quality gets destroyed by bad company. Wicked people take advantage of this very thing and, by mixing the greed of fame, attachment of the beloved, and sorrow of separation, etc., into compassion, corrupt this pure feeling. Compassion shown toward the enemy, criminal, wicked, and other evil-doers is also useless; therefore, avoid it as far as possible. If in the Mahābhārata, Śrī Kṛṣṇa had not taught Arjuna this lesson of the Gītā, then the victory of truth would not have been possible there. Where courage and power are necessary and justice is possible through their use, showing compassion there can make justice unsuccessful. The Proper Application of Karuṇā But definitely keep the feeling of mercy in the mind for general living beings and always contemplate and attempt their welfare. Bear your duties with solemn resolve and also follow social rules firmly. But in behavior with criminals, wicked, etc., do not hate them; rather, attempt with your full capability to reform them. Never show compassion inspired by obtaining fame. Among compassions also, the best compassion is that in which there is no involvement or desire for fruit. Compassion done at the proper time is like rain at the proper time—nectar-like—and compassion done at improper time is like rain after the crop has dried—useless and harmful. Therefore, take steps for compassion only after seeing the proper recipient and proper time. CHAPTER 16: CONCEPT SUMMARY The core of this chapter establishes Dayā (Compassion) and Karuṇā (Mercy) as the foundational positive emotions (Sajātīya Vṛttis) that serve as the root of Dharma itself—with the teaching "Dayā dharma ka mool hai, paap mool abhimaan" (Mercy is the root of Dharma; Pride is the root of sin)—positioning compassion and mercy as the foundation of all positive emotions just as ego is the foundation of all negative emotions. The author reveals that in the Mahabharata of the inner self, Dayā's battle is not with ego but with Krodha (Anger) and Hiṃsā (Violence), with compassion and mercy suppressing anger and violence by attempting to protect and serve welfare rather than harm. The central thesis demonstrates through transformative examples that compassion possesses the power to convert dreaded dacoits into great sages—with Ṛṣi Vālmīki cursing the hunter who killed one bird of a Krauncha couple, this spontaneous shloka becoming the cause of his fame and inspiring the creation of the Ramayana epic, transforming a Duṣṭa Durdamya (Dreaded Dacoit) into an immortal creator. Similarly, Siddhārtha's compassionate treatment of a wounded swan (claimed by his violent brother Devadatta) led to King Śuddhodhana's judgment that the swan belongs to the one it flies to after release—with the swan 50 flying to Siddhārtha, this victory of compassion becoming the cause of his elevation as Gautama Buddha and founder of non-violent Buddhism. The ultimate teaching distinguishes between Karuṇā (natural feeling existing toward trouble/sorrow) and Dayā (mercy that can be shown even toward the wicked and criminals, as God showed Satan respite until Judgment Day), while establishing that Ahiṃsā (Non-Violence) is compassion in practice—with Jain, Buddhist, and Hindu religions emphasizing Ahiṃsā paramo dharmaḥ (Non-Violence is the Highest Duty). The chapter reveals compassion's manifestation in Prema (Love) and Vātsalya (Maternal Love), with the teaching that if all behaviors of the animate and inanimate world happen with this same love and maternal affection, this earth will become heaven. The neuroscience of empathy reveals that Parānubhūti (Empathy) and Sahānubhūti (Sympathy) require deep understanding of one's own emotions as foundation—with those unable to understand their own emotions becoming emotionally deaf, dumb, and blind, making them intolerant, inhumane, and insocial (potentially good criminals). The chapter establishes that emotions are expressed through Nonverbal Channels (tone changes, facial expressions, body gestures), with women more capable than men in this empathy capacity due to natural and innate abilities. Lesley Brothers' California Institute of Technology research reveals that the Amygdala and Visual Cortex area transmit and realize empathy, with some neurons pulsating only when seeing distorted facial conditions from fear/danger while others sense normal conditions—establishing that Emotional Matching is necessary for good marriage relationships since couples with similar Emotional Physiology develop deeper empathy. The transformative insight reveals that empathy awakens from very young age through Motor Mimicry (newborn babies crying upon seeing another baby cry), with Titchener's Theory explaining empathy generation through physical proximity of two sad people. The chapter establishes that the human brain works like a Mirror—with childhood emotional alienation or torture creating emotionless criminals, while emotional excesses (repeated beating/scolding) create adults whose emotions flare up at small matters. The teaching that empathy completely ends during negative emotion excesses (anger, jealousy) explains why remaining together during such times is inappropriate, with empathy returning only after emotions calm. The utility of Karuṇā demonstrates through Aśoka's transformation: after killing ninety-nine brothers and sacrificing lakhs of soldiers to conquer Kaliṅga, he obtained only the Rule of Hatred, but upon Ācārya Upagupta teaching that "kingdoms can be conquered through violence, wealth can be obtained, but hearts cannot be won," a Flood of Compassion overflowed in Aśoka, making him so busy in public welfare that he became known as "Aśoka the Great" and Ruler of Hearts—establishing that in victory over anger and violence, only compassion and mercy succeed, no other positive emotion. The chapter concludes with critical warnings about compassion's non-utility: (1) excess compassion generates attachment discord, (2) blind non-violence followers often become bound in slavery chains (India's defeat to barbarian invaders), (3) compassion opposes the socially justified principle of justice (criminals cry/beg/ask forgiveness instead of repenting, causing people to stop having faith in law), (4) compassion contradicts courage and bravery (showing compassion to enemy/tiger means not surviving), (5) compassion opposes profit motive in business, (6) compassion between eater and eatable is impossible ("if the horse befriends the grass, what will it eat?"), and (7) God's mercy to Satan (respite until Judgment Day) enabled Satan's empire on earth, making humans suffer unnecessarily until the pot of sin bursts. The ultimate wisdom: the best compassion contains no involvement or desire for fruit, is shown at proper time to proper recipient (like rain at proper time being nectar-like while rain after crop dries being useless/harmful), with the teaching to maintain mercy in mind for general living beings while bearing duties with solemn resolve, following social rules firmly, not hating criminals/wicked but attempting their reform with full capability, never showing compassion inspired by obtaining fame—making compassion simultaneously humanity's greatest virtue and most dangerous weakness when misapplied, requiring the 51 discrimination to know that where courage and power are necessary and justice is possible through their use, showing compassion can make justice unsuccessful, as Śrī Kṛṣṇa taught Arjuna in the Gītā to enable truth's victory in the Mahābhārata war. 52 CHAPTER 17: DIFFIDENCE, MODESTY, AND REPENTANCE (Saṅkoca/Lajjā/Glāni) Pages 100-104 Introduction: The Internal Controls Now we will describe the various forms of one such great warrior among the Sajātīya Vṛttis (Positive Emotions) who acts as Medicine to Prevent and Cure the Vijātīya Vṛttis (Negative Emotions). The various forms of this great warrior are named Saṅkoca (Shyness/Diffidence), Lajjā (Modesty), and Glāni (Repentance). In the Bible's narration of Adam and Eve's incident, when both of them, coming under Satan Iblis's temptation, ate the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil in the Garden of Eden, the first thing they realized was their nakedness. Under this realization, they felt diffidence in coming before the Lord and hid behind a tree. When the Lord did not see them, He understood what had happened. The Lord called them, but even then, due to modesty, they did not come out from behind the tree. The Lord gave them clothes, and when they came out, He asked them about eating the fruit. Then Adam and Eve realized that they had done a wrong deed. Now they felt repentance for this mistake of theirs. From this example, it is clear that when humans obtain the knowledge of good and evil, their mind becomes Conflicted. They begin to feel diffidence in doing bad deeds. While doing bad deeds, they feel modesty or shame. And after bad deeds are executed under compulsion or unknowingly, they feel repentance or remorse. The feeling of repentance after bad deeds happen prevents humans from doing bad deeds. This very feeling or knowledge of humans is called Antarātmā kī Āvāz (Voice of Subconscious) in Hindi, Zamīr in Urdu, and Conscience in English. According to the Bible, when Adam and Eve felt repentance for their mistake, they asked the Lord for forgiveness and requested mercy. The Lord told them that they would always receive guidance. Whoever walks according to the Lord's guidance will be righteous, and whoever does not follow it will be unrighteous. This very guidance of the Lord reaches humans in the form of Zamīr or Voice of Subconscious. When the human mind has been inspired toward bad deeds, their conscience—their wisdom—has stopped them from doing those bad deeds. But my great villain Satan is also not less. He has also tempted humans, enticed them, and misled them toward doing bad deeds. Therefore, this struggle of good and evil in the human mind is not only ancient but also eternal. The poet of today, Mirza Ghalib, has expressed this struggle in a very beautiful form through this couplet: Īmān mujhe roke hai jo khīnche hai mujhe kufr. Kaaba mere pīchhe hai to kalīsā mere āge. English Translation: "Dharma stops me on one hand and Adharma pulls on the other; Kaba is behind me and church is in front." This is the subject matter of this book Manmath. The Nature of Diffidence (Saṅkoca) 53 Now we will describe these three positive emotions one by one. First, we will describe Saṅkoca (Diffidence). Saṅkoca is the revolt of our conscience against bad deeds. There are many external controls against evil, but all of them together cannot stop it. This internal control of our conscience has saved many from becoming involved in bad deeds. Actually, this very resistance named Saṅkoca has maintained truth and goodness in the world until now, has maintained positive emotions. Otherwise, by now, my great villain Satan and his negative emotions would have taken over the entire world. Saṅkoca can be both positive and negative, and in this lies its utility and non-utility. Diffidence shown toward a good deed or object is Negative Diffidence and Unuseful Diffidence, whereas diffidence shown toward bad deeds and objects is Positive Diffidence and Useful Diffidence. People feel diffidence in eating and drinking, in rising and sitting, in walking and moving, and even in speaking. But this is useless and negative diffidence, and it has no utility. In Urdu, Saṅkoca is called Takalluf. About this useless negative diffidence, Zauq Saheb said: Ai Zauq takalluf mein hai taklīf sarāsar. Nādān hain vo insān jo takalluf kiyā karte. English Translation: "Zauq says that there is trouble in hesitation. Therefore, those who hesitate are ignorant." Zauq Saheb's statement is absolutely correct, but only for Negative Diffidence, which is wasted and is also unuseful. But the Positive Diffidence is the sign of humanity; therefore, Zauq Saheb immediately said another couplet: Mānā ki takalluf mein hai taklīf sarāsar. Insān vo kyā hai jo takalluf nahīn karte. English Translation: "It is true that there is trouble in hesitation. But they are not humans who have no hesitation." This positive emotion of the human inner self that stops them from disrespecting elders, stops them from begging, stops them from putting unnecessary burden on someone, and stops them from committing sin—how useful it is, everyone can understand. Positive diffidence is the sign of Zahīnat (Good Behavior) and Bhalamansāhat (Good Nature), and preserving it is humanity's duty. Although negative diffidence is unuseful, it only causes loss to the diffident person themselves. Besharmī (Shamelessness) and Dhṛṣṭatā (Disrespect) harm the entire society; therefore, they are worse than even negative diffidence. Therefore, abandon disrespect, try to stop negative diffidence through effort, and encourage positive diffidence through praise. Actually, the cause of diffidence is that Soch (Mindset) in which there is this Āśaṅkā (Risk) that the deed we are going to do—will it not cause insult, will it not make us a joke, will it not be unpleasant to someone, will it not be harmful, will it not cause sorrow, or will it not be considered improper? Such thinking definitely stops humans from bad deeds and is therefore necessary. But there is a rule of creation that Ati Sarvatr Varjate (Excess is Always Bad), and due to this rule, the excess of diffidence or sensitivity is also harmful. My great villain Satan defeats even positive emotions through their excess. The downfall of the charitable Karṇa became possible due to his very charity. Maryādā Puruṣottama Rāma also abandoned Vaidehī on a washerman's accusation due to His very over-sensitivity. Therefore, avoid the excess of diffidence also. The Nature of Modesty (Lajjā) 54 After diffidence, now we will describe Lajjā or Śarma (Modesty). In the Ramayana, Rāvaṇa placed an indecent proposal before Sītā and also compelled her to accept it. But Vaidehī, taking the shelter of a blade of grass, only said this to him: Tṛṇa dhari oṭa kahai Vaidehī, Adhama nillaja lāja nahīn toī. English Translation: "Taking the shelter of a blade of grass, Sita said: O lowly one, shameless Ravana, are you not ashamed?" On one hand, there is Rāvaṇa who places even an indecent proposal with shamelessness and compels her to accept it, and on the other hand, there is Vaidehī who, even while calling him lowly and shameless, does not abandon the conduct of her character and, having no other option, makes even a blade of grass the symbol of that conduct. Lajjā or Śarma is the name of that feeling of the mind that surrounds humans while doing a bad deed. Diffidence is the resistance before doing a bad deed, but modesty is the resistance while performing an act. Due to this very modesty, people do not do bad deeds openly, and most misdeeds are done in darkness or in solitude. Even when caught, due to this very modesty, humans avoid accepting or confessing bad deeds and make excuses and try to justify them by giving many explanations. Modesty is also both positive and negative, and in this lies its utility and non-utility. Modesty shown toward good deeds and unnecessary modesty is Negative Modesty, which is unuseful, whereas modesty that comes while doing bad deeds is Positive Modesty, which is quite useful. The veil system prevalent among women in society is an example of unnecessary modesty and is negative. It is said that modesty is a woman's ornament: Lajjā nāryasya bhūṣaṇam. But this is a Half Truth. Modesty is positive only as long as it stops a woman from disrespect and adultery. If a woman is adulterous even while veiling, then her veil is useless. And if she is virtuous even without maintaining a veil, then her being unveiled is also praiseworthy. Many poets have written verses in praise of women's modesty and shyness, but only the modesty of innocence is a woman's ornament. Everyone sacrifices themselves on that. According to Shafi Saheb: Kyā yahī śarma hai, tere bholepan pe main nisār. Munh pe donon hāth rakh lene se pardā ho gayā. English Translation: "If this is shame, then I fall for your simplicity; If by putting both hands on face you can veil yourself." If someone, making eye contact themselves, says "Don't look this way or you'll become blind," then this would be called a strange modesty indeed. According to Bekhud Saheb: Ye śokhī hai naī, śarma duniyā se nirālī hai. Milā kar ānkh kehte hain, idhar dekhe to andhā ho jāe. English Translation: "This shame and smartness is out of the world; After eyeing me she tells that you get blind as you saw me." If the ornament of modesty is made into a weapon, it can prove very deadly. Because the killing capacity of this weapon cannot be easily understood. But this is actually deceit. According to Yas Changezi Saheb: Tirachnaon se miltā hai surāg bātin kā. Chāl par to zālim kī sādagī barastī hai. English Translation: "By the movement of eyes I am getting clue of smartness; Otherwise the gait of her is full of simplicity." 