How to Manage Stress in life?

Stress at work, Stress at home, Stress in relations, Stress in family life, we all suffer from some or the other form of stress in life. Stress has become the most common word in our fast day to day life. In our daily life everyone suffers from stress at some point or the other. Stress can be due to workplace pressures, tensions in relationships etc. etc. Stress normally disturbs our physical and mental health. Due to stress a person fails to respond appropriately to emotional or physical threats to the organism.

Common stress symptoms include irritability, muscular tension, inability to concentrate and a variety of physical reactions, such as headaches and accelerated heart beat. Otherwise stress can also cause backache, insomnia, fatigue, hypertension, eating disorder etc. So it is very clear that STRESS can create havoc with your life.

So it is imperative that we need to be cool & calm in life. Stress needs to be avoided in all cases in life. Now how can a person remain always cool and unruffled under all circumstances so that he/she never experiences any stress?

If we want to come out of stress in life then first of all we need to change our lifestyle. First & foremost thing is that we need to be peaceful at mind in all circumstances. For that we should be satisfied with what we have at present. Let's try to be happy & try to enjoy what we are having at present. Do not hanker your mind always after those things which are not very easy to attain in life & are beyond one's reach.

Other than that just try to make harmonious relations with the people all around you. Be friendly with your relations & people around you at workplace. Once you are able to do that then you shall find that you are better off & much peaceful.

Other than this, just ENJOY your work. If you shall enjoy your work than considering it a burden, then also most of your Stress shall leave you as a person's mind engrossed in work has little to think about other things in life. Once you are peaceful at mind then stress shall leave you.

Finally as per teachings of "Bhagwat Gita" we need to be happy with our present state of life & should not hanker after the material desires. We need to have faith in God & should do our own duty as while doing one's own duty only one can be happy.

"Yoga-sthah kuru karmani
sangam tyaktva dhananjaya
siddhy-asiddhyoh samo bhutva
samatvam yoga ucyate" (Bhagwat Gita: Chapter Two verse 48)"

"Sri Krishna said to Arjuna: Perform your duty with an equipoise mind, abandoning all attachment to success or failure. Such equanimity is called Yoga."

So just do your work with your 100% involvement & dedication & derive pleasure out of doing such work. Other than that, we need to learn some relaxation techniques such as meditation, doing deep breathing exercises, listening to soul soothing music etc. Having a long simple walk, doing some physical exercises, massaging the body can also help in reducing the stress.

Anger

Once a student came to his Master and complained: "Master, I have an ungovernable temper. I get angry every now & then. How can I control & cure it?"

Master said, "Oh! You have a very strange problem, Just show me & let me see what problem do you have."

Student said "Just now I cannot show it to you."

O.K. "When can you show it to me?" asked the Master.

"It arises unexpectedly," replied the student.

Master said, "Then, it must not be your own true nature. If it were, you could show it to me at any time. When you were born you did not have it, and your parents did not give it to you. Your true nature is Soul nature in which all the calm & peace is there, just think over it."

We all know that getting angry is not good in our life but all of us get angry at some point of time in life. Why at times our mind gets violent & anger is expressed in our nature? In a state of anger we hurt our near & dear one's mind by speaking angry words. When anger gets out of control and turns destructive, it can lead to problems for oneself, as well as, for others also. In the state of anger we are at the mercy of an unpredictable and powerful emotion which if not controlled by us does harm only to our life. If anger is not controlled, it can lead to physiological, as well as, psychological problems in our life.

Now how we can control this anger? Basically, to control anger is to first control & calm your mind. If your mind remains in a state of calm then no negative emotions can arouse in it. To be peaceful at mind, the easiest way is that we let our mind delve inside our own inner Soul nature rather than hankering after outside worldly objects i.e. we should daily do some meditation, as in meditation mind becomes peaceful. If mind continuously runs after outside worldly things then it gets disturbed when the thing of desire is not attained. When the mind gets disturbed in this way then anger arouses in the mind & it leads to negative consequences only. When you close your eyes in meditation, you start delving inside your inner nature. What is your inner nature? It's nothing but your Soul inside, where you delve in times of meditation & attain peace. In Soul, there is peace only. Now your Soul is nothing but part & parcel of Universal Soul only. Universal Soul is nothing but God only, who is ultimate peace.

