The four important factors that influence our mind...

There was a beautiful garden with lots of fruits and flowers on top of a mount. It was very beautiful. The chief gardener would stand on top of this mount and look at the people in the garden and would call out to everybody saying that there were lots of fruits in the garden like mangoes, bananas, and papayas. He would invite them to have some. But when they went there, he would come down the hill and he would change his mind. He would ask them why they had come,
and that they should go away.

Then, he would go up the hill. Sitting there, he would again call out the same invitation. Adding what he would do with all the fruit. That he was there to offer it to everybody. And, if they were happy, he would be happy, too. He would talk philosophically, but the moment he came down,
it was back to square one. He would fight with the people. They thought he was little crazy. He lost all his credibility. Even he, himself, was surprised,
and didn’t understand what was happening to him.

A wise man in the town suggested that the people dig below the hill and see what was there. They dug the place up and they found the throne of
a very well known king called Vikramaditya. He was known for his generosity,  righteousness,
and his high spiritual life. When he died, they could not find anybody else fit enough to sit on his throne because it was such a powerful seat.
So, people finally buried it under that mount, and it is said that the throne had the vibration of positivity and generosity and that was having an impact on the gardener when he went up the hill.

Every place you are in, has a different impact on the mind. Even in your house, you can see that you feel different in different rooms. A place where there there has been singing, chanting and meditation has a different influence on the mind.

So, there are four important factors that influence our mind are

1 Place
2 Time
3 Past Impressions
4 Company or Associations

Time is another factor  – You might have noticed your mind has great influence by time. Ancient people from the vedic tradition have calculated it.
Once every 12 years the jupiter is in the 8th house of your chart, your head goes crazy, not  for the whole year, but few months, people will have a lot of doubts,  nothing would seem to work. Wisdom will  be clouded. And similarly when someone has a lot of obstacles and success does not happen to them easily, it is said that jupiter is on the 8th house. So time has these sort of influences on our mind. Anyone’s behavior cannot be taken out of context – it should be seen with the context of space and time. If your time is good your worst enemy will be friendly, if your time is bad your best friend behaves like an enemy to you. Instead of pointing fingers at anyone the wise people said – kalaya tasmai namaha – I surrender to time! I bow down to time! There are some places where you are not affected by time and you can influence the time and that is meditation, chanting and satsang. When you meditate or chant you impact the time in a positive manner.
You can reduce the negative impacts of time.

The past impressions(sanskaras) have an impact on the mind. Awareness, alertness, knowledge and meditation help erase the past impressions.

Company or Associations – The people and events you are associated with do influence your mind.  In the company of some people things appear very bright and positive. In the company of some other people, the whole world seems like a nasty place and everything seems negative. One is being part of a solution and the other is magnifying the problem. So the company you keep has an impact on your mind.

Shud Sampatti

Since ancient times, it is said that strength of character is very essential. The Shatt Sampatti are the six virtues that contribute towards one’s greatness in character – hence termed as wealth.
In this article, Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar explains each of these six virtues.

1 Shama

Shama means to have that inner tranquillity of the mind. The word Shanti (peace) comes from the word Shama. This is a very important quality.
It is wealth that one should strive to acquire. When the mind is not at peace, your intellect becomes dull and hazy, and you are not able to listen or understand what someone else is saying.
To sharpen the intellect, you first need to calm the mind. Suppose you see someone breaking a rule – if you get angry, you are only making yourself miserable. Instead, keep the mind calm and steady. If need be, educate the other person about their mistake. And if they are not willing to understand, then ignore it and move on. You cannot improve someone else by getting angry at them. This ability to keep a calm mind under any kind of circumstances is Shama.

2 Dama

The second kind of wealth is Dama, which means having a say over your own senses. Many times, when people travel overnight in a luxury bus or airplane to attend to some important work in the morning, there is a movie being played during the journey. Now, though they want to sleep, they continue watching the movie. A moment comes when they say to themselves, “Oh, I have already seen this movie before. It’s the same rubbish. What is there to watch again?” Yet, the eyes say, “No, I want to watch and see what is happening”.
Your eyes do not agree with you. Your intellect says one thing, but your eyes disobey and follow something else. To have Dama means to have a perfect alignment between your mind and your senses.

3 Titiksha

Titiksha means forbearance. It means the ability to endure even that which is not of your liking.
Now, it is not possible that everything will go as per your liking. If you tend to lose your calm and presence of mind when some things do not happen as per your expectations, then that shows a lack of Titiksha. Having Titiksha means to be patient and to have forbearance. To maintain a balance and be able to bear it when undesired situations arise in life – that is a sign of having Titiksha. Suppose someone is very unpleasant to you. If you lack Titiksha, then it rattles your mind and throws you off balance. With Titiksha, you can move on and keep the balance.

