When you are anchored in inner
peace, your body functions the best.
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| Swami Parthasarathy Photo Courtesy: Mid-Day/Internet |
This
morning’s The New Indian Express (TNIE) carries a story of Swami
Parthasarathy playing cricket. Parthasarathy, now 88, was once a businessman
and is now a corporate guru who
teaches managers to live intelligently! He lectures frequently on the Bhagavad Gita and runs Vedanta World, a
learning academy in Malavli, near Pune. Sharing the key to his fitness, he told
TNIE: “When you don’t worry about the
past and don’t get anxious over the future, you stay fit.”
This
is such a simple, beautiful, perspective. Yet this philosophy eludes most of
us. Because we have come to somehow believe that our lives are complex and so
only a complex solution can help rid us of our problems. Resultantly, we keep
waiting for a perfect future, where there will be no problems and we can live
happily ever after. The truth, however, is that there is and can never be a
perfect future – you can never have a Life that is free from problems. All you
can and must do is to live your present perfectly. What prevents this from
happening is the mind. It draws you into grief, anger and guilt over the past
and into anxiety and worry over the future. So, you are never present in the
now. The now is perfect. It is what it is, the way it is. But you are not here.
You are brooding or you are worrying. So you are besieged with lifestyle-related
ailments – diabetes, hypertension, stress, cholesterol and such. What is a
lifestyle ailment? Anything that is an outcome of the Life you lead. So, if you
can train your mind not to worry and if your Life can be a continuous celebration
of a series of present moments, your body will be fit and you can enjoy the
pleasures of a good, productive Life.
I
don’t say this from a philosophical perspective alone. I have been there – so I
know what it means to be trapped in an unhealthy lifestyle situation. And I
have experienced the power of transforming my Life by changing the way I think.
I once had a tobacco habit and was obese. And I am both diabetic and
hypertensive. When I understood the role the mind played in my physical
condition I worked on training my mind. Over time, I have learned to rein in my
mind and now know how to stay focused on the present. I have since shed my
excess weight and have been able to keep my key physical markers under check. I
did this through the practice of daily silence periods – mouna. So, I know that you too can do this. Your method may be
different depending on what works for you. But I want to reiterate that it is
both possible to train the mind and, therefore, stay fit. It doesn’t matter
what industry you work in or the hours you keep. You just need to be willing to
be the change that you want to see in you!
Inner
peace is not elusive. It is not complicated. If you stop imposing conditions on
the way your Life must be, and instead accept it for what it is, you will start
living, than merely existing. When you
live fully, in the present moment, you will experience inner peace and you will
see the magic and beauty of a healthier, happier Life!
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