55 Diffidence and modesty are generally found in the inner self of those people whose values are good. And the construction of values happens on the basis of social environment and beliefs from childhood to youth and even afterward. In the family and society of thieves, theft is not considered bad, and therefore thieves have no diffidence or modesty about theft. But those who are virtuous and live in the society of the virtuous find even the name of theft like a stigma. In the society of crows, no crow will feel shame about its black color, but if even one black spot comes on a swan living in the society of swans, it will be buried in shame. The difference in the Codes of Conduct of saints and wicked makes them saints or wicked. Diffidence and modesty also arise from this very code of conduct. Those whose values are sattvic have soft and generous feelings of mind, and they feel diffidence and modesty even in doing and thinking bad things. But those whose values are bad have cruel feelings of mind, their hearts become hard, and their inner soul (conscience) dies. Such humans do not feel even the slightest shame in doing the worst deeds. Therefore, immersing the soul in good values is the key of success. Actually, even wicked persons avoid accepting their wickedness and sins due to social modesty. Just as the heron, while hunting fish, stands on one leg pretending to be meditating. Such wicked people have been given the designation of Bagulā-Bhakta (Heron-Devotee) or Safedposh (White-Clothed). These are the real flag-bearers of wickedness or negativity. They not only pretend modesty and diffidence but also eliminate faith and devotion toward saints and virtuous people in the general public. They create a facade of positive emotions and commit treachery within their very army. Just as Rāvaṇa had Mārīcha create the illusion of a golden deer to send Rāma-Lakṣmaṇa away from Sītā, and later, wearing the guise of a saint, abducted Sītā. The Nature of Repentance (Glāni) Now I will describe the third form of this positive emotion, Glāni (Shame) or Paścātāpa (Repentance). After doing or having done a bad deed, when humans realize their mistake, a feeling of repentance manifests in their mind, and a feeling of regret for the wrong deed sprouts. This very feeling is called Glāni, and it causes heart transformation in humans. Upon its arrival, the human soul begins to hate bad deeds and abandons them. Considering themselves guilty for the wrong deed that has happened, humans also perform penance for it. One can escape from modesty and shame by hiding the face, but when repentance strikes, humans cannot escape from it in any way. When repentance grips even the most formidable flag-bearers of Satan, they abandon misdeeds and begin to do vocal repentance, and Satan has to immediately withdraw his shadow from them. Therefore, repentance is the Ultimate Weapon of positive emotions. This weapon always succeeds and cannot be cut. Therefore, it is an Invincible Weapon. Even wicked people fear this positive emotion so much that wherever repentance comes, they retreat. The day Satan is caught by repentance, that day the final victory of positive emotions will happen, and this mental conflict of mine will end, perhaps forever. But such a day can only be Judgment Day because according to the Bible and Quran, on that very day, God will do everyone's justice, including Satan's. Repentance differs from diffidence and modesty in two ways. Diffidence and modesty are emotions before doing a deed or while doing it, whereas repentance comes after bad deeds have happened. Second, 56 diffidence and modesty are gifts of social fabric, whereas repentance is a feeling from within humans themselves. Therefore, diffidence and modesty can be pretended, but repentance can only be real. Repentance cannot be pretended. Repentance is the pure water that cleanses the dirtiness of the inner self. Upon the arrival of repentance, humans do not try to hide their sins, do not maintain diffidence and shame about them; rather, they fully accept them and feel light by describing them. The confession of crimes by criminals is the ultimate expression of this very repentance. Therefore, in repentance, there are no feelings of concealment or hiding like diffidence or modesty. Among positive emotions, repentance is the purest expression, which even God Himself accepts from the heart. This is because in repentance, there is the foundation of humans' true and real reformation. Such reformation that remains forever. Repentance is the realization of one's faults and the acceptance of one's sins and the attempt at their penance, and from this, the illness of the conscience is treated. Therefore, it is such a sacred feeling that even the worst human filled with it becomes acceptable to God. Because repentance is the feeling of true and pure remorse, pretending it is not possible. After becoming involved in bad deeds, humans can either be detached from them through fear or they themselves become free from them through repentance. The fear of punishment, the fear of excommunication, the fear of hell, the fear of torture, the fear of disease—many such fears have always saved humans from misdeeds. But all these are external prohibitions that stop humans from misdeeds but do not kill their lust for bad deeds. But the weapon of repentance eliminates this very lust. Repentance does not happen from the punishment of bad deeds. Punishment only generates fear. Repentance itself generates hatred toward bad deeds. Therefore, it is the most successful and permanent means of obtaining redressal from them. Therefore, feel repentance for your bad deeds and become liberation-oriented. CHAPTER 17: CONCEPT SUMMARY The core of this chapter establishes Saṅkoca (Diffidence), Lajjā (Modesty), and Glāni (Repentance) as the ultimate internal controls serving as Medicine to Prevent and Cure the Vijātīya Vṛttis (Negative Emotions), revealing through the Biblical narrative of Adam and Eve that when humans obtain knowledge of good and evil, their mind becomes Conflicted—feeling diffidence before bad deeds, modesty while performing them, and repentance afterward—with this progression constituting the Antarātmā kī Āvāz (Voice of Subconscious/Conscience/Zamīr) that provides divine guidance distinguishing the righteous from the unrighteous. The author positions this eternal struggle through Mirza Ghalib's couplet: "Īmān mujhe roke hai jo khīnche hai mujhe kufr / Kaaba mere pīchhe hai to kalīsā mere āge" (Dharma stops me on one hand and Adharma pulls on the other; Kaba is behind me and church is in front)—establishing this as the subject matter of the entire Manmath manuscript. The central thesis distinguishes between Positive Diffidence (resistance against bad deeds/objects—useful, sign of Zahīnat (Good Behavior) and Bhalamansāhat (Good Nature), humanity's duty to preserve) and Negative Diffidence (hesitation toward good deeds or unnecessary hesitation in eating/drinking/rising/sitting/walking/speaking—unuseful, causing only self-loss)—with Zauq's paradoxical couplets revealing that while "there is trouble in hesitation" making hesitant people "ignorant," simultaneously "they are not humans who have no hesitation," establishing that positive diffidence's internal control has maintained truth, goodness, and positive emotions in the world, preventing Satan's complete takeover. The chapter warns that Besharmī (Shamelessness) and Dhṛṣṭatā (Disrespect) harm entire 57 society worse than negative diffidence, while acknowledging Satan's strategy of defeating positive emotions through their excess—with Karṇa's downfall through excessive charity and Maryādā Puruṣottama Rāma's abandonment of Vaidehī due to over-sensitivity demonstrating the rule Ati Sarvatr Varjate (Excess is Always Bad). The ultimate teaching on Lajjā (Modesty) reveals through Sītā's response to Rāvaṇa's indecent proposal—taking shelter of a blade of grass while calling him "lowly, shameless"—that true modesty maintains character conduct even when no other option exists, distinguishing between Positive Modesty (resistance while performing bad deeds, preventing open misconduct, forcing darkness/solitude for misdeeds) and Negative Modesty (unnecessary hesitation toward good deeds, exemplified by women's veil system). The chapter dismantles the Half Truth that "Lajjā nāryasya bhūṣaṇam" (Modesty is woman's ornament), establishing that modesty is positive only when stopping disrespect and adultery—with veiled adulteresses having useless veils while unveiled virtuous women being praiseworthy, and only Modesty of Innocence being true ornament. The teaching warns against modesty weaponized through deceit, with Bekhud's couplet revealing the "strange modesty" of making eye contact while saying "don't look or you'll become blind," and Yas Changezi's observation that "by eye movements I get clue of smartness / Otherwise her gait is full of simplicity"—establishing that Bagulā-Bhakta (Heron-Devotee) and Safedposh (White-Clothed) wicked people pretend modesty while eliminating public faith in saints, creating positive emotion facades while committing treachery within their army, just as Rāvaṇa used Mārīcha's golden deer illusion and saint's guise to abduct Sītā. The transformative revelation positions Glāni (Repentance) as the Ultimate Weapon and Invincible Weapon of positive emotions—the only weapon Satan's formidable flag-bearers fear, causing them to retreat and abandon misdeeds through Vocal Repentance when gripped by it, making Satan immediately withdraw his shadow. The chapter establishes repentance's supremacy through critical distinctions: (1) diffidence and modesty are Social Fabric gifts (can be pretended) while repentance is Internal Feeling (cannot be pretended, only real), (2) diffidence/modesty involve concealment/hiding while repentance involves full acceptance and description for feeling light, (3) diffidence/modesty are External Prohibitions stopping misdeeds but not killing Lust for bad deeds, while repentance Eliminates the Lust Itself by generating Hatred toward bad deeds (not merely Fear from punishment), making it the Most Successful and Permanent Means of obtaining Redressal. The chapter concludes with the profound recognition that repentance is Pure Water Cleansing Inner Self's Dirtiness, the Purest Expression among positive emotions that even God accepts from the heart because it contains the foundation of True and Real Reformation that remains forever—treating the Illness of Conscience through realization of faults, acceptance of sins, and penance attempts. The ultimate wisdom: criminals' Confession is repentance's ultimate expression, with the day Satan is caught by repentance being Judgment Day when God will do everyone's justice (including Satan's), ending the eternal mental conflict forever. The transformation requires recognizing that diffidence and modesty arise from Codes of Conduct and Values (sattvic values creating soft/generous feelings with diffidence/modesty even in thinking bad, while bad values creating cruel feelings, hard hearts, and dead conscience/zamīr making worst deeds shameless)—making immersion in good values the Key of Success, with the teaching to feel repentance for bad deeds and become Liberation-Oriented (Mokṣagāmī), understanding that while fear-based external prohibitions (punishment, excommunication, hell, torture, disease) save humans from misdeeds, only repentance's internal weapon eliminates the lust itself by generating hatred toward bad deeds, making it the supreme medicine preventing and curing negative emotions through the progression: diffidence (before deed) → modesty (while performing) → repentance (after deed)—with repentance alone causing Heart Transformation where the soul begins to hate and abandon bad deeds, making humans acceptable to God through this sacred feeling that cannot be faked. 58 CHAPTER 18: PRUDENCE AND DETACHMENT (Viveka/Vairāgya) Pages 105-109 Introduction: The Path to Liberation Now we will describe one more pair of Sajātīya Vṛttis (Positive Emotions) and great warriors: Viveka (Prudence) and Vairāgya (Detachment). Upon the arrival of Viveka, Vairāgya immediately comes, and upon the arrival of both, humans not only become free from Satan's clutches but also attain Mokṣa (Liberation). Actually, Viveka and Vairāgya are the very means of attaining Mokṣa. These come only with victory over negative emotions. Viveka means the capacity to recognize Sat (Truth) from Asat (Untruth). Asat is that which is Nāśavān (Perishable) and therefore actually unattainable. Sat is that which is always present, which can never be destroyed. Asat continuously flows; no one can catch it. And Sat is eternal; whoever obtains it can never be separated from it. Therefore, it is said in the Gita: Nāsato vidyate bhāvaḥ, nābhāvo vidyate sataḥ. English Translation: "What is untrue is non-existent and hence not available. But what is true is ever existing and always available." The Delusion of Worldly Pleasures Worldly humans remain engaged day and night only in Bhoga (Enjoyment) and Saṅgraha (Collection), give importance only to them, consider their progress only in the attainment of worldly pleasures. They sing great praises of worldly objects. For the enjoyment of pleasures, they perform mantra-tantra, do havan, worship, and practice penance. But all these worldly objects and pleasures are Kṣaṇabhaṅgura (Fragile/Momentary); they do not understand this matter. Daily, age is diminishing, time is passing, the body is becoming gripped by disease and old age, the senses are diminishing—they do not understand this matter either. Even after seeing scenes of troubles and death all around, they do not obtain knowledge. Because they have become blind while trapped in the net of Moha-Māyā (Attachment-Illusion). Even after being trapped in this net of attachment, they never feel Śarminda (Ashamed) because they are Avivekī (Unwise). It is said in the Gita: Ye hi saṁsparśajā bhogā duḥkhayonaya eva te. Ādyantavantaḥ kaunteya na teṣu ramate budhaḥ. English Translation: "All the pleasures of subjects of sensory organs are reasons of pain; A man with wisdom therefore does not fall victim thereof." And also: Viṣayendriyasaṁyogād yad agre'mṛtopamam. Pariṇāme viṣamiva tat sukhaṁ rājasaṁ smṛtam. English Translation: "All the pleasures achieved by dwelling into subjects of sensory organs are like nectar while you are enjoying them but their ultimate results are like that of poison; such pleasures are thus called 'Rajas'." 