Guruji, sometimes when I feel that I have overcome a bad habit, a bad thought, a bad feeling or a bad mental state and when I acknowledge the same and think, ‘yes I achieved this’, immediately some kind of challenge comes in front of me. What is this?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Stop connecting your thought, ‘I have achieved this’ with not achieving it. Sometimes you think, ‘I want to do this’ and it does not happen.
Many times your determination becomes weak. Someone else’s sankalpa wins over.
So it is best not to analyze too much about it otherwise you start feeling guilty, your self esteem goes down and all these sort of mental tortures and imbalances follow.
The best thing is to let go and take a fresh determination and move on.
Whenever you make a determination, at least it saves you for a certain period of time.
Suppose you say, I am not going to overeat. You keep the determination for fifteen days or one month and then again you break it and you overeat. When you overeat, you suffer.
Then again you should start the sankalpa.
Now, instead of saying, ‘I can’t do this, anyway, I will continue overeating’, start again.
Say, ‘okay, I will start again from today. Never mind if I overate, but today I will begin again.’
Having that determination, saved you for one month from overeating.
So from time to time take such a sankalpa and never mind if it breaks. It is still helping you to move on, so never give up your determination. Even if it breaks ten times, it is good to come back to it.
If you have a habit of smoking or drinking or sex or anything that you feel is not helping you, but you are not able to keep up the promise that you made to yourself. I tell you, continue pursuing it. Even if you break it ten times, again take it up. Suppose if you had completely not taken it all, what would have happened? You would have overeaten the whole time. You would have indulged the whole time. At least your determination saved you one month, fifteen days, two months or one year.
You broke it, never mind, continue again.
And this will save you going forward. It uplifts your spirit; it elevates you and makes life progress in the right direction. And suddenly one day you see, without any effort, it has become so easy. Naturally you are aligned.
There is a natural alignment when you feel completely free. That inner freedom simply dawns.
But you must take these useful steps.
Many times your determination becomes weak. Someone else’s sankalpa wins over.
So it is best not to analyze too much about it otherwise you start feeling guilty, your self esteem goes down and all these sort of mental tortures and imbalances follow.
The best thing is to let go and take a fresh determination and move on.
Whenever you make a determination, at least it saves you for a certain period of time.
Suppose you say, I am not going to overeat. You keep the determination for fifteen days or one month and then again you break it and you overeat. When you overeat, you suffer.
Then again you should start the sankalpa.
Now, instead of saying, ‘I can’t do this, anyway, I will continue overeating’, start again.
Say, ‘okay, I will start again from today. Never mind if I overate, but today I will begin again.’
Having that determination, saved you for one month from overeating.
So from time to time take such a sankalpa and never mind if it breaks. It is still helping you to move on, so never give up your determination. Even if it breaks ten times, it is good to come back to it.
If you have a habit of smoking or drinking or sex or anything that you feel is not helping you, but you are not able to keep up the promise that you made to yourself. I tell you, continue pursuing it. Even if you break it ten times, again take it up. Suppose if you had completely not taken it all, what would have happened? You would have overeaten the whole time. You would have indulged the whole time. At least your determination saved you one month, fifteen days, two months or one year.
You broke it, never mind, continue again.
And this will save you going forward. It uplifts your spirit; it elevates you and makes life progress in the right direction. And suddenly one day you see, without any effort, it has become so easy. Naturally you are aligned.
There is a natural alignment when you feel completely free. That inner freedom simply dawns.
But you must take these useful steps.