Ms Irina Dwarak, a disciple of Swami Parthasarathy, Vedanta Academy, delves into the art of being happy in the light of the Vedas.
Let us look at the subject of mental well-being and mental health, from the point of view of Vedanta, which is the ancient Indian philosophy that originated 1000s of years ago in the Vedas. How do we define mental health? First of all, we need to understand that mental well-being does not mean absence of mental health condition. In other words, if you are not depressed, if you are not anxious, if you don’t suffer from severe stress, or anxiety disorder, it does not mean that you enjoy perfect mental well-being.
Mental well-being is a positive state of mental flourishing. Your personality flourishes and you have positive emotions and attitudes, gratitude, forgiveness, kindness and affection. When your intellect is sharp and clear, you make the right choices in life. You know exactly what to do, when to do and how to do it. You are objective and self-sufficient. Your life has meaning and purpose. You have something to wake up for, every single day of your life. This is, by and large, the way we describe the state of perfect mental health.
Origin of Stress
Vedanta tells us very clearly that disturbances do not come from the external world. They are internal. When things happen against our common belief or against our logic and reason, we get disturbed. The world will produce endless challenges. It’s exactly like waves at sea. There is absolutely nothing we can do about it. You can’t change the nature of this world. It will keep on throwing tough situations. It is constituted of pairs of opposites. We want only smiles and joy. But the world has both. It’s an admixture of plus and minus; good and bad; sad and happy and all that. We need to learn the art of tackling those waves.
While one group of people run away from waves, there is another group of people who look forward to big waves. The surfers know exactly how to tackle those waves. In life, all we need to learn is the art of dealing with those tough people and tough situations.
Mind and Intellect: The Human Engine
Let us understand our human composition. We have physical body, which is nothing but a vehicle. It’s just an outer shell, exactly like metal plates of a car. You need an engine to start the movement of the car. Similarly, within us there are two wonderful equipments, called the mind and the intellect. Together they constitute the inner engine that propels our body to act and to perceive. Both mind and intellect are nothing but our thoughts. If you analyze very carefully, what is moving you from experience to experience is your thought. Mind is called manas and intellect is called Buddhi in Sanskrit.
We must understand the difference between the two, if we want to live a happy, fulfilled and balanced life. The mind is nothing but our feelings, emotions, impulses, likes and dislikes. Intellect is your capacity to think, to reason, to judge and to decide. Mind has an indiscriminate flow of thoughts. It wants to enjoy, do what is easy, have fun and instant gratification. It is the intellect that can look at the consequence of the action. If we compare the mind to the little child in us, the intellect plays the role of an adult.
Mind is much, stronger. Would you leave a little child at home alone? It’s not only a bad idea but a very dangerous one. The child has no knowledge and it can go to the kitchen, open a drawer and take a knife out. It can do anything because it completely lacks knowledge and understanding. The child needs constant supervision of an adult.
We all go to schools and universities only to gain intelligence. But intelligence does not help us to develop intellect. It is our internal capacity to control the cravings, obsessions, demands and impulses of our own mind. This is what intellect is all about. You will not get a strong intellect, unless and until you put in the effort and develop it consciously.
The Dog and the Owner
To illustrate the importance of intellect controlling the mind, think of a dog owner taking his dog out for a walk. Sometimes, we don’t know who’s taking whom for a walk. Is the dog taking the master for a walk, or the master taking his or her dog for a walk? An untrained, spoiled dog may pull you in any direction and you may fall and break your limb.
When mental agitations arise, you lose your productivity. You create disharmony within and without. Inside of you, there is disharmony and outside of you, you see the results of disharmony. However, a well-trained dog is not just fun to have. It’s also very beneficial. It can protect your home from thieves. Such dogs serve in the army. You see them very often in the airports; they help in the medical profession; they take care of blind people.
A Dangerous Master
A controlled mind is the mind that enjoys perfect mental health; it brings about peace and prosperity, and creates a sense of harmony in and around. There is a beautiful saying that ‘mind is a beautiful servant but a dangerous master.’
In the Bhagavad Gita, in chapter six, Arjuna looks at Lord Krishna and tells him, “You’re asking me to control my mind. Do you understand that controlling the mind is as difficult as controlling the wind?” Uncontrolled mind wreaks havoc. It is restless and keeps moving between past and future, like a monkey, jumping from branch to branch all the time. There are four qualities of the mind:
- The mind is turbulent. It is full of passions, cravings, and obsessions. When desires are controlled, they take the form of ambitions and aspirations. But when they are not controlled, it creates passions, cravings and obsessions. All crimes of passion are committed because of this tendency of the mind.
