Positive Thinking 19 – The six-point ENERGY sutra

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
Welcome back to our discussion on positive thinking. We are now going to discuss about the energy sutra. When an idea is coupled with willpower, then we get energy.
When we have an idea, maybe I could do this and then we feel the inspiration, the determination, yes I’m going to do it. Then we get the energy, the drive to move forward and translate that idea into reality. So we have discussed the idea based on spiritual wisdom, idea, identity, divinity, eternity and activity and now we discussed about how we can boost our willpower beyond genetic, psychic and social determination, beyond our upbringing, beyond our genes, beyond our social circle.
We have our willpower and our willpower can be enhanced by the grace of God. These two factors, our willpower and God’s grace, these can enable us to move forward in our spiritual journey with great confidence in our journey towards self-development, towards self-actualization. So let’s now talk about this idea, this willpower leads to energy.
Let’s look at how the spiritual idea with energy, with the energy, with the willpower will lead to spiritual energy. So what is the energy? Energy is a sutra, it’s acronym E-N-E-R-G-Y and these are principles, if we can understand and apply them, we will find ourselves capable of positive thinking and assertive action in all situations in our life. So let’s look at these one by one.
So E, let’s look at E. So E is expectations, so cultivate smart expectations. Now I will be discussing, devoting separate talks to each of these two principles within the energy sutra. So I will just mention briefly about them.
Now our expectations are often the source of unnecessary frustrations. So if a person is lifting weights and a person who has the capacity for lifting, say 10 kg weights, expect that by going to the gym for one week, I’ll be able to lift 50 kg weight, then such an unrealistic expectation sets one up for frustration. At the same time, if one does not have expectations, if one thinks, oh, I’ll just go to the gym and I’ll just keep doing exercise, then there may not be much motivation to keep exercising if one does not have some aspirations, one does not have any vision.
So we need to have a smart balance between our expectation and our vision. We can have our head in the clouds, but we need to have our feet on the ground. And often negativity comes up if not only our feet is in the ground, our head is also in the ground.
If we are looking down and we are feeling rejected and morose or the problem comes up when our head is in the sky, but our feet are also in the sky. That means we are unrealistically daydreaming and fantasizing without evaluating what concrete steps can be taken and what concrete steps we are taking to transform that aspiration into a reality. So cultivating smart expectations is vital.
And we will discuss what smart expectations are and how they can be cultivated. N is NIP. NIP, comparing mentality in the bud.
Cherish your uniqueness. This means that each of us is unique. We are all distinctive beings, not just distinctive.
The assets that you have are different from what I have. The talents, the abilities, the interests, the specific combination of all these is what makes us unique. And when we compare ourselves with others, quite often society places before us models that are the best.
So if we have a particular figure and in the media we see ads, we see movies, we see people with perfect figures, perfect faces. And one of the easiest ways to make ourselves miserable is by comparing ourselves with the models of perfection depicted in the media. So now we live in a competitive world.
So we cannot avoid comparison. And comparison can be a spur for self-improvement if we focus on comparing ourselves with ourselves. Rather than thinking I am here and this person is here and what is the use of my trying to, I’ll never get there when we give ourselves inferiority complex.
Instead, okay, I’m here and from here I can move here. From here I can move here. From here I can move here.
So if we compare ourselves with ourselves, that will keep us on the path of realistic and progressive self-improvement. We will discuss more about how to avoid comparative mentality and cultivate a progressive mentality in spite of avoiding comparative mentality. That we will discuss when we discuss about this sutra in detail later.
E is fix your eyes on real success. Eyes. So often our definition of success, it can sabotage our attempts for success.
If we have a very externally based definition of success, then externals are sometimes not in our control. So we can set ourselves up for negativity and frustration if we read our definition of success to externals not in our control. We have many factors in our control and we focus on what is in our control, that is our inner world, our endeavors.
Then we will find in due course that whatever is external will also gradually come under control. So management gurus talk about a circle of influence and circle of concern. So if our definition of success rests in the circle of concern, that for which we don’t have control, then we will not be able to sustain ourselves in our spiritual progress, especially progressive journey.
To sustain ourselves, we need to focus on what is in our influence, what we can change. So our definition of success needs to be based primarily on what we can do, not on things which are not in our control. That is a formula for setting ourselves up for negativity and frustration.
How we can avoid that, how we can cultivate the right definition of success, we will discuss in our due course. Then R-E-N-E-R-G-Y, R is be resolute, go beyond worldly opinions and passions. So if we give too much stock to other people’s opinions and passing emotions that go through our minds based on worldly perceptions and worldly opinions, then we can never be fixed in anything.
If we have to achieve something in life, we need to stay fixed. And whatever it is we try to be fixed in, we will find that there are some people who will support us and many people who will minimize, who will oppose what we are saying. And if we give in to those people, if we let ourselves be affected by anyone and everyone’s opinion, then we will become like a tiny boat, which is a canoe that is buffeted by any and every wave coming in.
So in contrast, if we are resolute, if we have understood based on our looking at ourselves, understanding our values and our talents and our dreams, based on that, if we focus on our particular goal, deciding that this is what I want to do, then that resolution itself will transform us from being a canoe to becoming like a ship. This is a huge ship, is not affected by any passing waves. Similarly, we will be unaffected and we will march onwards if we are resolute.
Then G is be grateful for the gifts of God. Gratitude is an enormous source of positivity. To the extent we focus on what we have and appreciate it and feel grateful for it, this does not mean that we become lazy and apathetic and unambitious.
Rather, we have a foundation on which to base our future aspirations and our future endeavors and our channelizing of our energy. Just as a person who has energy can work and earn more money, get more food and acquire more energy. But if a person has no energy at all, then that person can’t work.
Even though that person desperately needs food, that lack of energy makes it impossible to work and earn and get food. So similarly, when we always dwell on what we don’t have and we don’t even notice what we have, we make ourselves emotionally energy bankrupt. We start feeling that my life is worth nothing because I have nothing and because I have nothing, therefore I am nothing.
And with an empty emotional energy tank like that, we tank. We can’t move forward at all and we become paralyzed. So by focusing on what we have, that can become the propeller for us for moving towards what we want to have and what we want to become.
So gratitude is a powerful propeller in our emotional energy world. And last, yes. Why is yes? Say yes to God with faith.
So whenever a door closes in our life, another door opens. But sometimes we are so caught in a particular door that is closed that we don’t even look to check which other door has opened and if any door has opened at all. But when we open, when things seem to be going wrong, if at that time we accept God’s will, rather than asking why is this happening, why is this happening, why is this happening? Instead of that, we focus on, okay, what can I do? God, I accept your will.
Please guide me what I can do now, how I can best serve you now, how can I make a positive contribution now. That shift in our mental energy can open magnificent doors for us and enable us to march forward towards progress and success. So we will discuss this energy sutra, six principles, one by one in our future talks.
Thank you. Hare Krishna.