Subscribe in a reader FAITH: May 2012

Saturday 26 May 2012

How to live happily



Most of us live our life thinking about problems we face. Everybody has problems, small or big. Actually whether a problem is small or big is totally dependent of what we think about it. That is the core of our life. What we think makes ourselves. What we think make ourselves happy or sad. Now the big question is how one makes oneself think in a positive way. Sometimes great difficulties confront us. To remain calm, to think positively in a seemingly hopeless situation is one of the biggest lessons we learn in this life. Many do not even learn it in their lifetime. Like every good thing in life it needs discipline and some work to think in a good way. You have to train yourself think positively.
The two basic requirements to think positively are
1)      Good health
2)      A strong faith in God.
I would like to elaborate on these points.
1) A good health is a possession which is far more important than anything else. And by good health I mean free of any disease. If you are afflicted with disease which gives you constant bodily pain it is almost impossible to be happy. A fresh body means a fresh mind. Everything gets easier if you have a good health. Your mind works better, you concentrate better and you feel lighter. A good health is more important than money, fame, love or any other worldly thing in life. To have a good health you need to live a good regular life. You must eat, sleep and work with moderation. Too much of any of these is going to spoil your health. Also your bowel movement must be clear everyday. And you need to do a little bit of exercise everyday. Simple breathing exercises, yoga asanas and pranayams are very effective.
2) One may ask why it is important to have faith in God to be happy? You may say there are so many atheists who seem to be happy. Well I, myself was a strong atheist at a point of time. But there comes a point in life when you are faced with something that you cannot handle yourself. Great troubles, bereavements, accidents, great mental hurts overcome a person’s normal thinking process. Even day to day problems in office or home sometimes overwhelm us.
God is our great helping hand .God is there to help us always .With strong belief in God you can surmount every difficulty, face life’s worst predicaments with equanimity. The very thinking that there is some all powerful being is there to help you, calms your mind and your thinking process begins to work normally. God has bestowed us with infinite power of thinking. With correct thinking solutions begin to dawn in the horizon. You feel strong and happy again. Follow the great words of Srimadbhagavad Gita. Surrender yourself unto God. Not only in times of difficulty, but in daily life also. A unique peace and freedom will come to your mind. By some magic you will begin to think in a happy, positive way. Instinct will tell you what to do at any circumstance. You will do automatically what is best for you. You will stop being confused. Something will guide you transcendentally. Like the bright light of sun sweeps away all darkness within a second your mind will be free of any dark thoughts by the illuminating light of Him.
Also in a strange way a strong belief in God improves your health. Since the negative thoughts like hopelessness, anger, lust, hatred remains away from your mind, right kind of hormones and fluids flow though your body and make you sharp , energetic and creative.
To make your mind mobilized in the God’s direction you need to do a bit of meditation everyday. Think of God unswervingly for a little bit of time. It is quite hard to meditate fixedly for even one minute. Five minutes of meditation makes mind very composed and calm.
Whatever I have written above is from my own experience.  I hope the reader will find it helpful.



FAITH




What is faith? Faith is something you believe in very strongly. It may be an object, an opinion or something that you believe is true. Some have faith in religion, some in science, some in astrology and some perhaps in a handkerchief which he thinks brings him good luck.
 Faith is very important in life because you think it works. And you are what you think. Your very life depends on what you think. If you think you are happy you are happy. If you think you are unhappy you are unhappy. Faith gives you confidence in adversity. And confidence gives you a calm and peaceful mind. Again, a calm and peaceful mind makes you think lucidly and positively. A positive thought translates into positive action and in the end a positive result.
A good example is Gandhi. He believed deeply in non violence. And it brought him immense success in what he tried to achieve. His non violent protests were far more effective than many great armed struggles. Sourav Ganguly had faith in his handkerchief and it helped him to feel confident in cricket grounds and make many runs.
I will end this article with a personal example. Some years back I had tremendous anxiety for some reason and I could not sleep. Doctor gave me very strong sleeping pills . I was taking nitrazepam 10 mg at night and 4 alprazolam 0.25 mg during day and still I could not sleep.
 At that time I went to Haridwar and sat beside Har-ki-Pauri ghat. Suddenly something came to my mind. I started to believe. I felt if I repeated the word “Ram” in my mind he will relieve me from all my worries since He is the doer of everything and I will sleep. I started doing that in train during my journey back to Kolkata. Gradually,very slowly,the deep anxiety began to diminish and vanished altogether after sometime. I did not know when I fell asleep but when I woke up I realized that I have slept almost for two days constantly without help from any drug. I only woke up  by the tapping of the ticket checker.
That is faith for you.