When the mind wants to change unchangeable circumstances what to do?

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
Sometimes circumstances are not changeable and we have tolerated them.
And the mind doesn’t like them at all. So, what do we do at that time? The mind generally wants to follow the path of least resistance. So, as long as it feels that this circumstance can be changed, it keeps resisting it.
It should not be like this, it should not be like this, it should not be like this. And then you just quit and go away. You do something drastic.
But if we just accept, sometimes we go to work and suddenly there is a big project to do. Huge amount of work. First our mind is like, I don’t want to do this.
The temper also will get a big surrender. Initially, no, I don’t want to do this. A lot of inner battle goes on, I don’t want to do this, I don’t want to do this.
But eventually, if I say there is no way to get out of it, I have to do it. And once you start doing it, more often than not, we find that doing that activity is not as difficult as the mind made out. It requires time, it requires effort.
And sometimes it requires more time and effort than what you anticipated also. But it is not as unbearable as the mind makes it out to be. So basically, as long as the mind feels that there is some opportunity to change, then the mind keeps resenting it, resenting it, resenting it.
Change it, get rid of it, get out of it, whatever. Because for the mind at that time, the path of least resistance is, get out of the situation. But if we decide, I can’t get out of the situation, I just have to do this.
Once we accept that, then the mind starts saying, now if I keep resisting it, I am simply making things miserable for myself. You can just do it now. So that’s why we say, that which tastes like poison in the beginning, will taste like nectar in the end.
Well, there is a commentary that, that what is poison for the ego, is nectar for the soul. It tastes like bitter in the beginning, it tastes like poison in the beginning. Because we are at the level of false ego.
False ego means, body, mind, ego, whatever. They are identified with one of these. That’s why it feels like poison.
But if you just penetrate through that, it’s only ugly. It’s initially the poison. If you penetrate through that, it becomes nectar.
You will see that, yes, it’s not that bad, I can do it. And I learn through it, I grow through it, my inner muscles of self-discipline have become stronger by this. So somehow, we have to just go through the initial phase.
And sometimes, just recognizing that, this is a current complication that I have to face. This is just something which is going to come in my life, and if I just tolerate it, it will be more bearable. You have to intellectually explain it to us.
One example he gave is that, suppose a leech bites us. Now if you try to pull the leech out, it is so dangerous, its grip is so fearsome, it will pull out the whole thing. But if you let the leech do its work, it’s scary to feel it, the tentacle going into our skin and pulling the blood out.
But the leech’s capacity to suck blood is not unlimited. Once it has sucked its blood, if you just flip it, it will fall off. So like that, some situations come in our life, which are like leeches.
And they are going to suck some blood from us. And if we try to get away from those situations, if we try to overreact in order to get out of the situation, that’s like trying to pull out the leech. That will make things much worse.
Once it accepts it, it will suck some blood. But the positive side of everything temporary in the world, is that your problems are temporary. So nothing will suck out that infinite.
So if it accepts it, it will behave now, and by my karma it will suck some blood. So when the problem comes, the mind tends to internalize the problem. This is going to be like this forever.
If we think this is going to be forever, then even for a few minutes it becomes unbearable. Let’s say if I have to lift 5 kg weight. Okay, I can lift it, no big deal.
But if somebody tells me, you have to lift this 5 kg weight for the rest of your life. I will find it difficult to lift it even for 5 minutes. So what happens is the mind internalizes the problem, and then it becomes unbearable.
But if we have intelligence, instead of internalizing the problem, we contextualize it. Contextualize it, yes. Because of the situation, it has come out.
And it’s like a leech, it will suck my blood for some time, but it will go away, of course. Then it becomes easier to tolerate. Do you have any questions?