Bhaktananda Overcoming Negative Emotions:Notes from a SRF devotee

[Jitendra Hy-do-u-no-us?]

Bhaktananda Overcoming Negative Emotions 9/13/80

They cause weakness, they’re human. They drain energy. They cause us to wake up tired.

Root causes:
 
Ignorance, ego. Ego separation causes selfishness.
Sensitivity = allowing ourselves to be hurt by the words of others.
It is a form of self-pity. It is one of the greatest human weaknesses.

If you don’t accept abuse, it belongs to the giver, as Buddha said to the householder who verbally abused him for begging.

Bhaktananda said that during a time he had a “pressure job”  he would read in the car during breaks – Whispers or Metaphysical Meditations “it helped me greatly” much better than reading newspapers.

Causes of emotional trouble:

Past lives

Childhood – parents misbehaved or neglected us, wrong discipline. The children of single parents have emotional troubles, surveys show.

Wrong emotions -

Attachment – to results of our work, our thoughts, objects means we have forgotten we are immortal Gods, and put more importance on much lesser things.  In attachment we become fearful of losing it, it limits our capacity to enjoy, even – it pigeonholes our consciousness.  == because the mind itself is attached and silence is beyond mind, loving silence is the only way to overcome it.

Anger. Anger makes us believe we are hurting someone else, but really it is like a cornered snake that bites itself. Worldly people take pride in anger – “Irish temper”

•   You can apologize without admitting guilt. ‘I am sorry for the disagreement we had’

•   Humility, humor,  patience, poise, friendship are best antidotes for anger.

•   When you have self-control, people won’t try to do things to make you angry; you embarrass them by holding your poise.

•   When angry: first cool off. Delay any reaction – count to 10, 25 etc. Take a walk. Be humble. “Maybe you are right”. Ask questions.

Envy  is a passive state, wishing to be like someone else. It’s passive, it’s wrong. It’s like watching someone else’s plate. We can’t be like others. Be ourselves. Be the best person we can be.

Jealously is an aggressive state with fear, anger and vengeance, along with envy. We see the worst in those we are jealous of. Leaders are often jealous of their position. There is often a jealousy triangle in the home: husband, wife, God. Silly, but it happens in many homes. Children can be jealous of newborns. Involve an older child with helping with a new baby. One mother had her kid pray for a baby when she was 8 and ½ months pregnant!

Fear don’t be afraid, but be cautious. Don’t call it fear and cause guilt. Lock your car. Avoid dangerous situations. Be careful where you walk at night, etc.

Emotional Fear is faith in wrong things: caused by wrong imagination. You should save for the future to allay the fear of insecurity. Even $5.00 per month.

Fear of Death:

1.   Remember it is not painful. It is as easy as going to sleep.
2.   You won’t be alone. There will be a welcome wagon there for you.
3.   It is better in the astral world. 

[guest88]

== because the mind itself is attached and silence is beyond mind, loving silence is the only way to overcome it.

thanks for sharing

[Jitendra Hy-do-u-no-us?]

•   Humility, humor,  patience, poise, friendship are best antidotes for anger.

I think the one of the most important lessons I have learned from Brother Bhaktananda is the experience; that the spiritual life seems so different than the material life in the sense that what we see as obvious and easy to recognize in the material life is not that way in the spiritual life.

As an example: Brother Bhaktananda.... I knew that he was elevated spiritually but to what extent? He was always rather self effacing so you really didn't know until he would say something in just a sentence or two that let you know just how much he knew. Take the experiences I was having in meditation. Although I look back and see that they were more meaningful than I thought at the time. You really do not recognize the power of the moments in your life or the people in your life till they are gone. I remember meeting an Indian Shaman. I asked him. What is my destiny. His answer:

 

"Your destiny is now".