59 Raja Bhartrihari's Wisdom Therefore, Raja Bhartrihari wrote in Vairāgya Śataka: Bhogā na bhuktā vayameva bhuktāḥ, Tapo na taptaṁ vayameva taptāḥ. Kālo na yāto vayameva yātāḥ, Tṛṣṇā na jīrṇā vayameva jīrṇāḥ. English Translation: "It's only a false belief of a man that he enjoyed pleasures, In reality the pleasures only engulf the enjoyer; Man falsely believes that he had good time enjoying them, But in reality man wastes his life in enjoying them." Therefore, coming out from the attraction of these worldly desires is necessary. This very knowledge is true Viveka. That sorrow will definitely come as the result of pleasure enjoyment is an Eternal Truth. Because as the result of pleasure enjoyment, human power diminishes and the enjoyable object is destroyed. This is a Permanent Rule of this creation. The union of senses and subjects begins like nectar but ends like poison. Worldly pleasures and their enjoyment have therefore been given the designation of Asat. Until now, we have seen one aspect of Viveka, which is the renunciation of Asat (worldly pleasures). The second aspect of Viveka is the Search for Sat. But there is no need to search for Sat because after the renunciation of Asat, whatever remains is Sat itself. Therefore, in the renunciation of Asat lies the search for Sat. Knowledge also happens of Asat only, not of Sat. To know the reality of Asat—that is, its Uselessness—is Viveka itself. Through this Viveka, detachment from Asat happens and the veil of Māyā is removed from the eyes. The attainment of Sat is Inbuilt in the Detachment from Asat and renunciation. In the world, the power and greatness of Asat have been accepted, which is only an imagination. It has no solid foundation. Therefore, the renunciation of Asat is actually not difficult. Although it has been considered difficult. Only this much has to be experienced: that Asat is perishable and ultimately the cause of sorrow; therefore, its power or greatness is not real. How can the power of that Asat which is continuously changing and perishable be real? When a person has firm belief that this entire world is like a dream—unreal but still giving only sorrow and sorrow—then understand that they have obtained Viveka. Due to this very Viveka, Jesus Christ clearly saw the uselessness of all temptations shown by Satan and did not fall into them. When the veil of Asat is removed, Sat begins to appear clearly. Sat is eternal, continuous, all-pervading, pure, and blissful in form. That very Sat-Cit-Ānanda is the Creator God of this creation. The Challenge of Renunciation The renunciation of Asat, while not actually difficult, appears impossible. The reason for this is that from enjoying Asat, Āsakti (Indulgence) in it happens. This very indulgence becomes the cause of Asat's slavery. Humans become slaves of Asat and do not have the capacity to renounce Asat. Therefore, it is said in the Gita that those who are wise do not revel in the pleasures of the union of senses and subjects. Therefore, to achieve Viveka, it is necessary to make this firm determination that I do not have to enjoy Asat at all. Only a person of firm determination can renounce Asat. A person of unstable intellect can never renounce Asat. They understand the necessity of renouncing Asat but cannot renounce Asat. They cannot obtain true Viveka. Therefore, firmness is the only path to obtaining Viveka. 60 Through knowledge, the Purposelessness of Asat comes into understanding, but the renunciation of Asat is not possible through knowledge. The renunciation of Asat can happen only by Bearing Detachment Firmly. And this Vairāgya is generally grasped through Practice. In the human mind flows a river named Āśā (Hope). In it flows the Water of Desire—desires and cravings. This river remains filled with the crocodiles of Rāga-Anurāga (Attachment-Affection). In it, birds of Tarka- Vitarka (Logic-Illogic) swim and hover. One wave of it uproots many trees of patience. In it are many whirlpools of Māyā, Moha, and ignorance that pull humans down to the abyss. In it, there is sorrow and only sorrow all around. Only those are capable of crossing it who have achieved Viveka and Vairāgya, who have renounced this Asat. Merely doing virtuous deeds does not achieve Vairāgya. Viveka is also not obtained from it, because as the result of virtuous deeds also, only physical means, sensory pleasures, etc., are obtained, which are perishable and ultimately become the cause of sorrow. The Nature of True Detachment These worldly pleasures are going to be left in any case. Until now, no being has been able to take them along after death. But by leaving them in this way, humans do not become free from them. Only when leaving them through Strong Determination does a person obtain the bliss of Sat. This very renunciation of Asat through firm determination has been given the name Vairāgya. Raja Bhartrihari lived a complete life. The first half of his life passed in royal power and the enjoyment of countless worldly pleasures, based on whose experiences he wrote two texts: Śṛṅgāra Śataka and Nīti Śataka. But when Queen Piṅgalā's Immorality was revealed, his attachment to worldly pleasures immediately broke, and he adopted Vairāgya. Based on the experiences of his ascetic life, he wrote another text named Vairāgya Śataka. The Conclusion of All Experiences was also this: that hunger or thirst for any object, no matter how many times you enjoy it, does not become peaceful. Rather, it flares up even more. Therefore, there is never satisfaction in worldly pleasures and luxuries. Not paying attention to the soul situated in the body and remaining engaged only in physical satisfaction is sheer foolishness. Permanent satisfaction lies only in renouncing this Asat and adopting Vairāgya. Blessed are those people who, seeing the Fragility of Worldly/Materialistic Gains, become detached from them. He wrote in Vairāgya Śataka: Na sukhaṁ devarājasya na sukhaṁ cakravartinaḥ. Yat sukham vītarāgasya munerekāntaśīlinaḥ. English Translation: "Neither there is any pleasure in becoming king of devas, nor in becoming a chakravartin. The real pleasure is only in becoming detached and isolated from such pleasures." This very matter has been said in a very powerful way in this Marwari couplet: Na sukh kaji panditaan na sukh bhoop bhayan. Sukh sahjaan hi aavasi trishna rog gayan. English Translation: "Neither there is any pleasure in becoming knowledgeable or a judge, nor in becoming a king. Pleasure comes automatically once we leave desire." Two Types of Vairāgya 61 Raja Bhartrihari obtained Vairāgya due to the Viveka obtained from the realization of Non-Satiation from worldly pleasures and knowledge of their Perishability. But sometimes Vairāgya awakens suddenly in the mind. Gautama Buddha's Vairāgya was completely different from Raja Bhartrihari's Vairāgya. They never had Attachment with Worldly Pleasures. They were Ascetic from birth. Their father made many efforts to Tie in Knots of Worldly Bounds, but they had naturally obtained knowledge of Asat; therefore, they never fell into the bonds of Māyā-Moha. One day suddenly, they left son, wife, and kingdom—all three—and became ascetic and became famous by the names Śākya Muni and Gautama Buddha. Actually, whenever anyone has an Encounter with Death in any form, they have a temporary realization of the world's Purposelessness, which is known by the name Crematorial Detachment. But Māyā and Moha keep such a veil over their intellect that humans immediately forget this Vairāgya. But when this Vairāgya manifests not as Mild Detachment but as Intense Detachment, then humans do not return. Intense Vairāgya is like that warrior who, assuming a Horrific Form, suddenly jumps and takes breath only after winning the war. Such an ascetic has the same anxiety for the attainment of Sat that a mother has for her child. In their mind, there is only one stubbornness of liberation, Mokṣa, and the attainment of God. They never think that first let me see worldly arrangements, enjoy all pleasures, then I will attempt to attain God. Actually, no one can adopt renunciation by preparing in this way. One cannot walk barefoot on a field filled with thorny bushes. To walk on it, either the entire field has to be covered or the feet and body have to be covered. Covering the entire field is not always possible; rather, wearing shoes on the feet is definitely possible. Similarly, if one has to avoid countless desires, then either all desires should have Complete Satiation or all should be renounced. But complete satiation of desires is impossible; therefore, renouncing desires through Viveka and detachment is appropriate. Putting a Blinder on both eyes of a horse makes it walk on a straight path. Similarly, only by putting the blinder of Viveka and Vairāgya on the tendencies of the human mind can humans walk on the right path. Viveka and Vairāgya are like that Alum which, when stirred in water, makes all the dirt settle down and the water becomes clean. Viveka and Vairāgya also purify humans by distancing them from Attachment with Pleasures. When attachment goes, Vairāgya comes automatically. How beautifully it has been said: Chah chuhadi Ramdas sab nichon mein nich. Tu to keval brahm tha chah na hoti bich. English Translation: "Ramdas says that desire is the lowest of the rats; Man was himself the brahm, if desire wouldn't have been there." Chah gayi chinta miti manuva beparwah. Jinko kachu na chahiye so jag shahanshah. English Translation: "Once the desire is gone, the mind becomes relaxed; One who doesn't want anything is the king of the world." The Meaning and Path of Viveka and Vairāgya 62 We have understood the meaning of Viveka and Vairāgya, understood the path of their attainment, and seen their types. We have seen that upon the destruction of honor and respect, upon the loss of wealth and prosperity, upon the death or separation of relatives and friends, and upon the passing of youth, the sorrow arising and the realization of the Perishability of Worldly Pleasures causes Vairāgya to sprout in humans. We give such Vairāgya the designation of Mild Detachment. Sometimes Vairāgya also comes suddenly due to some special bitter experience. We give this the designation of Intense Detachment. Intense Vairāgya sometimes also comes from inspiration given by Guru and God. But in all these types of Vairāgya, the realization of the world's Purposelessness is the main element. Therefore, the purpose of all these is one, and that is the renunciation of Asat and the attainment of Sat. Once someone obtains knowledge of Asat, then they can no longer remain a Flag Bearer of the Devil. Before them, Satan bows down. This is actually the utility of Viveka and Vairāgya. Upon their arrival, the Mahabharata of the human inner self ends because their inner self becomes filled with the light of Sat-Cit- Ānanda. This is like the attainment of Mokṣa, which a person obtains while still living. For the attainment of Mokṣa, dying is not necessary. What is necessary is for their soul to become free from worldly bonds, which is possible only through Vairāgya. And the attainment of Mokṣa has been described in the Gita as the supreme benefit. With whose attainment, the desire for any other benefit does not remain. Yalabdhvā cāparaṁ lābhaṁ manyate nādhikaṁ tataḥ. Yasminsthito na duḥkhena guruṇāpi vicālyate. English Translation: "Receiving that benefit after receiving which no desire of benefit is left; Man than reaches to a state in which he is not affected by any displeasure." Vairāgya as the Greatest Penance In the Gita, Vairāgya has been described as the greatest penance: Tapasāmapi sarveṣāṁ vairāgyaṁ paramaṁ tapaḥ. English Translation: "Detachment is the biggest of the penances." This is because in Vairāgya there is no desire-filled feeling. Sorrow and Fear Generated Detachment is not best because it is not true Vairāgya and can also be momentary. Upon the end of the causes of sorrow and fear, it can also be destroyed. Compared to this, Prudence Induced Detachment is better because in it the Evil of Desire is destroyed. Because this very desire or craving is the cause of sorrow; therefore, with freedom from it, humans obtain real bliss. Even better than this is Vairāgya happening from practice. By stabilizing the mind in God through devotional practice, the renunciation of worldly pleasures happens naturally. If the mind has reveled in God, then it will not go to worldly pleasures; therefore, in such Vairāgya, there is no need to renounce subjects with effort. In this, the inner self becomes pure through devotion and worship; therefore, no Negativity sticks to it. Through devotion, even the Supreme Soul is obtained. And for one who has obtained the Supreme Soul, what is Vairāgya? The Vairāgya that comes with the attainment of the Supreme Soul is Extraordinary Detachment. Therefore, the mixture of devotion in Vairāgya is the best means of reaching God. 63 The Non-Utility of Vairāgya We have seen the utility, types, and means of attainment of Viveka and Vairāgya. We have also understood their importance. Now we will see whether there is any non-utility of these tendencies among positive emotions. If seen individually, there is only utility and utility. But if all individuals adopt Vairāgya, then the Materialistic Power of all objects of this world will end. There will be neither wealth nor grain, neither fame nor honor, neither sin nor virtue. The existence of Kāma, Krodha, Lobha, Moha, Mada-Matsara, and Ahaṅkāra will become difficult to save. Then the utility of the creation of this vast creation will also not remain. And perhaps to avoid this very situation, the Lord created Satan to play His game and gave him a period until Judgment Day. For this very reason, the Lord created Māyā, created Moha. In this very veil of Māyā and Moha, the Asat objects appear as Sat, and what is Sat is not visible at all. This is the non-utility of Vairāgya and Viveka: that upon their arrival, no worldly pleasure has any essence. The utility of this entire world is on one side, and Viveka and Vairāgya on the other side, and the second scale is still heavier. So you recognize Sat, renounce Asat, adopt Viveka and Vairāgya, and obtain the experience of Sat-Cit-Ānanda and attain God, attain Mokṣa. After this, you will not have to bear the suffering of rebirth, re-death, and sleeping again in the mother's womb. Otherwise, it is just this: Punarapi jananaṁ punarapi maraṇam. Punarapi jananījathare śayanam. English Translation: "Rebirth after death many times. Suffering pains of remaining in mother's womb many times." CHAPTER 18: CONCEPT SUMMARY The core of this chapter establishes Viveka (Prudence) and Vairāgya (Detachment) as the ultimate positive emotions (Sajātīya Vṛttis) that serve as the very means of attaining Mokṣa (Liberation), revealing that upon Viveka's arrival, Vairāgya immediately follows, and together they free humans from Satan's clutches while granting liberation—with Viveka defined as the capacity to recognize Sat (eternal, never destroyed, always present) from Asat (perishable, continuously flowing, unattainable), establishing through the Gita's teaching "Nāsato vidyate bhāvaḥ, nābhāvo vidyate sataḥ" that what is untrue is non-existent and unavailable while what is true is ever existing and always available. The central thesis demonstrates through Raja Bhartrihari's Vairāgya Śataka that worldly pleasures engulf the enjoyer rather than being enjoyed, with humans falsely believing they had good time enjoying them while actually wasting their lives—establishing the Eternal Truth that sorrow will definitely come as pleasure enjoyment's result because human power diminishes and the enjoyable object is destroyed, making the union of senses and subjects begin like nectar but end like poison (as the Gita teaches: pleasures from sensory organs' subjects are like nectar while enjoying but ultimate results are like poison, thus called 'Rajas'). The chapter reveals that knowledge of Asat's Uselessness constitutes Viveka itself, with the search for Sat being Inbuilt in the Detachment from Asat since after Asat's renunciation, whatever remains is Sat itself—making knowledge happen of Asat only, not of Sat. The ultimate teaching distinguishes between Mild Detachment (arising from honor/respect destruction, wealth/prosperity loss, relatives/friends death/separation, youth passing—temporary Crematorial Detachment from death encounters that Māyā-Moha's veil makes humans immediately forget) and Intense Detachment (sudden manifestation like a warrior assuming Horrific Form, jumping and taking breath only 64 after winning war, with anxiety for Sat's attainment equal to mother's anxiety for child, stubbornness only for liberation/Mokṣa/God's attainment without thinking "first let me see worldly arrangements, enjoy all pleasures, then attempt God"). The chapter