The balance of life

Come to think of it, since eternity, how perfectly are all heavenly bodies suspended and moving in space. Just right, not colliding with each other, not wanting to occupy another’s space, all engaged serenely in a supreme, divine, cosmic dance of balance!

The whole of the cosmos understands balance – why doesn’t man? Look at the human body – a model of balance and coordination. Its balance of hormones, acids and alkalis, salts and minerals, liquid and solid matter make man possible.

All of nature understands balance. It is built around balance and operates in balance. Why not man? It is obvious that our state of stability is completely dependent on the state of our mind – it rules our very existence. Take care to not upset the mind and everything else falls in place. But how not to upset the mind?

A sthithapragna is one who is undisturbed in happiness and misery, in gain and loss, and in victory and defeat. Buddha calls this attitude the middle path. To be in the middle is to be centred, neutral, unbiased, fair and upright, therefore avoiding extremes in thought and behavior. Coming from this space, one can investigate all issues and problems in life objectively, understand the truth thoroughly, come to a reasonable conclusion and act appropriately. Buddha says that the Self is neither permanent, nor does it cease to exist at death. No situation is permanent – it comes and goes like a wave. If one experiences headache, he will eventually experience a state of non-headache too. Buddha called this impermanence anicca, and said that this knowledge would keep man from error and suffering.

Uncertainty is the nature of life, not just business. Acceptance, then, is the critical attitude one has to develop in order to come to grips with life. Once the mind accepts an uncomfortable situation, it can go to the next step of finding the optimum solution to overcome it; if there is no solution in sight, it will wait patiently until the problem blows over. A spiritually inclined person would attribute it to karma, a religious person to God’s will, a positive thinker would survive by telling himself that bad times don’t last and good times are round the corner. Belief in a higher power, belief in tomorrow or confidence in oneself – all work wonderfully in keeping the spirit upbeat at all times.

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Bhasker ChittibabuFebruary 18, 2011 at 12:53 PM
This is what i said years back to you... All things created by GOD always move in waves. No one can stream a water with constant force. There will always be fluctuation in the force a sort of waves.... no one can avoid it. That's the naeture. So are humans created by GOD, we also have water, alkalis, acid, emotions...whatever u want to call also takes the form of waves and is better to calm and slow down and make it still. Think about it.....
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