Positive Thinking 23 – Cure the cancer of comparison

Transcript

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Hare Krishna. Hare Krishna. Welcome back to our discussion on positive thinking.
We are discussing the first energy sutras. The first we discussed was expectations. The second is NIP, the comparing mentality.
So we’ll continue the discussion. Curve the cancer of comparison. A cancer cell is basically like a normal human cell, but the problem is that it grows excessively fast.
All cells are meant to grow, but the growth has to be proportionate and harmonious. A cancer cell grows disproportionately and disharmoniously, and its growth disrupts the growth of all the cells around it, and in that way it causes destruction and even death. So the way to counter the cancer of comparison is by cultivating a vision that is focused on our assets, not on what we lack.
So why is comparison compared to a cancer? Because just as a cancer starts off as a normal cell, but then grows off disproportionately and destructively, similarly, a thought of comparison starts off as normal thought, but then it grows disproportionately, and exes think, oh, I’m worthless because I don’t have this or because I don’t have that. In the end, we become so dismayed, so devastated, so dejected, that we feel as if our very life is worthless because we don’t have the things that others have. So comparative mentality starts off just as one small thought and later on becomes a crushing mental burden.
We have to know that life is not a solo performance, it’s like an orchestra, and we all have our part in the orchestra of life, and God is the orchestra master. At different times in life, different people will have the limelight, rather than we worrying about and feeling bad about others having the limelight at present, we can focus on developing our skills. When we look within and find out, focus on and bring out the talents that we have, then that enables us to grow steadily, determinately, and we move onwards towards attaining, lasting, fulfillment by the development of our abilities.
We have a bouquet of flowers, if all the flowers are the same color, there is some beauty to it, but if there are flowers of different colors, there are different flowers over there, and they all come together in a bouquet, and if they come together harmoniously, then there’s a beautiful effect that results. Similarly, we can consider our life, and our offering to God, along with the offering of others to be like a bouquet, we are parts of God, and God always loves us, and when we turn our heart to Him, and offer our love to Him, then that offering of our heart to Him, and relishing His love in return, gives us far greater satisfaction, than any amount of worldly recognition. Devotion supersedes recognition.
Devotion when it is appreciated by God, gives us far greater satisfaction than recognition, when it comes from the world. We need to turn inwards, and inwards we remember that the Lord is present inside, and we remember inwards also our own talents, our own abilities. We have our own capacities, we just need to discover them.
To the extent we discover our abilities, to that extent we can move onwards, and attain satisfaction in life, and the satisfaction comes not by passivity, the satisfaction comes by dynamic activity, that is attuned to our strengths, that is done according to our strengths, so it is not that we are meant to be inactive, it is just that we are meant to be active, according to our strengths, and the cancer of comparison, what it does is prevents us, from doing what we can do, so the cancer has to be cured, has to be curbed and cured, the earlier it is detected, the faster and more thoroughly it can be cured, similarly whenever we need to detect the cancer, the comparative mentality early in our life, and how do we detect it? We detect it by turning, by observing our own mind state, that if we find ourselves becoming sulky, becoming irritated, becoming frustrated, and we can’t find any immediate reason for that, then we can observe, did we compare ourselves with others, did we feel that, because of that comparison, this person is better, this person, I am not good enough, this person is so good, I want to pull that person down, or I want to do this, do that, and that whole complex of negativity, is what results from the competitive mentality, now there can of course be comparison and competition that is constructed, that is when we have a basic level of self-confidence and self-esteem, and we recognize that whatever we have, we are valued, and then based on that understanding, we can try to maximize our contributions, we have the beautiful story in the Ramayana, of when Lord Ram was trying to build a bridge, there were great monkeys, who were glorifying, who were building the bridge, and they were offering giant boulders, they were putting giant boulders, and there was a squirrel, who was putting just tiny particles of dust, and some of the monkeys, they said, oh squirrel you are getting in the way, just move out of the way, so Lord Ram said, no, you are serving according to your capacity, and this squirrel is serving according to her capacity, I appreciate her efforts, as much as I appreciate your efforts, sometimes when we feel, that we don’t have enough talent, that we are not able to do much, we can meditate on this past, that God appreciates our efforts, and a competitive mentality, chokes our ability to even make efforts, so rather than letting that competitive mentality, choke us, we can focus our eyes, not on this world, which inevitably compares, and judges, and disheartens, to focus our eyes on God, who encourages, and who helps us to bring out our best, by striving to please Him, according to the best of our capacity, we can bring out the best within us, and thus make our best contributions, so we can curb and cure the cancer of comparison, by turning our eyes from the world to God, not to neglect the world, but to focus on God, and thereby to optimize our contributions in this world, Thank you.