establishes through Gautama Buddha's example (ascetic from birth, naturally obtained Asat knowledge, never fell into Māyā-Moha bonds, suddenly left son/wife/kingdom to become Śākya Muni) that true Vairāgya differs fundamentally from Raja Bhartrihari's Vairāgya (obtained from Non-Satiation realization and Perishability knowledge after living complete life's first half in royal power and countless worldly pleasures, writing Śṛṅgāra Śataka and Nīti Śataka, then adopting Vairāgya when Queen Piṅgalā's Immorality revealed, writing Vairāgya Śataka based on ascetic life experiences). The transformative insight reveals that Asat renunciation, while not actually difficult, appears impossible because enjoying Asat creates Āsakti (Indulgence) causing Asat's slavery—making Strong Determination the only path since unstable intellect persons understand Asat renunciation's necessity but cannot renounce it, with knowledge bringing Asat's Purposelessness into understanding but Asat renunciation possible only by Bearing Detachment Firmly through Practice. The chapter employs powerful metaphors: the River of Hope (Āśā) flowing with Water of Desire (desires/cravings), filled with Rāga-Anurāga (Attachment-Affection) crocodiles, Tarka-Vitarka (Logic-Illogic) birds swimming/hovering, waves uprooting patience trees, Māyā/Moha/ignorance whirlpools pulling humans to abyss—crossable only by those achieving Viveka and Vairāgya; the Blinder on horse eyes making straight path walking (similarly Viveka-Vairāgya blinder on mind tendencies enabling right path); the Alum stirred in water settling all dirt and cleaning water (similarly Viveka-Vairāgya purifying humans by distancing from Attachment with Pleasures). The three types of Vairāgya reveal: (1) Sorrow and Fear Generated Detachment (not best, not true Vairāgya, momentary, destroyed when sorrow/fear causes end), (2) Prudence Induced Detachment (better, destroys Evil of Desire which causes sorrow, grants real bliss with freedom), and (3) Devotion- Practice Vairāgya (best, stabilizing mind in God through devotional practice makes worldly pleasures renunciation natural, mind reveling in God won't go to worldly pleasures, no effort-based subject renunciation needed, inner self becomes pure through devotion/worship making Negativity unable to stick, Supreme Soul obtained through devotion, Vairāgya with Supreme Soul attainment being Extraordinary Detachment, devotion mixture in Vairāgya being best means of reaching God). The chapter concludes with the profound recognition that Mokṣa attainment (described in Gita as supreme benefit where no other benefit desire remains, state where no displeasure affects) requires not dying but soul becoming free from worldly bonds (possible only through Vairāgya), with the Gita teaching "Tapasāmapi sarveṣāṁ vairāgyaṁ paramaṁ tapaḥ" (Detachment is biggest of penances) because Vairāgya contains no desire-filled feeling. The ultimate wisdom addresses Vairāgya's non-utility: if all individuals adopt Vairāgya, Materialistic Power of all world objects will end (no wealth/grain, no fame/honor, no sin/virtue, Kāma/Krodha/Lobha/Moha/Mada-Matsara/Ahaṅkāra existence difficult to save, vast creation's utility ending)—perhaps why Lord created Satan to play His game with period until Judgment Day, creating Māyā and Moha whose veil makes Asat objects appear as Sat while Sat becomes invisible. The transformation requires recognizing that worldly pleasures leave in any case (no being has taken them after death), but leaving them through Strong Determination grants Sat's bliss, with the teaching that complete satiation of countless desires being impossible (covering entire thorny field impossible while wearing shoes definitely possible), making Viveka-Vairāgya adoption through Asat renunciation the path to Sat-Cit-Ānanda experience, God attainment, and Mokṣa—avoiding the suffering of "Punarapi jananaṁ punarapi maraṇam / Punarapi jananījathare śayanam" (Rebirth after death many times / Suffering pains of remaining in mother's womb many times), with the paradox that this entire world's utility is on one side and Viveka-Vairāgya on the other side, yet the second scale is still heavier—making the choice clear: recognize Sat, renounce Asat, adopt Viveka and Vairāgya, obtain Sat-Cit-Ānanda experience, attain God and Mokṣa, ending the Mahabharata of the human inner self as the inner self becomes filled with Sat-Cit-Ānanda's light, with Jesus Christ's resistance to Satan's temptations 65 demonstrating that Viveka clearly reveals all temptations' uselessness, making Satan bow down before those obtaining Asat knowledge who can no longer remain Flag Bearers of the Devil. 66 CHAPTER 19: TRUTH, BELIEF, EFFORT, AND COURAGE (Satya/Viśvāsa/Udyama/Sāhasa) Pages 110-117 Introduction: The Final Warriors In this chapter, we will describe some more Sajātīya Vṛttis (Positive Emotions) such as Satya (Truth), Viśvāsa (Belief), Udyama (Effort), and Sāhasa (Courage), etc. We have seen in the previous chapter that Viveka (Prudence) and Vairāgya (Detachment) can unite humans with God by making them understand Sat and Asat. We have also seen that the secret of attaining Sat lies in the renunciation of Asat. We understand that all worldly pleasures and enjoyments are Nāśavān (Perishable) and ultimately the cause of sorrow, and therefore they are Asat. But still, humans generally believe in hypocrisy and remain surrounded on all sides by hypocrites like themselves. Together they keep concealing reality. Wearing four pieces of cloth, humans think that now they are not naked. But in reality, God created humans naked just like animals. So why are humans so afraid of their nakedness? Why don't they accept it naturally like animals? In the Biblical narrative of Adam and Eve, only after eating the fruit of the Knowledge of Good and Evil did humans become aware of their nakedness and become bound in the bondage of objects. God did not want humans to eat that forbidden fruit because He knew that this would end their freedom and simplicity. But my great Śaitān (Devil) created a conspiracy and Misled Eve, and forced Adam along with her to eat that fruit. And as a result, Adam and Eve were cursed by God and came to earth. So clothes are Subjective Truth, merely a Facade. The truth is that humans are also naked like animals. Humans think that what is visible is truth. We know very well that in this world there also exist many objects that cannot be seen and cannot otherwise be perceived. Those objects are as true as visible objects. If we look from the perspective of science also, only two objects appear Eternal: one is matter or nature, and the other is energy or motion. And matter is transformable into energy and energy into matter. Therefore, both together also manifest only one Eternal Truth. Therefore, it is said: Eko hi sad viprā bahudhā vadanti. English Translation: "God is only one; sages say so." The Nature of Eternal Truth The human body is inert. Its inertness is ended by the soul's presence in it. So what is truth? Body or soul? You understand very well that this body, because it is perishable, cannot be truth. The soul, because it is Ajara (not depreciable), Amara (lives forever), and Cinmaya (enlightened), is therefore truth. Because the soul is truth and there is no duality between soul and Supreme Soul, therefore the only truth described in scriptures is Brahma. He alone is the illuminator and foundation of all. He alone is knowledge- form, He alone is consciousness-form, He alone is bliss-form. In Ramcharitmanas, this matter has been written in a very beautiful form: Jasu satyata te jaḍa māyā, Bhāsa satya iva moha sahāyā. 67 English Translation: "Because of whom maya appears to be truth. He, the creator of maya, is the only truth." The Hidden Light from which both light and darkness are known is the aloof light. That is, light is present even in darkness. As soon as light appears, darkness automatically disappears. The body is not truth; therefore, the Pleasures of Senses connected to it are also untruth. Just as sweetness in a drop is due to sugar, therefore the drop being sweet appears true but is untrue. Physical Truth and Its Importance This was about Eternal Truth. Now I come to physical truth. The Code of Conduct says: "Always speak truth." Due to being truthful, King Yudhiṣṭhira's chariot moved four fingers above the ground. But in the context of Droṇācārya's killing, he was made to speak a half-truth: "Aśvatthāmā hataḥ naro vā kuñjaro vā" (Ashwatthama is killed, whether man or elephant). As soon as this half-truth was spoken, his chariot came down to the ground. Such is the importance of even worldly truth. So understand how great the importance of Eternal Truth must be. The saying goes: "Lies have no legs." This is correct because lies cannot last long. But truth is Dhruva (Still); it is steadfast. We have seen that Dṛḍhatā (Restraint) and Sthiratā (Equability) are very important. But they are useful only as long as they are toward Sat. Steadiness and firmness toward Asat are unuseful. This is actually the utility of truth—that all other positive emotions stand with its support. The truth that is eternal is never unuseful. But physical truth can sometimes be unuseful. When a lie has utility for public welfare or accomplishing ideal work, then truth becomes unuseful and has to be concealed. As happened in the Mahabharata in the context of Droṇācārya's killing. But going too far from truth is never right. Because as soon as one goes away from truth, firmness and steadiness break. All other positive emotions remain only as long as truth remains. Therefore, maintain truth and recognize Eternal Truth. The Nature of Belief (Viśvāsa) After truth, now I will describe Viśvāsa (Belief). Once Goddess Bhagavati asked Lord Mahadeva Śiva: "Lord, what is the principal means of attaining God Saccidānanda?" Then Mahadeva Śiva said: "Belief." The more belief increases, the more knowledge of God's form will increase. If there is no belief, then what is knowing that object? If there is belief, then everything exists; if there is no belief, then nothing exists. This very belief makes a statue into stone and metal into God. This very belief transforms human Capability into Competence. Belief can be separate from Experience. Experience tells that all worldly enjoyments (Asat) are perishable and causes of sorrow. But believing that Sat has no absence anywhere and the Supreme Soul is all- pervading is a matter of belief. Experience happens only from the union of senses and subjects. Whereas belief is a matter of the Innerself. Therefore, belief in one way is Extra Sensory Perception. God is not visible to us. We cannot experience Him through the senses, but still we can have belief in His existence and reality. Now the question is: how do we know this God who is beyond physical knowledge? In the Upaniṣads, a statement comes: Vijñātāram are kena vijānīyāt. 68 English Translation: "One who knows everything, how can he be known?" The answer to this question comes that when the recognition or knowledge of all knowable objects is from Him, then what is knowing Him? The power of seeing by which everything is visible—does it also need to be seen? It exists; therefore everything is visible to us. One will have to believe in it because merely by denying it, it will not become Non-existent. Whether you call it God, Khuda, Brahma, Jīvātmā, Paramātmā, or Sat, it is worthy of belief. In this regard, today's poet Mirza Ghalib says: Sāmne hai jo use log bhulā dete hain. Jisko dekhā hi nahin usko khudā kehte hain. English Translation: "Those who are seen as present are forgotten; But who has never been seen is called God." The Power of Belief Until there is no belief in this supreme power, we will not obtain that supreme benefit upon whose attainment no other desire for attainment remains. Worldly objects are actually unattainable because they are Causes of Desire, not satisfaction. And truth is attainable because it is the cause of complete satisfaction. But until there is no belief in this truth or God, even though present, it cannot be attained by us. God manifests to those who believe. But belief can also be wrong. It can also be unuseful. "All objects are Narayana-form" is an Eternal Truth. But for testing this very statement, a person (Narayana) went near a spoiled elephant (Narayana). But Narayana (elephant) picked up Narayana (human) in its trunk and threw him far away. He argued with his Guru that "I believed in Narayana, but it proved false." The Guru explained to him that his belief that Narayana (elephant) and Narayana (human) are one is a Belief Derived From Lack of Knowledge, therefore not worthy. The soul-element is one in all, but worldly elements are different in both. This very knowledge of Sat and Asat is Viveka (Prudence). Then what kind of belief is that which is tested? Satan told Jesus Christ: "Jump from the temple's pinnacle; your Lord's angels will come and protect you. If they don't, then stop believing in the Lord." But Jesus Christ said: "Why is there need to test the one in whom there is belief?" This very matter expresses the firmness and steadiness of belief. If something is done to test, then where does belief remain? Between belief and blind belief, there is only the difference of knowledge. Believing without knowledge, without prudence, is not only unuseful but also harmful. Always keep this in mind. Keep belief in Sat, not in Asat. Belief placed in Asat comes in the category of Wrong Faith, whose harm the entire world suffers. But believing in Sat (God) and complete surrender obtains that Ultimate Gain beyond which nothing remains. Belief becomes the generator of Confidence. Belief as the Law of Life Belief is the law of life. What is your conception about yourself, what is your conception about life, what is your conception about Brahma—that is your belief. Belief is that thought of your mind that divides the power of your subconscious mind according to your thinking habits in all states of your life. 69 Therefore, belief is not any Ritual, any Ceremony, any Form, any Institution, or any Formula. The belief is simply the thought of your mind. Whatever a person wants with belief, they definitely obtain it: "All things are possible to him that believeth." (Bible MARK 9:23) Therefore, believing in something that is harmful to you is merely foolishness. Because that thing will not harm you as much as that thought or belief will harm you that that thing is harmful. All your experiences, all your works, all the events and circumstances of your life—all are the results of your own thoughts, your own beliefs. You have faith in God. Your belief is that by praying to God, you will obtain that object or achievement you desire. If your belief is firm, then your subconscious mind will transform your thought of obtaining that thing or achievement into reality. This is the power of prayer or desire done with complete faith/belief; this is the science of obtaining that success. Faith Healing Through Belief Imagine that you are suffering from some disease. You think that definitely that disease arose due to that negative thought seated in your subconscious mind that is creating the disorder of fear in your mind. Now if you pray with belief: "O God! Free me from this disease." If you have belief in God, then that support will come in prayer that will remove from your subconscious mind that thought of disease and all fears connected to it. And gradually you will see that the symptoms of that disease are disappearing from your body, and you will become completely healthy. Only this should be properly established in your subconscious mind that prayer has the power that will cure me. This is the disease-resistance capacity of your subconscious mind, the capacity to heal. Only never let this come to mind in prayer that it doesn't have that capacity that it cannot treat you. Don't underestimate the power of prayer; don't let even the slightest doubt about it come to mind. This very thought of your brain increases harmony in both conscious mind and subconscious mind, and this very harmony treats your body's illness. What people know by the name Faith Healing has this very scientific process working behind it. Whatever treatment method is told by any Faith Healer, you have to believe that that Treatment Form will make you completely healthy. This belief will distance you from that fear mentality that has come into your subconscious mind about that disease. And your subconscious mind will gradually start the work of treatment. Due to this very reason, the disease will be cured. Dr. James Braid, who is a psychotherapist in Manchester, England, found in experiments of this belief that individuals' subconscious minds can be Hypnotised by giving suggestions. And when they are in a hypnotized state, the concept of becoming free from disease can be implanted in their subconscious mind, from which gradually that person begins to become healthy. A person's subconscious mind can receive suggestions from its own conscious mind and also from others' conscious or subconscious minds. Only your subconscious mind has to remain ready not to have any Doubt about those suggestions and not to resist those suggestions. Then make the conscious mind also a complete follower of those suggestions like the subconscious mind. The way to attain treatment by faith healing is to stop your subjective and objective both minds from objecting to the suggestions being given by the faith healer's conscious/subconscious minds and to accept them completely. 