August 17, 2021

Deep dive into our opinions

Read Time: 1 min 58 secs

Have you ever seen someone acting unethically? Maybe they are lying their way through a business deal, paying fewer wages or pulling other companies down. Were you too quick to judge them badly? This blog delves into where our power lies in these matters.

Sage Patanjali who compiled the Yoga Sutras offers remedies for a good life. Of all, these 4 are highlighted: Maitri - Friendliness. Karuna - Compassion for the one in pain. Mudita - Delight for the success of others and Upeksha - Indifference or neutrality towards the evil. Upeksha is what this blog is about.

Guruji B.K.S. Iyengar in his book 'Light on Yoga' writes (Quote-unquote) ''Upeksha is not merely a feeling of disdain or contempt for the person who has fallen into a vice (apunya) or not feeling indifference or superiority towards him.'' He writes profoundly about how we can practice 'Upeksha'. Since it's a tough one, I've noted them as journaling prompts having added a few more from my understanding.

Consider the situation of the cheating businessman or any situation where we judged someone harshly. Then reading the following questions 1 by 1, we can pause, reflect, visualise and journal the answer to unearth our mind

How would we behave if we had to face their temptations or situation?
How are we even remotely responsible for the state in which the other person has fallen?
What efforts can we take to put the person on the right path, directly or indirectly?
Are these same traits also in us? In subtler ways? In other areas? In the past?
Do we despise these traits in ourselves?
Who told us that this was wrong?
Can we understand what caused this behaviour in us?

Guruji B.K.S.Iyengar writes that The Yogi understands the faults of others by seeing and studying them first in himself. We aren't Yogis but we can endeavour to live well.

Most of our notions of right and wrong came from people around us who wanted us to be according to their right and wrong. And we did, to avoid any eye rolls and criticism from society. When someone else goes astray from the societal norm of good and bad, right and wrong, we may then criticise them. Are we only just criticising that part of our self whose reflection we see in them? Can we be accommodating to that person and in turn accommodate that part of us which also wanted to express that? In that, will we heal and be fuller and more natural? Would we be empathetic towards the other and turn to ourselves too? With this, our judgements reduce, we move towards choiceless awareness, acceptance as well as embracing the gamut of human weirdness.

Our solid power lies in what we bring to the world which depends on our choices, our deep mining of the mind and unearthing the hidden purity out. Surely then we will see it outside as well.