This year’s annual talk at Cairnlea by Br Gautamji was held on March 17th and 18th at the Cairnlea Community Centre. The topic for the talk focussed on a contemporary problem experienced by most of us – namely, how to balance a busy life, and Br Gautamji had a unique answer to the problem based on the ancient wisdom of Vedanta philosophy.
He, in fact, redefined the problem to set the proper context. Throughout the talk his focus was not on time management techniques, which he said dealt with only the external symptoms of being busy and for which a number of solutions are already available by simply consulting “Swami Google-ananda” as he jokingly said. Instead his whole discourse revolved around the internal stress experience arising from a perception of being over-burdened and busy. This is where the core of the problem resides and needs to be analysed.
Br Gautamji made the point that the perception of being busy arises not from the volume of work as such, as people who are used to doing work may find tasks less daunting than those who are not used to the work. Rather it may be correlated to one’s capacity and even inclination to perform work. As this capacity is lodged firmly in one’s inner psyche, the art of balancing a busy life is equivalent to the art of balancing one’s inner self. It is this insight that links balancing a busy life with the wisdom of ancient Vedanta.
Br Gautamji went on to elaborate the three separate energies of body(physical energy), mind (emotional energy) and intellect (mental energy), how each of these energies brought their own particular flavour or quality into any situation, and how the right blend of all three energies was needed to harmonise the process of task fulfilment.
The first day culminated with the enunciation of three specific strategies – controlling the “self-talk” within your inner self; thought flow reduction through linking all of one’s separate thoughts on individual activities to an overriding larger vision, which will eventually serve as our sole guide; and finally by the attitude of “do your best and leave the rest”.
On the second day, Br Gautamji discussed the issue of expectations. Very often we form expectations of others and they sometimes fall short and disappoint and become issues that occupy and plague our mind. He analysed the problem by focussing on two aspects of the problem –personality traits and values.
On personality traits Br Gautamji noted that there were generally four broad categories – thinkers, doers, talkers and observers. All four have their place in the effective functioning of a team environment and each of us falls predominantly into one of these categories – yet it is in our nature to identify ourselves with others who are in a similar category. This is however a false identification and develops consequently false expectations, as it is the harmony of a variety of traits that can bring about success in any undertaking. It is therefore necessary to alter our mindset to accept and welcome a variety of traits. The resulting harmony will greatly reduce unnecessary issues that usually clutter our minds and increase our sense of being busy.
But perhaps Br Gautamji’s greatest insight was on the impact of value systems on our mental clutter. Value systems determine or sense of priority for our various responsibilities and interests. A strong value system promotes a clear vision and sense of purpose within individuals and the extent to which you strictly adhere to this vision helps develop not only your personality but also the way in which others perceive you and accept you. A strong vision is the key to simplifying our lives and our mental clutter as it promotes an inner harmony. He even gave examples of a few such vision statements such as “WE LIVE EVER READY TO SERVE, LOVE AND SHARE WISDOM” and “I MAINTAIN A POSITIVE ATTITUDE TO ALL SITUATIONS” which could be truly empowering and inspiring if adhered to in the fullness of one’s being.
The day concluded with Br Gautamji exploring a few additional simple points. Prioritisation was his first point. All our activities could be classified as in terms of urgency with regard to time frame and in terms of importance with regard to alignment with our value system or vision with the highest priority given to the most important and urgent, and so on. This gives the basis for dealing with distractions which was his second point. Distractions are driven by impulses and cravings, and can direct your emotions to act in ways not in consonance with your vision statement and priorities. A particular example that Br Gautamji gave in this regard was our craving for food at odd hours, where we may even try to justify our plundering of the pantry cupboard – an activity primarily motivated by inner craving - with sophisticated reasoning such as the need to replenish our protein intake and the like. His strategy to beat such distractions was essentially to note that all such cravings build themselves up to a crescendo and then subside, and therefore to “beat the moment” by exercising the maximum restraint at the time of this peak. While the example was given specifically for food cravings, the principle could be applied for distractions in general.
All of these themes were explored in great detail by Br Gautamji peppered with jovial anecdotes that kept the audience well enthralled over the two days. The lecture was both at once interesting and insightful as it demonstrated how the ancient wisdom of Vedanta could be brought to bear with immense perspicuity to even contemporary issues. To anyone interested a copy of the DVD may be obtained.
The lecture attracted capacity crowds on both days both exceeding 85 people. It was heartening to note that a number of new people also turned up for the lecture. Childcare, now a regular feature of these talks, was well catered for. All in all, the event was well organised and proved to be the harmonious team work epitomised in Br Gautamji’s talk.
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