70 Even if you don't accept someone's suggestions with your conscious mind, still if they control your subconscious mind and give suggestions, you can still be affected if resistance is not being done by the subconscious mind. In this situation, harmony is established between your and the faith healer's Subconscious minds. In this faith healing, your healer's being with you is also not necessary because they can influence your subconscious mind even while remaining distant. In this principle of correlation, time and place have no importance. Because there is also another mind that remains present equally in the entire universe, through whose medium this correlation is established. If you want to give suggestions to your subconscious mind from your Objective or Conscious Mind, it will be better if you do this work a little before sleeping at night so that your subconscious mind continues working on those suggestions even while sleeping. Therefore, it is necessary for sick persons that before sleeping at night, they neither talk about their disease nor think about it or its symptoms. Doing so can make your subconscious mind grasp them and make you even more sick. So how useful belief can be, this matter has now become clear to you. Its creative capacity has also become known to you. The Nature of Effort (Udyama) Through the use of belief, humans can separate Sat from Asat and, through virtuous deeds, can go beyond Asat and attain Sat. According to the Gita, virtuous deeds are those in which there is no ego of doership and no attachment to fruits. Such deeds can be called Divine Deeds. Deeds done for achieving detachment are divine deeds. Deeds done inspired by public welfare and with selfless feeling are known by the name Yajña (Sacrifice). Therefore, there is no Duality between work and detachment; there is also no contradiction. The meaning of detachment is not Inaction but Work Without Expectation of Fruits. Therefore, in the Gita, Śrī Kṛṣṇa said that cultivating the skill of detachment in work is called yoga: Yogaḥ karmasu kauśalam. English Translation: "Yoga is the excellence in Karma." This can also be created through practice, and from this, faith increases. Both in one's own capability and in God's existence. This path of faith is the path of surrender. Both in works and in fruits. This is the Gita's Karma Yoga. After belief, now I come to Udyama (Effort/Industriousness). Udyama means worthy work. King Bhartṛhari, squeezing his own experiences, wrote in his Nīti Śataka: Iha karma vaśātaḥ. English Translation: "In this world, everything is under the control of work." The technique that can attain detachment, the technique that holds steadiness and firmness, is practice through work. The way to achieve Detachment is the way to acquire Equability and Restraint through Work and Practice. Cāṇakya, while explaining the rules of the work method, first said that no work is impossible: Yathā khātvā khanitreṇa, bhūtale vāri vindanti. 71 English Translation: "Whoever digs the Earth ultimately gets water." But works are not accomplished merely by wishing; effort is necessary for them: Pariśrameṇa hi sidhyanti kāryāṇi, na ca manorathaiḥ. English Translation: "Works are accomplished only by consistent efforts, not by sheer desire." In the Gita, Lord Kṛṣṇa also said: Asaṁśaya mahābāho durnigraha manaścalam, Abhyāsena tu kaunteya vairāgyeṇa ca gṛhyate. English Translation: "Though it's very difficult to control the mind, but by Efforts and Practice even Detachment can be achieved." Cāṇakya's Rules of Work Method Cāṇakya's second rule of work method is: Paṇḍitena kāryakurvatā ādau, Guṇavat aguṇavat vā pariṇatiḥ Yatnataḥ avadhāryā. Atirabhasa-kṛtānā karmaṇāṁ vipākaḥ, Avipaṣṭoḥ śalyatulyaḥ hṛdayadāhī bhavati. English Translation: "Before starting a work, intelligents weigh pros and cons of it and examine the possible results. Because works done without examining this give results which pain you for the entire life." Cāṇakya's third rule of work method is: Anavasthita kāryasya na jane sukham na vane sukham. English Translation: "Unorganised works do not either give you success or the pleasure of detachment." Cāṇakya's fourth rule of work method is: Prabhūtaṁ kāryam vā alpam yatnaraḥ kartum icchati. Sarvārambheṇa tatkārya siṁhādeka pracakṣate. English Translation: "Whether a work is small or large, if one decides to do it, then he should do it with full efforts like a lion does its hunt." Cāṇakya's fifth rule of work method is that works should be done at the proper time and in the proper state; otherwise, they give opposite results. Like: Anabhyāse viṣam śāstram, ajīrṇe bhojanam viṣam. Daridrasya viṣam goṣṭhī, vṛdhasya taruṇī viṣam. English Translation: "Without practice, use of weapons is dangerous. Person suffering from indigestion should not eat more. For a poor person, assembly and ceremonies are dangerous, and for an elderly person, a young lady is dangerous as venom." According to his sixth rule of work method: Svayaṁ karma karotyātmā, svayaṁ tatphalam aśnute. Svayaṁ bhramati saṁsāre, svayaṁ tasmād vimucyate. English Translation: "Man does the work himself and reaps the fruits of it also. But if he desires, he can dwell in the world as well as can quit it also." 72 Although humans are completely free to do work and to choose its methods and means. But if before determining all these, they use that divine guidance named Viveka (Prudence), then these works can be fruit-giving. His seventh rule of work method says: Tādṛśī jāyate buddhi, vyavasāyo api tādṛśaḥ. Sahāyāstā dṛśā eva, yādṛśī bhavitavyatā. English Translation: "The thoughts of a man settle according to his work. His works and deeds only decide his profession and also his sacraments and destiny." Therefore, humans should do only good and virtuous works. The Final Rules and the Nature of Courage The final two rules of work method are very important because the Use of Prudence has been established in these very rules. It has been described as God's guidance. If work is done with the use of prudence, it becomes virtuous work, and if prudence is not used, it becomes evil work. All evil works done without prudence bind the being in worldly bonds. Whereas works done with prudence and public welfare become causes of liberation from worldly bonds, and while living in the world, such works increase human fame. The accumulated fruit of virtuous works guided by prudence is obtained by humans in the form of Destiny. Destiny is created from the Accumulation of Karma done in the present, and from the influence of destiny, Circumstances become favourable. This very favourableness of circumstances is given the name Luck (making circumstances favourable). From this very luck, human works become fruitful. After Udyama (Effort/Industriousness), now we will mention Sāhasa (Courage). Udyama and Sāhasa have an intimate relationship. If there is no courage in humans or no capability, then what effort will they make? Therefore, Cāṇakya said: accomplish works courageously like a lion. Courage is also extremely necessary for humans to accept truth and reject untruth. Otherwise, they cannot escape from hypocrisy. Prudence will make them understand Asat, but for the renunciation of Asat, indomitable courage is necessary. When the entire world considers Asat as Sat and desires only it, then leaving Asat is definitely a matter of courage. Otherwise also, the bonds of worldly enjoyments do not break so easily. Therefore, the path of detachment is the path of extreme courage. Accepting Sat is also a work of courage. Physical truth is so bitter that it passes like a sword. So how will the world let anyone accept Eternal Truth? If a swan wants to live in the society of crows and wants to live like a swan, will the crows let it live easily? This is the trouble of saints and virtuous people, of the truthful. And in this trouble, only courage supports them; only capability supports them. Only through courage can a person become a hero and great hero. In the world, countless fears are spread on all sides. King Bhartṛhari wrote: Bhoge rogabhayaṁ kule cyutibhayaṁ vitte nṛpālād bhayam, Māne dainyabhayaṁ bale ripubhayaṁ rūpe jarāyā bhayam. Śāstre vādabhayaṁ guṇe khalabhayaṁ kāye kṛtāntād bhayam, Sarvavastu bhayānvitam bhuvi nṛṇāṁ śambhoḥ padaṁ nirbhayam. 73 English Translation: "In indulgence there is fear of illness. If one is born with pedigree, there is danger of fall. If one has money, he is afraid of taxes. One who is honoured is afraid of dishonour. One who is powerful is afraid of enemies. Having beauty is afraid of old age. One who is intelligent is afraid of debate. If one is polite, he is afraid of evildoers. Living beings are afraid of death. Hence everybody in this world is afraid of something or the other. The only place where one is free of all the fears is God's abode." Therefore, only through surrender to God is resolution of all kinds of fears possible. Ultimate surrender to God is emancipation from all the Fears. And this surrender is the work of courage. Courage reduces the weakness of mind and gives humans the power to fight those weaknesses. Courage is not built by suppressing weaknesses. Targeting those weaknesses and removing them through Solid Determination is the work of courage. Therefore, courage makes the mind Rid from Fear and also Controls the Desires. This is the utility of courage. The non-utility of courage lies in its transformation into Bad Courage. If the subject of courage is wrong, it transforms into bad courage. Always keep this in mind. Also keep in mind that in the Mahabharata, Abhimanyu, despite being the direct symbol of courage, was killed in the Chakravyuha because he was alone. If other great warriors of the Pandava army had been with him, his courage would definitely have broken the Kauravas' Chakravyuha. Therefore, always keep courage connected with other positive emotions; don't let it become separate. So Viveka-Vairāgya, Sāhasa-Udyama, Dṛḍhatā-Sthiratā—all these are complementary to each other and incomplete without each other. Only by cultivating all these emotions together in the mind can complete success and satisfaction be obtained; Mokṣa can be obtained. This is the key to the success of positive emotions in the war of the Mahabharata of my inner self. CHAPTER 19: CONCEPT SUMMARY The core of this chapter establishes Satya (Truth), Viśvāsa (Belief), Udyama (Effort), and Sāhasa (Courage) as the final positive emotions (Sajātīya Vṛttis) that complete the arsenal for victory in the Mahabharata of the inner self, revealing the fundamental distinction between Eternal Truth (Sat—the soul that is Ajara/not depreciable, Amara/lives forever, Cinmaya/enlightened, with no duality between soul and Supreme Soul, making Brahma the only truth as knowledge-form, consciousness-form, and bliss-form) and Physical Truth (the perishable body and worldly pleasures that are Asat/untruth, with clothes being merely Subjective Truth and Facade concealing humans' natural nakedness like animals). The author positions truth as the foundation upon which all other positive emotions stand, with the teaching that steadiness and firmness toward Sat are useful while those toward Asat are unuseful, establishing through King Yudhiṣṭhira's example that his chariot moved four fingers above ground due to truthfulness but came down upon speaking the half-truth "Aśvatthāmā hataḥ naro vā kuñjaro vā" during Droṇācārya's killing—demonstrating that while physical truth can sometimes be unuseful when lies have utility for public welfare or accomplishing ideal work (as in the Mahabharata), going too far from truth breaks firmness and steadiness since all positive emotions remain only as long as truth remains. The central thesis reveals Viśvāsa (Belief) as the supreme means of attaining God Saccidānanda (as Mahadeva Śiva told Goddess Bhagavati), with belief transforming human Capability into Competence, making statues into stone and metal into God, establishing that "if there is belief, then everything exists; if there is no belief, then nothing exists." The chapter demonstrates through the Upaniṣadic teaching "Vijñātāram are kena vijānīyāt" (One who knows everything, how can he be known?) that the power of seeing by which everything is visible need not itself be seen since it exists making everything visible—requiring belief rather than denial since denying God's existence won't make Him non-existent. The 74 transformative insight distinguishes between Belief Derived From Lack of Knowledge (wrong faith like believing Narayana-elephant and Narayana-human are identical, causing the elephant to throw the human) and Prudence-Based Belief (recognizing soul-element is one in all while worldly elements differ, with Viveka being this knowledge of Sat and Asat), establishing through Jesus Christ's response to Satan's temple-pinnacle test that "why is there need to test the one in whom there is belief?"