- The mind is very strong. It’s intangible like the wind. You can’t really grasp the wind, but we all understand that it can get exceptionally turbulent and strong, like a hurricane.
- Our mind can forcefully take hold of our personality and victimize it. Think of dictators or cult leaders. They almost have the hypnotic force over their followers and the masses. Hitler commanded holocaust and people listened to him.
- The mind is abstinent. It means that if your mind wants to achieve or get something, it will bypass all the obstacles. It will find some loophole to get what it wants.
The Mind and Intellect Ratio
The Sane Person
If a person’s mind is 100% controlled by the intellect, that person is sane. Such a person performs 100% discriminative actions and zero impulsive actions. It does not mean that he’s devoid of emotions. He has positive emotions and attitudes like love, kindness and forgiveness. Because he has a powerful intellect, he will always make the right choices in life with perfect clarity on what to do, when, how and why. He will be objective and self- sufficient. He doesn’t break down with challenges as the intellect is so powerful. He rises above the challenges instead of going down and getting crushed by them. There is a beautiful saying of Swami Rama Tirtha. He tells us: “From all life’s grapes, I press sweet wine.” Look at the lives of Lord Rama and Krishna. They had very difficult lives. They faced constant challenges, yet they remained undisturbed and unaffected. That’s the greatness they had.
The Emotional Person
In the second category of people, the intellect drops to 75% from 100. The mind is no longer zero but it is functioning at 25%. Such a person will be swayed by emotions. They experience ups and downs. 25% of their actions are impulsive. In the Western world, there is something called as seasonal affective disorder. It’s a mental health condition. When winter comes, some people cannot function normally because there is no sunlight. They get mentally disturbed and get into depression. We are aware of the tendency of the mind to ruminate. Rumination is constant and circular thinking. Most people ruminate at night and lose their sleep. In fact, Swamiji tells that if you can’t fall asleep in 20 seconds, then something’s wrong with you.
The Eccentric Person
This guy is not quite normal because 50% of his actions are controlled by the intellect and 50% by the mind. One day, he is normal, friendly, accessible, approachable and behaves like a sane human being. Another day, he seems radically different. Such people experience unusual shifts in moods. They may have highly impulsive and extravagant behaviour.
The Hysterical Person
Being hysterical is a serious condition, because the intellect is only 25% and mind is 75%. Such people hallucinate, become totally delusional, irrational and exhibit compulsive behaviours.
The Insane Person
The last category is the insane person. Here the mind controls 100% and intellect is zero. In fact, there is temporary madness. Our own mind gradually victimizes us if we’re not careful enough.
Frankly speaking, there is only one pillar for mental well-being- strong intellect. But we can break it down to four pillars which are: strong intellect, positive emotions, balanced relationships and higher purpose in life.
Introspection and Reflection
To develop a strong intellect, we need introspection and reflection. Spend five to six minutes every night as you lay down in your bed and simply remember the events of the day and their succession from the time you woke up to the time you are back to your bed, introspecting in a sequence. Initially, all will be very hazy. If you don’t remember, don’t force yourself. With time and practice, you will improve on it. You may realise that you rushed like a mad person and never enjoyed your breakfast. Many of our actions are almost mechanised. Rushing and being stressed out become a norm. Introspection helps you to tackle this problem and makes your existing intellect available.
If you want to develop your muscles, you go to a gym and work out. Similarly, to make your intellect stronger, develop thinking and analytical approach to life. Don’t function mechanically. Start questioning everything. Reflection helps us remember and imbibe the information that we have received. In any field, not just Vedanta, you must absorb and process the information. Refuse to follow the herd instinct.
The Power of Gratitude
The tendency of the mind is to grumble and to focus on what we don’t have or what went wrong. Practise to shift gears from what went wrong to what went right. Be grateful for the simple things in life. Nothing major needs to happen. You have eyesight and functioning limbs. Some people don’t have them. If you grumble about your partner, think of how he cares for you and provides certain things for you.
Assessment
Assessment helps us build balanced relationships. Assessment is nothing but analysis. You’re employing your intellect to analyze the nature of people closest to you and with whom you deal with on a daily basis, what is your driver like and so on. That will help you to develop the capacity to deal with people correctly. If your driver is always late, consider a buffer time.
