Swadharma

Yesterday, I was working in a room on a problem which, it seemed, didn’t want to be solved. I was at that stage in problem-solving where I had saturated myself in the problem and all the various approaches, but it was not able to click. And saturated is definitely the right word to use — I felt filled, like I could not process anything more, and that my mind was in a loop of approaching the problem in the same way. If you’re a student, chances are you know how this feels.

It’s important that I was saturated — I find that this is different from a lack of motivation where I just do not feel like working, a different matter altogether, which I periodically address elsewhere. I wanted to solve the problem, and I was putting in the time and effort to figure it out, but it was not clicking. So I did what seemed natural during the day’s unusually warm winter weather — I went for a walk.

This decision to go outside wasn’t obvious — I had to convince myself that I was not being lazy, but rather taking a different approach to the problem, one that involved letting go of the problem completely. Because it involves a shift in thinking, I find that taking a break is often harder than continuing to work on the problem itself.

There is a neat footpath that guides me through the greenery where I live, approximately a mile to a bridge over a small creek. Walking on this path, I can see only two things — the path before me, decked on both sides by the atypical green winter grass, and the open sky, surprisingly blue, and filtered through naked trees. Warm weather may not be covered with pure white holiday snow, but at least it gives me an opportunity to go outside and get out of my stuffy home. After all, hours of being cooped up in a stuffy home next to a heater and a humidifier is bound to inspire a little wanderlust in anyone, desire for the warm dryness of the outdoors over the artificial humidity within.

Getting out of my stuffy home allowed me to see the problem in a more holistic perspective. Indoors, the problem appeared all-consuming, and I grew attached to the notion of solving it. I was saturated – I was approaching it in exactly the same way, over and over, breathing the same stuffy artificially humid air, over and over, thinking the same things, with the filth of self-pity accumulating in my mind’s gutter. 

Outdoors, I was able to view my indoor self more maturely. I could say to myself that there is more to life than this problem’s elusive solution, let a gust of cool dry winter clean my self-pity. Taking a step outdoors, I could take a break from the constant oppression of humid indoor heat, and rethink my approach to life, so that when I returned, I would appreciate the great advances in technology that allow me to live so comfortably in my home. So by taking that step outdoors, I could enjoy the indoors as well.

Needless to say, after this 20-minute walk, I solved the problem in short order, and approved of my decision to step outside.

But this is one simple case where my body became anxious. That is, my body became annoyed from being stuffed indoors all day. What about when the mind becomes anxious, in perfectly comfortable climates? If only I could take my mind for a walk, take a mental breath of fresh cool air, and step back inside! Whether we are indoors or outdoors, the mind’s climate is more difficult to control — taking a walk might work, but as Krishna says in the Gita [BG 6.5]:

atmaiva hy atmano bandhur
atmaiva ripur atmanah

The mind is the friend of the conditioned soul, and his enemy as well.

That is why the scriptures give us precisely this, in the package of yoga – a way to take a mental walk from the humid stuffiness of our worries, into the cool winter air of introspection. Problem sets, papers, exams, romantic troubles, financial problems, family issues — everything accumulates constantly in the mind, and our mind needs to take a walk sometimes too, so that it can step outside and approach the very same problems in a constructive way. Taking a mental walk like this allows us to act because not because we feel obligated to, but because we want to.

So how can we take a mental walk? Meditation.

But we must read books and learn the philosophy to meditate properly!

It’s easier — “Only one book is worth reading: the heart.”

Related posts:

1. Living: A Poem
2. We must help each other grow stronger
3. Question of the Week: Where do we get our beliefs?
4. Question of the Week: What is one of your objects of devotion?
5. This world is neither good nor evil