—making testing destroy belief itself, with only knowledge differentiating belief from blind belief. The ultimate teaching on Belief as the Law of Life reveals it as "simply the thought of your mind that divides the power of your subconscious mind according to your thinking habits in all states of your life," with the Biblical principle "All things are possible to him that believeth" (MARK 9:23) establishing that whatever a person wants with belief, they definitely obtain. The Faith Healing mechanism demonstrates that believing prayer has power to cure disease makes the subconscious mind remove disease-thoughts and fears, with Dr. James Braid's Manchester research proving individuals' subconscious minds can be Hypnotised through suggestions, and the way to attain treatment being "to stop your subjective and objective both minds from objecting to the suggestions being given by the faith healer's conscious/subconscious minds and to accept them completely"—with time and place having no importance since another mind remains present equally in the entire universe through whose medium this correlation is established. The Cāṇakya's Seven Rules of Work Method establish: (1) no work is impossible ("Whoever digs the Earth ultimately gets water"), (2) works are accomplished only by consistent efforts, not sheer desire, (3) intelligents weigh pros and cons before starting since works done without examining give results that pain for entire life, (4) unorganised works give neither success nor detachment pleasure, (5) whether work is small or large, do it with full efforts like a lion does its hunt, (6) works should be done at proper time and state (without practice weapons are dangerous, indigestion requires no eating, poor person finds assemblies dangerous, elderly person finds young lady dangerous as venom), and (7) man does work himself and reaps fruits, can dwell in world or quit it, with thoughts settling according to work, works/deeds deciding profession/sacraments/destiny—making the accumulated fruit of prudence-guided virtuous works obtained as Destiny, with Destiny created from Accumulation of Karma making Circumstances become favourable (this favourableness being Luck), from which human works become fruitful. The chapter concludes with Sāhasa (Courage) as intimately related to Udyama (Effort), establishing that courage is extremely necessary for accepting truth and rejecting untruth (otherwise humans cannot escape hypocrisy), with prudence making humans understand Asat but indomitable courage being necessary for Asat's renunciation—making the path of detachment the path of extreme courage since the entire world considers Asat as Sat and desires only it. The teaching that Courage is not built by suppressing weaknesses but by targeting weaknesses and removing them through Solid Determination reveals courage's dual function: making mind Rid from Fear while Controlling the Desires—with the warning that courage's non-utility lies in transformation into Bad Courage when the subject is wrong, as demonstrated by Abhimanyu being killed in Chakravyuha despite being courage's direct symbol because he was alone without other Pandava warriors. The ultimate wisdom: Viveka-Vairāgya, Sāhasa-Udyama, Dṛḍhatā- Sthiratā are complementary to each other and incomplete without each other, with only cultivating all these emotions together in mind enabling complete success, satisfaction, and Mokṣa—making this the key to positive emotions' success in the Mahabharata war of the inner self. The transformation requires recognizing King Bhartṛhari's teaching that in this world "everything is under the control of work" (Iha karma vaśātaḥ), with the Gita. 75 CHAPTER 20: CONTROL OF EMOTIONS AND EMANCIPATION (Mano Niyantrana/Mukti) Pages 118-129 Introduction: The Nature of Attachment Among the qualities that nature has given—Kāma (Desire), Krodha (Anger), Lobha (Greed), Moha (Attachment), etc.—Moha (Attachment) is the developed form of indulgence. Actually, Māyā itself is called a synonym of Moha. In reality, the entire illusion of Māyā is created through two types of desires/emotions whose names are Rāga (Attachment) and Dveṣa (Animosity). Rāga and Dveṣa are the controllers of all other emotions of the mind. The cause of Rāga is Kṣudhā (Desire). The Rāga of a person suffering from deprivation is Short-Living Attachment. They cannot control themselves. The mind remains restless with desires. Rāga makes them One-Sided. Therefore, the feeling of Apekṣā (Expectation) also enters into it. Expectation is also one-sided. Logic does not work in it. Expectations quickly create rifts in relationships. This rift creates Virāga (Separation). The wider the rift becomes, the less sweetness remains. Rāga begins to flow downward. This same Rāga sometimes also transforms into Dveṣa under the influence of selfishness or anger. Anger is also a natural power-form. It comes naturally, with the environment, with ego and expectation. It does not come upon any particular person. Whoever comes in front and appears weaker than oneself—it comes upon them. A pretext is needed. If not found, sometimes humans even vent anger upon themselves. They don't eat food. They don't do the work that should be done. Ego makes anger powerful. In a tamasic person, Rāga, Krodha, and Kāma—all are impulse-dominant. Moha → Icchā (Desire) → Rāga (Attachment) → Apekṣā (Expectations) → Virāga (Separation) Svārtha (Selfishness) → Krodha (Anger) → Dveṣa (Animosity) Whether ignorance or knowledge—neither is created. They always remain present. As ignorance moves away, knowledge manifests. As knowledge becomes covered by ignorance, the empire of ignorance begins. Kāma, Krodha, and all other emotions remain inside. They awaken upon receiving a pretext. If there is knowledge-equipped behavior, then control can be exercised over them. Ignorance will manifest these emotions with the flow. This will directly harm the person. Suppressing such impulses is also not considered beneficial. Suppressed emotions can become explosive at any time. The emotion that moves upward due to knowledge is the same emotion that descends into desire due to ignorance. The flow of Rāga is very powerful. Today, a person is becoming so insensitive that no sweetness is visible anywhere in behavior. All love appears to be a synonym of selfishness or desire. Then how can their results be pleasant? The greatest attachment a person has is to their own body. A person lives in the body. The mind is the temple where the deity resides. The body is a means. It has been said: "Akhila dharma khalu sādhanam" (All religions suggest managing body and mind). But in today's materialistic thinking, the body has become the subject. Thinking about adorning the body, fashion, eating and drinking, etc., has increased; expenditure has increased. The concept of indulgence and entertainment, enjoyment has increased. The walls of the body are becoming so solid that the world inside it has become hidden forever. It has also been forgotten that the body is the inheritance of seven generations of parents. It travels up to the next seven generations. Where the self came from and sat inside is not known. The body itself has been accepted as existence. 76 Due to this very reason, attachment to offspring is also becoming deeper. Attachment to accessories connected to the body, attachment to comforts and conveniences has increased. Whoever became an obstacle in the path of this attachment, animosity increased with them. Some animosity is also from previous births. That same animosity creates desires in the mind. The body implements them. Mind, Prāṇa, and speech always remain together. The Hierarchy of Control These three connect the person with the external world. The person runs after illusions. Consciousness remains dormant; this is the state of ignorance. The name of attraction is Rāga. Rāga is not love. It appears like love. There is desire in Rāga; there is no give-and-take in love. Rāga happens with both conscious and inert things—such as with wealth. This takes the form of greed and craving. Being distant from the subject or person becomes uncomfortable—such as between mother and offspring. The field of Rāga is the mind. Compared to men, women win more on the level of mind. Therefore, Rāga and Dveṣa are her weapons. Because she spreads the web in both emotions. In one to bind, and in one to torment and trap. Rāga is a major cause of restlessness in the mind. Rāga or Dveṣa work like a decision. Therefore, they continue to influence all decisions of life. Since Rāga depends on the state of mind, to conquer it, understanding the level of mind, the coverings upon it, and the goal of life is of great necessity. All sense organs connect the mind to subjects. Rāga can happen with any subject. When this Rāga reaches from the mind to the body, it takes the form of action. Then the body runs toward the subject. The movement of the mind depends on the impulse of emotions. Sometimes destiny also joins this movement. Then the person's Rāga-Dveṣa becomes completely clear in behavior. The person cannot stop it. Something harmful happens. In the state of meditation, the body becomes separate by becoming relaxed. By regulating breath through Prāṇāyāma, the restlessness of the mind is prevented from reaching the body. Mind and body become separate. The emotions of Rāga-Dveṣa cannot take the form of action. With the support of knowledge, the mind can be connected with love. The awakening of consciousness is possible. Without this, the mind remains in the covering of ignorance. Coverings can be removed by understanding. Then the external subject cannot reach the mind. As soon as consciousness awakens, the mind turns toward bliss. The beginning of detachment happens. Rāga-Dveṣa become untouched. The person becomes established in peace with witness-feeling. The Conscious and Subconscious Mind Psychologists believe that the Conscious Mind is a very small part of the total mind, and a very large part is the Subconscious Mind, which operates our various activities and impulses. Until there is no awakening toward the subconscious mind, there will be no control over our works and impulses. Without becoming alert toward the mind from which our impulses are operated, we cannot have complete control over our mind and body. Many thoughts and values from birth (and from previous births if we believe in rebirth) are filled in the subconscious mind, and many of our actions are such that we don't do them consciously, and after they happen, we wonder or repent: how did this happen? All that happens from the subconscious mind. Therefore, to be truly liberated, it is necessary to reach the subconscious mind. If the body or clothes become even slightly dirty, we immediately clean them using 77 water and soap. Those who have become accustomed to living in a clean environment cannot tolerate even a little dirt. But do we apply this same thing to the dirt of the mind? Do we arrange for cleaning as soon as the mind becomes dirty? Have we become accustomed to keeping a clean mind, or is there no awareness when the mind becomes dirty? If awareness comes, is there any means of cleaning available? Attention to the external cleanliness of the body also comes only when we have become accustomed to living in a clean environment. Those people who have been living in dirt from childhood or are not accustomed to daily bathing, etc., do not become aware of dirt or filth as quickly as a person living in cleanliness becomes aware. A person living in a dirty street and dirty environment does not become aware of the street's dirt as quickly as a person coming from a clean settlement becomes aware of that dirty street. The same thing applies to the dirt of the mind. Until there is no realization of what a healthy and clean mind is, there will not be quick realization of when the mind became dirty and when cleaning is necessary. But once a person becomes acquainted with the sparkle and happiness of a clean mind, they will automatically feel the necessity of keeping the mind clean. In today's environment, considerable emphasis has begun to be placed on external cleanliness, but people have begun to remain in more confusion about internal or spiritual cleanliness. No one talks about the cleanliness of the mind. The problem of the mind presents itself when it becomes quite disturbed and manifests on the body in the form of disease or becomes a psychological problem and reaches the threshold of madness. These are all extreme forms of disturbance. Before reaching this limit, arrangements should be made to keep the mind healthy. Introspection and Self-Knowledge Before talking about the cleanliness of the mind, the question arises: how does the mind become dirty? And how is it known that the mind has become dirty? If a person looks inside even for a moment by removing their gaze from the external environment through Introspection, they will easily find answers to these questions. However, if the habit has been made only of looking outside and no attempt has been made to look inside, then answers to these questions will not be found. Others will also point out external dirt, but one must oneself detect the dirt of the mind. One must oneself measure the filthiness of the mind and oneself clean it. Even in gross form, the Anxiety of the mind is a symptom of the mind's disorder or dirt. When disorder comes to the mind, the mind becomes anxious. When anger came to the mind, the mind will become anxious. The effect of anger is also on the body—heartbeat increases, blood pressure increases, pulsation increases, etc. Anger has an effect of agitation on both body and mind. Similarly, when a person practices deceit or greed, anxiety comes to the mind. However, sometimes we suppress these symptoms, show carelessness, and suppress the anxiety of the mind and the thoughts of the mind. Gradually, we forget to recognize the subtle impulses of the mind. Then, when symptoms manifest in the form of gross disease, it is realized that the mind is also sick, but even at that time, treatment is done of the body instead of the mind. When external medicines cannot do anything, then perhaps the occasion comes to think about making the mind healthy. 78 It is said: "If the mind is healthy, the body is also healthy." But complete attention is not paid to this saying. Rather, more attention is paid to the opposite saying: "A healthy body has a healthy mind." Therefore, special attention is paid to the body, not to the mind. Without paying attention to the thoughts and impulses arising in the mind, all power is spent in obtaining what the body loves. Whatever thing the body's senses like, they do anger, deceit, etc., to obtain or accumulate it, and if opposite thoughts or anxiety also come to the mind from this, they disrespect it. Special attention is paid only to what is dear to the body or the body's senses. By neglecting the mind while enjoying the pleasures of the body's senses, the mind begins to remain anxious or sick, and later the mind's anxiety makes the body sick. The Three Stages of Meditation For example, a man saw a beautiful woman and became infatuated with her. To obtain this happiness of the eyes, he tries again and again. To obtain this further, he tries to bring the woman near him. At that time, even if it is known that she is another's wife, he does not care about social clash or quarrels and also resolves to fight for her. Great wars have also happened behind women. Why all this? Only behind the sensory pleasure of the body. Many examples can be given in which, for the happiness of ears or the taste of tongue, all limits of good and bad have been abandoned and deceit, violence has been used. Amassing wealth is the biggest disease. This matter settles in the human mind that wealth-accumulation is the goal of life; wealth is everything. For this very thing, they do adulteration, wrong weighing, deceit, violence, bribery, smuggling—everything. To obtain father's wealth quickly, the son even murders the father. Quarrels happen between brothers, and they become each other's mortal enemies. All this in the delusion that wealth is everything and all efforts should be made for it. While doing all this, when a person judges between good and bad for the first time, questions arise in the mind and a voice rises in the mind that this is not proper. But this voice is quickly suppressed, and the capacity to judge between proper and improper ends. Then only one's goal comes in front, and paying attention to the propriety of means stops. What layers of dirt are increasing on the mind is not paid attention to. All attention is outside; there is no attempt to look inside. The dirt of the mind will be removed only by looking into the mind. But how can a person who has become so extroverted immediately become introspective? To become introspective, training will also have to be taken. The Practice of Vipaśyanā Psychologists know that the conscious mind is a small part of the entire mind. Most of the mind is subconscious, and we don't even have knowledge of this part. Most actions happen from the orders of the subconscious mind. When we try to remove a mosquito, action happens on the basis of the subconscious mind. The conscious mind doesn't know when the hand rose and began to remove the painful sensation. In the subconscious mind, the values of our years are filled, and many desires are suppressed. When the occasion appears, old values or suppressed desires rise and compel the person so effortlessly that the conscious mind doesn't get time to think or make a decision. 