Pradyuman Pokharel
There is a tendency among people to look outside to feel any sense of achievement. The achievement can be in the form of getting happiness or in the form of some material success. For a simple example, when someone spends a good time with his/her loved ones like friends, relatives, seniors, etc., the person really feels happy; whenever an opportunity comes, they do not miss to together with the loved ones. This builds up a habit so much so, that happiness becomes synonymous with good company for the person. This way the person gets enslaved in such a way that s/he will find it very difficult to be with him/herself and always looks for being occupied with another person(s) or things. Having said that, it does not mean that having a friendship or good company is not beneficial but the same holds value when it is pursued without building a habit of not doing without it. After all, having good friends is important as a famous quote goes by “A person’s worth is an average of the worth of his/her closest 5 friends”.
What is meant by ‘Reality’? An obvious answer is that ‘Reality’ is what we believe and take as true. Truth depends on what we believe. Our belief is derived from our perception and the perception gets originated from what we look for, which ultimately depends on what we think. This way, there is a direct but deep relationship between our thinking and reality. Hence, to frame our reality, we need to first frame our thinking and thought process. Have you ever imagined that your thoughts are in your control? Of course not, because we do not create our thought, but it comes into our mind automatically from the situation or environment we are in.
That is why it is very important to know the kinds of environment we spend most of our time in. A question may arise how we can control the situation or environment which is not composed of us only but several other things or factors. The answer to this question is it is not the external situation (Paristhiti in Nepali) but the internal situation (Mansthiti in Nepali) of our mindset. The framework of our internal situation lies in the composition of our being. The answer to this very generic query lies in the composition of our being. Our being can be thought of as being dissected into 4 basic components or states; physical, mental, emotional and spiritual. Hence, the more we develop these basic components, the easier will be to frame our internal situation i.e., Mansthiti. Needless to say, the physical state can be improved by activities such as yoga and other physical exercises. Similarly, the mental state can be developed by reading about the subject areas we are professionally engaged in. The same goes for the emotional state which can be improved by understanding how successful leaders have coped with difficult emotional situations by reading their biographies. For developing our spiritual body, we need to look internally into ourselves which may be through the medium of meditation or bhakti.
For a general human being, the most difficult task is reflected widely in the development of our Spiritual body as people find it difficult to sit quietly in one place and meditate. The difficulty of sitting quietly, closing our eyes and doing meditation is really natural in the beginning as there are lots of thoughts roaming in our minds due to which we are not in a position to concentrate and become free of thought. Thoughts are like children who are very mischievous and do not obey their parents’ instructions but keep playing against the instructions. However, after getting tired of playing, they become quiet and sit in a place. Very much similar to this, though there are a number of meditation techniques, a simple one for those restless people who cannot sit quietly and meditate, meditation becomes a natural phenomenon when, after getting too tired from doing some intensive physical exercises, they sit quietly, close their eyes and try to meditate.
To sum up, when someone tries to work on all four above-mentioned dimensions within himself/herself, the person does away with the aloneness and starts focusing on oneself for greater joy and achievement.
Pokharel is CEO of Muktinath Bikas Bank Limited and President of the Development Bankers Association Nepal (DBAN).
