simple, insightful tips for work and life
Love your work, to increase your energy, to keep focused on the present, to enrich your future, to spread happiness… Life 101.
The Vedanta Treatise by Swami Parthasarathy is the book that was waiting for me on my bed, like a metaphorical life jacket, when I arrived for my Yogic Detox at Ananda in the Himalayas.
Vedanta, in a very rough nutshell, is the Hindu philosophy that teaches us about the ultimate goals of life, and gives us insights to live by, work by and spread far and wide for greater global happiness.
Even though I was exhausted that very first day, once I had opened the first pages I couldn’t put it down and it accompanied me everywhere I went during my retreat. The tiny excerpts I copied below are just the tip of the iceberg. Read it for its numerous aha-moments; the good, the bad and the ugly. It really is Life 101.
“People everywhere have lost the pleasure in action. They try to find peace and happiness by abstaining from action. Hence everybody looks forward to weekend and vacation.”
“Your life is one big game. The most laborious undertaking pursued in the right spirit is found to be all play. Intense work undertaken is thus no work at all.”
“When the mind and intellect are thus pursuing a selfless ideal, the body becomes energized to work. The more he works, the more energy it releases. And with greater energy, work turns out dynamic.”
“There are three distinct ways in which energy drains away. One way is about the mind worrying about the past. The second is its anxiety over the fruit of action. And the third it’s excitement in the present action… Your intellect must exercise its strength to hold the mind on to the action whenever it strays away.”
“The law of karma reached further to state that you are not only the product of your past, but the producer of your future as well.”
“You ought not to spread the disease of melancholy to your fellow-beings. Instead rejuvenate their health with joy and happiness.”