79 Therefore, the treatment of the mind should happen at the level of the subconscious mind. Remaining limited to the conscious mind is not beneficial. Even if we make a decision of proper or improper on the basis of conscious mind or intellect and logic, no difference occurs. The inner values and decisions of the mind become heavy, and until change happens in them, human behavior does not change. Until the matter settles in the mind, the person does not bring it into behavior. To reach the depths of the mind, some path will have to be found. The word Dhyāna (Meditation) is made from the root "dhyṛ cintāyām," whose meaning is to think, but here Dhyāna means concentration of the thought process. According to Patañjali's Yoga Sūtras, remaining in the same form in the object of realization is Dhyāna. The practice of the method of Dhyāna has been prevalent in our society for thousands of years. Sages, saints have always been using it for control over disorders and for the upliftment of the soul. In Dhyāna, either the mind is left free to wander in emptiness, or it is centered somewhere in the present and completely prevented from deviation. Both types of Dhyāna remove mental suffering, obtain peace, obtain satisfaction and spiritual happiness. Dhyāna is one step ahead of the concentrated mind. Concentration is the name of thinking about some object or thought for a short time by leaving other objects or thoughts—such as concentration on studies. Whereas Dhyāna is uninterrupted concentration. Like an unbroken stream of oil. Concentration, Dhyāna, and Samādhi are three states of the same action. All three of these actions have three components. The first component is the subject, the second component is the object, and the third component is the process. The subject is consciousness and self; the object or goal is realization/detachment, and the process is concentration. How much effort will have to be made to obtain this goal of realization depends on how anxious the tendencies of your consciousness are. If obstruction comes in this process of concentration, anxiety is its cause. Removing this anxiety is disciplining the mind. It takes a very long time to control the tendencies of consciousness. But gradually everything becomes disciplined. The Gita says: Asaṁśaya mahābāho mano durnigraha calam. Abhyāsena tu kaunteya vairāgyeṇa ca gṛhyate. English Translation: "O Arjuna, undoubtedly the mind is very difficult to stop from wandering, but through practice, even detachment can be achieved." When the continuity of concentration increases, Dhyāna begins to be applied. And when continuous meditation comes, the state of Samādhi (Super-Consciousness) is obtained. In the state of Samādhi, the person has a direct encounter with the self, or they recognize the soul, and all their anxieties and even tendencies become peaceful. This is the most advanced state of Dhyāna, and this is Buddha's and Mahāvīra's Kevalya Jñāna (Pure Knowledge/Enlightenment). The achievement of the first stage of Dhyāna is the awakening of talent. This is the awakening of both physical and mental talents. At the physical level, this talent means the development of the body's health and capacity. In the mind or intellect, this awakening means the increase of powers like desire, imagination, determination, courage, belief, mental acumen, thinking, etc. At the emotional level also, the awakening of this talent means the increase of positive tendencies like compassion, kindness, devotion, belief, pleasure, donation, charity, etc. The achievements of the second stage of Dhyāna are the awakening and development of parapsychological powers or capacities. These powers are: television, telecommunication, premonition, pastmonition, introspection, parapsychic vision, transcendental meditation, extra-sensory perception. In the third stage of Dhyāna, the seeker 80 obtains enlightenment, pure knowledge, freedom from decision/option, freedom from Rāga-Dveṣa, or emancipation. At this time, their consciousness becomes fully developed, which is the goal of meditation practice. Dhyāna is also called Prekṣā. Prekṣā means to sit deeply and then see or understand. From this, extra-sensory knowledge is obtained. Scientific Research on Meditation Although the use and practice of Dhyāna is very much in our society, research has not been done on the benefits obtained from it. Recently, psychologists at Yale University have done an interesting experiment to know the reason for the benefits obtained by the mind and brain from meditation. In this experiment, the prevalent Functional M.R.I. Technology has been used. This is a type of brain imaging technology in which different centers of the brain are activated with high magnetic power and the biological activities occurring in it are regularly observed/monitored. Through this experiment, Dr. Judson, Dr. A. Bruer, and their other colleagues have proven that meditation puts to sleep those special centers of the brain where self-centered thoughts are born and where these selfish emotions are born and develop. When these parts of the brain remain active, negative emotions such as anxiety, worry, depression, schizophrenia, etc., mental disorders are created. These negative emotion centers of the brain are located in the Medial Prefrontal Cortex and Posterior Cingulate Cortex of the brain. Dr. Bruer and his colleagues found that by meditating, the switch of these dangerous negative emotion centers is turned off and they become inactive. So the deeper meditation experience you have, the more efficiency you acquire in meditation, the more your control over these negative emotions will increase, and the mind will remain that much more peaceful and stable. The consciousness will remain that much more happy. Therefore, your welfare lies in learning and doing meditation. If you take out half an hour daily to become meditative, you can fulfill all the responsibilities of the world by remaining happy-minded throughout the day. This is an infallible prescription that is available free. From meditation, the parts of the brain related to generosity and kindness also become active. It has also been found that from meditation/Samādhi, the hormone Oxytocin, which awakens the mentality of happiness or joy or satisfaction in the brain, is secreted. According to the study of researcher Allen Bogen of Concordia University, the hormone named Oxytocin changes the way people think about themselves and others. This not only increases people's confidence but also increases their capacity for creation and understanding, from which they can face even the most difficult situations in a better way and can obtain good success. This actually removes negativity from human thinking and makes it positive. Oxytocin can be given to humans artificially either through injection or through nasal spray. This shows its effect about an hour and a half later. But from meditation/practice, this is self-secreted; therefore, people who meditate do not need to give this artificially. The following benefits of doing meditation/practice are known: • At Physical Level: This develops the disease-resistance capacity of the body and makes it healthy and disease-free. 81 • At Mental Level: This removes negative tendencies such as stress, fear, worry, guilt, depression, hatred, jealousy, etc., and provides positive mindset, from which one can remain happy and obtain satisfaction. • At Spiritual Level: Dhyāna provides humans with emancipation and realization of soul—such spiritual experiences that are helpful in their spiritual elevation. • At Social Level: Due to the peace, happiness, and satisfaction experienced from this, humans can spend life in a good way. Their mind remains cheerful and behavior becomes praiseworthy. From this, they feel a kind of completeness in themselves. The practice of Dhyāna should be done twice a day. The 20-30 minute Dhyāna done in the morning with sunrise awakens and purifies thoughts and the brain and accumulates life energy for doing work throughout the day. Similarly, the 20-30 minute Dhyāna done in the evening with sunset removes the physical fatigue and mental negativity of the entire day and relaxes the mind, from which good sleep comes at night and both body and mind get proper rest. While meditating, no kind of negativity should be allowed to come into the brain, but if due to restlessness such a thing ever happens, then negativity should be expelled from the body with exhalation, and in its place, some positivity should be received in the body with inhalation. Before beginning Dhyāna, if 2-3 minutes of candle-gazing practice is done in the evening to break the chain of thoughts, it is beneficial. The body and mind should be freed from any kind of stress, and Dhyāna should begin with thinking about divine graces and thanking them, and the consciousness should be kept happy. The Vipaśyanā Method Actually, there are many types of Dhyāna, and any meditation method can be adopted, but there is one method of Dhyāna called Vipaśyanā, in which no word, form, deity, etc., is used to reach the depths of the mind. In this, work happens only on the basis of pure breath. The sensation that happens on the body is known, and only the process of knowing happens. No sensation is considered good or bad. When no sensation is good or bad, there is no question of stopping or removing the sensation. Sensation is being created on the body; this is the dharma of the body, and we are only seeing that process. We are not doing anything in it. We are not imposing anything on it. We are only seeing with neutral feeling what is happening. When with closed eyes, making the body still, doing this same action from the top of the head to the heel, neutral feeling is strengthened; the nature of the mind changes. Until now, the nature of the mind was to desire good things and remove bad things. A good sensation came, so becoming happy, trying again and again to obtain that same sensation; a bad one came, so trying to remove it. But now the mind has become neutral between both and has begun to come into observer's feeling instead of enjoyer's feeling. The second fundamental change that happened is that until now, the body saw and desired those sensations that were of sensory origin. Such as good form, sound, touch, etc. Now the sensation being seen is basically not perceivable. The pulsation or throbbing inside the body, pressure or heaviness, itching or tingling—all this is known through the mind with closed eyes. When the mind becomes concentrated, a check is also placed on the mind's tendency to run and become extroverted. In this way, gradually we reach the depth of the mind, and the values of the mind automatically begin to come on the body in the form of sensation. And they also go out in the form of sensation. Now we begin to see the mind. We begin to know the impulses of the mind. Not at the level of wisdom but at the level of experience. 82 Now we ourselves begin to experience that whenever we become angry, the mind becomes anxious and unpleasant sensation happens on the body. Whenever we do good work or good thoughts come, good sensation happens and the mind feels good. Sensation is not created; it happens by itself. The mind only sees. When a person sees this matter at the level of experience, then why will they do work that makes the mind anxious? Then they will do only that work which makes the mind peaceful or happy. Automatically, change will come in behavior. Now there is no need for preaching because they are themselves seeing what is proper and what is improper. Now they are self-judge, and whatever decision they make will be good. This is the path of human internal change. When change happens inside, external change becomes permanent. When this process is only external, then either it is impermanent or only external decoration. When the means of cleaning the mind is found, then when should it be used? The answer is clear. Just as the body is cleaned both morning and evening, similarly the mind should be cleaned both times. Besides this, when dirt comes, special cleaning of the body is also done; similarly, when some special disorder awakens in the mind, cleaning of the mind is necessary at that very time. When anger awakened in the mind, begin to see it at that very moment. Anger disappears and the mind also becomes clean. For this, there is no restriction of time. Whenever disorder comes, instant cleaning is necessary. If the heap of dirt accumulates, then that much difficulty comes in cleaning it also. As awareness of dirt comes, keep removing it, then new heap will stop coming and old cleaning will begin. If new dirt is coming and is not being cleaned, then the occasion to clean old dirt will not be found. Therefore, stop the inflow of new dirt—that is, place a check—and clean the old, then the mind will become pure. The mind will again come into nature, and dwelling in nature is dharma. By remaining in nature, both mind and body will remain healthy. Being situated in the self is being healthy. The Path to Liberation The mind controls the senses and the body. When the controller itself is confused, what will be the condition of the uncontrolled senses? Just as happens when a bus or vehicle's driver is intoxicated or becomes mad. A person with a split mind is called mad. That is the extreme of the mind's wandering. But even in ordinary form, whoever wanders, from them humans and their senses do not work by fixing any one goal, and therefore they do not get the desired fruit. In the Gita, it is taught: discipline the horse-like mind, because riding on the horse of the mind, the senses make the body wander. If the mind is disciplined, the senses will remain under control. If the mind is under the control of the senses, the mind will dance according to the senses and will keep wandering. The Gita says: Ye hi saṁsparśajā bhogā duḥkhayonaya eva te. Ādyantavantaḥ kaunteya na teṣu ramate budhaḥ. English Translation: "The pleasures that are born from the senses are generally causes of only sorrow. These sorrows or pleasures are perishable; hence one should not indulge in them." And: Bāhyasparśeṣvasaktātmā vindatyātmani yatsukham. Sa brahmayogayuktātmā sukhamakṣayamaśnute. English Translation: "Whose mind remains detached from these sensory pleasures and whose mind obtains the happiness of truth through meditation—those yogis obtain eternal bliss through meditation." 