Choosing Growth Over the Easy Win: How to Navigate Life’s Crossroads

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That Y In The Road

As a student (indirect) of Swami Chinmayananda, his teachings have had a profound impact on how I live my daily life in a personal capacity as a mother, wife and friend. I also try to imbibe Guruji’s teachings in how I interact with my coworkers. This year, I have had the privilege of being part of a weekly satsang that discusses the book The Kindle Life.

Kindle life is a beginner-level guide for a seeker of the essence of Vedanta. Its organized into a few short essays on how to have the right contact with the world. It discusses how to interact with people and the objects of our desire and interpret the experiences we have through our sense organs. The book’s tagline is “The Joy of Living”.

Recently it was my turn to summarize the chapter called “The dual lives”. Below is how I did it for the workshop.

To make ourselves whole, all our lives, we keep acquiring things. We seek fame, wealth, luxuries, companionship and other things hoping that they would complete the void we sometimes feel within us. But we don’t realize that self-restraint and discipline can help us understand that we were always whole / complete just the way we are.

The reason why we’re not content in the first place is two-fold.
a. If we’re not chasing some ambition, we worry that society will label us lazy.
b. We truly don’t take the time to appreciate our scriptures for what they are: a practical code of healthy living.

The text challenges us to optimize our living by leveraging the teachings of our scriptures. It asks us to understand the laws that govern our inner world. But, how do we know we’re learning and growing?

Here’s how. When you’re are truly expanding your inner world,

a. You don’t feel the need to suppress your desires, and
b. You naturally will start becoming free from desires.

Choices In Action

How does the duality of our choices look like in action. At any given point of time, there are two paths to choose from for us.

a. The path of pleasant (Preya)
b. The path of good (Shreya)

The path of Preya or pleasures is one of immediate gratification. And because we’re chasing the impermanent, in the long term, we’re left with sorrow or disappointment that our happiness didn’t last.

The path of Shreya, or good is one that’s hard at the beginning, but that guarantees bliss and fulfillment at the end. We’re focused on our work for the greater good of the world, and so satisfaction is guaranteed.

When staying this path gets tough, our tools of discipline and discrimination can help stay on it. Telling ourselves that our difficulties too shall pass and being other centered than self centered will also help. Try incorporating small activities of self restraint like intermittent fasting to develop the discipline muscle. And keeping in our line of sight, why we chose this path in the first place, to be able to contribute, and live a good quality life will also help us stay on the path.

And what’s more? Just imagine the spiritual energy your aura carries when you’re smiling, serving and caring for others more than you do for yourselves sometimes?

What are you waiting for, the path of good – Shreyas is beckoning. Will you pivot?

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