CONCENTRATION HOLDS THE KEY TO SUCCESS

CONCENTRATION HOLDS THE KEY TO SUCCESS

Concentration suffers when stresses build up in the system and then mistakes are unwittingly committed. Overmuch of stress may be countered through the practice of discrimination, detachment and meditation. The secret of success lies in the focusing of the mind on the subject of study and this is possible through spiritual practice and renunciation. This was the advice of Sri Krishna to Arjun and it remains valid for all time.

Spiritual practice with the maintenance of physical and psychological purity as its precondition cleanses the system and makes it free of the dross of desire which otherwise accumulates and disturbs the finely tuned balance of the system which makes for loss of concentration. Spiritual practice without the renunciation of worldliness is a barren chase. Material desires drag the mind down and do not allow the mind to rise in altitude and lose itself in the higher realms of the spirit. At the lower level of consciousness thoughts are chaotic with desires running amok, reducing the system to a battlefield of irrational reactions and responses, uncontrolled emotions and their severe repercussions. There is undue stress which becomes unmanageable and causes distress to the individual, filling his life with suffering from which there is no easy way out then.

But man seeks a way out for sure, such is human ingenuity, such is the capacity of the human species for adaptation to altered circumstance that threatens its existence. It is out of this survival necessity and also the higher aspiration towards freedom that the Vedic rishis discovered the way out of the cycle of human suffering. The method they announced to the world is called yoga and it is the application of this ancient technique of the soul which has found premium among the peoples of the world and is being practised by millions to get relief from life's myriad maladies.

But yoga at the surface physical level may conduce to good physical health but does in no way help a person get that detachment from worldliness which makes for permanent happiness and peace. For that the scriptural injunction of the renunciation of desire is necessary and strict continence must be observed. Only then will the mental currents fall in line and the streamlined mind will be free of the chaos of thoughts running pell-mell and disrupting order and balance of the system.

Thus, suppression of desire or sublimation of desire, either of these two alternate methods must be adopted if sanity is to be restored to the mind that has gone wild with its fancies and whims. The subdued or the sublimated mind is calm and free of the waves that raise rushes of desires, and it is this mind that is ever concentrated and in stable equilibrium hardly makes the more commonplace errors, be they related to decision-making or in formulating judgement about a person or a situation. Success is then within the grip of the person possessed of such a concentrated mind. Let us strive to practise this union with the divine which is called yoga and derive its true spiritual benefits.

Written by Sugata Bose