83 By conquering one mind, five senses can be conquered. By conquering five, ten (five sense organs and five action organs) can be conquered. By conquering them, all enemies can be conquered. If these ten are conquered, victory can be obtained over all enemies. In life, we have no external enemy. All enemies are sitting inside. By conquering internal enemies, external enemies automatically end. Success can be obtained in both spiritual and material fields only by conquering or disciplining the mind. Without accumulating the power of the mind, no work can be done. Sage Patañjali also called Citta-Vṛtti-Nirodha (Obstruction of Emotions of Mind) yoga. Without placing a rein on the restlessness of consciousness, no one can become a yogi. Therefore, all spiritual actions begin only by disciplining or controlling the mind. Now the question arises: how to discipline the mind? There are many means for this. All yogis have done numerous experiments of this, and literature is filled with this. Some discipline the mind through mantra, some through word, some through gaze-steadiness, some through breath control or make it concentrated. But disciplining the mind or making it concentrated is not enough. If the concentrated mind is kept engaged only in the cycle of Rāga and Dveṣa or in distressed and distressing meditation, then the work done with that disciplined mind will be harmful. Therefore, making the mind concentrated and orienting it positively is extremely necessary. The first step of practice is the concentration of the mind, and the steps after that are even more careful. If one wanders from there or in the middle, then harm is going to happen. Therefore, knowing the practice of concentrating the mind is extremely necessary. The Means of Concentration Even at the first step of concentrating the mind, attention must be kept on by which means the mind's concentration has been obtained and what goal has been taken. In the situation of beginning with word or mantra, the mind will become concentrated, but it will not get further movement. Attachment to that word or mantra will be created in the mind. This will later create obstruction. If the first step of practice itself creates attachment, then how can the right fruit be obtained ahead? When we have made the practice of life to conquer Rāga and Dveṣa, our internal enemies, then complete care must be taken that Rāga or Dveṣa should not be created from any action. The means of concentrating the mind is Ānāpāna—that is, observing the breath. By fixing the mind on one part of the body—such as the front part of the nose—and continuously seeing the coming and going of breath, the mind becomes concentrated. The process of breath is happening by itself. This process is not to be stopped, nor is any exercise of breath to be done. As the breath is moving, it is only to be observed. Sometimes you will see the breath becomes short; sometimes it comes long; sometimes it comes fast; sometimes it comes slowly. All this is happening by itself. However, the seeker is only seeing, and seeing with great attention. No breath is coming and going without their knowledge. If the mind wanders even a little, again bring it back to seeing the breath. One should not be disappointed by the mind's wandering. If controlling the mind were so easy, wouldn't everyone become a yogi? This is the beginning, and the path is complex, but by remaining effort-oriented, fruit will definitely be obtained. Ānāpāna is the first step of Vipaśyanā meditation. By concentrating the mind from Ānāpāna, apply it to some one part of the body. 84 The concentrated mind will know what is happening in that part of the body—that at that time some sensation is happening on the body: itching, tingling, pulsation, throbbing, heat, cold, touch—anything. What is happening is truth. This event happening is called Vedanā (Pain). Seeing Vedanā is called Vedanānupaśyanā (Observing Pains). What to do by seeing Vedanā? Only see and know. If there is itching, don't scratch. If there is pulsation, let it remain; don't desire it. What is, see it in that same way; don't react. Although the mind's old nature is to react. The mind always desires good things and removes bad things. The mind has to be trained not to react; only see and know. The mind always desires good things and dispels bad things. You have to discipline it not to show any reaction and only to observe and perceive. In this way, the mind has to be passed through every part of the body, and wherever the mind passes, the sensation happening there has to be known, and after knowing, remain neutral. The Path to Liberation (Continued) In this way, the mind has to be passed through every part of the body, and wherever the mind passes, the sensation happening there has to be known, and after knowing, remain neutral toward it. This is called Kāyānupaśyanā (Observing Body). When the mind becomes capable of seeing the entire body, then the mind has to be seen. What is happening in the mind? What thoughts are coming? What emotions are arising? Only see and know. Don't react. This is called Cittānupaśyanā (Observing Mind). When the mind becomes capable of seeing itself, then the values of the mind begin to be seen. What values are seated in the mind? What beliefs are there? What conditioning is there? All this begins to be seen. This is called Dhammānupaśyanā (Observing Mental Objects/Dharma). When all four of these—Ānāpāna, Vedanānupaśyanā, Kāyānupaśyanā, Cittānupaśyanā, and Dhammānupaśyanā—are completed, then the seeker reaches the depths of the mind. Then the old values of the mind begin to come out in the form of sensation and go away. The mind becomes pure. The mind comes into its nature. This is the path of Vipaśyanā. This is the path shown by Buddha. This is the path of liberation. This is the path of emancipation. Modern Technology for Meditation In today's modern age, some technological devices have also been made that can help in meditation and emotional management. Some of these are: 1. Sionic Helmets: These are special helmets that use electromagnetic waves to help in meditation and concentration. 2. Meditation Goggles: These are special goggles that help in meditation through visual stimulation. 3. Emotion Sensitive Pendants: These are pendants that can sense your emotional state and give feedback. 4. Bio-Feedback Stress Watches: These are watches that monitor your stress levels and give real-time feedback. All these devices can help in meditation and emotional management, but the real path is internal practice and self-discipline. 85 Conclusion: The Path to Mokṣa The control of emotions and the attainment of emancipation is the ultimate goal of human life. Through the practice of meditation, through the discipline of the mind, through the conquest of Rāga and Dveṣa, humans can attain Mokṣa (Liberation). This liberation is not something that happens after death. This liberation can be obtained while living. This is called Jīvanmukti (Liberation While Living). When the mind becomes pure, when the mind becomes free from all attachments and animosities, when the mind becomes established in its true nature, then the person attains liberation. This is the ultimate victory in the Mahabharata of the inner self. This is the victory of positive emotions over negative emotions. This is the victory of Sat over Asat. This is the victory of truth over untruth. This is the victory of light over darkness. Therefore, practice meditation, discipline your mind, conquer your emotions, and attain liberation. This is the path shown by all great sages and saints. This is the path of eternal happiness and peace. CHAPTER 20: CONCEPT SUMMARY The core of this final chapter establishes Mano Niyantrana (Control of Emotions) and Mukti (Emancipation) as the ultimate goal of the entire Mahabharata of the inner self, revealing that Moha (Attachment) is the developed form of natural qualities, with the entire illusion of Māyā created through two types of desires/emotions: Rāga (Attachment) and Dveṣa (Animosity)—these being the controllers of all other mind emotions. The author establishes the causal chain: Moha → Icchā (Desire) → Rāga (Attachment) → Apekṣā (Expectations) → Virāga (Separation) and Svārtha (Selfishness) → Krodha (Anger) → Dveṣa (Animosity), demonstrating that the greatest attachment humans have is to their own body, with modern materialistic thinking making the body the subject rather than a means, causing increased attachment to offspring, accessories, comforts, and conveniences. The central thesis reveals the Hierarchy of Control: sense organs connect the mind to subjects, Rāga can happen with any subject, and when Rāga reaches from mind to body it takes the form of action—with the movement of mind depending on emotion impulses and sometimes destiny joining this movement, making the person's Rāga-Dveṣa completely clear in behavior that cannot be stopped, causing harmful outcomes. The chapter establishes that in meditation state, the body becomes separate by becoming relaxed, with Prāṇāyāma (breath regulation) preventing mind's restlessness from reaching body, separating mind and body so Rāga-Dveṣa emotions cannot take action form—with knowledge support enabling mind connection with love, consciousness awakening, and coverings removal through understanding, making external subjects unable to reach mind, turning mind toward bliss, beginning detachment, making Rāga-Dveṣa untouched, and establishing the person in peace with witness-feeling. The ultimate teaching distinguishes between Conscious Mind (small part of total mind) and Subconscious Mind (very large part operating various activities and impulses), establishing that without awakening toward the subconscious mind, there will be no control over works and impulses—with many thoughts and values from birth (and previous births if believing in rebirth) filled in the subconscious mind, making many actions happen unconsciously followed by wondering or repenting "how did this happen?" The chapter reveals that true liberation requires reaching the subconscious mind, with the question "do we arrange for cleaning as soon as the mind becomes dirty?" highlighting that while external body cleanliness receives immediate attention using water and soap, mental dirt goes unnoticed until manifesting as disease or psychological problems—making arrangements necessary to keep the mind healthy before reaching extreme disturbance limits. 86 The Three Stages of Meditation reveal: (1) Ekāgratā (Concentration—thinking about some object/thought for short time by leaving others, like concentration on studies), (2) Dhyāna (Meditation—uninterrupted concentration like unbroken oil stream, with three components: subject/consciousness/self, object/goal/realization/detachment, and process/concentration), and (3) Samādhi (Super- Consciousness—direct encounter with self, soul recognition, all anxieties and tendencies becoming peaceful, Buddha's and Mahāvīra's Kevalya Jñāna/Pure Knowledge/Enlightenment). The chapter establishes meditation's achievements: first stage awakens talent (physical health/capacity development, mental powers like desire/imagination/determination/courage/belief/acumen/thinking increase, emotional positive tendencies like compassion/kindness/devotion/belief/pleasure/donation/charity increase); second stage awakens parapsychological powers (television, telecommunication, premonition, pastmonition, introspection, parapsychic vision, transcendental meditation, extra-sensory perception); third stage obtains enlightenment, pure knowledge, freedom from decision/option, freedom from Rāga-Dveṣa, or emancipation with fully developed consciousness. The Yale University Scientific Research (Dr. Judson, Dr. A. Bruer) using Functional M.R.I. Technology proves meditation puts to sleep those special brain centers where self-centered thoughts and selfish emotions are born and develop (located in Medial Prefrontal Cortex and Posterior Cingulate Cortex), with deeper meditation experience and efficiency increasing control over negative emotions (anxiety, worry, depression, schizophrenia) while activating brain parts related to generosity and kindness, secreting Oxytocin hormone that awakens happiness/joy/satisfaction mentality. Allen Bogen's Concordia University study reveals Oxytocin changes how people think about themselves and others, increasing confidence and capacity for creation/understanding, removing negativity from thinking and making it positive—with meditation providing benefits at four levels: (1) Physical (disease-resistance capacity development, healthy/disease-free body), (2) Mental (negative tendencies removal like stress/fear/worry/guilt/depression/hatred/jealousy, positive mindset providing happiness/satisfaction), (3) Spiritual (emancipation and soul realization providing spiritual elevation), and (4) Social (peace/happiness/satisfaction enabling good life, cheerful mind, praiseworthy behavior, completeness feeling). The transformative Vipaśyanā Method establishes the four-stage progression: (1) Ānāpāna (observing breath on one body part like nose front, concentrating mind without stopping breath or doing breath exercises, only observing as breath moves by itself—short/long/fast/slow—with great attention, bringing wandering mind back without disappointment), (2) Vedanānupaśyanā (observing pains/sensations—applying concentrated mind to one body part, knowing what sensation happens: itching/tingling/pulsation/throbbing/heat/cold/touch, seeing truth of what is happening, not scratching if itching, not desiring if pulsation, seeing without reacting despite mind's old nature to desire good things and remove bad things, training mind not to react but only see and know), (3) Kāyānupaśyanā (observing body—passing mind through every body part, knowing sensation wherever mind passes, remaining neutral after knowing), and (4) Cittānupaśyanā and Dhammānupaśyanā (observing mind and mental objects—seeing what happens in mind, what thoughts come, what emotions arise, what values are seated, what beliefs exist, what conditioning is there, only seeing and knowing without reacting). The chapter concludes with the profound recognition that when all four Vipaśyanā stages complete, the seeker reaches mind's depths, old mind values begin coming out as sensation and going away, mind becomes pure, mind comes into its nature—this being Buddha's path of liberation and emancipation, with the teaching that Mokṣa (Liberation) is not something happening after death but obtainable while living as Jīvanmukti (Liberation While Living). The ultimate wisdom: when mind becomes pure, free from all attachments and animosities, established in true nature, the person attains liberation—this being the ultimate victory in the Mahabharata of the inner self, the victory of positive emotions over negative emotions, Sat over Asat, truth over untruth, light over darkness. The transformation requires recognizing the Gita's teaching that "the pleasures born from senses are generally causes of only sorrow, these sorrows/pleasures are perishable, hence one should not indulge in them," with the path being: "whose mind 87 remains detached from these sensory pleasures and whose mind obtains happiness of truth through meditation—those yogis obtain eternal bliss through meditation." The final call to action: practice meditation, discipline your mind, conquer your emotions, and attain liberation—this being the path shown by all great sages and saints, the path of eternal happiness and peace, with modern technology (Sionic Helmets, Meditation Goggles, Emotion Sensitive Pendants, Bio-Feedback Stress Watches) available to help but the real path being internal practice and self-discipline, making the practice of Dhyāna twice daily (20-30 minutes morning with sunrise awakening/purifying thoughts/brain and accumulating life energy, 20- 30 minutes evening with sunset removing physical fatigue and mental negativity, relaxing mind for good sleep and proper rest) the prescription available free for fulfilling all world responsibilities while remaining happy-minded throughout the day. 88 CHAPTER 21: AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY AND BIBLIOGRAPHIC INFORMATION About the Author: Pavan Kumar Sharma (Paavan) Pavan Kumar Sharma (pen name: Paavan) is originally a resident of Kuchaman City (District Nagaur), Rajasthan State. However, his current permanent residence is "Shanti & Kunj", Number 2, Moti Marg, opposite Mahavir Colony, Ramnagar, Pushkar Road, Ajmer, Rajasthan. Educational Background He obtained his undergraduate degree in Life Sciences and postgraduate degree in Chemistry from Rajasthan University and Government College, Ajmer in 1975 and 1977 respectively. Professional Career After completing his education, he served as a Lecturer at Government Colleges in Sambhar Lake and Kota, Rajasthan for two years. He then worked as an officer in the Rajasthan Accounts Service for two years. In 1981, he was selected for the Indian Revenue Service. Subsequently, he worked in various positions in the Income Tax Department across different cities in Maharashtra, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, and Rajasthan states. In Rajasthan, he served as Additional Commissioner and Commissioner of Income Tax in the cities of Jodhpur, Alwar, and Jaipur. Currently, he is serving as Income Tax Commissioner, Kota, Rajasthan. Literary Contributions He began his writing work five years ago. His articles on Philosophy (Darshan), Poetry (Shayari), and Contemporary Satire (Samayik Vyangya) have been published in various journals and have been well- received by the public. During this period, he has written four books. Apart from this book, his other books include: 1. "Andaze Beyan Aur" - A book on Urdu poetry 2. "Shayar Bemisaal Shayri Bakamaal" - A book on Urdu poetry 3. "Dharmarth Karmabhyo Namah" - A book on Hindu philosophy Contact Information for Readers Telephone: 0744-2500000 (Residence) Mobile:  09413339900  09530400022 Email: pavan_sharma06@yahoo.com 89