Below is a verse from Bhagwat Gita which explains why we should avoid anger:

"tri-vidham narakasyedam
dvaram nasanam atmanah
kamah krodhas tatha lobhas
tasmad etat trayam tyajet" (Bhagwat Gita: Chapter Sixteen verse 21)

"Sri Krishna said: O Arjuna, There are three gates leading to the hell — Lust, Anger and Greed. Every sane man should give these up, for they lead to the degradation of the Soul."

So let's avoid arising of negative emotion like anger in our mind. A mind free of anger remains calm & peaceful.

Jai Sri Krishna

God Is The Spiritual Reality In All The Creatures

God is there in your heart. It is immediately proven by the fact that when you go to a temple or church, you just close your eyes & start praying with closed eyes, while you are in front of your revered God. Simply you feel God much closer to your heart inside yourself than in the standstill figure or statue in the temple or church. Yes, God is there in your heart who is sitting silently over there watching you & your actions. This aspect of God is called "Antaryamin".

"Antaryamin means the one who can observe & know every thing of your heart without you being explaining anything to Him. So God is called Antaryamin as we need not explain to Him about any of our problems. In this aspect He is Antaryamin & He knows what we want."

So God is seated in all beings as the Antaryamin. God is also everywhere as the Omnipresent God (Sarva-vyapi Bhagavan). In Bhagwat Gita: Chapter Thirteen, Lord Krishna explains about the Body & the Soul. As per that this body is the field, and the Being (Soul) who is seated in this field is called the Knower of the field. Lord Krishna says, "O Arjuna, know Me to be the Knower of the field in all the fields i.e. I am the Soul present in all the bodies". In all other creatures & animals also, Lord is there in their bodies as Antaryamin God. God is the beginning, the middle and the end of all creatures.

Below are few verses of Bhagwat Gita explaining that God is the Spiritual Reality (Soul) in all the creatures:

"kshetra-jnam chapi mam viddhi
sarva-kshetresu bharata
kshetra-kshetrajnayor jnanam
yat taj jnanam matam mama" (Bhagwat Gita: Chapter Thirteen verse 3)

"Sri Krishna said: O Arjuna, you should understand that I am also the knower (Soul) in all the bodies, and to understand this body and its knower (Soul) is called knowledge. That is My opinion."

"bahir antas cha bhutanam
acharam charam eva cha
suksmatvat tad avijneyam
dura-stham chantike cha tat" (Bhagwat Gita: Chapter Thirteen verse 16)

"Sri Krishna said: O Arjuna, The Supreme Truth (Super Soul) exists outside and inside of all living beings, the moving and the nonmoving. Because He is subtle, He is beyond the power of the material senses to see or to know. Although far, far away, He is also near to all."

"avibhaktam cha bhutesu
vibhaktam iva cha sthitam
bhuta-bhartr cha taj jneyam
grasisnu prabhavishnu cha" (Bhagwat Gita: Chapter Thirteen verse 17)


"Sri Krishna said: O Arjuna, Although the Supersoul appears to be divided among all beings, He is never divided. He is situated as one. Although He is the maintainer of every living entity, it is to be understood that He devours and develops all."


"aham atma gudakesha
sarva-bhutasaya-sthitah
aham adis cha madhyam cha
bhutanam anta eva cha" (Bhagwat Gita: Chapter Ten verse 20)


"Sri Krishna said: I am the Super Soul, O Arjuna, seated in the hearts of all living entities. I am the beginning, the middle and the end of all beings."


So as God is there in your heart in "Antaryamin" aspect, you can always find some time from your daily routine & can pray to Him while closing your eyes. Daily praying to Him like this shall make you more peaceful & shall make you feel more closer to God. A deer who is having the Kasturi (Musk) in his body only, searches for the cause of fragrance all over there in the wild, while that sweet fragrance comes from the inside of his body only. Same is the case with us that we are searching for the God outside ourselves while He is sitting in our heart only.

Jai Sri Krishna