Everybody wants stability but we must know how to handle change. Life is a dream of experiences. It’s like a river flowing that can never stop. That is the nature of the world we live in. If you don’t understand it and want permanency in an impermanent world, isn’t it an absurd expectation? When your expectations fail, you develop stress, frustration, conflict and confrontation. Right assessment is therefore very important. You can’t complain that a cobra does not respond to your affection.
Higher Purpose in Life
The last point is the higher purpose in life. A higher purpose gives meaning to your life. It is something worthy of and that makes you wake up and fill your life with enthusiasm, energy and cheer. Ask yourself: What am I working for? What is my purpose? What am I earning all this money for?
Some people work only for themselves. They’re highly selfish. Expand your circle of identification beyond you. Some people take care of the environment, the animals living around and the poor families. They share their profits with a larger community. Then there are people who work for their country. There are great leaders like Gandhiji. He dedicated his life to his nation. Even business people like Henry Ford did not simply think selfish of putting more money into his pockets or have a bigger house. His goal was to create an awesome automobile vehicle for middle class Americans. Think of a scientist in the laboratory, who is discovering the cure for cancer. He’s not doing it just for his own nation. He’s doing it for the entire humanity. The ultimate category is spiritual development and spiritual education. There are self-realised souls who identify with one and all.
There is an impeccable law that doesn’t change with time. No selfish person is happy. Also, no unselfish person is miserable. They may face tough people and tough situations. But they will still be cheerful, happy and optimistic, because they work for a larger cause.
In Search of Your Core
First, control your mind and then go beyond your mind. You finally understand that you are not this mind, and mind’s problems are not yours. This is the spiritual path. You slowly disconnect from your own mind and begin to identify with the spiritual core of your personality- your atman. You begin to understand that you are not the body, nor the mind, nor the intellect. You are that self, that Atman. That is the true real goal of human existence and our only purpose in life.
We are all like rivers moving towards the ocean. It’s a question of time. Maybe some rivers run a little further away from the ocean but they’re all moving in the same direction. Similarly, we’re all moving towards that final goal, the final destination. Vedanta helps us make conscious steps in the right direction and realise the Atman, the pure consciousness in all of us. Once the river merges with the ocean there is an absolute sense of well-being that we enjoy. Until then, whatever you do, learn to control your mind and you will feel much better and relatively cheerful, happy and peaceful. But true and permanent happiness resides in your Atman- in your own spiritual core.
Insights from the Q&A
Q: How can we use humor to beat the stress?
A: It’s a powerful tool. Whatever happens to you in life, laugh it off. Usually, when we are in a tough situation, it’s difficult to laugh. We cry for some time. Then after a month or two, we laugh.
Q: Can you suggest some techniques to develop the mind?
A: Please don’t develop your mind. It causes all the problems. Instead, develop intellect.
Q: How is happiness related to mental well-being? How can we get lasting happiness?
A: Wellbeing and happiness are synonyms. If you’re a happy individual, you enjoy the sense of well-being. If you enjoy the sense of wellbeing, you are a happy individual. It is the mind that disturbs your happiness and takes away your sense of well-being. Once mind is controlled, you can enjoy life.
Q: Where do we start from, if we want to apply the principles to improve our mental health?
A: Start by studying the literature. One lecture or one book is just the tip of the iceberg. You need to dive deeper into the study of Vedanta and you will find all the answers.
Q: How does self-esteem impact on the mental well-being?
A: Self-esteem comes from a strong intellect and from your objectivity. You know exactly, your pluses and minuses. It helps you to come out of inferiority or superiority complexes. You understand that we’re all spokes in the wheel of life. Each one is just playing his or her own part. Develop a healthy sense of self-esteem.
Q: Can you share any specific meditation or mindfulness techniques that can help individuals manage stress?
A: Meditation is the highest known spiritual practice. You have to be very well prepared for it. You can damage your mind if you’re not ready for it. Our mind is like a monkey. It is constantly jumping and moving. What will happen if I forcefully bind that monkey to a chair? The best preparation for meditation is following the spiritual practices of karma, bhakti and jnana. Reduce the load of desires and you can become meditative. We discussed a lot of practical tips like introspection, reflection, practising gratitude on a daily basis, assessing people and situations and being as unselfish as possible.
Q: Does not the concept of suffering play a role in mental well-being?
A: Suffering is a part and parcel of life. You can’t have world without suffering. We all go through one kind of pain or the other. The question is, have you mastered the techniques of rising above that suffering or tackling it? Or do you get buried under that load? Suffering is unavoidable. The world is admixture of pleasure and pain. To tackle your suffering successfully, you need to develop strong intellect.