4 Shraddha

Shraddha means to adore something that you don’t completely know. You do not fully know it, yet you feel there is something wonderful about it
and have a deep interest to know more about it.
You do not need to have faith in what you already know. Faith is always in something that you do not know, yet you feel a sense of connectivity to that unknown. Without Shraddha, nothing can move in life. Your doctor tells you to take a certain medicine. You take the medicine because you have faith in the doctor. If you do not have faith in the doctor, you will not touch the medicine. So, our life runs on faith. The city’s electricity board gives you electricity having faith
that you will pay the bill at the end of the month.
Putting a foot forward before you get the fruit of the action is called Shraddha.

5 Uparati

Uparati means enjoying anything that you do –
even if it is a small thing. It means to have a sense of enthusiasm in whatever you do. When there is a lack of Uparati, then there is dejectedness – no interest and no enthusiasm.
You do not like doing anything if you lack Uparati.
One who does not have enthusiasm cannot create or invent anything new. Uparati means to do everything wholeheartedly, finding joy and taking total interest in it.

6 Samadhana

Samadhana means contentment. This is also a gift – a true wealth. A person who is content exuberates a certain sense of joy from deep within. He exudes certain positive vibrations that everyone else would love to have. A restless person cannot be an inventor. Newton struggled all his life. But when he felt overwhelmed with desperation, when his brain got so tired of thinking and calculating, he sat down to rest below a tree. When he took a moment of rest,
the apple fell before him and he discovered Gravity. When you look at every invention on this planet with a keen sense of observation, you will find that it has come when people have gotten over their restlessness, desperation, and dejection. It has happened when they arrived at a point of breakdown, and relaxed. In that moment of total relaxation and contentment, creativity came to them. Contentment is not lethargy. Do not confuse contentment with lethargy. Contentment is creativity, and creativity blossoms in us when there is Samadhana. So, these are the six kinds of wealth. Each one is called a wealth because, like any wealth, some of it comes to us easily in life, while others we must make efforts to acquire. Some wealth must be maintained, otherwise it will disappear.

By Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

Desire alone makes you weak. Nothing else does!

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:~

Whether others pay attention to you or not, pay attention to yourself. It is worthless to pay attention to others; you would be better off
if you turned your attention to yourself. You worry about what others think of you. Drop this attitude.
If you turn your attention inwards, it will become your source of strength. Everywhere you struggle to find strength, which is nothing but your own nature. You yourself are the strength you search for; you are a powerhouse of energy.

Once upon a time a beggar went to see Abraham, the emperor. However, this beggar walked like a king. The gatekeeper stopped him and asked,
“Where are you going?” to which he replied,
“I have come to the pilgrims rest house.” The gatekeeper responded, “This is a palace, not a pilgrims rest house.” The beggar insisted,
“No, take me to the king, the one who stays in this rest house.” He did not listen to anyone, intent on being taken to the emperor. Noticing his bearing,
his manner of walking and the radiance of his face, the king bowed to him, as though compelled. The king wondered who this man could be and questioned him, “Why did you say that you have come to a rest house? You have insulted my palace by turning it into a rest house for pilgrims.” He answered, “I had come here before. Back then, another person was sitting here.” “Yes, you do not lie. It is true that my father sat here.” The man responded, “I came even before that time. Then too another person sat here.” The king said, “Yes, I agree. What you say is correct. He was my grandfather,” and the beggar replied, “Then is this not a pilgrims rest house?

You sit here, believing that all this is yours.
Many people have come and gone. Anybody who comes here stays only for some time. Is it not the same as a rest house? Nobody lives here forever.
The whole earth is a pilgrims resting house, where nobody has stayed forever. For this reason,
I called this palace a pilgrims rest house.”

This knowledge struck the king like a lightning bolt. The moment he heard it, he descended from his throne and prostrated before the beggar. “You have opened my eyes! Take this resting house and look after it. I am going and am leaving it to you.” Saying this, King Abraham left the palace.

You search for strength only after desiring it.
The desire to be strong makes you weak. The more ambition you have, the weaker you become.
When there is fear in the mind, there is no strength. If you have strength, there is no fear.

Desire alone makes you weak.
Nothing else does!
Desire changes you into a beggar.
Come back to your self,
“Svapadam shaktih” -
you become the strength!