Tuesday, November 29, 2016

Wisdom on a Bench in Mussoorie – Stress Management Mantra

STRESS MANAGEMENT MADE SIMPLE

OUTER SILENCE  THE FIRST STEP TO INNER PEACE

WORDS ON A BENCH IN MUSSOORIE
Meditation
By
VIKRAM KARVE

I am feeling hassled. 

I close my eyes. 

I sit in silence.

I relax. 

And  I remember those insightful and profound words of wisdom engraved on a bench in Mussoorie.

I read those words written on a bench in Hindi long back  but those meaningful words have remained etched in my mind forever.

Agar Aap Shanti Chahte Ho To Pehele Shaant Rehena Seekho 

अगर आप शांति चाहते हो तो पहेले शांत रहेना सीखो 

Long back  in the early 1990 I visited Mussoorie.

During one of my long walks  probably on Camel’s Back Road  or maybe near Lal Tibba in Landour  I saw some words inscribed on a bench.

Those words were a truism that has had a profound impact on me ever since.

I will never forget those interesting words written in Hindi on a bench in Mussoorie: 

अगर आप शांति चाहते हो तो पहेले शांत रहेना सीखो 

(Agar Aap Shanti Chahte Ho To Pehle Shaant Rehna Seekho

Roughly translated into English this means:

IF YOU DESIRE PEACE THEN FIRST LEARN TO REMAIN SILENT 

Of course  the Hindi word  शांत  (shaant)  also means PEACEFUL 

Yes  SILENCE is the sine qua non for PEACEFULNESS.

Once your mind is calm and peaceful  you will experience a sense of inner peace.

If your inner peace is disturbed  you will be stressed out.

The root cause of stress is lack of inner peace.

The first step to stress management is to restore your inner peace  and you must not allow your inner peace to be disturbed.

But  why does your inner peace get disturbed...?

Your inner peace gets disturbed because there is too much “noise” in your life.

There is Physical Noise, Mental Noise, Information Overload Noise, Emotional Noise, Relationship Noise – all sorts of Noise.

There is internal noise  and  there is external noise.

There is noise around you  and  there is noise within you.

There is all sorts of noise and cacophony – noise bombards all your senses

Noise hassles you.

Noise disturbs your tranquility.

Noise is the biggest impediment to attaining peacefulness. 

The first step to inner peace is to get rid of all that noise around you and within you. 

Yes  if you want peace you have to shut out all the noise from your life.

Go to a quiet place where there is minimal external noise  switch off your noise-making gadgets like mobile cellphones etc  shut out the cacophony on TV  shut out the toxic people who create “noise” within you – yes – shut out all the emotional noise which hassles your peace of mind. 

Sit silently in solitude  close your eyes  and see how your inner silence dissolves the noise within you.

Soon  as you sit in silence  you will experience inner peace  and you will be in harmony with yourself.

That is what I try to do every morning – or – whenever I feel stressed out.

I sit in silence in the spacious airy balcony of my ninth floor flat in Wakad – or in any other silent calm place.

I absorb the tranquil scenic view of the placid waters of the Mula River quietly flowing below, the peaceful verdant hills in the distance, the still atmosphere, the pure fresh air  and I feel a halo of soothing serenity permeate within me. 

Then  I close my eyes  and I let my silence dissolve the internal noise in my mind and body.

It is only then that I experience inner peace  and I realize that I am in harmony with myself.

Yes  if you want to be in harmony with yourself  you must have inner peace.

And  outer silence is the first step to inner peace. 

अगर आप शांति चाहते हो तो पहेले शांत रहेना सीखो 

If you want peace then first learn to remain silent 

Remember this simple piece of wisdom.

Try it. 

Experience the power of silence in calming your mind.

It works. 

You can take my word for it.

Remember the Stress Management Mantra: 

Outer Silence is the First Step to Inner Peace

VIKRAM KARVE
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Disclaimer:
All stories in this blog are a work of fiction. Events, Places, Settings and Incidents narrated in the story are a figment of my imagination. The characters do not exist and are purely imaginary. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

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